...a word from Kathy

(CROSS POST FROM ADVENTAGAIN.BLOGSPOT.COM) Y our job is done!  The presents have been unwrapped and hopefully the smiles abound.  All those precisely chosen gifts have been given and received...yes, your job is done!  And as clean up looms and the grand Christmas meal awaits, let's pause just a second to reflect on what YOU received.  Perhaps you received a long-awaited gift or another shirt you really didn't need or a scarf that you will never wear but I bet you agree that the gift-receiving wasn't about any specific item.  Was it about watching others open their gifts?  Was it seeing the great surprise in someones face?  Was it seeing and hearing the squeals of the children as they delighted in their treasures?  Is that what you received? Let's take one last look at our Advent scripture, Mark 12:29-31: "The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your  heart  and with all your  soul  and with all you...

(Cross posted from Advent.again.blogspot.com T he Internet screams "ONLY 5 DAYS LEFT"!  It makes me nervous to read those words even though I'm relatively ready for Christmas!  And there are other comments that I'm hearing: "I really don't like Christmas," "Pray for our family gathering, it's always so painful and stressful," "I'm so excited Christmas will soon be over so I can get back to my normal, boring life," and lastly..."it takes all my strength to get through these days". Let's be reminded of our verse for this Advent season.... Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and  with all your strength .’ Mark 12:30 What is all our strength?  Everything I've got?  Everything I am emotionally, spiritually and physically?  Is 'all strength' all my effort, all my time, all my thoughts, all...?  How does one 'do' all strength?  How do I achie...

(CROSS POST FROM ADVENTAGAIN.BLOGSPOT.COM) W hat's on my mind is not too holy!  I confess that my mind is occupied with present buying, present wrapping, food and more food, plans, parties and finances!  This is the fight I daily battle in this Christmas season.  But through the writings of the last two weeks I have been encouraged to love God with all my heart and all my soul and now this week with all my mind.  Our words have perhaps challenged some but they may have also hung soundless in the corners of our brains.  For truly, how do we love God in these ways?  And certainly, in this week how can we possibly love God with our minds? Maybe its all about what we  see  and what  choice  we make?  Let's go to the Christmas story.  The shepherds were in the fields working.  Their day was just as the one before - hard, grueling, tiresome with little pay perhaps.  I would bet they had family, responsibilities and worr...

(Cross post from Adventagain.blogspot.com) S ince last week I have been grappling with this verse.   Love the Lord your God with all your heart  and with  all your soul  and with all your mind and with all your strength.’    I have gone through the week thinking about heart, about soul, and about the old song Heart and Soul for goodness sake!   (I daresay some reading this are too young to even recognize the very popular duet, Heart and Soul, that many of us banged out on our mom's pianos!).   How does one define heart especially when the verse asks us to delineate between heart and soul?  Several months ago, I had the opportunity to teach a group of visiting scholars and Ph.D. students this very verse.  These scholars were all from China and were quick to help me differentiate the meanings of these two small words.  Please be reminded that these scholars had NO prior spiritual training or Biblical understanding an...

Crosspost from Adventagain.blogspot.com A dvent is here - the time of the year that we wait and look for the coming of our long-expected  Savior.  So let's begin our quest. Simply...My brain and stomach are just digesting all the turkey, dressing, gravy, cake and pie when suddenly I feel thrust into a Christmas frenzy.  I woke up Friday morning already feeling late in my Christmas preparations.  How can I be late when we are only one day into the Christmas season?  It seems the sales and Christmas trees and decor are fighting for my attention.  I'm somewhat defeated before I have ever begun.  I'm pressured and enthralled with my to-do list yet real life keeps happening too. Paris, the world, my children, a husband, service to people in need, the church services and so much more.  So what can I do?  How do I juggle all the life requirements, needs and pressure I feel? One of the teachers of the law  came and heard them debating. Not...

R ecently, I've been looking through old family photos and laughing a lot!  Yikes, we all thought we looked SO good back in the day.  Organizing old photos is a never-ending project and as life has become a bit hectic I've been delayed in completing this task.  However, in the last few weeks some of these photos have come into my mind at the strangest times.  And one in particular has captured my minds eye.  (You have my permission to laugh!  And yes, that's me.) Kathy with neighborhood friend,  circa 1965  I was a little girl full of laughter, joy and mischievousness, it seems.  And a little girl with a really bad haircut! (Thanks Mama).  Anyway, I was a bit overweight as I grew up, I was never the most popular girl or the most accomplished.  My grades were average, my talent minimal but I knew my family loved me.  There were the usual pains of growing up.  There was a bit of unusual family dynamics perhaps but ...

I n the last few weeks, I've been up early and exercising.  For me this is a huge accomplishment as early mornings and exercising are not on my favorites list.  My list would be something like mid-morning and pancakes...but I digress!  This morning Ray and I were leaving to walk at 5:30 a.m. with flashlight in hand as its pretty dark at this hour.  This morning as we were walking down the driveway the sky was brilliant with the light of the moon and one very bright star.  We commented on it and the beauty.  But soon put on our headphones and begin the 30 minute route.  As we walked, the streetlights gave us a lot of light and the flashlight was turned off.  But well into our walk it was still quite dark and I was very focused on my steps, my feet, curbs, newspapers, sidewalk bumps and the like.  It was important that I keep my eyes downcast to guard my steps.  I didn't want to fall or trip or in anyway hurt my body as I've had my share o...

I mages, Images, Images.  I'm surrounded by photos that take my breath away.  Facebook is filled with beautiful people and beautiful pictures.  If I didn't know better I would be tempted to believe that all of life is beautiful and carefree.  I look at all the adventure and beautiful pictures and feel amazed. I wonder if all of us on Facebook would dare to start posting pictures of the not so beautiful days in our lives.  I mean....shall I post a picture of my recent fight with the weeds in my garden or the mounds of dirty clothes awaiting me in the laundry room??   And then there are photos from my recent issue of Sports Illustrated that make my heart beat fast for football season to finally start! Photos of my children decorate my house!  Images of happiness and love and joy are what I choose to have around me.  Those are the images I want but there are others that have crowded into my mind's-eye as well. A favorite story and image of mine tak...

I called my sister this week and told her that I was considering renaming my Blog....As the World Turns seemed appropriate or perhaps my old favorite, Days of Our Lives.  Yes, its one of THOSE times in my life.   When I was in college my friends and I would literally arrange our class schedules around the television soap opera, Days of our Lives (no TiVo in those days!).  On any given day, at 1:30 p.m. there we were, 8 to 10 girls gathered around a TV to watch this epic show.  We were obsessed  with their triangles of love, deception, hurt and reconciliation.  We were also 18 years old with nary a clue as to how life ebbs and flows. This weekend, I was in a worship service and the speaker announced the title of his sermon, How to Live Life Right.  His points were valid and strong as he focused on love, attention and the grace of God.  But for the life of me, I kept wondering if I shouldn't get up and leave the service.  His tone and example...

L ife is hectic!  This week I found myself repeatedly running out the door with barely a glimpse at my Bible, devotional books or time with God.  On Tuesday, as I was speeding to an early morning meeting, I thought, 'dang it, I should have brought my Bible and devotional stuff with me!'.  I had realized that after my early morning meeting I had a big break before my next appointment and could have used the time to read, reflect and be in God's Word.  Ugh, I wish I was more organized and had gathered my materials before leaving my house... It was then that a still, small voice whispered...you don't need those materials to have time with Me. Really....don't need my Bible, my Oswald Chambers devotional book, my journal, my pen, my computer, my worship music, my Jesus Calling ??? Yes....just Me and you.  No distraction, no calendar, no devotional, just us. Somehow, this obvious whispered knowledge is so much more difficult than the rote quiet time that invol...

Cross posted from FortyFaithful.blogspot.com T he call to peacemaking from Matthew 5:9 befuddles me.  Perhaps this is a verse that only applies to those who have the personality or giftedness of peacemaking.  Surely this is one verse that I can discount as "does not apply."  But then I began to think and remember: Those long days of work and picking up my two elementary age children who were arguing and needing peacemaking well before we found our driveway!  I remember those same two living life as teenagers and the peacemaking that occurred in our house!  Then my memory took me back even further to my parents and our household.  By the time I was in junior high school I was the remaining child in my parents home.  There were disagreements in those days too.  I found peacemaking was easier than "walking on egg shells."  So perhaps I have some experience in this field after all... But I'm pondering as to whether this call to peacemaking ...

B eing a southern girl, the term, "Lord have mercy" has been in my vocabulary since the day I was born.  Every time I hear it there is a southern drawl attached and quite possible the slow shake of one's head.  It seems to be a grandma's favorite expression.  And perhaps it's akin to "Bless his heart". Both of these expressions come from deep wells of emotion where exact words seem incomplete.   Lord have mercy ..... Bless his heart.  And so I begin ponder Jesus' words in Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." I've struggled with this word, mercy, for a week.  Reading and reading and trying to get my mind around it.  Jesus is instructing us to be merciful, to show mercy and that I understand, sort of.  But my dilemma is the how.  How do I live a life offering mercy.  Webster helped a bit, mercy is defined as: lenient or compassionate treatment; compassion shown especially to an offender.  This ...

Cross post from forty faithful.blogspot.com I n the final semester before my graduation from college, I can vividly remember creating a resume and preparing for job interviews.  Two questions stand out in my mind: What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?  It was those two answers that would determine my job opportunities or so I thought.  Then a few years later, in my second career move, my employer provided a staff opportunity to learn about our personalities.  The Myers-Briggs was administered and we each 'found' ourselves and our strengths and weaknesses.  Suddenly, I was able to explain my quirks and personality style (or at least some of my quirks!). Over the years, Matthew 5 has often been that type of reading for me - a personality checklist.  I would read the verses to find myself.  And to further honesty, I'll admit to skipping verses that didn't apply to me because they were simply "not my personalit...

Cross post from www.fortyfaithful.blogspot.com W elcome to this  Forty Faithful  journey.  For this period of 40 days, Scott and I will write eight blogs for you to ponder.  We will be studying Matthew 5:1-10 and intersect these words of Jesus with the approaching celebration of Easter.  We have no predisposed outcome for you or ourselves...we are simply on a journey to know our God in a new way.  Read, think deeply and pass it on... F orty days before Christmas was mid-November.  By mid-November last year I had Thanksgiving planned, company coming, a few Christmas gifts purchased, and the cooking scheduled!  By the end of November, Thanksgiving was over, I was stuffed and already stressed but the tree was arriving!  Stockings were to be hung, more food to be cooked and for heavens sake a party or two to attend.  It was a busy forty days as we approached Christmas.  I wrote and talked about the lack of time and the lack of con...

H appy New Year means it is time to make some New Years resolutions.  Many of us make our lists Lose ten pounds.  Exercise every day.  Stay within my personal budget and grow my savings account.  Visit my family more consistently.   I 'will do this', I 'will do that'...But do we ever see them through??  I don't or I haven't! We promise ourselves that this is THE year to see them through. Well, I am rebelling.  I'm much better in controlling what I will NOT do...because I like to be in control...(don't judge me, you do too).  So this year I refuse to make such a list.  Instead I am making a Backward Resolution list, i.e. these are the goals of what I am NOT going to do. And....I have listed these in reverse order (thank you David Letterman): 10.  I am not going to feel guilty for sleeping late on Saturday mornings. 9.  I am not going to walk 10,000 steps every day (for that put me in a boot for the last six weeks!) 8. ...