...a word from Kathy

T his week is about life after death.  It's about new life after the desert.  It's about the joy and celebration of new life given and offered.  And many celebrate and rejoice in the miracle in the unfathomable...Life after death. But after Sunday, how does one live?  The world after the desert, after the new life of Easter Sunday, feels much like the world before the desert.  The life after that Sunday long ago still held problems, pitfalls, pain and distress and persecution.  How did they live?  How does one truly live? A foreign friend asked me several years ago, is the Easter Bunny the same as Jesus?  From her U.S. experience the two seemed similar.  She thought faith was a hop-along, candy-eating event.  For me to truly live, I need much more than the bunny can offer.   What about you?  What do you need to truly live?  In all of life, is Jesus enough?  Or do we still seek? Are we searching for more?  Are we ...

W hat is worship?  Some describe worship as an activity that occurs on Sunday.  Some of us have found ourselves in worship of our children, our spouses or even our football teams!  We seek to worship. In the desert, Jesus said, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." Matthew 4:10b C. S. Lewis also pondered questions of worship.  Lewis asked, Why does God want to be praised?  In his writings, C. S. Lewis revealed the answer he found.. .in the process of being worshipped God communicates His presence to men...and by their so doing [worship] God gave Himself to men * This is the answer I seek.  I need the balance worship offers me.  I like to be my own ruler but I often fall off that throne and it's painful. There is only one Throne and I do not sit on it.  The divine balance of worship offers presence, freedom and settles my unrest, my need to worship.  I'm learning that when we worship, we give God His "worthship".  This is ...

  G ood job!  You're so very talented!  What a gift you have!  I love praise, don't you?  Or maybe I should say, Who doesn't love and need praise?  I remember job evaluations at the end of each year; waiting for my boss to say good job, keep improving here, work on this or that, and yes, you have a earned a giant raise.  Well, that part never happened but a small percentage raise would come and I would feel praised!  Someone had given me a stamp-of-approval. This yearning is a characteristic we each share.  We long for the praise of our parents, our spouses, our friends.  But then we tend to take it all a step further...the praise that comes from the world sneaks in the back of our minds.  We crave popularity.  We look for acceptance and wonder if our public works will lead to respect and praise from those we don't even know.  How many 'Likes' we get on FaceBook or Instagram is a measure of success we crave.  Somehow ...

I can hear my two-year old telling me, "I can do it"!  I remember stepping back and letting her "do it" her way.  I also remember the baby years when she could not do anything for herself and I was her source for everything.  Her food, her water, her comfort, her protector, her playmate, her soulmate. This is the natural world.  We are born vulnerable and needy and grow to be able to care for ourselves. And then perhaps we take it to another level.  A level that says to people, I don't need your help for I can rely on my own ability.  I know what I need.  I know how to help myself.  I'm able.  I'm capable.   What a trap for me when I wander into the desert of me of my ability.  What a danger for me to think my own ability will get me through this life.  What a temptation to rely on myself and the power I have in my tiny home kingdom called life.  I can sit at the top of my world and have a false sense of control. Are we t...

D o you recognize the voice? This year, this month, this week, this day may have led us into difficult desert places.  Places where we find ourselves hungry for people, for food, for water, for answers, for hope, for a way to peace of mind.  We read in Matthew that Jesus was on such a journey.  He was hungry and when presented with false words of hope somehow resisted the insatiable need he felt. His words were, ' Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God .' Matthew 4:4 Oh, that I could be this strong. Oh, that I could lean on a love so strong and fulfilling. Instead, I listen to words of the world. I listen to the words of influencers, be they family, friend or foe. These voices speak loudly in my daily life and continue in my brain while I sleep.  Oh, let me live not on bread, or success, or the popularity of this world BUT on the Words and Voice that come from God. Those words that He speaks over me and you... Fear ...