examination

"Test me, O LORD, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind."

Psalm 26:2 NIV

Advent is not only the beginning of the Christmas season, it is the beginning of the church calendar. You and I have the opportunity to approach this new year with Jesus differently than we have before. The same way we might approach New Year’s…reflecting on the past year, what we’ve accomplished, what we didn’t do that we wished we had, etc. We usually spend time thinking about changes we want to make. You know…those famous New Year’s Resolutions. But before you know where you want to go you need to know where you’ve been and where you are.
This second week of Advent, we will be looking at 'examination'.

As you reflect on this past year and as you prepare for the upcoming year, I invite you to spend some time with God asking Him to reveal those places in your life where you are falling short of what He wants for you. We all have those things in our lives that create a barrier between us and God. His love doesn’t change for us but our ability to experience it and share it with others is hindered by our sins.
Plan some time to sit with Him, in silence, and ask Him to examine your heart. You might want to consider asking questions like:

Lord, where am I falling short of what you have for me?

Would you please reveal those sins that I am not aware of?

How am doing at loving You?

At loving others?

Are there places in my life that You are trying to speak into and I am resisting?

As you sit and listen for Him to speak, know that His words will not be condemning or harsh. He is gentle when He is illuminating the dark areas of your heart. If you are experiencing shaming, condemning words consider that those might be the words of other voices…your own, your past or the Enemy. You will experience God’s correction as loving.
Begin this new year in God with an examined heart.

Grace and peace,
Deb

night

Darkness may seem like a place where nothing is happening. Consider a seed in the ground. It is surrounded by darkness. It seems silent and dormant. But in that dark, solitary place, it germinates. Above the surface, you cannot tell that anything is happening. But below, new life begins.

It is the same with you and I. There are times when I feel as if I am separated from God’s presence. If I rely only on my feelings or my senses, I might believe that God is not there, not working. I must come to a place of trust. In that place I would know that He is there whether I can feel him or not. God may seem to be hidden but He is present and working.

Do you feel like He isn’t there? Do you feel separated from Him? Do you feel like you are in the dark? Know that He is there. Know that He is working even though you cannot sense it. All you need to do is surrender to the work He wishes to do. Consider what that might look like today.


Grace and peace,
Deb

darkness to light

shadows hint at the beauty of creation
trees naked, except for the light coating
of snow they hold on their branches
as if it is an offering.
eyes strain to pick out familiar shapes
against the grey backdrop.
barely perceivable, branches give way to the wind.
quiet and peaceful, the snow blanket
wraps itself around the earth.
grey begins to dissolve into shades of blue
as the shadows
yield to the approaching light.
gently, gradually, almost
unperceivable, but yet the picture changes.

so with me.
shadows, darkness, heavy clouds
begin to lift.
it ‘becomes’ so gradually, i cannot see it.
but, i begin to notice the
changing landscape of my heart.
as the light moves in to dispel the darkness,
gently, gradually.

As we continue to wait expectantly for the gift that God has given….Christ come to earth as babe, may you open your heart to the work He wants to do in you.

Grace and peace,
Deb

darkness

And when you have drawn
your cloak of night about you,
and when
you have rolled back
day sky
and pinned it to the horizon,
and when
you have given yourself
to the darkness,
and when you have blurred
the familiar shapes
into uncertain shadows,
then,
thou tender of darkness
and of day
do not forget me.

Jan Richardson

As you watch and wait, you may not see anything. It may seem like darkness around you. He is present…in the dark.

Grace and peace,
Deb

'still' waiting

I was talking with some individuals about their missions trip to Guatemala. They were there to work in a medical clinic in a village. They told me that there was a very long line of people waiting to be seen by the American doctors. They waited and they waited and they waited. Many of them were not even seen that day and came back the next day to wait again. Whenever one of the team members would walk by the line, the villagers would smile at them. There was no grumbling, no frustration…just patient waiting.

It’s hard for me to imagine what that kind of ‘still’ waiting is like. I become impatient waiting for a red light to change or waiting in line at the grocery store. And we all know what it is like to wait in lines at the department stores as we shop for Christmas.

We view waiting as an inconvenience at best and at worse, as a painful lack of results. We look and look for a way out of the waiting. We want whatever is coming, to arrive.

I think God wants us to wait like the Guatemalans. Quietly, expectantly, still. Knowing that He has something meaningful for us at the end of the waiting.


“Still” waiting….meaning not only do we remain 'waiting'...we are doing it contently.
May you find peace in the waiting. May you be still and may you look for God in the midst of the not yet.

Grace and peace,
Deb

PS: I am out of town and may not be able to post tomorrow, but back on Thursday, for sure.

waiting

As a teenager I went to a Lutheran church. I remember terms like Advent and Lent but I didn’t pay much attention. Over the last few years, I’ve had a renewed interest in the church calendar. I would like you to celebrate the Advent season with me. We will be spending some time over the next four weeks looking more closely at this part of the church year.

As I understand “Advent” I’ve come to see that part of its meaning is “waiting with expectancy”. Now my background is not theology so for those of you who are more knowledgeable, please offer me some grace as I draw some of my own parallels.

Mary was a young girl. She was engaged to be married. Can you even imagine an angel showing up in your bedroom and telling you that you had been chosen to bear the Christ? Not only do you risk the neighbor’s whispers as they speculate behind your back about the circumstances that lead to you finding yourself in the ‘family way’…you risk death…by stoning. You risk your future husband believing that you had slept with someone else. Not only are you thinking you’ll need to convince him that you were not unfaithful but that an angel came to you to tell you God wanted to you to carry His son. It is no ordinary baby you carry. You carry the Son of God. Yeah right. Nowadays, that would be the right formula for a trip to the hospital and some powerful meds to help you with your delusional thoughts. Don’t believe me? Try telling someone you saw an angel and that he said you were pregnant by the Holy Spirit. I’ll come and see you on visiting day.

It’s easy for us to think that this was an ordinary experience back in Biblical times. But…it was just as extraordinary then as it would be now. She was a young girl…just a girl. And yet her response to the angel was remarkable. Scripture says she was confused and fearful. But, after the angel completed his explanation, she said, “I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say”.

She began “waiting with expectancy”. That is what Advent is for us as well. Waiting with expectancy. As we look forward to Christmas and the significance of God come to earth, what are you expecting? What are you looking for?

May you spend some time in the next day or so reflecting on what it is that you are expecting in your relationship with the Holy One? What are wanting? Waiting for?

May your waiting be filled with expectancy. God wants to meet with you in a different way…a more intimate way. Be looking. Be waiting…with expectancy.

Grace and peace,
Deb

blind faith

"MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."

Thomas Merton

I invite you to take some time today to reflect on this quote.

Grace and peace,
Deb