New Year, New Purpose!

I have two traditions for New Year's Day: The first is to gather all the Christmas cards and disassemble them. Fronts are carefully removed from the backs, unless they're photo cards, and neatly stacked. The insides, with the card sender's name(s), are punched and threaded onto a ring where they will reside with our Bible and devotional material at the kitchen table. 
Each morning, after breakfast, we have our devotions and then pray for the person or family on the top of the stack. We rotate through the stack throughout the year, flipping the card on top to the bottom and so forth. For us, this keeps the senders close all year long. This is not an original idea, I have blogged about this before. The idea came from friends years ago, Helen and Marv. They have both gone to their Heavenly home now, but we carry on in their spirit; we don't have cards in the stack from them anymore but they are always on our minds and in our hearts as we keep this tradition alive. So, what becomes of those stacked card fronts?

They are re-purposed into gift tags! I trim them into shapes, punch a hole and tie a ribbon for attaching to next year's gifts. I realized as I was doing this that this is a great activity for children. I should have done it over the weekend when the grands were here. Little ones love cutting, punching and threading the ribbon ties. I will remember that for next year, but I was on a mission to finish up the project up yesterday.

The second New Year's tradition is to transfer all dates and data from last year's calendar/planner into the new one. For the last five years I have given our daughter a planner for Christmas and she gives me mine. We let each other know in the fall which one we would like to receive and how we would like the cover to be personalized. Now, we both realize that we could order our own planners, but where's the fun in that?  It's exciting to unwrap our planners together each year! One year we both chose the same design; this year our daughter suggested three different designs and asked me to choose for her. 

These planners are big and roomy with pockets and folders too. I use mine incessantly, all in an effort to keep my life orderly and organized.  Some days I'm better at that than others. But, hey, it's a new year and I'm ready for it now; I'm always up for doing better than before and I can dream big too! 

Life is Good!

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I continue to pore through boxes of books that belonged to my mother-in-law, she and Dad collected books with a passion. I go through them slowly, carefully deciding which to keep and which to donate. Earlier this month I ran across this devotional book  entitled "This Is God's Day" by Dr. Reuben K. Youngdahl. It was a Christmas gift given to my in-laws in 1956. I have done some research on the book as well as the author. Dr. Youngdahl was a Lutheran pastor in Minneapolis, MN. He turned a relatively small Lutheran church there, Mt. Olivet, into what would be considered, by today's standards, to be a mega-church; he served that congregation from 1938 until his death in 1968. The book that we have is a first edition devotional volume, published by Augustana Press, Rock Island, IL in 1956. It is a gem. I cherish this book, altogether unbeknownst to me until now. Somehow it connects me, in a very tangible way, to my husband's precious family. We have added "This Is God's Day" to our daily devotional time each and every day, it helps me to miss my astounding mother-in-law just a teeny bit less; she was a faith model for me, and finding this book is almost like a secret gift she had saved for me to find now.

Beginning with a scripture verse, enforced by a compelling human interest story and, finally, punctuated with "Today's Thought" each day's entry is clear, concise and inspirational. What was timely decades ago stands today as well; just as God's word is wholly relevant--yesterday, today and tomorrow. Amen. Thanks, Mom!

"You need not ask a man if he is at peace-- his life will tell you."

Life is Good!

Enough Is Enough!

Psalm 16

With the holidays approaching, many of us will be tempted to overeat. Extra calories surround us in the form of second helpings, elegant desserts, and special one-time-a-year treats.  Nutritionists tell us that instead of denying ourselves, we should focus on limiting the amount we consume. Portion control is essential for a healthy diet.

Why do we want so much more than we need?  God supplied the Israelites with manna and quail in the wilderness. They had enough, but they didn't trust that God would continue to provide for them. When they tried to keep food for the next day, it spoiled. God taught them a lesson in portion control: take and eat only what you need. That's a lesson we need to learn, not just for food but for all kinds of stuff. Today we live in a culture where there's actually a hit television show about hoarding!

Perhaps our problem is not just with portion size, but with the whole idea of control.  We want to control our lives and our futures, but what God wants to give us is so much better than what we can provide for ourselves. Can we, like the psalmist, be satisfied with what God gives?

Thank you, generous God, for feeding us with the gift of yourself, through Christ. Amen.*

*From: Christ In Our Home, devotional for Friday, November 16.

by: Kathryn Kleinhans, Professor of Religion at Wartburg College; Waverly, IA

Life is Good!

Help Wanted!

"I can do it myself." I'm guilty of saying this much too often, I'll bet that you can relate. When I am overwhelmed, overworked, and overburdened I hear myself saying: "no, thanks; I can manage" when willing friends and family step forward and offer to help. Why do I do this? Stubbornness? Pride? Fear? I don't know, probably all  three. In this morning's breakfast table devotions my husband and I read the passage from Numbers where Moses begged God for help. God not only heard Moses' plea, but sent seventy elders to assist Moses in his work! I understand how Moses felt but it took a crisis, a tipping point, before he was fed up enough to cry out. It's as simple as asking the question. God will hear, He will provide; I need to remember that each and every day and forget about that destructive "I-can-do-it" attitude that keeps getting in my way! It's been proven to me over and over again that when the burden is shared, everyone wins; plus, that one true relationship is strengthened! But wait, there's more...

...it's not enough to just put out the sign and ask God for help. To truly please Him, for the relationship to go from being strengthened, to one that's growing, there's one more step; the hard part. Accepting that help, with a grateful heart and open hands to receive. I'm working on it!

Life is Good!

Love And Forgiveness

I've been singing one song a LOT  lately, and it's not been productive in the least. Remember BJ Thomas' "Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"? I haven't been singing it literally, but I have been living it in the figurative sense. Today's devotional passage on forgiveness came at the exact right moment to drive this ditty away. From Jeremiah 31, the 34th verse: "I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more."  The author of today's lesson, David R. Gillespie*, writes: "Can you and I not only forgive but forget as well? It's hard.  We seem to like our grudges and hold onto them.  We seem to like to pull things out of the past to hold over people's heads. Yes, the heart of God is not like that.  God forgives and forgets.  God doesn't keep our iniquity squirreled away to hold over our heads someday.  And we are called to mirror such forgiveness in our own lives and Christ's disciples."  What good news that was for my hungry ears and begrudging spirit this morning. God forgives... and forgets! I feel lighter already, letting go of heavy grudges and living with an open heart will do that. God just winked at me.

Life is Good!

*David R. Gillespie is a chaplain at Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville, SC.  He is also a pastoral counselor and spiritual director at Sacred Journeys, a shared ministry with Christ the King Lutheran Church, where he is a member. 

Let Your Light So Shine

  Peggy's Cove Lighthouse ~ Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our  hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

~2 Corinthians 4:6

This passage from scripture was part of our morning devotions today; and from our booklet, Christ In Our Home: "Even the smallest light has the power to destroy darkness and change the world."  -Anna Seden.

Let your light so shine...

Life is Good!

           

Oops!

I've gotten to the point where I need to write things down... every thing! I recently spent so much time trying to schedule a meeting that would accommodate every person's busy agenda that I completely forgot to make assignments for the meeting once a date and time had finally been agreed upon! Groan. That little fact dawned on me very early this morning, the meeting is at 11:30 AM today! And so it goes... last minute phone calls and e-mails to the rescue. In my mad search for devotions (which was the assignment that I issued to myself) I ran across this online. I jotted down the web address on a piece of notepaper. WOW! This was just the powerful and timely message that I needed today, I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence, either. Taking the time to listen is a skill I need to develop. I'm bookmarking this website, that way I don't need to remember where I put the note!

Life is Good!
...and that is something I do remember...