Trinity UCC Lenten Devotional for Tuesday, March 31, 2015 Obedience

 

Lenten Devotional;  Obedience

John 12:23-33

Jesus said: "The time has come for the Son of Man to be given his glory. I tell you for certain that a grain of wheat that falls on the ground will never be more than one grain unless it dies. But if it dies, it will produce a lot of wheat. If you love your life, you will lose it. If you give it up in this world, you will be given eternal life. If you serve me, you must go with me. My servants will be with me wherever I am. If you serve me, my Father will honor you.

Now I am deeply troubled, and I don’t know what to say. But I must not ask my Father to keep me from this time of suffering. In fact, I came into the world to suffer. So Father, bring glory to yourself.

A voice from heaven then said, “I have already brought glory to myself, and I will do it again!” When the crowd heard the voice, some of them thought it was thunder. Others thought an angel had spoken to Jesus.

Then Jesus told the crowd, “That voice spoke to help you, not me. This world’s people are now being judged, and the ruler of this world is already being thrown out! If I am lifted up above the earth, I will make everyone want to come to me.” Jesus was talking about the way he would be put to death.

 

Obedience 

by Kevan Franklin

The first station of the cross is the scene from the Garden of Gethsemane and a very human Jesus struggling to do something very difficult.  The Gospel of John doesn’t have a Garden of Gethsemane scene, but he does include this scripture about Jesus’ struggle to do what he knows is right.

 “I am deeply troubled and I don’t know what to say!!  But I must not ask my Father to keep me from this time of suffering.”  Jesus wasn’t where he wanted to be!!!!    Wow!!

We don’t want to be where we are!!  We find ourselves in that same situation so often in life!!

A struggling Jesus? A Jesus who at first wants something other than the God’s will? A Jesus who wishes to pass on the cup of suffering? If you're a Christian who believes that Jesus was not just a human being, but also Divine, then the scene in Gethsemane is troublesome. It stretches our understanding and removes our simplistic explanations of who Jesus really is. In Gethsemane, perhaps more than in any other scene of the Gospels, we see the fully human Jesus.

This means, among other things, that Jesus understands when we are tested, when we are weak, when we aren't sure we want God's will for our lives. In Jesus we have, not a god who is watching us from a distance, but One who struggles and suffers with us.  When have you, like Jesus, been deeply troubled and didn't know what to say?

 Whatever picture of Gethsemane you keep in your mind, let the Scripture fill out its meaning. May you be encouraged to come before God with complete honesty, holding nothing back. May you pour out your heart as you wrestle with God's will. As you do, we know that Jesus understands, and is there to walk beside us.

 If you love your life, Jesus says, you will lose it. If you give it up in this world, you will be given eternal life. 

Have you ever asked; What am I doing here? God has you here so that you can shine. 

When have you said to yourself; “ I don't want to be here.”  “This wasn't my plan.”  “ I can't be happy here.” 


If God wanted you somewhere else, you would be there already!  Careers, relationships, children, in plenty and in want..we often have no control. 
 The most significant events of our lives happen beyond our planning!  There is more to life than paying the bills.  Every one of our lives has meaning and significance.  Every one of us is created in the image of God. We have been given eyes to see God’s glory in the face of Jesus, who didn’t want to be where God has placed him!

 We value comfort too dearly. 

May Thy will be done.  Even Jesus struggled with this!! We want our own will. Our Holy Week devotions theme is obedience to God.  The spiritual life requires us to let go of our desire for things we cannot have. Sometimes we are asleep! But God is in charge.  Not us.
 

 

Lent Check;

You ARE in ministry whether you know it or not. Awake or asleep!

Begin to think about how you need to grow  in order to be effective right where you are today.  Be mindful of where you are. Let go of harmful desires.

Reflection Question;

How can I learn to focus more on what I have to give instead of what I have to get? 

 

Prayer

Jesus, my friend, as I reflect upon Your experience in Gethsemane, I am once again amazed by Your integrity. You stand with me in my hard times and places. You encourage me to wrestle with God’s will. Thank You, Jesus, for your humanity, who You are, for what You have done, and for what You are doing in my life today and especially for your courage in a time of testing.  We are all stronger for it.  Amen.

Trinity UCC Lenten Devotional for Saturday, March 28, 2015 "Right Speech"

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.  Colossians 4:6

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.  Proverbs 15:1-2
 

 

 

by Kevan Franklin

 

Several years ago I preached a sermon at Trinity on the Buddhist concept of “Right Speech”  Which goes something like; ”Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of suffering.”

 

After worship, one of our members approached me and told me that her mother used to say;   ”Be sure your words are kind and sweet, you’ll never know which ones you’ll have to eat!”  Apparently, Right Speech has been paraphrased to fit many different kinds of ears, as it should!

 

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and our Confirmation Class will celebrate the Rite of Confirmation during morning worship .  In the UCC, the vows for Baptism, Confirmation, Membership, Ordination and Installation are very similar, they just take on broader meaning as we recognize our gifts and accept greater levels of service.  I think about how those words in each of those vow-taking occasions change lives.

 

"Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ’s disciple, to follow in the way of our Savior,  to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice and to witness to the works and words of Jesus Christ as best as you are able.”

 

That is our intention.  The world is full of harmful words spoken by careless people.  Our Words are important because our words become actions.  Be careful what words you speak, they have the power to change your life!

 

Lent Check;

 

Examine the last thing you said to a family member, a friend, a co-worker.

 

How does the spiritual idea of being careful with our speech change the way you approach difficult conversations?

 

 

Prayer ;  God, Speak to me, that I may speak in living echoes of your tone.  Amen.

Trinity United Church of Christ Lenten Devotional March 27, 2015 "Patience"

"But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience."    Romans 8:25

 by Kevan Franklin

After a long, cold winter, most of us are looking forward to being outside.  Many of our members are avid gardeners. Here's to our gardener's and the great people at Trinity who watch over our flowerbeds!

 

I heard once that there is a Golden Rule of Gardening;  When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.  I really don't like to weed.  When I was in High School, my parents made me weed the garden before I could play baseball.  In addition, I was never a good judge between weeds and plants.

 

Howard Thielbar was one of the great spiritual saints in the church I served in Springfield, Illinois.  Into his late Nineties, Howard still carried gardening tools around in the trunk of his car, just in case he was near enough to stop by the church to touch things up.  First Congregational had a gift for growing very tall, unsightly weeds on the North side of the building. They were at least 7 foot tall with sharp thorns up and down the stalk.  Not the kind of thing you want people to see when they drive by your church.  And they grew fast!

 

One day, Howard asked me to help him run a hose from the church to the area where they were growing up the side of the building  to the second story windows.  He turned the water on and watered those weeds for at least ten minutes.  He said,  "OK.  We're done. Turn off the water"   I said, "So...You came to water our weeds?"  He replied, "No.  I'll be back tomorrow and we can slide those weeds right out of the ground. The water will loosen the roots in about a day."   Howard knew what he was doing.  In life, as in gardening, we like to have immediate results, but sometimes, it's better to be patient and do it the right way.

 

Patience and knowledge go a long way.  It's especially helpful to have Howard Thielbar in the church because of his gift of knowing what to do.   Just like so many other things in life, if we had ripped those plants out of the ground, they would have broken off and almost overnight grown up again.  By giving them time, the roots came out with the stalk. 

 Patience is a great gift of the Spirit because good things take time!

Lent Check;

Why are weeds so hearty and flowers so fragile?

Why is it so easy to gain weight and so hard to lose it?

When have you been so impatient for progress that you took a shortcut that backfired?

 

Prayer;  God of field and garden,  what an amazing world you give us to live and learn in.  Help us to learn lessons about life this Spring as we tend your earth. Grant us patience and wisdom to tend your garden well.  Thank you for wise saints who show us the way.  Amen.

 

Trinity United Church of Christ Lenten Devotional for Thursday, March 26, 2015

1 Peter 1:9

“You are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls”.

by Kevan Franklin

 

What did walking around with Jesus do for Peter?

What can walking around with Jesus do for us?

 

 

Who was Peter?

                   What do you remember about Peter?

Peter couldn’t hide who he was on Jesus' final night around the fire.  He was short on courage and wisdom. 

What did that night of testing do to Peter?

 His denial of Jesus certainly wasn't his first challenge as a disciple.

 

Remember when Peter;

Sank into the sea

Mispoke at the Transfiguration

          Sent children away

          Cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant

Was accused by Paul of being hypocritical about eating with Greeks? 

Surely these moments caused Peter to think differently.

 

Peter messed up.   A lot!  So do we.  Our eyes are human.

Remember the walking on water test?

          Walking around with Jesus changes hard-headed people into humble people.  Peter learned to say, “I may be wrong..”

“I may not have the courage that God needs for the tasks of this day.”

But he also learned resilience.

 

As Peter reminded the faithful in Asia Minor, we also need to be reminded that every generation before us thought that they had all of the answers.  And they were wrong.  Very wrong, about all sorts of things.  It serves us well to do away with any intellectual arrogance that assumes that we already know everything, or that we even know the most important things.

 

Peter above all others knows that he doesn’t know.

All he has is the knowledge of Christ.

 

 

Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote these lyrics for the 1930 Dedication of Riverside Church in New York City ;

 

“Grant us courage, Grant us wisdom for the facing of this hour.

Save us from weak resignation,
To the evils we deplore.
Let the search for Thy salvation,
Be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Serving Thee Whom we adore."

 

Courage and Wisdom.—Peter’s plea in his letter.

 

Peter had denied and misunderstood and intentionally stood in the way of God’s will.

Peter found the salve he needed for his wounds.  He knew he was powerless.

Peter was powerless sometimes over his own captivity to the powers that be and he made bad choices.  Peter knew ultimately that all of us are captives to the power of death.  So Peter became a new person through his tests. 

He acquired the courage and wisdom for the facing of his hour.

What did walking around with Jesus do for Peter?

What can walking around with Jesus do for  us?

 

 

Lent check;

 

What is the outcome of your faith?

What difference does it make that you go to worship?

That you pray?

That you have hope?

That you try to see with the eyes of Christ?

Just walk around and look.

 

It meant everything to Peter. It saved his Soul.

 

May you find courage and wisdom for the facing of your hour.

 

Prayer;   O God of hosts,  You call us to walk with you. We know that there is much to see and do and learn.  Grant us wisdom and courage when our hour comes.  Amen.

Trinity UCC Lenten Devotional for Wednesday, March 25, 2015

“As God’s Chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”  Colossians 3:12

 
by Kevan Franklin
 

Recently, someone said to me, "I can't come to church.  I don't have a suit or tie." Perhaps one of the most significant cultural changes that has taken place is that we have gone from a formal culture to an informal culture. People can be very self-conscious and especially if they are in a new place.  If we think about it, one of our deepest needs is to belong.  To fit in. We don't want to feel out of place.  The Bible is full of references to clothing and garments.   

 

Several years ago, Gil Rendle led an Alban Institute workshop titled "Changes Driving the Church".  One of his illustrations highlighted the difference in clothing from the 1940's to today.   On one side of a split screen powerpoint slide was an iconic photo of Times Square in New York City at the end of World War II.  In that photo, every single man had on a brown suit and tie and a derby hat. Every woman was wearing a dress.  On the opposite side of the slide was a current picture of Times Square.  Everyone in that picture was wearing  a vast array of bright colors and different styles. 

 

One of the questions we frequently have to answer in churches today is "What should I wear"? Fortunately, things are changing. We are no longer held to strict dress codes.  At least in the UCC.   We certainly don't want the church to obsess about appearances.  Read the book of James for more commentary on this issue.

 

The culture of the "Greatest Generation" created the phrase "Sunday Best" to mean you made every effort to wear your best clothes to Church because it was an outward sign of an inward attitude.  Our generation favors comfort and authenticity.  Many people today don't even own a suit.    

 

In the early church, the phrase "put on Christ" had something to do with Baptism and a complete change in ways.  When Paul wrote "Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience" maybe he was answering the same question people often ask us.   It's not about the clothes we wear.  It's about the inner attitude we bring with us to worship. 

 

Lenten Check;    Have there been times when I have tried to "keep up appearances" while inside I was a mess?  When we focus on appearances, how can we miss the spiritual things that really matter.  How can we be God's eyes?  How can we "put on Christ"? 

 

Prayer

 

Teach, us, O God of all generations, to live in joy and service which never goes out of fashion.

 

Amen.

Trinity United Church of Christ Lenten Devotional for Monday, March 23, 2015

Scripture

"Seeing the people, Jesus felt compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd" -Matthew 9:36

by Kevan Franklin

A child’s first day of school is an emotional event for every parent. It is a rite of passage of sorts.  Pictures of well dressed, well equipped children standing in the doorway on their way to the first day of school adorn Facebook and photo albums.  The school district that I attended had a bus system where long bus rides to and from school were typical.  We lived in a rural area and the elementary schools were spread around the district in four different areas.  I attended “Camden School” in the town of Kipton.    

On my first day of school, I got into trouble with my Kindergarten teacher.  I know that must come as a shock to many of you.  I was innocent of course.  My mother was the kind of person who always thought ahead.  First days of school are often more difficult for mother’s than for students, so she made sure that I was prepared for school.  On my first day of Kindergarten, she attached a little paper tag to my shirt with a safety pin.  All that was written on the tag was the number "18".   "18" was my school bus number in case I forgot what bus I needed to ride. 

There was some confusion among my new classmates as to where we were supposed to go when we left the class.  The buses lined up along the side of the school looked pretty big when you’re 5 years old!   The students milled around uncertain about where to go.  With my “18” pinned to my shirt I reassured them that I knew where I was going.  Soon, a line of kindergartners were following me up and down the line of buses looking for “18”.

Apparently Kindergarten teachers don’t think it’s a good idea for students to find their own way to the right bus line.  They have rules after all and children can’t go about looking for buses on their own. 

“Hey you kids, get back here!”  Miss Davidson had been a Kindergarten teacher for more than 30 years and she knew how to handle disobedient children! My ambitions for a rebellion were shattered.   We were all ushered back behind the safety of the yellow line. 

Throughout our lives, there are many people who watch over us on God’s behalf.  Some out of love, and others out of duty.  God’s ways are indeed mysterious. We can be grateful for all of the ways that people try to look after us. 

Who was the person who looked out for you by thinking ahead?

Who keeps you safe? 

Prayer

O God, today we pray for all of the shepherds you have sent into our lives, the kind ones as well as the gruff.  Your love protects us in mysterious ways.  Amen.

Trinity UCC Lenten Devotional for Saturday, March 21st "Struggle" By Jodi Kirk

Saturday, March 21^st:

By Jodi Kirk

SCRIPTURE:

Jeremiah 17:7-8 

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

 

POEM:

Poem #17

By Terri Gelzer

Shower me with kindness and good wishes

so I might tuck them away;

I will use them on a gray day

That finds me adrift in a sea of sad.

 

Shower me with hope and yeses

so I will remember it happens that way

sometimes.

I will keep learning even on a day

when I feel like my paper will come back

to me with a big fat F written across the top

written in red ink (of course)

maybe I will not be so afraid to fail.

 

Shower me with songs and stories

I want to know your heart

I might know myself better

especially if the same thing ever happens to me

I will listen to another world.

 

Take my hand

here is some soap

and water

We will be clean and shiny together

 

REFLECTION:

I struggle with the concept of “more”.  I am constantly seeking…more.  I have lofty ideals and incredible visions of how things could be …of how I should be. I yearn for MORE. I search for something BEYOND. I ache with the knowledge that there is so much more to examine and explore. I yearn to unearth more depth, more understanding, more compassion, more hope, more love…to discover a more realized and fuller sense of me.

Every new year, every new season,  every new month – heck  - the beginning of each week, I am on the hunt for ways to be …better … more efficient, more patient, more healthy, more productive, more kind, more active, more loving, more organized, more creative, more scholarly.  I so badly want to be a better mom, a better teacher, a better wife, a better sister, a better friend, a better artist, a better cook, a better house keeper, a better communicator.  I am forever making resolutions and promises to myself. I will play more, I will walk more, I will read more, I will write more. I will sleep more, I will clean more, I will BE more. 

I love dreaming and making plans. I love re-imagining aspects of my life and have grand notions of creating vision boards and waking early to meditate and do yoga and journal while sipping the perfect cup of herbal tea, I come up with new systems to organize toys and legos (can one ever really organize legos?) and elaborate chore charts that seem equitable and break down the seemingly endless tasks of life into perfect, manageable chunks. I come up with new exercise routines and lay out perfectly planned – and super healthy – meals for the week ahead.  I write out to do lists and dream sheets which lay out my goals and hopes in what seems to be orchestrated divinity. 

Somehow, in spite of my vision, my hopes, my resolutions, my planning and plethora of promises dishes still pile up in the sink, we end up ordering pizza, I over sleep, the book I am trying to read remains unfinished and my journal and vision board remain untouched.

Searching for the unobtainable “more” is great incentive and calls for a great deal of reflection and invites wonder and possibility, but it can also be disappointing. It can lead to a very real sense of not measuring up. The quest for “more” can imply that somehow I am not enough.

The truth of the matter is that I am more that enough We are ALL more than enough. Isn’t that , in large part, what Lent and Easter are all about.  We are God’s children and even at our messiest, we are loved.  In the moments when we feel like we are doing nothing right, we are forgiven.  When we feel like everything is hopeless, we are given a second change, Every new day, every new moment, every new season, every new year, provides each of us with the opportunity to stretch beyond our comfort zones, to reach for something greater … something MORE … not because we fall short or because we are unworthy but because we are so more than enough. God has made it so.

PRAYER:

Dear God, thank you for opening our eyes to new possibilities. Thank you for knowing our full potential and guiding us to new growth while loving us exactly as we are. Thank you for loving us through our imperfections and failings and reminding us that we are worthy of your goodness, your grace and your steadfast love.

Trinity UCC Lenten Devotional for Friday, March 20, 2015 "Struggle"

Friday, March 20^th:

Anonymously submitted

SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 121:1-2

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—    where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord,    the Maker of heaven and earth.

QUOTE:

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble that can gather strength from distress and grow.”

Thomas Paine

 

REFLECTION:

It was late, or maybe early morning. She wasn’t sure. It was dark, and silent in the house. She could not sleep and she was desperate for clarity. Through sobbing and pounding fists that early morning she came to the realization every relationship would be like this. Her expectations of a shared life with someone who valued her was just a dream, a silly dream.  It was a deeply sad thought that this would be as good as it would get. That she could not disagree, express her own opinion or seek her own path separate from the one he had prescribed for her.  That when she did an assault, not physical but mental and emotional, would rain down on her. At first it was so slight and hardly noticeable. Then it became ever more frequent, but she dismissed it. It was the stress of his job, and she would just love him through it. Then it broke out into the open, he distorted her thoughts, her words, her feelings and emotions. He isolated her from family and friends. He enlisted coworkers and his friends to help in his endeavor to keep her close and tied to him.  He needed her to be needy not self-reliant. 

When did it all begin, how far into the relationship did it begin to turn. She couldn’t pin point it and she desperately wanted to. She needed to know what she had done wrong, how she had arrived here. She knew the breaking point, that night in the car when she was screaming, pounding the steering wheel and ready to hit someone. That someone was her best friend who at that moment had told her she had helped him. She knew what was happening and had helped him. Why? She screamed at her, the answer, “Because I knew you loved him.”  He had managed to assault and tear apart every aspect of her and her life and she had let him. She had played along and let him. Her anger at herself was only matched by her anger at him. How could someone you love and who says they love you do this.  How could the strong independent woman she had become disappeared so fast.

Yet she kept trying to make it work, up until the breaking point. The point in which she questioned her own sanity and desire to live. In desperation she reached out and that person took hold and pulled her out. In that simple act the story began to change.  They helped her place distance between them and that allowed her to regain strength. They helped her stand, then to walk and then to run.

Years would roll by and the healing would continue, and she would use what she had walked through to reach out to others, to empower women, to speak her mind and fight for justice. She would learn that God was enough, and always had been. She would never forget that again.  He would be her strength, her comfort and her shade.

This is the face of domestic violence. Sometimes the enemy is closer than you think. –

 

PRAYER:

Lord, we are created in your likeness. We are designed by you but defined by the world. In our weakness we allow the world to rush in and tell us who we are. How sacred we are yet we believe the lies the world tells us. With each story told of injustice and violence we weaken the power of evil. Let it hide in the darkness no more. Let us took to the hills, God in you we are enough. AMEN.

 

 

Trinity UCC Lenten Devotional for Thursday, March 19, 2015 by Jodi Kirk

Thursday, March 19^th:

By Jodi Kirk

SCRIPTURE:

Romans 8:18

 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

POEM:

POEM #7:     

By Terri Gelzer

Comfort came

In a red Christmas mug and her blue car.

On a clear March night,

The sky was bright with starlight.

We looked up.

We breathed in the cold crisp air.

It was still.

It was quiet.

The angels were singing .

Love and laughter rang together.

We were singing.

There were no more tears to cry.

Life was absurd.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

We almost did not care.

But,

The sound of our love and laughter

saved us.

Because she loved us,

and always will.

 

REFLECTION:

A beautiful friend once told me that we are born twice: when we are birthed into this world and when we lose a parent.  Seventeen years ago, I held my mom’s hand as she took her final breath. The moment is burned into my memory, for I knew the exact moment she decided to move beyond.

The doctors, an esteemed team of cardiologists, had just left the room and told my mom that she needed to start eating and that they would be bringing Ensure – a fortified milkshake – with her next tray.  They were not really worried, they just wanted to speed up the healing process from her open heart surgery just two days before.  Knowing that this was not the news my mom wanted to hear, I took her hand as they left the room and assured her that “it would be okay…”.  She looked at me, and smiled, and said, “I am just so tired…” In what seemed less than a minute, her eyes were fixed on a distant unseen light and I heard a raspy exhalation of air and then…silence. I panicked and looked at my sister and ran out into the hall and called for the nurses. “My mom isn’t breathing! She stopped breathing!”  My sister and I were immediately ushered out of the room as the nurse called a Code Blue.

In the colorless visitor’s lounge, sitting on a beige wood framed couch, Randi held onto hope and prayed. I prayed as well but I knew that she had passed. I knew that my life would never be the same. I knew that I would never hear my mom’s laugh again. I knew that I would never sink into one of her all encompassing hugs or call her on the phone, just because. We would no longer meet for breakfast on Saturday mornings or go for long walks at Edgewater. I knew that her house – the house I grew up – would no longer feel like home.

I prayed that she made the right choice. As much as I hated losing my mom, I hated the fact that I so struggled with letting her go. You see, although she was only 66 and seemed to be at her vibrant best, she knew something that the doctors and those who loved her best, did not. She knew that her body was struggling…her heart – her beautiful, magnificent heart – was not working the way it should. And in spite of what should have been a successful, almost common place, bi pass surgery, her heart was worn out. Her heart was tired. In truth, my mom was tired. She was ready to slip into a new expansive realm, even though it meant leaving us behind. Even though it meant leaving me behind.

I, on the other hand, was ready to go to the mat and, in fact, had planned to take time off so I could be with my mom for the recovery process. My sisters and I had come up with a pretty elaborate plan dealing with the logistics of her coming home, of her healing. In the midst of struggle and challenge, you fight, right?  I mean, in so many ways that is what my mom had taught me…had taught all of us.

No matter what comes your way, you work through it. In moments of greatest testing, you fight through in order to reach the other side. My mom was a SURVIVOR! She was – and is – the strongest woman I know. When my dad left, leaving her with five kids to raise, she fought to keep our family intact and put bread on the table and a roof over our head and somehow managed to infuse our lives with a sense of joy and gratitude. She was a 25 year breast cancer survivor. She put her kids through college and went back and earned a degree herself. She fought sexism in the work place and became one of the first woman managers at the very same bank that had paid her half the salary of her male counter parts when she began working in the late 60’s. She fought prejudice and stood by my sister and against some family members and our very own minister when he refused to marry Terri and David, an interracial couple, in 1973. She was feisty. She never gave up. She set the bar high and expected everyone to figure out how to climb over it.

And yet, it was in her last moment that my mom taught me one of the greatest lessons of all…sometimes, in the midst of struggle, it is okay to let go.  You don’t always have to fight to discover the light. Sometimes freeing yourself from struggle allows you and others to soar.  Although I wasn’t ready to say good bye to my mom – are we ever ready to say good bye to our loved ones? – I know her dying birthed in me a sense of independence, a broadening of compassion and a deepening of my faith. In my mom’s eyes, I was perfect and beautiful.  She always believed in me and celebrated my gifts like no other. Even in her final earthly act, she demonstrated her profound love and steadfast confidence in my strength and abilities. She had fought for so long, because of me – because of my brothers and sisters – but in those last moments she knew it was finally okay to let go because she had taught us to fight for ourselves and knew that we were more than fine.

Since my mom’s death, I have faced many struggles of my own. I try to face them as my mom did … with courage, strength, love and a belief that all things happen for a reason. Mom taught me and continues to remind me that we are never alone in our struggles. There is always a gift in the problem…and sometimes we discover our strength when we are most vulnerable.





PRAYER:

Healing Creator, thank you for those difficult and challenging moments – the moments of heartache and struggle – when grace and purpose and understanding is revealed and owned. Thank you for guiding is through the storms of our lives and shepherding us to safe harbors. Let us know the strength that comes through openness and vulnerability. Help us to know when it is time to let go and when it is time to fight against problems that feel too big.  Shower us with your love, your wisdom and your mercy. Amen.

Trinity UCC Lenten Devotional for Wednesday, March 18, 2015 "Struggle" by Lynda Varno

Wednesday, March 18^th:

By Lynda Varno

SCRIPTURE:

 

1 John 3:18

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

 

REFLECTION:

 

I call it the Jodilee Syndrome. Anyone knows that if the fabulous Jodi Kirk gently asks you to participate in something, that answer is always, "Yes!" No matter what it is, I always say, "Yes," to Jodi Kirk. This essay is one of those "Yeses!" Jodi has a beautiful, infectious magic about her that I'm pretty sure could change the world. Yes, the world needs more people just as lovely as Jodi Kirk. Why am I talking about Jodi when I am supposed to be delivering a piece on struggle? Well, isn't that question in itself the struggle? 

 

How often do you really, and I mean really, tell the people that you feel so wonderfully blessed by just how much their love impacts you? I struggle with this scenario far too much. There are so many people that I see on a usual basis; and yet, most of them have no clue how wonderful their presence makes me feel. I get so lost in going through the motions, or getting to the next meeting, that I constantly forget to talk about the important stuff. Stuff like, "Thank you," or "You are great,"  "I love you," "I need you," "I'd be lost without you, " "I'm so glad we're friends." Yes- these are the phrases that I struggle with. And; then again, I'm struggling with these words because it would require time. Isn't that a novel idea? Taking time to talk to people you love? Taking time to let people know how you feel? Being brave no matter the response? It can be difficult to tell people how you feel about them, but it takes courage to show them how you feel. 

 

Think of all the ways you show people that you love them. Think of all the ways that you demonstrate love to others. I hope that when my husband opens his lunch box at work he knows that the contents were made with love. I hope that when I drop my kids off at school and tell them to have a great day that they know that I love them and will miss them as soon as I step out the door. I hope when I hug my friends that they feel all the love, amazement, and thankfulness that I have for every single one of them. Yes, telling people how you feel is difficult, displaying love is difficult, but the STRUGGLE of never doing either of those things is ever more present. 

 

Stop the struggle. Stop the nagging inner-voice of nonsense. Stop the madness. Go out today and tell someone you love them. Go out today and hug someone that needs it. Go out today and tell your friend how much you love them and how very thankful you are for their love, support and constant presence. No matter what you do, DO something. Say something. Show someone love. Be the love that this world needs today. It starts with you, my friend. I'm blessed that you're reading this and I LOVE you; yes even you, too! 

 

 

PRAYER:

 

Join with me in prayer: 

Heavenly Creator, thank you for the beautiful struggle of today. Thank you for the wondrous love you give to me, even when I feel I don't deserve it. Help me to foster your message of love in my heart and to share it with those who make my heart dance in joy. Help me to show love in the midst of daily struggles and to find the words to say it, Lord. Allow me to be filled by your grace, washed by your mercy and embraced in your goodness. Yes, Lord, I need you, I'm thankful for you and I'm so glad we're friends. Amen. And Amen.