The Meandering Mind of a Christian Woman

            Have you ever considered the phrase; eyes wide shut? There are so many social injustices in the world that it would likely take days to list them all; hunger, poverty, abuse, rape, murder, abortion, unemployment, inequality, debilitating diseases, pharmaceutical robbery, drug addictions, the 2 party system and on and on. If we sit back and think about all of them we can become quite depressed or even worse quite complacent. With so many causes in the world how does one take a stand for social justice? It has long been my belief that we should choose one or two on which to take a vigorous stand against. This tends to mean we close our eyes to the others; eyes wide shut. We know they exist but we do not take any stand.             It is so overwhelming! There are no plausible excuses for many of these causes, other causes present opposing views. I have my personal beliefs about these issues and I align my beliefs with scripture as best as I am able. However, I am also an a

            It has been a few months since my last blog entry. It was a summer of funerals for me. While I don’t dwell on grief I must admit it took the wind out of my sails so to speak. Yet, it is wind that I want to focus on tonight.             I have this association between wind and the Holy Spirit. It goes back a few years to when I tried to learn New Testament Greek. The Greek word for Spirit is “pneuma” which also translates to wind. It is so appropriate! We can’t see wind but we can see what the wind affects. As I write this Hurricane Matthew is slogging the southeastern coastline. It has been windy all week in Northern Illinois, I love the feel of air movement, I can tolerate heat if there is a breeze.             In medical terms “pneuma” relates to the lungs, more wind. If you have ever had the “wind knocked out of you” the connection is obvious. We need the wind in our lungs to make ourselves heard as wind must pass through the vocal chords to create voice. We also ne

            Once again, I am sad, my uncle passed into glory yesterday. Yes, I am happy for his transition; he no longer suffers in his mortal coil with pain and can hear the glorious praises of angels without hearing aids. But I am sad for me and for my aunt and cousins who will feel the loss of his love and humor. What has dawned on me is that as a culture; we do not want to allow people to be sad. We always want to make things cheerful, why is that? Why are we so uncomfortable with sadness?             God created us with a range of emotions to feel and experience. Yet, we only want to experience the “nice” emotions; love, joy, happiness and the like. However, in a bittersweet way we need those lower emotions of sadness, frustration and anger to help us truly appreciate that when life is, in our opinion, good.             The bible and the Byrds remind us there is a season for everything. “There is a time for everything, a season for every purpose under heaven: a time to be b

So, we laid my mother to rest this past week. She had been declining the past four years with ever increasing dementia. We saw her go from being slightly forgetful to unable to operate kitchen appliances or set the table to unable to stand on her own to the inability to communicate in full sentences to the inability to be able to communicate at all and finally refusing to eat or drink and into a coma. Over the four years we prayed for her peace and for our own. It is painful to see a once vibrant woman lose herself and her memories and her words and in effect, her children when she no longer recognized us. We wanted her to pass away to heaven because she had already left us mentally. I told myself I was ready for her to go, especially as caring for her became more difficult and she looked past me or through me with no sign of recognition. I was convinced that my grieving process had already taken place. I have much to learn. I have to tell you, no one was more surprised than me when

            This is an election year in America. One would need to live under a rock to not be aware of this. It is a disconcerting election year too. I find it more than a little difficult to believe that out of 318 million people, the 2 very best candidates for leadership have been located. We may see more than 2 names on the ballot but we all know it is near impossible for any of those to actually be elected. It is a bit frightening.             As a Christian I believe that God is in control and he will bring about his will. However, I submit for your consideration 1 Samuel 8 beginning at verse 6 “But when they said, ‘Give us a king to lead us,’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you…”

            Chocolate. Just the word chocolate evokes certain emotions in people. The majority of people I know usually respond with a hearty yes or mmmmm and a smile. I do know a few people who do not like it, it’s alright though, we can still be friends. As I considered my response to a bit of chocolate yesterday it occurred to me that it isn’t just the taste; eating chocolate is an experience in taste, texture, aroma and pleasure. Personally, my preference is plain milk chocolate. I prefer to bite through it without interruption and allow it to melt on my tongue.             Then I made the comparison of chocolate to my faith walk; is that an experience too? What type of experience is it? Does my faith cause other to smile and crave a knowledge of what I have in my walk with Christ? Is my faith experience as rich as or better than a chocolate experience? Actually, I would say yes but I don’t know if it is as apparent to others as it is to me. How about you?             The fait

            Back in December I had a knee replacement and spent several weeks recovering while on pain medication. This partially explains my absence in the last few months. Today, marks a few memorable occasions in my life. Seven years ago today my husband passed away. Four years ago today my daughter was diagnosed with MS and admitted to the hospital. One year ago today my mother had a serious seizure that landed her in the hospital and accelerated her decline into severe dementia. Today, I ran my first 5K since my knee surgery. My goal was simply to not be last to cross the finish line. I met that goal and even did better than I expected.             As I ran, jogged, walked and wheezed my way through this race and pondered my goal; I was inspired to think about the ultimate finish line. My goal was related to my own pride.  As a lifelong Christian I have been glad that I am not the last in line to know Jesus as my Savior. However, it can be a trap to think that way, to think tha

                       I just watched a video about labels which raised many valid points about our fellowman. ( http://www.globetoday.com/watch-the-video-thats-taking-the-world-by-storm-today-this-will-leave-you-questioning-everything/   ) It got me thinking which labels I wear without even thinking about it. Some labels I earned; friend, wife, mother, nurse, blogger. Others were bestowed; widow, daughter, sister, white, American. There are probably a few other labels others have placed upon me that I am not aware of or choose to ignore. What about the label of Christian? Did I earn it or was it bestowed? I believe it is a combination of the two. I was born into a Christian family and raised to believe in Jesus as my Savior. At the same time, it is through continued prayer and contact with God’s word that I remain a Christian. It is through experiencing life and the Holy Spirit working in me that causes me to trust God and cherish the promise of the heavenly mansion that awaits me.

             Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”            To piggyback on yesterdays post. Do you live your life as a series of sprints from one event to the next? Perhaps paycheck to paycheck, holiday to holiday or game day to game day? I think it is safe to say we have all thought, at least once, if I can just…. (insert occasion) I will be alright. As I have been going through physical therapy for my knee I have need of assistance, initially a walker, now a cane. I can get around the house quite well without the cane but if I want to go any distance I need the cane for support. That phrase, ‘go the distance’ has been whirling around in my head. What is ‘the distance’? We are not to worry about tomorrow but to be present in the here and now. So the distance we deal with is the time we are awake each day, giving it our best to serve the Lord. That truly is all we need to focus on because God has already covered the

            I am not one who typically watches the stock market rise and fall. However, I do have a 401K retirement account I keep an eye on since I want to be prepared for retirement (it is getting closer all the time.) The last few weeks have been brutal on my retirement fund; it is a bit frightening. What I hold onto is a bit of financial wisdom given to me when I first began my 401K; remember “You’re in it for the long haul.” There will be ups and downs, don’t panic just hold on.             That is how I am feeling right now about my Christian living; I’m in it for the long haul -eternity! There are plenty of ups and downs in the Christian life. It can be tough to hold my head up when I feel under attack. Attack may be a strong word but when there are so many accusations thrown around on social media I have an internal battle of do I defend or ignore?             Anyone who knows me personally can tell you I am non-confrontational. When I get angry and upset I become tongue t

            I have spent the past three weeks in and out of a medicated fog following surgery. While I have gotten some great sleep, had some interesting conversations and incredible dreams; coming out of the fog is a much better place to be. It is quite difficult to collect one’s thoughts when taking medications that make one groggy. This blog has been on my mind but I could not get my act together long enough to write anything cohesive (praying this will be cohesive). Nor could I decide a topic upon which to write.             I was in the hospital for 2 days and the main thing I desired was to be treated as a patient and not a nurse (this is difficult when you are in the care of your peers). I have been on both sides of this scenario, it is difficult to not assume the nurse/patient already knows what she should do for her recovery. It is also difficult to stop ‘being’ a nurse when you’re in the bed. I found myself silencing the IV pump, disconnecting things and doing things a nur