Today I Love Knowing the Words - Slice of Life 2015 - Day 15

Today I love knowing the words. 

 

I'm the one on the right with the "What am I doing here?" look on my face.

Yesterday I tried something new. I was out of my element. I was nervous and a bit apprehensive. Peace was hard to find at first. Peace came, but it had to introduce itself to me as if it were a friend I hadn't seen for years who had somehow changed from how I remembered it looked. 

 

This was the first song at church this morning...an old favorite!

Today I was comforted and inspired by the familiar, the eternal, the never changing. I was calmed and soothed and peace filled my soul; wrapped its arms around me and welcomed me home. I was reminded of my calling here on this wild ride around the sun. I was challenged to look at that calling with fresh eyes. Books and stories and words; nouns and verbs, and even gerunds and participles are important, but Jesus is more important.

 

New is good. 

To challenge ourselves is good and healthy. 

But to know the words, 

to know the assurance of eternity...

to sort out what is best...

that is best.

Thanks, Rob Swartz, for the reminder of what is 

most important 

and for helping me 

know the words.

Today I Love Balm and this one song...Slice of Life 2014 Day 2

Good for dry skin...and the soul!

     It's been a long hard winter here in Ohio...in more than one or two ways.  The snow has been beautiful, but it's also been hard on The Man, getting out there at oh dark thirty to run the snow blower.  The snow days have been a nice break, but now that we've hit 8? 9? (I've actually lost track!) we are dealing with things like "Blizzard Bags" so as not to have to be studying in July!  The flannel and fleece are ALWAYS wonderful, but sad to say I have lately found myself craving a nice cotton sheet and a warm summer breeze in place of my nightly cocooning process involving two quilts, one blanket, and the heating pad cranked to the "broil" setting.  

     Yes...it is safe to say we are all ready for a break in the weather.  Instead, many of us are breaking in other ways.  The Man and I have both been slathering our hands with Aquaphor, the new cure all balm for winter dried and cracked hands.  (Note to self:  Do not apply at church until AFTER the "Go ahead and shake hands with someone near you" directive!)  And just this morning I looked up at the wall in the family room and saw a new crack in the wall!  The Man says the extreme temperatures from the fire in the wood burner and the arctic air outside are to blame.

     Myself...I am having a harder than normal time fighting the winter dark days...but I AM fighting.  Some days harder than others, and some days more successfully than others.  A group of us at school have been alternating Bible study with exercise, and I've been trying to keep track of my calories on MyFitnessPal app.  Yes, food has been a balm for me many times in the past.  The worship at church is also usually quite a good balm, but a few weeks ago I had myself in such a funk that I couldn't even look at the lyrics on the screen without puddling up.  To avoid connecting and potentially spilling those tears over, I decided instead to count the capital letters in the words on the screen instead of paying attention to their meaning! Quite the pathetic coping strategy, but it got me safely through!  

Good for the soul...not so sure about the dry hands!

     Today, I pulled out all the punches.  Up early, at least for a Sunday, 20 minutes on the treadmill, and a bit of Bible study before church.  And then this morning we sang this one song...I found the link for you, but it's so much better at my church; no offense to Michael W. Smith and his back up singers! Anyway...as soon as I saw the lyrics on the wall, I literally bounced on my toes.  I love that song!  The guys sing and then the girls answer and it's one big long lovely overlapping love fest of what a great and wonderful God we serve!  Yes, there is a balm in Gilead...but, just as the Aquaphor ointment must be rubbed into the skin (after the hand shaking!), one must apply it in order for it to work!  No just counting the capital letters allowed!  Dig deep in these winter days, dear friends!  Fight the dark and keep looking for something to love!

Today I Love God's Perfect Timing...Slice of Life 24 of 31

Today I Love God's perfect timing.  This is a tough one to type, especially after what I posted yesterday about a young man in our community losing his life in an automobile accident.  It is so difficult to see God and His hand during trying times.  As hard as it is, when I stand back and look at things, I know in the depths of my heart that He is in on His throne and He is in control.  We don't always (in fact, hardly ever) get to see the final outcome of His hand at work.  Sometimes, though, He gives us a glimpse and with our hindsight we can look back and see that, Ohhhh, THAT was when He was working for our good.  Today gave me several of such precious glimpses.
      The photo above is of one of the hymnals at our tiny little (growing) church...it is resting on a brand new chair in our brand new sanctuary in our brand new building.  A friend suggested it would have been a good photo for last Sunday's blog post about our first service in the new place.  She's right.  The juxtaposition of old resting on new, while new rests on old is just perfect.  It reminds me that the thirty or more years ago when the founders of the church purchased this hymnal and all its cousins they knew God would bring The Man and me to this little place.  They of course didn't know it would be US, but they knew there would be SOMEONE, and they were faithful to that vision.  They played their part in God's perfect timing.  
       The photo below is one piece of the scripture with which we were challenged during this morning's service.  As Jesus made his way "up to" Jerusalem, he knew every single one of the gritty details of that upcoming week, this week that we still remember some 2000+ years later.  He knew those details before any one of them came to be.  He knew as the people shouted "Hosanna!" on Sunday, that those very same people would be shouting "Crucify him!" by Friday.  He knew Judas would betray him, he knew Peter would deny him, he knew the pain of the cross before he ever set foot in the city.  And yet "up to" Jerusalem he rode.  He played his part in God's perfect timing.  

       I was thrilled at service this morning to visit with a friend I had not seen in quite a long time.  She had been seriously questioning God's timing for the past year or so, but today she shared a praise with me that proved to her that He had her story worked out all along.  She quit a job on faith and the very next day was offered a job that she has been dreaming of for some time.  She played her part in God's perfect timing.  
      The pastor's wife told me last week of a man who is now attending our church who was in such pain a few Christmases ago that he was considering committing suicide.  That very night someone from our church came unannounced to his door with a plate of cookies.  He suddenly knew someone loved and cared for him without even knowing him.  He is due to be baptized this spring.  The cookie bakers that Christmas played their part in God's perfect timing. 
      I have no idea what God is going to do with the death of this young, vibrant man from our community, or how He will work through the circumstances surrounding it.  But I do know that He is in control and He will bring triumph out of tragedy.  He has perfect timing.  

New Beginnings and Old Traditions...Slice of Life 17 of 31

"See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland."
          Isaiah 43:19

     Those were the opening words this morning in our first service in our new church building.  Last week we were bittersweet as we left our old church building, but this Sunday we enjoyed sweet worship and fellowship in our new locale.  The Man and I have been worshiping with this little handful for about a year and a half now.  It was hard leaving our other church...we loved it, still do love it, but needed something a little closer to our home.  3 miles is about as close as you can get.  Why we still can't get there on time is beyond me, but that's another story!  

     I was almost in tears several times this morning as I glanced time after time around the room at the sweet, finally familiar, faces around me.  I may not know all of the names, but the faces of this flock are part of Sunday now.  From the fresh baby cheeks to the weathered chins of the grandmas and grandpas, these folks are home to my eyes and to my heart on Sunday mornings.  It was such an interesting mix of emotions to be singing the old familiar tunes and breathing in the new carpet and paint smell.  To be listening to prayers from the opposite side of the much larger chapel and to be able to place a face with the voice in my mind.  To be new and yet old at the same time. 

     As a congregation, we were challenged this morning to look and to be ready for the new things that God has in store for us as folks take notice of this new building and stop by to see what's going on.  We were also challenged to look not only at the context of the above verse...the audience was the captive Jews...but to also look one verse back in the book of Isaiah..."Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."  Now be careful there with your interpretation...we weren't told to forget all that we have learned and loved.  We were charged with not living in the past, but to be ready for the greater things God has in store.  To know, to believe, that even though He has done wonderful things for us already, He has even more and better things yet to come.  To be ready for the future with Him!  We finished up with the reminder that He is not only our God, that He is the God of this City, these people, this nation, and there are greater things still to be done here!
 
     After service, we adjourned to the beautiful fellowship hall and enjoyed a classic down home church potluck, complete with authentic Irish bangers and mash in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  The chance to fellowship, chat, chow down, and just do life for a little while longer into our day was just one more blessing tossed onto an already sweet Sunday.  No chairs to take down and tables to set up...just stroll on into the other room!  

     Now, take that wonderful start, add in a blessed Sunday afternoon nap, and then the slow realization that it was on this day, March 17, 1984, that The Man and I officially started dating...and well, you just don't get a better Sunday than that!  Happy Anniversary to my brother and sister-in-law, whose wedding brought us together all those years ago!  
 
     Yes, we had some new beginnings today, but we also kept some cherished memories and traditions.  We will remember the lessons we have learned and blessings that have come our way, but we will be ready for what God has yet to do.  There are greater things still to be done here.  And I just love all of that!



 

Today I Love a Bittersweet Sunday Sabbath...Slice of Life 10 of 31

Today I love a bittersweet Sunday Sabbath.  This is our last Sunday in our "old building" and the "new building" will be up and running next weekend.  We've gone "old school" these past few weekends as you see in the photo...back to the overhead projector to enable everyone to see the words to the praise and worship songs we are singing.  

"How can I keep from singing your praise..."

I got the feeling our Pastor didn't want to stop preaching today, and I, probably too boldly, told him so.  He agreed.  This is the pulpit from which he preached his first sermon as a pastor.  Next Sunday, we'll be worshiping, and he'll be preaching, in our new church which sprang up out of the field next door in a matter of mere months.

It is hard to leave the old, but sweet it will be to be in the new as well.

"How can I keep from singing your praise..."

Today I Love a Scattered Sunday: Slice of Life 3 of 31

Today I love Sunday.  When I was a little girl, I remember going to Lefty Samsaw's grocery store (yes, that was really his name) in Outville, Ohio (yes, that was and is, really a town), with My Ol'Man to buy the Sunday Dispatch...translation, the Sunday funnies!  There were other Sunday highlights, too, but that's the one that sticks out in my memory today.  I loved spreading the funnies out on the living room rug with my little girl self and My (much younger) Ol' Man all sprawled out reading them together.  In recent days...okay a few years ago...my own two kids would fuss and spat over who got to read the funnies first!

These days my Sundays are much different, and as much as I try not to be, I am a scattered person.   On a good day I have trouble remembering where I am going and what I was going to do when I got there.  Give me a wide open Sunday and I am all over the place!

I started the day today with my Wimpy Wii Workout.  (I do "aerobics" while I watch DVDs or, as this morning, the news.)  Yesterday the Wii told me I was 20 years younger than I really am!  Yesterday I loved the Wii.  We won't talk about what the Wii told me today, but you will notice that it's NOT what I'm loving today!

I had a bit of time after the Wii, before the day really got rolling, and I found these words rolling through my scattered brain:  "Sweet Sunday silence..."  I've been intrigued with haiku lately, having just purchased the book, Guyku, at the Dublin Literacy Conference last weekend for some haiku obsessed 7th graders.  Sure enough, when I counted it out those three words added up to 5 syllables so I thought I'd give it a try. I know it doesn't truly fit the nature portion of the haiku definition, but I haven't seen the haiku police hanging around this end of the prairie lately, so I'm going to go for it!

       Sweet Sunday silence
   Softly falling snow, gently
       Landing on my heart

       Sweet words of wisdom
   Seeping in, soothing the woes
     Gathered through the week

*Confession...I also worked on it during service (Sorry, Rob!) where I not only heard a fantastic sermon, but also picked up a fantastic quote to share with my students this week:
 "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."  Jim Elliot

After church The Man and I took a quick trip to the store...the good sales don't start til tomorrow, so the rest of the list will have to wait til then.

And now, it's much later in the day, the crockpot has a batch of mac and cheese bubbling away, there are fresh oatmeal craisin cookies on the back of the stove, and I am ready to settle down and love something, share my Slice of Life, get my lesson plans tucked away for the week, and finally give my students some feedback they've been waiting for on their own writings!  

Later this evening, I am looking forward to folding laundry in front of a fire and The History Channel's take on the The Bible in their new miniseries.  Looks like good stuff. 

Yes, it's a scattered Sunday, but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.  Sometimes I have time to explore another hobby of mine...quilting.  When I quilt I take small scraps and try to create something beautiful from them.  I think of Sundays the same way.  A moment here, a glimpse there, a song of praise, a prayer of thanksgiving, a meal, a small task or two, and if you are looking closely and don't miss it, you've put together a beautiful day.