Author: marettej

Lake Superior. Beautiful, dramatic, powerful and yet the inlet from gooseberry falls was frozen. The sand and rock from the lake tides has created a barrier. However, water coming from under the depths of the ice breaks through in a very powerful demonstration forcing its way from down under to come bursting out at the shore. What’s in our hearts also can’t be hid for long. Eventually it will force its way out… remember to be careful what’s in your heart. The power of suppressed things is incredible….

The candles are burning . I am a long ways from home but the observation of Hanukkah is a big part of my faith walk. The dedication of the temple so many year ago reminds me to daily dedicate my heart and my motives… So I light the candles. Tonight there Are 6. The shamash or helper candle lights the others. It’s higher than the others. The heat of the other candles is melting the helper candle. If only our influence was so strong that we melted the hearts of those beside us….. Jesus said we are to be the light others see him through. But are we so incredibly hot, we melt others? What if our witness was so powerful they had no other response but to see Jesus?

So we prepare…we anticipate. We work hard at getting all things lined up and ready. We get excited.. that’s really what the advent is all about. Preparing for the Messiah. So we did. We prepared. The service. The music. The plan. The Bible verses. The candles. The program. The extra music. The binders made. The bulletins printed. We were prepared for the coming..and for Sunday the first Sunday of advent.. and it never came. Oh well,yes it came but because of a mess in Minnesota, many country churches cancelled church. They call it snow. We call it a mess. Several of hours of moving snow with the bobcat to get the driveway and farm site where you could drive around or out. Some places 5′ drifts. Other places plodded to an icy glare from the high winds and ice. We did go to church but the church where I am helping for a few months, the bulletins,candles, folders are all still very much prepared: for the day that church was cancelled due to the snow.

Sometimes God asks us to prepare and we sit. There is a snow storm, or a health storm, or an earthquake in our heart and we sit. Our programs were printed and we were pr pared and it didn’t happen. That’s a disappointment some never feel. That’s a reality many don’t have to shovel. For others, it seems like they prepare to be constantly disappointed. God simple says prepare ye the way. Make ready for me. I will worry about extra programs, candles that didn’t get lit and dinners that never got served. Prepare for God, but be ready to change the plans you make. Preparing gets us excited. Sometimes that’s the point. We need to get excited. God will bring your heart to where he has the things for you but he still requires that you roared your heart, your mind, your wallet and you calendar. And so,times sitting and waiting is an extremely calming thing.

Grateful, thankful, appreciative: words that come into our conversations this time of year. 1 Thess. 5:16-18. ” pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Sure , yup and ok.

I am at the end of writing a book and I have had to make some changes. It’s called editing . I would like to edit some of the Bible. Especially when it comes to this verse. Like editing out the word -all. I can give thanks in some and maybe the majority but all? You have got to be kidding? Seriously God all? Really, like love your neighbor. Another verse to edit slightly. Why is it so hard to include all? Because I don’t want to. Because I am hurt. Because there are flaws in what God asks me to thank him for. So until I find the edit button, I feebly try to find the being glad for the things that stick me in the heart, that make me cry and that force me to look outside of myself…

I am working on my Bible study lesson for Tuesday. We are concluding a study of Ecclesiastes 3 and the fourteen challenges of life. The “to be’s or not to be’s” of life. It’s been an interesting study. We buried one of our own during the week on a time to be born and a time to die. The ladies were all nervous about the birth part as most of them are well past child bearing and none of them really wanted to be a Sarah and Abraham.

We are toward the end; to mend or not to mend. When the cost of the needles one breaks exceeds the cost of the new jeans, I don’t mend. That is my line in the sand. If I break enough needles seeing through layers of patches, and they always rip them out in the knee, then I can buy new jeans. Sewing machine needles are costly. If only the rest of life were that simple. But what if we really did a balance scale for the moments in life we pause? What if? Put it on the balance scale. When? Put it on the balance scale.

In my research for the next phrase, a time to speak up and a time to shut up, I found a book and it posed some interesting questions. The cost and purpose of silence, how to ask good questions and how to overcome the pressure to remain silent. They are really good thoughts, but now to act upon them. There is a cost of being silent. There is also a cost of speaking up at the wrong time even if we say the right thing. How do I know? Well, I usually know when the room goes silent and I think to myself, “I actually said that out loud didn’t I”.

Timing, as in Ecc. 3 is everything. God doesn’t expect us to get it right every time, but he does give us some really good guidelines for a better than average batting percentage.

So I am telling the ladies these things this week. And if they read this, they may just stay home from Bible Study… who knows.

1. A good answer changes with people and circumstances. Each of us process things differently. The right answer is always the right answer. When to give that answer changes. When to let someone discover that answer by themselves, when to love on them first, then answer, or when to simply pray and let God deliver.

2. There are times when no matter what you say it’s wrong. Not that Its wrong, but the heart to receive it isn’t ready. So, zip it. Clam up. Count to ten. Take a hike. Make cookies… do anything but get drawn into a verbal boxing match…. Jesus drew in the sand… he didn’t talk until everyone was gone. We don’t have how many awkward minutes went by, but there were quite a few. Don’t worry about silence.. sometimes it is golden.

3. If you haven’t prayed about it, keep quiet. If you haven’t lived through it, swallow those words. If you just don’t like the quiet, so what. Sometimes we speak because we think someone has to say something. A hug, a smile, holding a hand, or simply just being in the room, is priceless compared to words that are simply words with little thought out meaning.

4. And lastly, telling the truth can be deadly. Pick your war carefully but remember, Jesus was blasted for his words. And have was God. Don’t back down from the truth but be prepared to pay the price. Choosing words carefully and timing your approach is what we struggle our whole life to figure out. And when we get it all figured out, our memory is leaving us and therefore we forget what wonderful words we had…or wake up when they come to our mind at 3 a.m. when it doesn’t matter anymore.

You are all welcome at Bible Study Tuesday. For some of you it’s a long drive, but we will open the Bible and read… and then choose our words carefully while we determine which pair of jeans are worth mending and which will go in the craft bin….