Monday… there are all sorts of names we call Monday. For some it’s a relief as the weekend has been stressful. For many in ministry, it’s their day off. For teachers, it’s the reality of back to school. Monday.. according to Wikipedia  Judaism considers Mondays  for fasting and for reading the Torah. Early Christians were asked to fast on Wednesdays instead. In some Orthodox churches, angels are commemorated on Mondays.  Other religions consider Monday to be a family day, and in monasteries abstaining from meat, fowl, dairy products fish, wine and oil were the protocol.

So what’s on the calendar for your Monday? For me, it’s reflection time from what’s happened over the weekend. What did I hear, what did I experience,  where did I go, what did my heart tell me?  Sermons- a phenomenal sermon on Ruth,  visiting an old friend, small group and of course a couple football games that I didn’t have to get emotionally involved in since the Vikings had a bye week.  It’s good to think back- reflect. It’s good to remember, it’s good to recall and even good to remind ourselves what we might not want to do next weekend.  Our weekends tend to be selfish attempts to make ourselves happy rather than intentional plans to bless others.

In my planner, I actually bought a Christian planner this year and although only into the second week, I like it.  I take sermon notes in it, write down plans, write down prayer lists, check off goals, make goals, rewrite goals; it’s like everyday is a Monday. A time to reflect and rework my life so it’s effective. So, based on my weekend, reflecting on what I heard, felt, did, ate, sensed and cared about, what will change today that will make Tuesday better?   Hope is the word from the weekend. Hope lost, hope renewed, hope pursued and hope restored. Of course that’s the story of Ruth in a nutshell, but it’s also the story of our lives.  We lose hope everyday. We get excited, we get disappointed. We get good news, we get bad news.  That’s life- we lose hope but in the same breath we have our hope renewed. For me this week on a very bad day, it was a note from a total stranger who heard me lead worship and was writing to say how much the CD changed her day and how it encourages her. Then, my hope was renewed when I went to visit my old friend. That’s a literal statement; she is old. Grey hair, bent knees, shoulders that sag , a smile that never quits and wisdom that was waiting to be shared.  Hope renewed is like that cold cup of water when it’s a really hot day in July. Right now, it would be a hot cup of coffee in the Midwest cold spell, but hope refreshes. Hope also is what we pursue. We make changes in our week, based on what we reflect because we HOPE things will be better. If we didn’t have hope, we wouldn’t crawl out of bed. It’s what kept Ruth from jumping ship and heading back to  Moab. She believed in the God of Naomi and had hope.  God spends our days renewing and restoring our hope. He did it with a baby in a manger and he does it with a word from a friend. He speaks hope in a Bible verse or a podcast. He gives us hope in the hug of a child and the prayer of a saint. Hope… what reflecting on the Monday’s in our lives should give us.  A bad week? God will make this week better.  A trying week? God helped you endure. A tearful week? God wiped the tears away and gave a hug. A wonderful week? Give God the glory and walk on.

1 Corinthians 2:9 “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him”  Hope!  I can imagine some really cool things and it tells me that not even my crazy imagination can come up with what God is planning for this week.  That’s Hope!

Prayer:

Lord, we get so discouraged when we look at places we have come from. Give us the imagination to look for Hope from you in situations we find ourselves in. When we think it’s useless, remind us that Hope brings out You.  Remind us that You are a God of reflections, memories and have so many great things in store for us. Lord, remind us to give you the glory

Close the door, lock it up and throw away the key
So it’s 2018. I am thankful I have lived another year. I am also thankful I made it through this past year. Last year was not a good year in many ways. It was a year of disappointment, troubles, trials, challenges, people hurting the heart, disasters and a few big pits that my feet found the bottom of. So good riddance, close the door, lock it up and throw away the key. There are hours, days, years and yes sometimes decades that feel that way. One prays, plans and then punts. One sees God moving, jumps on the bandwagon and find there are 3 flat tires and the good tire just went rolling down the road ahead of you.
We don’t intentionally start out the year hoping for better than failure but for many of us, we figure – bring it on, it can’t get any worse. And then, of course, Murphy’s law sets in; it can get worse and it does!
So what does one do when the ones slashing at your tires are the very leaders you are suppose to respect and be inspired by? What does one do when the dark clouds aren’t getting lighter and just bring on thunder and lightning? The very umbrella that is supposed to protect us is the lightning rod that keeps zapping us and sending us three feet in the air with our hair sticking out in all directions. And then someone, someone wiser, older and so much more spiritual says those words, “Calm down; it’s not that bad”. Of course lighting isn’t bad when you are in the house. Tornado’s aren’t bad when you are in the middle of winter; they don’t exist. Hurricanes look pretty harmless for us here in Minnesota, but when you are in the middle of stuff flying around you; it’s petrifying.
Somehow the Christian faith doesn’t do a good job at holding hands and seeing where fingers have been slammed in doors. Apparently the compassion for those who are struggling is missing; missing that is until you have been upside down after being caught in a noose hidden in the grass. Then you get it; compassion from a heart that has felt pain comforts much deeper than those who simply laugh their way through life.
David felt that way . Psalm 13…”How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.”
I have a feeling David was swinging upside down by one leg about the time he wrote that. It was almost a “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, think I’ll go eat worms” moment. Except- it was during the dry season…. and the worms were too deep to dig up.
We don’t often put ourselves in others shoes. We don’t reconcile the hurt in people’s eye and put ourselves in their winter coat and feel the cold. It’s inconvenient and we are comfortable where we are at so we just pray for them or rather pray at them and walk away.
So as much of last year being one I don’t care to live over again, there were some redeeming qualities that God let brighten the heart. I love those moments. It’s the rest of the story, or rather the rest of Chapter 13 in Psalms. “5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.”
Several of us sat, basically speechless as someone shared their testimony at small group. I did ok until the very end when the sobs came from her heart and she explained had she never lived with us, she would have never seen God come to life.
I stood in the hospital and held the hand of a dear friend; at that moment, her being alive and with us was the best breathe of fresh air one could ever inhale.
I held a young man, curly hair and giggles and got lots of kisses. I shook hands of total strangers who told me, my son was the cats meow. Well, they didn’t say it quite that way, but they loved my child. That’s a boost of Adrenalin to any parent. I got the phone call that said the kid from grad school had a job offer; with money! With benefits! YES!
I looked into the eyes of a young man who was asking, “will you?” and said “yes” and no I am not getting married again….
So what do I choose to do with 2017? Close the door, lock it up and throw away the key but I will also look back through the window in the door and be reminded that I didn’t make it through a year of challenges without a God sized hand guiding me. I didn’t come out still breathing without the Holy Spirit calmly making sure I didn’t go over the edge.. I just wish that the edge wasn’t so close sometimes. I will look back at my journal and think, “why didn’t you say that God” when I see the chapter actually does lead somewhere awesome and it has some exciting thrills and curves to it’s journey.
I don’t think I am the only one who was breathing deeply when we pulled the calendar off the wall and put the new one up. And I won’t be the only one to say, “Hope we don’t have to go through that again.” but I will start the year with the the end of the verse… “I will sing”. The one thing I could count on this year to keep me going was Cowboy Church twice a month. A time when worship was down to earth, music was a jam session and for an hour or so, life was very good. I could get lost in Rowdy’s stories and almost be in Matagorda, Texas driving cattle. I could pick up the fiddle and find a harmony and let the ole sweet hymns talk to the heart. For you see music has a way of taking away the fears and realities of life and transporting us into a different heart level. Music, even with no words, makes the spirit soar and the mind soothed. Music is easily remembered and quickly soaked into the troubled world and brings peace where there was a hollow spot. Music does that..
And David knew that oh so well

We tried it last night; the game that is. We all wrote down New Years Resolves on a paper, then read them out-loud, numbered them and people tried to guess who was planning which resolve for the new year. I got all of them right. Of course, I was also reading the handwriting so figured a few out that way. How much easier it would be in life if only God handed us pieces of paper with resolves on it and said, “This is your new plan for the year.” Oh that’s right, we have those resolves.. It’s called the Bible… Open it.. Perhaps that needs to be the resolve for the year. Open the Bible; start with John and read. Don’t worry about reading through the Bible, just read a few verses and let them sink in. Perhaps, treasure the words like you would a card from someone you haven’t heard from awhile. You read the words. You read them again. You hold it close to your heart and read them again. Do that with the Bible. It isn’t called a treasure without reason.