Vacation Declaration

By Cindy Martin –

On a recent family vacation, during a time of casual conversation, our 13 year old daughter made the following spontaneous declaration, “I tried holding a grudge once, but it was too much work.” The manner in which she expressed herself caused us all to chuckle enthusiastically. Revealing her deep desire for meaningful relationships, she followed up by saying, “I just wanted to talk with my friend”.
While her little pronouncement has brought me much amusement, it has also challenged me to reflect on the high cost of unforgiveness. Hebrews 12:15 reads, “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many” (NLT). We learn in this verse that by withholding forgiveness, we are depriving others and ourselves of God’s grace. It also reminds us that the choice not to forgive results in many unexpected and destructive happenings in our life. While forgiveness leads to peace, unforgiveness leads to misery and our misery poisons those around us. Many of us have experienced the harsh stinging words or attitude of someone else’s misery. Perhaps, we’ve been the ones extending misery instead of grace.

Forgiveness is not forgetting, denying, approving of or excusing another person’s actions. Rather it is an active choice to be a conduit of God’s grace. Refusing to forgive is choosing to stay tied to someone in a link that is sometimes stronger than steel. God’s work of grace in our hearts to extend forgiveness is the only pathway to release. When we choose to forgive, we are untying ourselves, freeing ourselves from an often suffocating weight in our lives.

Matthew 6:15 explains another way we feel the weight of unforgiveness in our lives, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (NLT). Whether it’s the weight of being tied to another person (or persons) or the heaviness of our own unforgiven sin, my daughter was right, “it is too much work.” The load is overwhelming and the loss of intimacy in our relationship with our heavenly Father stifles His work in and through us. God never intended it to be this way. He modelled ultimate mercy and pardon so that we could enjoy the life giving lightness and freedom that forgiveness brings.

Prayer: Lord, please show me if there is any unforgiveness in my life that is weighing me down. If there is, I ask You to do a work of grace in my heart. Help me to choose to follow Your example of mercy and forgiveness.

Verse: “Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (Colossians 3:13 NLT).

BLACKBERRIES, STICKERS AND COBBLER

By DiAne Gates –

PRAYER: Father in Heaven, thank you for the miracle of Your creation, the love of family and friends and memories; but most of all, thank you for loving us and sending Jesus to die for our sins.

Springtime in Florida was a multi-colored landscape of green, buttercup yellow, and pastel pink. Delicate white blooms dotted prickly vines along roadsides and covered fence lines. Transparent flowers with pollen-filled centers, swayed in the breeze. Honey bees buzzed.

Lumpy, green balls replaced blossoms to confirm this was the perfect patch. We watched those hard green spheres balloon into hundreds of scarlet berries. And sunny days and spring rains urged their transformation into plump, luminous, blackberries.

The berries ripened. Our family piled into our ‘57 Ford, and headed toward our berry patch alongside a country road near the marshes of the St. Johns River, outside Jacksonville, Florida. The Gooding family joined this annual first-blackberry-picking-day.

Parents set boundaries and issued warnings about snakes, stickers and sandspurs. They might as well-a’-been-talkin’ to the wind. We grabbed our buckets and raced down the slope to be first to find the biggest blackberry in the patch.

We scrambled here and there, hoping to find the berry of the day—waiting to be picked by someone—hopefully me. Truth is, we ate as many as we picked, evidenced by toothy grins smeared with tell-tale black juice tinting our lips, our tongues, and grimy fingers.

During one of those scrambles Elaine lost her balance, bounced bottom first down the sandy slope, and landed right in the middle of a sticker-filled-cactus-patch.

Her wails brought an end to this event. Two dads carried the wounded berry-picker to the car where she laid, face-down across our laps, and cried all the way home.

Moms washed the black treasures, then mixed ingredients for the anticipated cobbler. My dad churned homemade vanilla ice cream that would crown the scrumptious berries already bubbling in the oven.

Elaine’s dad had the unpleasant task of removing those nasty stickers from her backside.

I’ll admit, we were not sympathetic onlookers. She had spoiled our fun. We snickered and giggled, sneaking peeks around the corner with every shriek of pain—secretly grateful it wasn’t one of us.

Glasses of iced tea, lemonade with mint sprigs, warm bowls filled with black-berry cobbler, piled with homemade ice cream, however, proved our berry picking day a success.

We lingered in the backyard, swaying in wooden swings hanging by gnarled ropes from aged oak trees as the last moments of the day slipped away. But fireflies flashed in the hedges and a new chase was on, to see who could capture the biggest, brightest insect.

Everyone but Elaine, who stood with her bowl of cobbler.

I no longer search country lanes, but drive to Walmart and buy expensive, tasteless berries, picked before they’re ripe, packed in plastic—not a kid’s bucket—only to find a layer of moldy ones on the bottom.

These days I sit on the patio to watch the day fade into evening while the latest accounts of troubling information blare on the evening news and my grandchildren text me in three word sentences.

I recall these joyful memories while one or two fireflies dart in the bushes around our pond and marvel that times change but God is forever sovereign and on the Throne.

My grandchildren will never experience the excitement of beating friends to the biggest blackberry in the patch, or catching the brightest firefly in their jar, or joining lighthearted conversation with grown-ups.

Memories of a tummy full of cobbler and fresh homemade ice cream, wrapped in the blanket of love family and friends provide, holding my jar full of God’s miraculous lights, are tucked into the secret places of my heart.

Precious memories this world of technology will never duplicate.

Lessons in Dirt

By Michelle Lim –

Our family spends every spring at the baseball field cheering wildly for my sons. Sometimes it seems like infield dirt and stained jerseys are our constant preoccupation. Even though we spend so much time at the diamond, the lessons we learn there are invaluable to life.

Last night one such lesson in the dirt reminded me of the body of Christ and how we journey together. Through the good and the bad seasons of life we need each other along the way.

The game was tied 7-7 and we were in the first inning of overtime. The first pitcher, my son, had gotten close to the full pitch count of 88 that is allowed in his league. So a new pitcher came into the game.

So much was resting on the shoulders of this young pitcher. He was nervous, but so wanted to win one for the team. The fans cheered him on, but more importantly his team cheered him on. First, one ground out to second. Then, two hits that landed runners on first and third. It was crunch time.

He wound up and pitched it right down the middle, strike one. The batter hit the second ball foul. Then came three balls in a row. The fans held their breath. This was the game. The cheers rose until just before the pitch then dead silence.

STRIKE THREE! The batter was out. The pitcher ran to the catcher and flung himself in the air. The dancing made me smile. The sheer joy in that celebrated moment was wonderful. No matter what would have happened in the bottom of the inning, no one could take away that moment of pure joy.

The boys went on to win the game, but that game was won long before. With every practice and affirmative word the boys and coaches said to one another, the more their skill grew. When their back was against the wall, they came out victorious. Not because of one individual, but because of the culture of excellence and encouragement on their team.

That got me thinking about the family of God. Do we have that culture of excellence and encouragement in our faith family? What could you do today that would build up your family so when their backs are against the wall they will have victory?

Bible Verse:

“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today”, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13 NAS).

When Not Good Enough Screams Pride

By Lori Freeland –

Pride. That nasty thing that precipitates my downfalls.

When I hear the word pride, I think of times in my life when I’ve longed to be the center of attention, hogged the credit for a project, elevated myself above the rules, and walked my road alone—confident my way was best.

I don’t often attach the word pride to the idea of low self-esteem.

Who would? Low self-esteem equals humility. When I don’t believe I’m good enough, I’ve kicked pride in the backside. Right?

Maybe not.

What if by not believing in myself, I’ve committed my largest act of pride?

Look at it this way.

God isn’t stingy when He dispenses gifts. He isn’t stingy with talents and skills either. So what if He loaded your arsenal with everything He wanted you to be and you turned away, hung your head, toed the ground and said, “No thanks. You’ve made a mistake. I’ll never be good enough.”

That’s exactly what Moses did. He had an entire argument with God about why he wasn’t good enough. Read Exodus chapters 3 and 4.

Here’s the part near the end of their interchange:

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.

Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him (Exodus 4:10-13 NIV).

Who was Moses to question God? Who I am to argue?

God gave Moses everything he needed to do His work.

Moses couldn’t see God’s provision through the reveal of the burning bush, his “live” conversation with the Master of the Universe, or the gift of Aaron.

Moses hung his head, scuffed his toe, and said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

What does God want you to do for Him? What experiences and people and opportunities has he placed in front of you that you’ve ignored because of your low self-esteem?

Remember that catchy phrase? If God leads you to it, he’ll bring you through it.

Pride isn’t telling everyone why you’re not worthy.

Pride is being ungrateful for God’s gifts. Pride is turning from your talents. Pride is scorning your God-given skills.

If you’re a believer, it’s not really about self-esteem anyway. It’s about God-esteem.

He’s equipped you. Now go do the work.

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

By Charlotte Riegel –

“It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring…”

I was reminded of this cute little ditty we often sang as children, but the old man (my husband) was not snoring, and it was not raining/pouring moisture from the sky. His message box was being flooded with the financial woes from our adult children and he needed my oar to help navigate the rising waters.

It was already late in the day when we began rowing together and decided the best option was to rest on the information before making any responses other than acknowledging that their cries for help were being heard. Fortunately neither of the two families were asking for a handout, though they have received some in the past. Ah, a sign of maturing.

One expressed gratitude for the constant encouragement received and simply indicated where things were, which was dismal indeed. The other son assured us he was not asking for a bailout, but rather for some wisdom and insight, knowing we had splashed in these same waters while he was growing up.

He saw us go under from many career disappointments and a business failure, then resurface in a new location. As a child, he could not have known the significant impact all of this had on our lives. Our mentally, emotionally, and financially battered and bruised bodies were often well covered in bandages while we healed. The true punctures were not visible to others. He may not remember the many times our five children begged us to eat at McDonald’s but received, “I can feed all seven of us at home for the amount of money it would cost to feed one at McD’s,” as my response.

We swam around in grey waters for several years until we found new flippers and began to swim with increasing strength until we reached calmer, clearer waters of life. Perhaps it is time to dig out my journals and remind not only myself about the journey, but also to share it in detail with my children so they can stand on the principles we used for survival.

My first words of encouragement to them comes from Romans 12:12 (NIV):
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Deuteronomy 11:1-21 has much to say about our children not being aware of what God has taught us and how we must be diligent in teaching them.

Now to hunt for my journals for even I have forgotten all that God has done for me during our times of trial.

“Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 11:19 NIV).

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