No Bingo in June

By Hally Franz –

Did you ever wonder how much money is spent on weddings each year? More precisely, have you pondered how much is spent during the month of June on weddings? I don’t have the answers, but we all know it’s a chunk of change. Weddings are big business!

There are the dresses, the décor, the music and the venues. There are meals, pictures, attendant gifts, flowers and party favors. Some weddings include themes, and some even become part of reality television. While current trends in weddings may be a retailer’s dream, I hope that this year’s June weddings fill life-long dreams for the couples who walk down the aisle (or, the beach, brick road or garden path).

I know a very special June bride. She is the daughter of a dear friend, and she was a great babysitter for my children when they were small. In fact, my 10-year-old daughter, Rosaline, has been asked to be a junior bridesmaid for Jessica, and she is super excited. We had a shower for Jess a few weeks ago. I was remembering the shower, and it occurred to me that there is a certain discord in one of the games that we played that day. I called it Bridal Bingo.

Bingo is a game of chance. It requires no work, preparation or special set of skills or characteristics. Isn’t that the reverse of marriage! Successful marriage is very much related to the work that the partners put into it. And, most definitely, there should be some preparations made prior to the wedding day. Aside from the actual planning of the event, couples must prepare by talking through issues they’ll face as a married couple. They should consider the lifestyle they want for their family including where they will live and worship, whether they will have or adopt children, work and leisure questions, and a host of other concerns. Addressing those topics takes time and energy. Aside from work and planning, successful marriages are built by two partners who demonstrate maturity, generosity, kindness and caring toward one another. Marriage isn’t for the poorly prepared or ill-tempered.

No, indeed! Weddings may be big business, but marriages ought not to be risky business. As for my special June bride, I have every confidence that she and her husband-to-be have taken time to lay a foundation for a successful marriage, as well as an awesome wedding day.

PRAYER: Merciful and Mighty Father, bless this year’s brides and grooms with the qualities of wisdom and kindness, commitment and caring as they begin their lives together, so that their unions may bring honor and glory to You.

“With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2-3 NKJV).

Starting With Graduation

By Hally Franz –

As May rolls around each year, I take an inventory of the graduations we will be celebrating. This is a light year with only four. In my rural community, the graduation party season is big. Starting by mid-May and running through most of June, graduating seniors spend several weekends on the party circuit checking in at multiple events in a given day.

My own son is graduating from eighth grade this year. I asked if he would like a party, but he declined. I do, however, see this as a major transition for him. He has attended a small Christian school since kindergarten, and he will enter a public ninth-grade building with over 500 students in August. It is a little scary for mom!

Graduations are about celebrating accomplishments and marking milestones. Little guys will stand for pictures on stage after surviving tear-filled days of preschool. Young men and women will cross stages to accept college degrees earned after countless long nights of study. Graduations also represent the beginning of something new. Perhaps it is simply an unfamiliar teacher or school. Maybe, it means leaving home and family to go to an unknown place. It almost certainly involves challenges and change. New friends, new towns and new jobs can all be frightening.

When we begin our Christian journeys, we don’t know what He might have planned for us. We celebrate our baptisms and commemorate the day that we became part of the body of believers. While that life-changing milestone in our spiritual life is joyful, it brings challenges and new territory to face. Like the child moving from one grade level to the next, believers are expected to grow in our faith. We are called to greater responsibilities to serve and witness to others.

As we recognize this year’s graduates, let’s applaud their successes and send them into the next life phase with our hugs, well wishes and prayers. And, when we celebrate with new believers, let’s give our Christian brothers and sisters the same support in their new journey.

Blessed be our 2012 graduates and new Christians!

PRAYER: Gracious God, bless this season’s graduates and new believers, and send them fearlessly into the world to do grand and glorious things on Your behalf.

“Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the LORD gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged”
(1 Chronicles 22:13 NIV).

The Joy of Pulling Weeds

By Hally Franz –

It made the list of the more notorious chores that my sister and I were charged with as kids. Dumping the “slop” in the ditch at the edge of the woods was always fun, as was assisting my father when he plucked ticks off the dogs and dropped the swollen vermin into a jar of gasoline. What girl doesn’t love that sort of thing? Not! While those were foul tasks, perhaps our least favorite was pulling weeds.

When spring arrived and weeds sprung up, Ellen and I were expected to spend time most days pulling weeds. Maintenance is important when dealing with weeds; they can pop up fast and take over. Twenty minutes was typically the expectation. But twenty minutes passed quickly if we were lying out in the sun or talking on the phone—not so for weed-pulling.

In my teenage opinion, it was a gross task; however, it was not without satisfaction. My father was particularly pleased when he saw the pile of purged weeds grow big. “I love to see a big pile of weeds,” he’d say. A productive session of weed reduction always resulted in kudos from him, and we liked that, even if we didn’t admit it.

Sometimes, pile size was more about chance than effort. Some weeds are easier to extract than others. Often the ones that spread like vines pull easily, and single ones stand far more solid, contrary to conventional weed wisdom.

Fast forward thirty years, and I have a husband who fights his war on weeds with poison rather than pulling. My children will tell their own stories one day. They call him “Rambo” when armed with the weed killer. Reminiscent of Sly Stallone returning to Vietnam to bring home the American soldiers, with weapons strapped on his back, my husband ventures outside with his chemical warfare and spray gun to eliminate the enemy.

Do we attack the spiritual weeds in our lives with the same gusto that we do those in our yards? When we find that an unkind attitude or some bad behavior has sprung up within us, do we exert energy to combat them? And, do we strive to keep our hearts clean from ugly, unwanted intruders that are not part of Christ’s original design? Whether our own spiritual challenges are easy or present bigger battles, we should always be ready to face them, confident in the strength that He provides. What great satisfaction there is in that!

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16 NIV).

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me be aware of spiritual weeds that pop up in my heart and life, and give me strength to aggressively fight them, so that others can see Your work within me.

Beneath the Brush

By Hally Franz –

Parents love their children at each of the developmental stages they experience, but I think it is natural for us to have our favorites along the way. Many love infancy, because it makes for some wonderfully warm cuddle sessions. Others like to observe the wonder in the eyes of preschoolers as they explore and learn new things. I enjoy my children as they have gotten older. Mine aren’t much for snuggling these days, and they are sometimes hard to impress. However, they now express and impress me with their interests, hopes and dreams.

And, then there is the yard work. Perhaps that gives me extra incentive to enjoy this phase of their lives.

My fourteen-year-old son says he wants to be a landscaper. He is also my capitalist. While our daughter may never manage money well, her brother is always ready to earn some. So, on a recent warm day, I proposed some chores to him. Some stepping stones needed to be replaced. Bird feeders to be filled, and a repair to a wind-damaged piece of porch trim. I also wanted dead foliage cut, raked and removed from flower beds.

As I demonstrated the final task for my son, I was once again pleased to see that underneath the waste of winter, there were short green sprouts making their appearance. Hiding below the weathered remains of last year were the starts of new growth—hyacinths and hostas ready to usher in the season. How reassuring that perennial gift of spring is to us!

God’s Word is full of wonderful symmetry, and this is just another example of the poetic truth we find in Him. I knew what I would see beneath the brown brush when I coached my son on his assignment. I’d have been shocked not to see those beautiful, emerald signs of life. I know with confidence they’ll come this time each year, just as surely as I know God’s promise of salvation is real, and He can be counted on to fulfill His promises to us.

When we remove the worn and ragged parts of our being to become Christians, we are made new. That is something we can rely on, too. And, when we awake each day, God has blessed us with another opportunity to serve him better than we did the day before. How blessed we are that God uses stages and seasons, promises and opportunities to show His love and His plans for us.

PRAYER: Most Gracious Father, thank You for the promises provided in Your word, as well as the infinite and beautiful ways that You communicate to us through Your awesome creations. May we receive Your promises and messages, and be made anew each day.

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4 NIV).

Turbo Teaching

By Hally Franz –

What do the terms “upper cut,” “speed bag” and “cross” all have in common? They are new moves that I am learning in the Turbo Kick class I recently joined. At this point, I must issue a disclaimer. I am not really a turbo-kick kind of girl. There is not one thing about me that screams “I can really throw a jab” or “check out my great bob and weave.” I don’t have a bob, a weave or any good boxing moves. Not yet, anyway…

Since I am coming clean about my lack of athleticism, I will also admit that it is much more in my nature to begin my day with a diet soda and a chocolate muffin, than it is protein and fruit juice. And, I am often tempted to skip the gym for other activities like laundry, reading my latest book club assignment, or volunteering at my children’s school. Like a kid sometimes, I don’t always do what is good for me.

Today, however, I was a good girl. I landed in class on time with several other women, and we worked hard for a full hour. As new moves were introduced and the pace grew more intense, our instructor encouraged us with enthusiastic shout-outs like “you got it,” “you feel good” and “you look good.” Initially, I was thinking that while Kelly looked good, I looked like a goof. But, as the class went on, I started to feel powerful, confident, and pleased that I’d tackled the class.

Great teachers do that for their students. They are excited about what they are doing, and they motivate reluctant learners along the way. When I think about my own children’s teachers, I am thankful for those who have shown a passion for learning. My favorite teachers challenge their students. They instill in them the knowledge that they can do wonderful things, and students feel proud of their accomplishments.

If my gym instructor can help this book-club gal to embrace boxing, what can the teachers of the Bible show us? If teachers can motivate students to win spelling bees and produce mind-blowing science projects, what might we be inspired to do when we examine the lives of Esther, Jonah and David? Here’s a quick 1-2. If we start our day with a lesson from His word, we will be much more empowered and confident as we seek to serve Him.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, guide my study so that I may learn from the real-life Bible heroes and 1st century Christians in Your word. Help me, in my 21st century life, to be motivated and inspired by their eternal examples of faith.

“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9 NIV).

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