Inspirations

“Abby, what do you think it means to ‘remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.’?”  I asked as we were walking and talking.   I saw that someone had written The Ten Commandments in sidewalk chalk.   When I asked the question, I was not prepared for the simple answer that she gave.   Without a moment of hesitation, she said, “To celebrate Jesus and make his day special.”   Whoa!!  Her answer was so simple, yet so profound that it made my heart leap.  In those words, she beautifully captured God’s desire.  God wants us to celebrate the day of rest, Sunday.   Often, Sunday becomes like any other day.   I fear that, for most of us, there is nothing that distinguishes Sunday from any other day of the week.  We do nothing different than we do Monday through Saturday.  Do we celebrate Sunday?  Or is it just a day to catch up on chores, and other things.  Do we make it a day for celebrating God...

Last week I faced a situation in which I had no idea what to do.  .  I asked my friends to pray for wisdom.  Looking back, I had no idea HOW God would answer that prayer.  However, God does say that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God for wisdom and don’t doubt.   So I did just that.  In fact, I got some other’s to pray also because there is power in believers praying together.    God’s wisdom and the principals he showed me were timeless.     First, I had to take trust in God to a whole new level.   I was going on vacation, so the problem would have to wait until I got home.  For me, this is hard.  I like resolutions, to problems.  This time, God asked me to walk away and leave it with him.  For the first few days is was difficult to relax and not be anxious. I did, however, with prayer manage to find calm in the storm.   I knew I just had to trust that God loved me enough to do wha...

Lately, it seems that everywhere I turn there is some new atrocity.   Today, I read about a man who beat up his brother over a Big Mac.   Crazy right?  I’ve had to ask myself the same question that you’re probably asking.  What is wrong with people, and society? I have to confess that I’m not a sociologist. Therefore, I do not have all the answers.  I do believe that part, if not all, of the problem, stems from a lack of a moral compass.  Or perhaps that the moral compass is broken.  As a society and as a people we have a broken moral compass when: When the Supreme Court tries to redefine sin so that homosexuality is ok When we care more about the death of an animal than we care about an aborted baby. When we can physically hurt someone because they ate a Big Mac. When we can sue someone over not enough napkins while some people are going hungry. When we can applaud someone for having a sex cha...

What I’m thinking about this morning is standing out.   Often, when I’m walking, I see a flower not in amongst other flowers, but all by itself.  I love this!  The flower seems to have a beauty all its own.  It is refreshing and totally unconcerned that it is by itself.   Sometimes, as Christians, we forget that sometimes our beliefs as a Christian will put us at odds with the world.   We need to be like those flowers blooming and standing boldly proudly even if there is no other flower right there.   The world is watching and desperately hoping that we are going to be different that those around us.  The world wants to know that what we have is different than what they are seeing on TV, at the bars, at work.   Sadly, many of us are so busy fitting in with, being like, the world that we are effectively saying that being a Christian makes us no different than anyone else with which they come in contact.  We shoul...

I was running a good race.   I was at the mile marker and only needed to stop and walk for a few seconds at a time.  I was in a groove.   My time for this race would be amazing.  Usually, I just try to improve my own personal time.  When we started, an older man with a cane went running by me.  He was holding the cane as he shuffled by me.  I thought well now that’s unique.  Why even have a cane if you don’t need it?  Then I thought WAIT, HOLD THE PHONE no guy with a cane is running faster than me.  Nope! Not happening.  So I stayed close and passed him.  As we neared the one-mile marker, the older man ran by me again.  But this time, he was struggling and scuffing his feet as he ran.   He ran a little further and fell into a deep ditch and just sat there stunned.   At that moment, I was faced with a dilemma.  I could keep running and hopefully win a...

Can an ear survive by itself? Would it still hear the cry of the unborn? Will the cry of the needy reach it? How can the ear hear without a head? If it could, would we know What it heard? And what of the hands that serve so well? Will they work cut off from the body? Will they prepare a dinner? Or give to those in need? Will hands feel, reach, And touch without the rest of the body? Imagine your foot laying on the floor? Can it go to visit the sick of its own accord? Or go the hurting world? Or maybe walk with the elderly? No, the body only works When it is connected with the rest of the body. The arm, the leg, the hands, or ears Are nothing by themselves. They are dead and useless Like a rotting tree.  So in Christ we all need each other To connect with each other For surely, the arm is useless without the ears and mouth. And likewise, the ears by themselves Can do nothing but hear.

We just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary.   It seems like it was just yesterday that we were standing at an altar in a little country church before the minister and our friends and saying the centuries-old vow. to have and to hold, from this day forward,  for better, for worse,  for richer, for poorer,  in sickness and in health,  until death do us part. I must confess, those words have seemed to echo in my mind this year,  probably because it has been 30 years since we were married.  There has been a river of memories like water under a bridge. So many things have happened.  As I thought of the words of love that my husband and I spoke all those years ago, my first thought was, "How could I dare to speak them?" I guess I was young and invincible. I think that like most young people standing on the brink of marriage, what I heard was “To have and to hold, from this day forward” and I th...