To give grace or not to give grace? That is the question. I am not talking about whether you should pray at a restaurant in public. I am referring to Jesus' example to serve others through sacrificing ourselves. "But Sheryl," you might say, "we don't have a choice about offering grace to others or not, the Bible says we have to give grace."
You may be wondering what in the world we have to celebrate during 2020! With COVID, economic uncertainty and more, it can seem that there is little to celebrate. I would like to suggest that celebrating even the small things can change our minds, our hearts and our countenance.
As children, we may remember looking forward to our birthdays, Christmas and other family celebrations throughout each year. As adults, we may have participated in planning, executing and cleaning up celebrations with family, friends, colleagues or others.
Do you ever wonder how many blessings a day you miss because you make a decision without checking with God first? How many boxes are going to be stacked in Heaven’s warehouse marked, “Kim’s missed blessings?” I recall when I was in 4th grade, our teacher was making a bulletin board and put the following question on it: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? I did not have to think twice. I had always wanted to be a teacher. But, as she went around the room, all the girls were saying they wanted to be teachers.
Have you ever entered a room and failed to see someone? Driven a route and not noticed the billboards? Failed to hear a spouse, child, or friend speaking to you? Maybe you were waiting on the traffic light to turn green, only to realize that you missed it. I think most of us can relate to experiences like these. Sometimes, we get so caught up in our lives, or in the moment that we miss what is going on around us. It isn’t that we don’t care; it’s just that we weren’t paying attention.
“So you take one of these trays of metal plates and tip them into the feeding channel. Start the machine and you’re ready to go!”
I was learning the ins and outs of my new position as secretary to the company president. One of my random duties was to print the addresses on the customer bills and send them to the accounting department. The woman I was replacing had just started this monthly task, and the huge Addressograph machine was chugging and clanging along.
THUNK!
“What was that?”
“I wish I could stand on a busy street corner and beg people to give me all their wasted hours.” Wouldn’t it be great if we could stock up the hours others have wasted or don’t want? Did you know that most people waste at least two hours every single day? Unfortunately, no one can loan us any of their spare time. Most of have an inkling that we actually do have time for the things we’ve complained there was no time for. We have a hunch that if we could manage ourselves better, we might be more productive with the use of our time and finish our projects in a timely fashion.
“Now in this section, I want to create, as the composer requests, una voce. I don’t want to hear any one voice sticking out. It should be as if all your voices were blended together and coming out of the same person.”
I loved it when my choir responded to my directions. Even the boldest voices curbed their vibrato and volume and worked towards that perfectly unified sound.
History shows us that tension will eventually boil over and the oppressed will fight back. It isn’t a matter of if, but when it will happen. Whether enslaved by Pharaoh, under repressive family or work environments, or impoverished conditions, at some point, the human spirit will rise demanding dignity, equality, and respect. In Egypt, the Jews cried out, Pharaoh didn’t listen; God did (Exodus 3:7). Across the globe, people are demanding social justice and protesting perceived governmental actions or inactions. These protests have mostly been peaceful and nonviolent, but some have turn
A woman meets Jesus by chance
There is an incident described in detail in John’s Gospel (Chapter 4: 4-43), where a weary Jesus meets a local Samaritan woman, when He sat down beside, what is known as, the “Jacob’s well” in Samaria. She is often identified as, “the woman at the well.”
All the news is draining the life out of us. Whether it’s COVID news or other news, it’s just depressing. I’ve heard from many that they are experiencing this sense of ennui, blah, etc. etc. etc. My question is “Do you wanna be happy?”
