Have you had my experience of being all excited about a new job or project only to find anxiety creeping in? The new job learning curve can make a dent in the excitement, but slowly, each day I learn more of the practical things like where the bathroom is and where to store my sack lunch, along with the ins and outs of getting the job or project on track.

Being a new or renewing follower of Christ is a lot like that. You join a church and at first it is hard to even know what some of the things they are talking about mean. I am a large-church Lutheran girl attending a mega Methodist church and I still struggle with how to access small group* connections and what the process is to get a ministry goal met. But seeking out an established member of a church is a good way to get information and make new Christ-focus friendships. 

You may join a Bible class and feel uncomfortable asking what you fear might be basic questions. Bible classes come in all levels, so if you find the folks you are with are digging so deep you feel you are loosing your balance, consider a different class or ask the leader if there are resources that might help you "study ahead". It is worth it and it is also a good place to make new faith nurturing friends. This is also true of ministry projects like serving with a team at a homeless shelter or volunteering to clean up after a program or working in the church gardens. Each connection where you are willing to stretch a bit past your existing comfort zone sews small, strong connections with God and His extended family.

Trying out new ways that people have found helpful in connecting over thousands of years is worth exploring: journalling, retreats, quiet times with God/meditation, a walking buddy that enjoys sharing spiritual experiences, memorizing scripture, praying scripture, singing, writing a love letter to God, doing a Facebook group of Christian friends, daily devotions, daily prayers, writing a list of everyone you are willing to forgive and who you long to receive forgiveness from and burning the list with a pray that God would restore relationships, committing time to talk to God while gardening or walking, start a prayer or Bible study group in your home or with interested co-workers, or do an on-line Bible study for-credit class. Some things will "click" and others will not work so well or maybe it is just not the right time for a specific strategy. Try something else. And try something else again. It is very exciting and helpful.

Making a commitment to increase your exposure to new ideas and seeking out mentors and being willing to engage your hands and feet and brains in the search for a closer relationship with God pays big dividends!

What new thing are you willing to explore today?

2 Peter 1:5
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*I found the term "small-group" very confusing. We have small groups in the Lutheran church but we tend to call them Bible studies or women's groups or couple's club or committee meetings. In the Methodist church they are often targeting smaller groups where it is harder to hide our spiritual needs and easier to form the kinds of close bonds that make asking for and offering prayers easier. Don't let this get you down....just ask questions!

I grew up in a church that was big on preaching about salvation and giving them money and coming to church but very little about the importance of something called sanctification. This means that after we accept God's gracious invitation to acknowledge God as the Lord of our lives, then what? Sanctification is the "then what" and it is the process of growing in understanding and strength. For most of us, it is the biggest part of our life as followers of Christ so it is pretty frustrating that it does not get discussed as often as I feel would be helpful. So for the next few days we are going to consider some ideas about the answers to "then what?"

Recently was introduced to 2 Peter chapter 1. I may well have read it many times before, but this time it sprouted new ideas to consider. (Reading the Bible is like that often.) The first one is that in addition to a "basic faith" one needs to work on having good character. I would like to pause here a moment and state clearly that "working on faith" is not something we do alone. The Spirit of God teaches, tends, informs, enlightens and lots of other good things that bless us along the way. But asking for help on specific things that we identify as needing work is a good way to confirm our willingness to accept help in an area.

If you realize that along the way you have developed some habits that are not exactly helping you be the person you believe God expects you to be, know that you are not alone. Confessing God as Lord and Savior does not mean that we suddenly have a carefree, perfect life. Rather it means that we are connect to a God who loves us and has plans to give us many blessings as fast as we can accept them. But we have things to deal with from mistakes/errs/sins that don't magically disappear. And in some way I can't really explain, unwinding the bad habits and even compulsive behaviors with God's help is a special kind of blessing where we lay down deep roots that can weather the storms that blow through every life.

When you identify something that needs to be changed in your life God will help. It may be a major, public kind of problem like addictive or criminal behaviors or it maybe something as habitually damaging as yelling ugly words at my children or maybe something really acceptable in our culture like spending too much or eating too much. But whatever it is, God is able to help. Sometimes God helps by sending good people into our lives, such as with recovery groups, mental health counseling, a good friend expressing a concern and willingness to help, a book or article, that special Bible verse that we can memorize to help us keep on track. Some habits we must deal with in varying ways over long periods of time and others we can change more quickly. But every step in a better direction, every time we seek a new way to act (as opposed to being focused on "stopping the ineffective behavior") we are building spiritual muscles.

I hate to think how many times I have gotten out of the habit of going to the gym and had to start anew with shorter visits only slowly rebuilding the stamina for longer visits. Or how many times I have committed to eating "healthy" only to find I have slid back into less than ideal choices. But each time I am not as bad as the time before because slowly my body is complaining when I do it wrong. This is one of the good things about getting "old"!

Our spiritual lives are much like this. We just have to decide that we will never give up and we will celebrate every "better" choice we make. And carefully we build a strong faith with the help of God, according to God's blueprint.

What step will you take today to let your best self shine on the folks around you?

2 Peter 1:5

My beloved granddaughter is curled up on my couch on this grey and rainy day with a good book and a full tummy. Tomorrow is her birthday so I am particularly aware of time flying past at breathtaking speed. And I am trying not to freak her out by staring at her as I hug each moment, each memory to my heart. 

If I feel this way about my granddaughter, how must God feel when He looks at us? I believe God is cheering us every day to accept as much grace, healing, learning and joy as we can manage to allow in. Because that is the wonder and the mystery....God is pouring mercy over us at all times, even when we are unaware. But in our self-focus we don't notice, possibly can't even imagine such an idea. But God is constant in His love for us and His plans for our future of purpose and increasing love. And God has given us His Spirit to help us route out the junk that is blocking our acceptance of more of the blessings that are already ours.

During our life's journey we experience joy and challenges, learning and stillness, understanding and confusion and a mountain of other emotions and perceptions and ideas. As we mature we take these things out and look them over and sometimes we get pretty sure we have all the answers so we may think we are self-sufficient, either because God made us so, or because there is no God to care about us.

But actually God made us wholly dependent and needing a relationship with God because to call us, woo us, entice us to that relationship is to provide for our dearest blessings and highest good. And because we were created to be dependent and interdependent in Grace, when we spurn that Grace we often wind up looking for support, love, reassurance and validation from a mountain of places where no grace resides.

So today I will thank God with such a full heart, both for the blessings of family and, more essentially, the blessing of being in God's family, a daughter of the King of Kings, beloved of the Creator of All, with a right, conferred by God, to my place at God bountiful table.

Sometimes a verse or quote or song catches our hearts in a special way and that was true for me today.  Matthew 5:5 reads in part: "...God has poured out His love to fill our hearts..."

It's been one of those weeks where concerns have tried to take center stage, but these words are a balm to my soul because it reflects so perfectly my experiences through live's ups and down. Maybe that sounds strange, to feel God's love during the challenges of life, but for me that has been when I have been most attentive to that constant truth.

Oh, I can sit on a pier waiting for the sun to rise over the ocean, or see a double rainbow dropping with the sunshine through grey clouds breaking on the horizon, or see the most perfect wildflower damp with the morning dew and appreciate deeply how beautiful and amazing is God's creation. I can look at a child's face while learning to master a new skill or the hands of someone I love as they lay exhausted in illness, or see joy on the faces of a well-matched bride and groom and feel such deep gratitude for the people in my life.

But I am a fickle, broken human-being and even from these dear and beloved gifts I can be distracted. But if you want to see my attention focused, walk with me through a crisis where each step requires God's perfect strength and God's infinitely superior wisdom to take even a small step forward. When I am out of ideas and out of capacity and out of patience and out of hope, God always stands with my highest good already laid out and waiting for me to turn my face toward God's face and ask for help getting with the program. 

When I quite fighting, and start accepting, I have recognized God pouring His love out to fill my heart full to overflowing, so much more than sufficient, so much more than enough, so much more than I can ever imagine for myself.

Can your heart use a little healing love today?

A meditation on the 23rd Psalm set me to thinking this morning.  "The Lord is my Shepard; I shall not want."

That is a pretty big order in our modern culture where an authoritative male voice assures me that true happiness is a function of a snazzier car, the newest computer, more shoes, a more expensive beer, an exotic vacation, more education, a promotion, a raise or a thousand other things that we learn multiple times in myriad ways are never enough.

We human beans are such odd ducks. For instance, logic would tell us that if alcohol use has failed to fill the (God-shaped) whole in our hearts that we ought to try something else. But being lazy we simply try more of what is not working. So if beer doesn't work, try more beer. If more beer doesn't work switch to boilermakers. If that doesn't work add a pharmaceutical buzz, a little run at the train wreck that is gambling or the sure-to-cause shame financial support of pornography which can start with something pretty tame and "consensual" but move quickly to helping fund abuse, degradation and slavery of women and children of both genders. 

The serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, who came to faith before his death, was frighteningly honest when he said he did not set out to become a cannibal, but slid into it bit by horrifying bit as he demanded more and more control over others. This is possibly the most powerful drug of our times and not, in the early stages, illegal. Eventually not even killing his victims was enough. I doubt if anyone actually plans to become a monster, but once we start to demand that our every whim is more important than the needs of others, we are in a downward spiral that only God can stop.

But here is the really horrid part: the more pain-filled and mean and disgusting our behavior, the more we feel God could never want to help us because we feel we have no value, no future, no right to escape the muck. But this is not true. God is bigger than any mess we can make. If we ask for His help, acknowledge Him as our God and Lord, even when we are not sure what that means, God stands willing to teach us, touch us kindly, deliver us from the muck and show us how to reach back and use our own God-powered victory to bring hope to others who are without hope.

Whatever is dragging you down today is not bigger than God. Nothing can make you unacceptable to God because He loves you so much He allowed His own Son to intercede on our behalf. Your redemption, your rehabilitation, your hope are already fully paid. Won't you take His Hand today?

I think of Carol Kent's phrase, "the new normal" whenever life takes a shockingly sudden turn. "I'm sorry, but Bob is dead." "I absolutely want out of this .....marriage.....friendship....business." "It is cancer and it needs aggressive, immediate treatment." "Your child was found guilty."

So many things happen that we don't expect, never planned for, would never have believed possible for us and those we love. But we have to find a way forward or add to the challenges for everyone else who is struggling. And, no matter how devastating the new normal feels, if we look with even a small amount of effort we can find folks who have survived worse.

And I have found it helpful to consider how they do that when I have needed to adjust to unwanted changes. Some people withdraw, not just for a season to consider, ponder, evaluate, heal as is often needed, but they seem to drop out of life, failing to "be there" for their children, siblings, parents, friends for years and decades. They are so afraid of being hurt again, they cause great pain as they crouch behind a wall of indifference or, worse, anger.

Others simply deny that they must accept what is happening. Sometimes this has good results, such as when passionately looking for new treatments or finding a second option leads to different ideas on treatment. Truly innocent people have been released from prison because people believed and worked to find the real perpetrator or proof of innocence. Figuring out when to encourage a loved one to accept a situation and work to achieve the best possible life in the face of significant limitations and when to encourage them to "keep the faith" that something will restore something closer to life as it was, is such a challenging, painful and enduring challenge.

Others turn to platitudes, demand God "fix" things in the way they have in mind, try to be "good enough" to have God give in to their demands for the outcome they see as desirable. They can not or will not accept that there could be any "good" come through what so distresses them and their loved ones. They become distant and judgmental and demand others handle things in the same way that they are, even slipping into blaming others for the challenges they face.

But there are also folks who light a path of growing patience, deepening faith, enduring trust that God is God is God and God is good all the time, indeed, all the time God is good. They give their broken hearts to God and ask that God show mercy to them and to those they love, trusting that God has a broader (perfect) understanding of the situation and has already cleared a path through for them, so they choose to follow. They are kind to themselves and to others on the journey with them. They believe they will be given strength, wisdom and peace, and share those things, confident that they will never run out because they are supplied by the source of all love, truth and joy.

I have tried all these ways of coping and often paid a high price by turning my frustration and fear inward and on those I love. Neither isolation nor rage has served me well. And I have certainly never been successful at telling God how to do things better.

So I thank those folks who have lighted my way, comforted me, prayed for me and with me and those I love. I am so grateful that God sends good people into my life to speak wisdom and kindness and hope into my life.

Loving and wise God, remove from my heart and soul all that keeps me from being Your light and love and truth in a dark and aching world. Keep my words sweet, my thoughts calm, my choices wise and my actions demonstrating that with You, change is not only possible, but filled with possibilities for better outcomes than we can ever imagine on our own. You are a generous, wise, amazing God. Thank you for walking with me at all times and in all places. AMEN

Why is it so much easier to forgive others than ourselves. We feel guilty if we cause harm...makes sense. We feel guilty if we failed to prevent someone else from causing harm...not so easy to understand. We feel guilty when others make bad choices that cause themselves harm...why?

And for some reason the last one seems the stickiest wicket of the bunch. For those of us who love someone who has damaged or even destroyed their own lives, this seems to the be primary trap.

I have great compassion (since I fall into this myself) for folks who look back at a point in time when we can honestly and objectively say, "I fell short in this relationship". We can identify things we would change if we could, times when we were too strict, not strict enough, might have sought professional help, coulda, woulda, shoulda done it differently. But here is the problem: not one of us is perfect. Not one person on this Earth was parented without err.

But when we over focus on what might have been, we not only get stuck ourselves, we encourage our child to be stuck there too. No human on this Earth today gets a life without challenges, both of the random sort (like a parent who intensely dislikes thunderstorms and unwittingly passes that fear onto their child) and the more intentional sort (like a teacher who is abrupt and withholds approval to a child who bears an uncanny resemblance to a bully from their own past). It is far better to speak this truth to our children (of any age): life is hard, but it is worth the effort. With God's companionship and counsel we can find our way through to a life of hope, purpose and joy.

This is also true for ourselves -- each and every one of us.  If we can drag our focus away from ourselves and turn our face to God, we can open ourselves to new ways of approaching challenges. We can find the blessing in the most challenging of situations. We can begin to experience the amazing peace of being more interested in what we have to give than what we feel we are owed...especially when what we think we are owed has the potential to cause us great harm.

It is not only harmful, it is a form of egotism to hang on to sins God has already forgiven. It is as though we can say to God, I know better than you do how far I fall short and You, God, are not big enough to overcome my failings. If that is the attitude I embrace going forward, the example I give to those I love so dearly is that their sins cannot be escaped either.

For the sake of those we love, but even more urgently, for our own sakes, we need to trust God on this one!

Now we see how God does make us acceptable to him ... God treats everyone alike. He accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins. God sent Christ to be our sacrifice. Christ offered his life’s blood, so that by faith in him we could come to God. And God did this to show that in the past he was right to be patient and forgive sinners. This also shows that God is right when he accepts people who have faith in Jesus.  Romans 3: 21, 23-26

I have worked places where there was a lot of competition and demand for recognition. It was exhausting.

Since I do mostly volunteer/ministry work now, I suppose it helps that we are not vying for promotion or raises. It is such a blessing to work with folks who have their eye on a different sort of prize. Oh, we have our differences, but it mostly seems we are focused on the purpose of our work, the people we serve and are supportive of one another.

But we do struggle with burnout because we forget that we are only there to be a part of the whole. We forget to make room for the new volunteer that is longing to fit in, to learn, to make a difference too. We are afraid that if we don't do it, it won't get done well enough.

But in ministry we are not doing this for ourselves or by ourselves, but rather we are part of a much larger picture. The energy goes out to the the program's purpose, to those who are established, and it travels through those who come behind. It is the best kind of win-win-win when we leave our egos at the door and wrap ourselves in humility and welcome the Spirit of God among us.

Today I travel across the state to be welcomed by a community of women who have reached out to share their knowledge, experience and insights with me, that I might grow in my capacity to lead in our local organization. I will join them in welcoming women who are affected by the incarceration of a loved one and share our hope and faith with them.

Please pray for us all, for the guests seeking solace in their sorrow and fear, the women seeking to be the hands and feet of God in serving them, and the many folks who contribute time, funds, talent and most especially prayer overflowing that we might all draw closer one to another and to our God who loves us so much.

Women have a unique relationship with their hairdressers. I look forward to each appointment as a time to catch up as we have shared much over the years of raising children, burying parents, and welcoming grandchildren. She has seen me through divorce and widowhood and remarriage, changes in career and a move half a continent away. (Yes, I was persistent in making appointments when we were in town visiting.) And she was a delightful part of my welcome home when we moved back to the area.

How many folks touch our lives over the course of decades? Are we aware and appreciative? Are we careful to recommend quality professionals to help them grow their business? Do we talk and talk and talk or do we take time to listen in return? Do we tell them we appreciate them?

It is not so hard to send a note or ask about their families or health, or notice a new haircut or the results of healthier eating and increased activity. Do we pray for these folks? Do celebrate their joys and take time to acknowledge their griefs,celebrate their victories?

One day I noticed a highly frustrated man speaking to a woman who I had noticed at the Post Office on earlier visits. I always find her knowledgeable, helpful and pleasant. I was fortunate enough to be the "next up" that day and she had really struggled to stay professional, so I quietly told her that I always enjoyed being fortunate it ending up at her window because she was so consistently professional and able. It could not take away the sting of the earlier frustrated customer, but it did get a small smile and we both had a better experience than if I had just ignored her distress.

Often in my professional life I have been struck by how invisible I have felt when offering my best efforts to help someone. In fact, I have been entertained when I ran into a customer in a non-professional setting where they struggled with the fact the I looked familiar, but they just could not bring it together until I smiled and said, "I'll see you at the bank/store/office" to give them a hint. 

I have been blessed by folks whose name I never learned because we chose to show each other mercy and kindness in a passing moment. In our current culture where we interact both in person and electronically with dozens of people who have little likelihood over meeting again, it is a particular blessing to make these connections. 

 A cousin asked, "I wonder how our grandparents met" and it looks like they lived in the same small town at a time when there would have been few people who did not know each other. Did they go to the same church....maybe. Did their parents have business dealings...possibly. Did they live on the same street...research is on-going.

So many things happen over a lifetime that change our lives in dramatic and long-lasting ways. This cousin and I share an unusual number of grandparents because her mother was my grandmother's sister and her father was my grandfather's brother. The genealogical term is "double cousin" and in our case it means our family history with its challenges and blessings are doubly connected. I've always loved it.

But in fact, when I saw a picture of the small town where the grandparents on the other side married I was shocked to see both sides of the family intermingling at a town picnic; where there are only a few hundred people in a town it is pretty hard not to all be interconnect in several ways. That would be why the cemetery in that small town seems to be about 50% connect to us in some fashion or other.

So is it all a cosmic joke? Or is there intentionality in all the opportunities -- for good or bad -- that come into our lives over a few decades? Is this all wholly random or is there a larger plan in play?

Although it is not currently a commonly approved view, I actually think that there are just too many amazing and joyous and wonderful things that happen for it to be random. I do believe we have free will and can accept the challenge in any situation, persistently seeking the lesson, the better path, a contribution to a personal higher purpose inspired by a loving and attentive God who heals in ways that transcend any theory based on randomness.

Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I chose you for a special work. I chose you to be a prophet to the nations.”    

Mothers' Day: a charming idea when it was conceived by folks who felt that mothers deserved credit for the jobs they performed that modern society has too often equated with "unimportant" because the tasks are unpaid. Then in the natural course it became commercialized since it is easier to buy a card rather than write a note of appreciation and, unless the dad enjoyed cooking, it was much easier to fight crowds and finance a meal, than for the guys to do the cooking.

Yet in the midst of all the celebration is a core of sorrow for folks who are mourning the death of a beloved mother, experiencing great difficulty in getting pregnant, reminded of the death of a child, or haunted by memories of a mother so broken in her own self that it is hard to escape a sense of resentment.

So, now that this day is past for another year, let us go forth to care tenderly for each other, if you will -- mother each other. Let us stand up for the disenfranchised, offer a hand, speak a word of encouragement, assume the best, give the gift of time, write a note, stop by for a chat, make a call or send an email that echos the best mothering you have ever received, whether from a woman with whom you share significant DNA or from someone who just invested time in you.

It is the best way to honor those who have poured kindness out upon us, even when we were being a brat.

An army of volunteers keeps our church grounds looking delightful and provide a neighborhood asset where visitors to a nearby hotel and anyone from the area are welcomed to stroll or exercise or walk their dog (bags appreciated) and they tend a place where God is obviously part of the picture.

Many of these women and men have downsized as their own large yards became frustrating every time health took a dip or travel beckoned, so moving to a smaller house and/or a maintained community is sensible. And the church grounds benefit because these folks and others gather in fellowship to plan, finance, plant, feed, water, weed, work, maintain and enjoy grounds that become more delightful every year. (Last year a chime tower was added with the most delightfully gentle chimes.)

I sometimes wonder, as I see them with dirt on their fingers and perspiration driving the good stopping point for the day, if they realize how blessed they are.  For I meet too many people, frustrated by the losses imposed with time and compromised health, who become depressed or angry, feeding fear for their tomorrows and resentful of what they have lost.

But I believe, having observed closely how choice plays a role in attitude (at least as much as attitude plays a role in choice), that where there is breath there is capacity for purpose. And I don't see mean-spiritedness or resentment as an appropriate purpose for any one.

So I'd like to share a snapshot of some people who blessed me even as their worlds were constricting. My mother was blinded by a combination of macular degeneration and treatment for CoPD which eventually landed her in a nursing home. It was a very nice nursing home as such things go and she was purposefully grateful for that. She said she intended to live out her life with all the oomph she had, seeing no point in vegetating in a pool of misery for the remainder of her time here, no matter how long that might be. She was kind to CNAs and RNs, fellow residents, cleaning staff, volunteers, and even the chaplain, who she felt needed encouragement because her job was so challenging. She was a blessing with every labored breath. We miss her still.

I had the great blessing of being a regular visitor to a woman of faith who had slipped pretty far down the Alzheimer's slope. Her own children did not live in the area and, as is often the dilemma faced by families, were torn for some time between uprooting their mom in ways that would leave her without the faithful support of her church family and an array of friends or transplanting her closer to themselves where she would likely be very confused for the rest of her days. It was tricky, getting to know this delightful lady, because when I first met her, 5 years a widow, she was still gently wondering why her beloved husband was so long away on business. But she taught me so much, because she was unfailingly kind and tender to the staff (and the staff often gets very little of that), other residents and anyone she met. Memory lapses or no, she was gentle to remind me that I needed to take more time to enjoy life and rush less. She shared happy memories on balmy days sitting under the trees in front of her communal home, speaking of her rural childhood and raising children in a beach community. She befriended any new resident within her purview as she cheerfully and safely roamed the confines of the nursing home.

In prison ministry I have been blessed to meet women who have found the best kind of freedom while behind prison walls and are working everyday to grow and strengthen their faith, looking towards the day of their return to their families with healing as their goal.

I remember reading somewhere the observations that, if Christians are correct and we live "10,000 years" (eternally) we should pay more attention to how we are drifting, because it is so painful to watch someone grow more angry, resentful, unhappy and generally miserable over 80 years if they don't choose instead to embrace gratitude, joy, healing and hope.

So, how are you drifting today?

Why does God sometimes seem so far away? It can feel like punishment and can turn our attention inward to try and find what we need to do differently. Sometimes we are getting in the way by clinging to a goal or attitude that is causing us pain, but so often it is just the normal nature of our brokenness that does not get better because we get out the magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers trying to extract the "bad thing" in us.

Transcending our feeling of distance from God is a God sized job and no amount of introspection can change this. There is value in the "power of positive thinking" but that can also leave us trying to be our own God...never a comfortable position nor an effective one.

So sometimes we just must endure, trusting God to travel with us. We can practice good spiritual hygiene, just as we do healthy physical hygiene when our body feels crumby. But is an offering and a discipline, not a bribe for God and we should not mistake it for appeasing a bullying god.

Because this is not how God works. God is love, so God always loves us. God never abandons us. And God is bigger than even times of spiritual darkness. God does not "inflict this upon us". God is always God no matter how we feel or what circumstances with which we are dealing.

This speaks to me during such times: "Be still and know that I am God..." from Psalms 46:10. This or another beloved verse can serve as a mantra, a prayer and a comfort as we wait and trust.

“Speak. Your servant is listening": Words spoken by a child as directed by his mentor Eli. It seemed so simple, so natural. God said, "Samuel," and once Samuel had been encouraged he simply said, "Speak. Your servant is listening."

Why does this become so much more difficult for us. In the cacophony of modern life silence is so rare, something that is almost surprising when we encounter it. Solitude often must be planned, including "going somewhere" and then remembering to turn off the cell phone.  Then no matter how far we have traveled, how carefully we have planned there will almost always be an intrusion of some sort, construction over a hill where we don't see but still hear or a plane overhead. No wonder the whole "listening" thing seems a dying art.

But the bigger problem, of course, is our fear of being alone with ourselves and our God. The noise, the activity is effective at keeping thought at bay; at keeping introspection to a minimum, at denying time to speak to and be tended to by the Spirit of God who longs to give us good gifts.

​At the end of the day we have to look back and see that we have not truly trusted God. We have schemed and plotted and planned and maneuvered and justified anger and cutting ethical corners. If we are quiet and introspective we might have to face our less than heroic actions, our frequent selfishness in wanting things now, in believing we are justified in behaving selfishly.

Have you ever read an article on a crime and shaken your head with the comment, "What were they thinking? Wouldn't have been far more practical, reasonable, sensible to...get a divorce, change jobs, stay away from crooks, stay sober, avoid drugs....a thousand and one things that can lead to trouble and that, in moments of consideration nearly anyone could see the pitfalls and probable outcome and weigh that against alternatives. But we are all guilty of precipitous actions, though fortunately most are not likely to land us in prison. Most cause harm we never intended and did not see coming because we did not even look at the ever widening circles of pain that our words and actions can cause.

So, Lord, today help me to say to You, "Your servant is listening" because when I do that I am far less likely to react selfishly out of my own pain. Help me to say to You, "Your servant is listening," because when I don't I am all too careless with the frailty of my brothers and sister. Help me to say to You, "Your servant is listening," because you are always willing to guide me in ways that bless me and others. I trust you, Lord, and I long to be listening with ears that hear and observing with eyes that see. I can only do that with the Spirit of God as my teacher and my guide. Thank you for being ceaselessly willing to give me that blessing. AMEN

1 Sam 3:10 Samuel said, “Speak. Your servant is listening.”