The Meandering Mind of a Christian Woman

            Most of us are familiar with the object lesson of the pickle jar. First, one fills the jar with large rocks, then adds smaller gravel, then adds sand and to prove the point one finally adds water.   This demonstrates that there is room for everything in your life. However, the order of things is important. The large rocks represent the most important things; family, friends, God. The gravel represents things like; job, hobbies, vehicles and so on. And on it goes. Yet, if the water is put in first, none of those top priority things will fit in the jar.             I have had times in my life where my God priority changes from the large rock to the gravel, still high on the list but not the priority he should be. I am not proud of this fact. Since I have been a life-long Christian I sometimes envy those who became Christians later in life; they have that moment of enlightenment, the epiphany of just how great God is. While I too have had similar moments, recognizing th

So, tell me if this rings a bell for you. You’re a kid who wants to sleep in on Sunday morning but your mother is an early church sort of person and she says, “How would it be if Jesus had slept in on Easter morning?” How does a kid fight that logic?             I got to thinking about this as I was running this morning, when the desire to slow down and walk came over me, I realized that I actually used a mental guilt trip of, “Your pain can’t even compare to the shadow of Jesus’ pain on the cross!” Even though it is a true statement, I really don’t think Jesus wants to be the guilt trip Savior. I heard a little voice in my head say, “Really? Thoughts of our Savior should produce joy, not guilt.”             I tried to turn my thinking into joyful, positive things. This became a list of all the blessings I’m thankful for including the things that don’t instantly make one thankful; like dust bunnies, sore muscles and homework. As I focused on creating my list the end of the ru