Addition and Subtraction

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 

I yearn for the lazy days of summer.  Not so long ago, we struggled with the cold and snow of winter.  Now, it is almost time for the fall schedule to “rev up”.  Where did summer go?

When I feel overwhelmed with demands on my time, I take time to add something to my schedule.

I add a thank you prayer: Thank you God, for each breath, each hour and each day.

I add a prayer for a friend or neighbor or a church member going through a rough time: God, give me empathy to feel and be with those who need your loving care.

I add a prayer for leaders in our church, in government, and of youth:  God, give your guidance to leaders who may feel alone and overwhelmed with their responsibilities.

I add a prayer for myself: God, I pray that you will guide me to be and do all that you have planned for me.

When I add these to my day, I subtract petty thoughts, irritations that don’t really matter, and selfish concerns. 

Isn’t it wonderful how God’s math works!

Prayer: Thank you, God for reminding us to live like butterflies. Butterflies count not months, but moments, and yet have time enough for what you have planned. Amen.

Lois Poppe (reprinted from 2010)

The Reasons People are in Your Life

Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since both of us have sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, forever.’

Lori Snyder Sloan provided this reflection and poem in her devotion book:

Throughout the Bible God provided friends and allies, sometimes in the least-likely combinations of people. In today’s world loneliness is one of the main fears, and realities, of people’s lives, but God still blesses us with friends.

Poem: A Reason, A Season, or a Lifetime

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are. 

When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.

Prayer: God thank you for the gift of friends – some that come and stay for a long time, and some that pass through and touch our lives in very special ways, showing us your love and care with their words and actions. Thank you that though you sometimes use loneliness to bring us closer to you, it’s not your intent that we should walk alone through life. And thank you for the very special relationship that is ours with you through Christ. Amen.

Sandy Hilsabeck

Doing the Best We Can

It seems frustration with others is the order of the day. At least, that’s what the media would have us believe. Or maybe it’s just me, trying to blame the media. I find myself becoming impatient with others when their personalities, behaviors, etc. don’t align with my own.

What helps me when I feel like being judgmental is thinking this: We're all just doing the best we can. And if I think someone isn't doing the best they can, it's not up to me to decide that they can or should be doing “better”. This way of thinking doesn’t ALWAYS work, but often if I just pause and remember that we all are unique in our sensibilities and ways that we respond to life, I may be able to give someone a break.

Here’s what the Bible says about it:

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. ~ Matthew 7:1-5

And:

So watch yourselves. "If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying 'I repent,' you must forgive them." Luke 17:3-4

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32

We so easily find fault in others instead of seeing our own shortcomings; maybe the double standard stems from our strong sense of conviction that we’re right.

I know that I’ll still struggle with this, but asking God for help in my everyday interactions with others, both in person and online, will allow me to begin to see others as God sees them: worthy of love and compassion.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me when I start to judge others harshly. Help me remember that we’re all doing the best we can, with what we’ve been given. Amen.

Donna Gustafson   

Walls

For it is by his grace you are saved, through trusting him, not your own doing. It is God’s gift, not a reward for work done. Ephesians 2:8

It’s interesting to me that so many of our figures of speech use the words, “the wall”. When runners are so overcome with exhaustion that they feel they cannot go another step, they say they have “hit the wall”. When there’s an obstacle in the way of some achievement, we say “I can’t get over the wall.” When there’s an escape from an institution, we say that the inmate went “over the wall” (or if someone leaves a troubled marriage, we may say the same thing). When as senior citizens we cannot think of some fact that we should know, we say, “There’s a wall in my mind that keeps me from remembering that." Taking another view, Mark Van Doren wrote, “Wit is the only wall/Between us and the dark.”

Walls, therefore, are stoppers. Although walls may fence out bad things (the dark), they can also keep us from either making progress or getting to something we desire. How comforting it is that there’s no wall between us and God – that grace is ours, unearned – and that access to salvation is ours for taking.

Prayer: Kind and loving Father, thank you for your gift of grace, the gift as large as to be nearly unknowable. Lest our own willfulness be a wall of our own construction between us, help us to always respond to your promise of salvation with our eternal love. Amen

Ruth Ann Lyness (reprinted from the Eastridge Daily Devotion Book, published in 2008)

Children are the Future

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalm 127:3 

I have taken four names from the prayer board at church and they are visible several times during the day. What is unusual is I don’t know any of the four that I selected, but I pray for them as if they were my own grandkids. I wonder how they are doing in school, are they being bullied, are they happy, are they learning, are they being fed? I don’t have pictures of them, but I have the school card with their name and I look at them as if they were pictured in front of me. It is such a simple thing to do, it doesn’t cost anything, in my opinion not even time; as I am already talking to God about friends and family and these four children are added. I am surprised that there are any names left on the board. Pastor Thomas mentioned putting them/it on your car visor so that every time you get in your car you see it. I carry mine around in my purse. I am in my purse so many times during the day that I see them all the time. But I pray for them even when I don’t have the cards as I have become familiar with their first names enough, to pray just whenever. 

I have seen many comments on Facebook, and I hear comments about the youth of today usually negative. Could some of this be because as a community we don’t take the time to lead them? Do we take the time to show them activities that are constructive and learning? I had an Uncle Sherman; he was a kid at heart until he died in his nineties. He would show children how to play horseshoes, put up fence posts, talk about the birds and how to recognize what kind they were. He always had something for the youth that he met along his life, and most of the time it wasn’t an expensive venture, it was using whatever he had and what he could make out of it. Now my Uncle Bob was also a kid at heart, his skill was getting kids involved in playing together. He would be around a group of kids and if nothing else it was a water fight, not with the fancy toys they have now for water fights; but a bucket, pail, bottle, and yes even a hose. The kids were active, had fun, got to know each other and learned sportsmanship. 

Are we spending the time, effort and resources for our children of today, to be prepared for the future?

Prayer: Dear Father, please help us to remember to share our skills, time and talent with the children of today. Help us to remember to read a book, teach them crochet, teach them skills for their future. Please watch over our children and guide them in the path of righteousness. Guide them in the plan you have set aside for each and everyone of them. Bless the children with your comfort and strength to get through their struggles each day. Thank you, Father, for the wonderful children you have given us and may be always remember how blessed we are to have them in our lives. Amen

Lori Hood

Your Word is a Lamp for my Feet

Your word is a lamp for my feet,

    a light on my path.

I have taken an oath and confirmed it,

    that I will follow your righteous laws.

I have suffered much;

    preserve my life, Lord, according to your word.

Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth,

    and teach me your laws.

Though I constantly take my life in my hands,

    I will not forget your law.

The wicked have set a snare for me,

    but I have not strayed from your precepts.

Your statutes are my heritage forever;

    they are the joy of my heart.

My heart is set on keeping your decrees

    to the very end. Psalm 119: 105-112

Strawberry Tears

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). {God is glad to carry your burdens and give you the daily strength you need.}

Sometimes I find all I am hearing is bad news, not just from the TV, paper, Facebook, etc; but a call that a friend has cancer and not expected to live but a few months, another whose kidneys are failing or a friend who has lost their job. Today was one of those days I had taken my dog to be groomed and on the way home, I saw a funeral procession and a vehicle accident.  I went home telling myself to be thankful for all I have but the sadness was within me and I felt for those I couldn't help.  So I do what I do: chores to get my mind on something else. I cleaned the oven (darn salesman didn't tell us it wasn't self cleaning), I swept the driveway, vacuumed, did a few loads of laundry, and then decided the yard might be dry enough to mow. I mowed and then trimmed the bushes and pulled the weeds. Then I sat down on the front step for a break, and there in front of me in the front yard, was the tiniest but yet it was there: little wild strawberries. It may seem silly, but it cheered me up. It was the little plant growing as if from nowhere. It brought happy memories of times picking strawberries with my Dad. It also made me cry, I am but the little strawberry growing amongst the tall grasses, moss, and mushrooms growing after the rain. It made me stop and really thank God for all I do have, turn over to Him all that I have no control of and release my burdens and those of others to Him who created the tiny wild strawberries with their miniature details. He who has a plan and is the creator of all.

Prayer: Thank you Father for reminding me that You are the Creator of the Universe. Thank you for taking my burdens, and helping me find the peace that only You can provide. Amen

Lori Hood