Soul Sister 3:16

Hello and Happy December! It is hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner, for I am not nearly as prepared as I usually would be.  There are still decorations to be hung, presents to be purchased, Christmas cards to write - and I HATE THAT, as I have always hoped to enjoy December Peacefully.  Quietly.  Reverently... Instead, it seems this year I'll be rushing around. 😞 That said - this morning I woke up singing the the song, "The Little Drummer Boy".  It is one I have always loved because it speaks to the heart of a boy who KNEW he was in the presence of a King, who SAW the amazing gifts others presented, but who HAD NOTHING BUT HIMSELF  to offer. Funny - because that - is EXACTLY the gift that Jesus wanted! As I was asking God for what I might write about today, I decided to look up the date.  The verse that corresponds to 12/1 - today's date, is this: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bod...

This morning I am thinking about the fact that the Bible uses the imagery of a Lion to describe both Jesus and Satan. "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?' And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.  Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worth the open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders said to me, 'Stop weeping, behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.'" - Revelation 5:2-5 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your enemy, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:8 And for some odd reason - images from the Lion King come to mind. First there is Mufasa.  He is the king of Pride Rock and the beautiful and bountiful lands that surround it.  He is also "brother...

There are two stories in the Bible that are incredible to me.   They talk about times when Jesus was amazed.  Jesus - the Son of God, the one who was WITH GOD at the beginning and who will return at the end of days to separate the "wheat" from the "chaff." The first mention of Jesus' amazement was after a visit to his hometown.  The Bible tells us, "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.  He was amazed at their lack of faith." - Mark 6:5-6 So, there is power in faith, for without it - Jesus could not do any miracles.  Without faith - we limit God's ability to work in our lives. The other time Jesus was amazed can be found in Luke.  There we hear the story of a centurion whose servant is sick and about to die. The centurion had heard of Jesus and the things he had been doing, the people he had been healing, the miracles he had been performing, and so he sent some of the elders of the Jews to ask...

In the Disney Movie Peter Pan, Peter calls on Wendy, Michael and John to use faith, trust, and pixie dust in order to fly. Yet only two of the three of them have any power.. In the Bible we see that faith is critical.  The author of Hebrews 11:6 writes, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Over and over again Jesus tells people, "your faith has healed you." It happened in Luke 18:42 when Jesus heals a blind man.  Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." It happened with the woman whose years of bleeding was healed when she reached out to touch Jesus' cloak. "Jesus turned, and seeing her said, 'Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well,' and instantly the woman was made well." - Matthew 9:22 Jesus said it to the leper who returned to thank him after being healed. "And he ...

This morning I overslept.   I had hoped to get up at 6 or even 6:30, but instead as I looked at the clock it was 7.  That meant my morning routines had to be shifted and thrifted in order to get out the door at 8:30 as I had planned. And its ironic, because as I had gone to sleep last night I had been asking God for some inspiration for the next morning's post, but nothing was coming except that darned song from the Lion King - BE PREPARED. In Matthew 25 Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five were foolish and five were wise.  The wise ones took their lamps and extra oil. The foolish ones took only their lamps.   The bridegroom took a long time in coming and all of the women got drowsy and fell asleep.  However, at midnight the bridegroom finally arrived, but the lamps of the foolish women were going out, and when they went to get more oil, the bridegroom entered the weddi...

A few days ago I posted about Daddy/Daughter love, and acknowledged the joy I feel in knowing that God is my father and that He loves me.   That aside, my "self talk" is extremely negative. I often call myself things like, "idiot", "fatty", "stupid dumbass"... I honestly don't know when it started - whether it was before or after my divorce...and I know about all of the articles that tell me how much such talk has a way of eroding my own self-esteem and self-worth.  But every pound I gain, every silly thing I do, seems to confirm my worst suspicions about me, and so rather than speaking "life" to myself, I am often doing just the opposite. This past week however I woke up to a beautiful sky.  As the first light crept over the horizon, the sky was literally streaked with color...each color of the rainbow getting it's own distinct ribbon.  It was amazing!  It was incredible!   And I felt God. And I knew that the morning sky, and w...

There is an old saying, "One bad apple ruins the bunch," and I thought about that as I went out into the garage the other day to get a few apples to include in the stuffing I was making for Thanksgiving. In the bag of apples we had picked at Jim's farm, there - right at the top, was one that was clearly bad.  There was a big brown mushy spot on it and it was oozing a bit as well.  But the interesting thing was that the apples that were touching it had also started to rot. One bad apple... And then I thought about my days working in North Carolina as a social worker.  Before I worked in the prenatal clinic I had worked at a different location qualifying people for food stamps.  I remember there was a lady there named Julie who was one of the most negative people I had ever met.  She was always talking about how bad the work was. She was always complaining about the people.  She was always always gossiping about others in the office... and her negativity...

Years ago, when I thought I knew God, but really only had a cursory understanding of Him, the subject of "giving" came up. At that time, my husband and I were both making REALLY GOOD money, but the truth was - I wanted to hold onto it.  Money to me represented security.   And so...we decided that each month we would give $100 to the church.  In my mind, that felt like a fortune. I remember hearing about tithing. I even remember knowing people who did it - but the concept seemed strange and excessive.   Money was something we worked hard for every day, and we didn't really want to share it. One day as we were exiting church, we saw a woman with a few children asking for help.  My husband said she was most likely a beggar, and if she really needed help - the church would provide it for her... Fast forward about 15 years.  I'm remarried, and my relationship with God is no longer surface level, but instead he is a father, friend, confidant and mentor....

In the book of Jonah, the Bible tells the story of a man whom God told to go to the town of Ninevah (Ninne vah) in order to warn its inhabitants about their sinful nature and to ask them to repent. However, Jonah despised the Ninevites and didn't want to warn them of anything.  He thought if God wiped them off the face of the earth for their sins, that would be a beautiful and wonderful thing.  So, instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah got into a boat headed toward Tarshish in an entirely different direction. But God has a way of placing roadblocks in the way of things He'd like NOT to happen, and of opening doors toward the things He WOULD like to happen.  So as Jonah was sailing toward Tarshish there arose a great storm over the waters.  Recognizing that his disobedience was the cause, and if he didn't do something, they'd all die - Jonah urged the sailors to throw him overboard. When they did, the storm immediately stopped, however, then Jonah was stranded out in the...

Going to church this past weekend, I watched as a little girl, wearing a pretty dress, tights, patent leather shoes and a coat with a fur collar, held her Dad's hand and walked into the lobby.  I saw her looking intently at her Dad as he signed her into kid's ministry, and I noted her delight when he picked her up to carry her to her classroom. This little girl was happy, she was carefree, she was confident, and she was loved. I remembered being that little girl. Unfortunately, somewhere along life's bumpy rocky road, some of that happiness, some of that sense of love, some of that confidence, and some of the joie de vivre left me. It was a gradual erosion, so I didn't really notice it - but Jim did.   When we reconnected after years of being apart, Jim says he no longer recognized the woman I'd become.  He contends that I was a "shell" of my former self, someone who seemed "lost", "downtrodden", and "searching". You see at th...

Today I read a lovely post about why Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday for so many people.   If I were to boil the article down to its essence, it claimed that when Thanksgiving is done "right" it has the ability to take  us right back to our roots when times were simpler, and life didn't move quite as quickly as it does now.   Because at its core, Thanksgiving is about tradition, and food, and family, and friends, and taking the time to remember.   So what are the elements of a Thanksgiving done "right"?  I'm glad you asked! First - when it comes time for dinner, make a rule - NO PHONES at the table.  I am amazed I even have to say that - but I also have a teenager and two 20-somethings, and more and more I watch as their lives are consumed by time spent on their phones.  So, for Thanksgiving, I'm making a rule - and anyone who breaks it has to do the dishes! Next - PRAY .  Now at least at my house, not everyone who comes to Than...

Many moons ago I owned a piano.  I remember hiring a piano tuner who came equipped with a velvet roll tied with a ribbon.  Once untied the roll contained a variety of tuning forks. Now a tuning fork is an acoustic resonator used to produce a fixed tone.  Unlike many resonators, the sound a tuning fork makes is very pure. It was interesting to watch as the piano tuner would remove a fork from the roll - hit it on his knee, and then adjust the stings of the piano so they matched the tone the fork was producing.. I no longer own the piano, however, in my last night prayers I asked God to prompt my brain for an idea for the blog this morning, and then I went to bed thinking about tuning forks... You see, as we spend repeated time in our culture and in the day to day of our lives, it is easy for us to get "out of tune".  It is easy for the things of this world to start influencing how we think and how we feel.  And, just like a piano, the further out of tune we get, ...

Each day two of my friends send a daily inspiration via text.  From Tom, I get a Bible verse, and from Abb, a daily devotion that he gets from his friend, Deb Joy. Every Single Day!  What love!  What a blessing! Anyway - from Abb, one of the devotionals I got this week struck me to the core.  It read:   Are you a Mary or a Martha? "But Martha was busy with all the work to be done.  She went in and said, 'Lord, don't you care that my siste has left me alone to do all the work?  Tell her to help me." - Luke 10:40  Martha loved Jesus dearly and would have done anything for him.  Her struggle came in being still!  I can certainly relate to this scripture.  The harder I work before entertaining, the more frustrated I become at my mother for not giving me a sister!  I find that the more activity that consumes me, the less time I have for what is most important...spending time with Christ." Yep, that's me too!  And it'...

Growing up I recall many Sunday evenings spent as a family eating popcorn and drinking root beer floats as we watched The Wonderful World of Disney with our friends. Back then, Walt was in charge.   Walt was a devoted Congregational Christian who once said the following: "I believe firmly in the efficacy of religion, in its powerful influence on a person's whole life. It helps immeasurably to meet the storms and stress of life..." And in an article Walt wrote in 1949 for the magazine Guideposts, he said, "I was grounded in old-fashioned religious observance.  My people ere zealous members of the Congregational Church in our home tow, Marceline, Missouri.  My father, Elias Disney, who was a contractor, built our local church and was a deacon of the congregation.  I was baptized there and attended Sunday School regularly." Back when the parks first opened and Walt was in charge, alcohol was not served.  And, if you were someone who was vacationing at th...

Last night while watching a taped episode of The Amazing Race we saw teams race to build a home for bees.   Did you know that according the the United Nations Environment Program, of the 100 crop varieties that provide 90% of the world's food, 71 are pollinated by bees? My cousin is a beekeeper, and I heartily believe that beekeepers are to be commended.  Because although they continually risk being stung - beekeepers minister to the bees. However, bees have a doppelganger that is not quite so pleasant - the yellowjacket wasp.  In fact, yellowjackets are so bad that honeybees are high on the menu of insects on which yellowjackets feed.  Besides killing and eating individual bees, yellowjackets also raid hives for larvae, pollen and honey. So I went to bed thinking about honeybees and yellowjackets and I woke up thinking "bad company corrupts good character." (1 Corinthians 15:33).  It is a verse I have quoted here recently, and it is one that ou...

Umbrellas.  They protect us from the rain that would otherwise muss our clothes and hair.  And i f it is raining in a big city, you will see thousands of them bobbing over the heads of those who are trying not to get wet. BUT, I wonder...if we had a way to see into the hearts and souls of those same people, how many would have a halo over their heads?   How many would have some visible sign that would show us that they had spent the same time protecting their souls and their eternities, as they did protecting their clothes? "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." 1 John 5:19 So what kinds of "umbrellas" can we take out into the world today? 1. Time in God's Word -  "Jesus answered, 'It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"  - Matthew 4:4.  We know that the Bible is the inspired word of God.  And we know that Jesus spent time stud...

Apparently, when the missionary Stanley Jones met with Mahatma Gandhi, he asked, "Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it you appear to adamantly reject becoming a follower?." to which Gandhi replied, "Oh, I don't reject Christ, I love Christ.  It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ." (ref. The Knight's Templar & the Protestant Reformation by James Edward Stroud ) What a horrible commentary! As Christ followers I believe we are called to a few things: 1) LOVE GOD -  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) 2) LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF - "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord."  (Leviticus 19:18) (Matthew 22:37-40) 3) SHARE THE GOSPEL - "And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every...

I believe in God.  I believe in Jesus.  I believe in Heaven.  I believe in Hell.  I believe in Satan. Those are simple truths about my beliefs, and this past weekend my pastor said something that shook me to the core.  He claimed, "Satan NEVER presents himself AS himself.  He ALWAYS takes on a form that is acceptable to the person he is trying to take down." THAT is a scary thought. My friends, if we live our lives as if the Devil doesn't exist, we have already lost.   He is out there, and his primary goal is to separate us from God.  He will do that by lying to us.  "When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."  - John 8:44 He is crafty and will twist God's words.   "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?''"  - Genesis 3:1 He may even qu...

I have often said when God wants you to listen, He'll give you the same message over and over again until FINALLY it sinks in and you HEAR it. Such was the case this week with the name Salieri, the persistent notion about the Armor of God, and (you won't believe this...) the song Tiny Bubbles by Don Ho. That silly song is one I have heard in my head for at least a week now with no idea why.  I FINALLY decided to investigate. When I googled the song, I found the lyrics to be sappy, and romantic - so that wasn't it.  So then I googled "Don Ho and God" and a story from Inspiration Ministries gave me the answer I'd been looking for.. Apparently Don Ho's drummer, Ron Lee, was a Hawaiian born musician who had been raised Catholic, before marrying a Jewish woman and converting.  On May 20, 2002 at 10pm Ron says he was doing some work and had the TV on in the background when some "churchy-sounding music" began to play.   Don says he tried to change the...

The Bible spends a lot of time talking about things like LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS and SELF CONTROL.  But today I want to talk about ANGER - because even Jesus got angry...and I think it's important to see why. Take for instance the morning Jesus came riding into Jerusalem as a king.  Crowds of people lined the street.  They cut down palm branches and laid them along the road.  They shouted, "Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!" (Mark 11:9) And immediately after his triumphal entry, the books of Matthew and Mark both record the following two events (though they vary on which came first). "On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and wo...

As a child I don't feel as if my family was particularly religious....h owever, I DO remember going to church: I remember church potlucks and craft fairs. I remember singing in the choir and being in the pageants. I remember the little white nougat candies the pastor's receptionist used to give me, and the donut holes at coffee hour after the service. I remember mom teaching Sunday school and earning a "God Loves Me" pin for memorizing the books of the Bible. And I remember going on mission trips each summer throughout middle and high school. BUT I also know that somewhere along the line my parents stopped going.   I often wonder why... My pastor says he sees it a lot - people who come to church and get energized and full of zeal, only to have that same energy and zeal wane, and then the people end up leaving. Here is the thing I know from being in scouts when I was young - EVERY FIRE DIES IF IT DOESN"T GET FED.  And feeding a fire requires ACTION and INTENTION o...

For several weeks now I've woken up with the name Salieri on my mind.  And because I didn't know much about him - I ignored the continued prompting.  However, since this is the  weekend, I decided to look Salieri up and try to figure out why he was in my head. Apparently, Antonio Salieri was an Italian-born composer who lived between 1750 and 1825 in Vienna.  There he studied with the the renowned opera composer Christoph Willibald Gluck and through that esteemed connection, Salieri was appointed director of Italian opera for the Habsburg court.  In that position he often directed and conducted his own operas (of which he wrote 37)... Okay - fascinating - but God, why do you KEEP putting his name in my head?!?! And then I found it.  In a NY Times article from 1992, I read that " years before he met Mozart, Salieri had made a pact with God in which he promised to lead an exemplary life if God would make him a famous composer.  And, until Mozart appeare...