How to Listen – God Gave us Two Ears that are Open All of the Time
Someone said the other evening at a church meeting that God gave us two ears that were always open and one mouth that we could shut. I had never “heard” it put that way before, so I wanted to share that description.
Meditation involves listening to God. As part of God’s family, it’s important that we listen to others too. Sometimes we are called just to show up and be present.
Paul Reiter shared the following with me. Paul is the Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy and will be joining us during our Build Spiritual Muscle series in the month of June. It was too good to keep to myself, so I wanted to share it with you.
Listen
When I ask you to listen to me,
And you start giving me advice,
You have not done what I asked.
When I ask that you listen to me,
And you begin to tell me what I shouldn’t feel that way,
You are trampling on my feelings,
When I ask you to listen to me,
And you feel you have to do something to solve my problems,
You have failed me, strange as it may seem.
Mother’s Day – God Bless Mothers – On Earth and In Heaven
Sunday will be Mother’s Day. For many, it’s a time of celebration. For me, this mother’s day will be a time of celebration. My mother is still with me. She turned 92 in January. Considering all that she has physically to deal with, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and asthma, you would never guess that she is 92 – more like 70, and she certainly doesn’t act a day over 16!
Here she is after she broke her left wrist in the fall of 2008. She goes by the name of Bea. This pose is typical of her personality because she always felt more comfortable performing on the stage.
After this happened, I told her, “Mom, you’re lucky that it was your left wrist because you’re right handed.” Two weeks later the phone rang. It was my mother telling me she had broken her right wrist. She told me she couldn’t help it because she’s always been an over-achiever! That’s where I get it….. and her sense of humor. My mother is truly an inspiration.
I am a mother. For the first time in a long time, my son will be with me this Mother’s Day – Another reason for celebration.
For others, who have lost their mothers, however, this will be a time of, perhaps, grief. Continue reading
Learning How to Love Thanks to My Labrador Retriever, Wilson
Time really flies. It will be one year next month that we added Wilson, the yellow lab, to our family. When we adopted him, he was about to turn two years old. We were the fourth family he had been with in a period of 20 months.
Now, I’ve never owned a Labrador. My last dog, and best friend, was Duffy, a Golden Retriever. I quickly found out that the breeds are entirely different. While both are known to be chewers, Duffy at least had some restraint. Wilson, on the other hand ate anything! In a very short period of time we lost a Handel’s Messiah score, the cover to one of my favorite journals, the cover to one of my favorite books, an I-Pod, two pair of eye glasses…. Need I go on? Continue reading
Army Chaplain, Rev. Scott Smith Tells Us How to Build Our Courage Muscle
If you need some inspiration and want to know how to develop more courage in your life, you will want to spend a little under 40 minutes listening to Army Chaplain, Rev. Scott Smith. Also, if you know of family and friends who have loved ones in the military, send them to the Build Spiritual Muscle page of this website.
Scott was the Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood, Missouri up until a week ago, when he was suddenly called back into active duty. Here’s what our Pastor, David Holyan has to say about Scott.
“While I will miss Scott dearly, especially his energy, integrity, friendship and pastoral intuition, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and his calling to serve as a chaplain in the US Army. While there is great need throughout the church universal, the men and women in uniform, along with their families and friends, deserve the best that we, as a nation, can provide. So, while I will miss Scott’s presence among us, I take a great deal of solace from knowing that in Scott’s leaving, in our loss, the people of the United States Army are getting ‘the best we can offer’.”
Fortunately, Scott is not being sent overseas. But he will be missed greatly. I am honored to be able to share Scott Smith with you through this free teleseminar.
When you fill in your first name and primary email address, you will be sent the details on how to access this call. The call was pre-recorded, so you can listen now – April 19 through Sunday – April 25. Then it will be taken down.
Please enjoy this time with Army Chaplain, Rev. Scott Smith as he teaches us how to build our spiritual muscle – the courage muscle:
- How practicing faith builds courage
- How to deal with a shadow self in building courage
- How being vulnerable builds courage
- How receiving forgiveness builds courage
Next month’s call will feature the Rev. Dr. Karen Blanchard. Karen will talk to us about the heart muscle.
Please continue to pray for our brave men and women in the military and for their families.
God’s Greetings Cards – “His Eye is on the Sparrow”
Spring for me holds a new promise of life, hope and new beginnings. It’s become my favorite time of the year.
I have come through some very difficult times and springtime seems to be a time when many issues have been resolved. Every time without exception, God has provided. But God not only provided for all of my needs, He also sent me greeting cards in the process.
One such time was in the spring. I had just moved to a small, rental house during a very painful divorce. I was also unemployed and down to my last nickel. As God so often does, at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute (God seems to work like that…) He provided a wonderful dream job when all of my money had run out.
Living in my little rental house, I did a lot of soul searching and healing. There is a favorite song from my childhood that I used to sing at church and still sing when I am being thoughtful and wanting to feel God’s presence. The song title is “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and the lyrics are - Why should I feel discouraged / Why should the shadows come / Why should my heart feel lonely / And long for heaven and home / Continue reading
Three Steps to Success and Inner Peace
Love God
Love Your Neighbor
Love Yourself
Bible Study, Self Help Books and Personal Development – The Big Paradox
The book stores are filled with isles and isles of self help and personal development books. Topics to help you be motivated, achieve success, how to combat depression, anxiety, improve self esteem, abound. If you are seeking help to improve in an area of your life, you’ll most likely find a book on it.
My book shelves are filled with these “helpful” books, even spiritual and Christian books on the subject of improving our spiritual walk. I am a voracious reader, soaking up as much as I can. The more I’ve been reading, however, the more empty I have felt. This week I finally discovered why.
Build Spiritual Muscle Free Teleseminar Series Begins
Do you need a little pick me up this week? Let me introduce you to the Rev. Dr. David Holyan, pastor extraordinaire and “foodie”. We won’t be talking recipes on this call, but we will be cooking up some great conversation in the first of the series – Lose Weight, Build Spiritual Muscle – We’ll be talking about how to lose the weight of worry, doubt and fear and build our belief muscle, courage muscle and heart muscle – just to name a few muscle groups.
Tonight we will be talking about building our belief muscle. You can look forward to hearing lively conversation on practical ways to grow our faith.
Just click on the Build Spiritual Muscle banner to reserve your seat. Can’t make it tonight? That’s okay. Your reservation will allow you to hear the replay. This replay will be available for an additional 48 hours.
Future speakers will be the Rev. Scott Smith, former Army chaplain who served in Iraq. Scott will be talking to us about building our courage muscle. If you know of any families with loved ones in the military, this would be a great call to encourage them. So, forward this website link to them. Please keep our courageous military men, women and their families in your prayers.
Future guest experts will be the Rev. Dr. Karen Blanchard, the Rev. Dr. Paul Reiter, the Rev. Dr. David Butler and an ongoing list of spiritual mentors. Please join us!
Are You One of the Walking Wounded Christians? – How to Find the Real Loving God
This whole topic that I am about to share with you makes me angry. I could have chosen a different word than angry and could have sugar coated it and said that this topic makes me sad. But that wouldn’t be telling the truth. I very rarely get angry. If my son were here, he would vouch for that. He would also say, “Pay attention, because Mom is mad.”
The reason Mom is mad is because precious lives are at stake. Usually the first wounding as Christians is when we are children. Let me share a story.
The Rev. Scott Smith is an Associate Pastor at our church. He has such a gentle spirit and a wonderful sense of humor. All of these qualities are still there. You see, Scott just returned to our church after first being our youth minister. He went on a tour to Iraq and served as a Chaplain in the Army. Scott knows a thing or two about being physically wounded too. He shared this story with us during the Ash Wednesday service.
As Christians, We All Belong to One Another – So Support One Another
In the book of Romans, chapter 12 and verses 4-6, Paul says: “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.”
Isn’t it wonderful that, as Christians, we get a whole new family! Our brokenness is taken away and we can become whole. We learn how to love through the example of Jesus and, as God’s children; we want what’s best for each other.
But how often do we support each other? We live in a busy world, and I would venture to say that we don’t know a lot about our Christian brothers and sisters because we are caught up in the busyness of life.
As I grow the website and as people begin to find it, I am starting to receive some emails through our contact form. I received an email from Shaun who found some healing Christian music that would be good for meditation. The email encouraged me to put a video on my website. At this time, my intention is not to offer music videos, however, this email got me thinking about all of us being part of one body and supporting each other as Christians.
I have stepped out in faith, leaving a lucrative corporate career to pursue the gifts that God has given me, which are writing, creating and inspiring others. On this spiritual path I have met others who have also stepped out in faith to use their talents and to further God’s kingdom.
I heard a statistic that there are 3 million Americans out of work and that many of these jobs may never return. We are at a crossroads right now where the traditional job market is not the same. There is no longer a guarantee of security in working for an employer. That’s why we have to change the way we think and how we do business.
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| Monday |
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May 14, 2012 |
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But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. |
| Tuesday |
| May 15, 2012 |
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And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. |
| Wednesday |
| May 16, 2012 |
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Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. |
| Thursday |
| May 17, 2012 |
| Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1 |
| Friday |
| May 18, 2012 |
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Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. |
| Saturday |
| May 19, 2012 |
| For the Lord takes delight in his people. Psalm149:4 |
| Sunday |
| May 20, 2012 |
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Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. |
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