The Meandering Mind of a Christian Woman

            It’s Christmas morning. The words that repeatedly come to mind are; awe and wonder. For the Christian, this is a day to remember the awe and wonder of God’s great love for us. There are those who would argue that Jesus wasn’t born in December, but it doesn’t change what he has done for us. It is about remembering the most perfect gift the world ever received.             During my childhood our tradition was to attend the children’s Christmas program on Christmas Eve and when we returned home, we would have our gift opening. The excitement and anticipation were palpable. I also recall the awe and wonder of the Christmas program, the church was filled with smiling, happy people, eager to see what the children had prepared. The glow of the lights from the tree created an ambiance of the holy, the sacred. And the message! We children had the great privilege of sharing the message of this great thing that had come to pass. Dressed in our Christmas finery and garnering the

            I was raised by a very punctual mother. My siblings and I learned that if you weren’t thirty minutes early for anything; you were late. I am still a punctual person and I believe being punctual also demonstrates respect for others, it respects their time. Another saying that people are probably familiar with is that “time is money.” My preference is that time is valuable. ·          To the person stuck in traffic but trying to make a flight at the airport. ·          To the patient in pain waiting for a doctor to prescribe medicine to relieve the pain. ·          To anyone on the opposite side of the bathroom door from where they need to be. ·          To the last-minute Christmas shopper, searching for a specific gift. ·          To the baker with a delicate treat in the oven. ·          To the person with a terminal diagnosis. Obviously, I could go on and on; we have all been caught in the snare known as time. Now, consider the time we waste. I am guilty o

            I’m a sucker for a good romantic movie, you know the type; the guy travels a long distance just to surprise his love and they embrace with great smiles on their faces. You can just feel the love emanate through the screen. Those movies give me that warm fuzzy feeling; for a few minutes. Once the movie is over and I go back to real life, that warm feeling dissipates, and I am left with more of a feeling of discontent. Hollywood does a good job of building up unrealistic expectations. While I’m sure there are such couples in the world I daresay it is the exception rather than the rule.             I watched such a movie this evening and when it finished the desire popped into my head that someone would make such a great effort to show love to me. This thought was immediately followed by the knowledge that someone has already done that for me. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to show me how much he loves me. He didn’t just make the journey either, he proceeded to liv

            How do you demonstrate respect? Many cultures have outward displays of showing respect, such as; bowing, keeping your head lower than another, taking off your shoes or keeping a couple steps behind another. The USA doesn’t have any distinct tradition, it seems the best one can hope for is good manners. I daresay that we actually have an ever-growing lack of respect. In our desire to be a friendly society, a casual attitude had crept in that has pluses and minuses as well. Parents struggle to be parents in favor of being their child’s friend. Conversation is frequently peppered with coarse language. Property is being vandalized. And I’m confident you can think of many other ways you see this lack of respect in our world.             You might be thinking, ‘Where are you going with this?’ I’m going to the house of God. In studying 1 Samuel 4- 6 we read about the treatment of the Ark of the covenant by the Philistines and Israel. The Ark (not the boat) was the presence o

            I know I have been absent from the blogosphere for a while. My meandering mind wandered into the realm of baked goods. I have been exploring my baking skills and sharing the benefits with others; it brings me a lot of pleasure to share my baked goods. Keep in mind that I work with other nurses who are often the recipients of my kitchen exploits; when it comes to food we nurses aren’t always that picky, especially if we can grab and go.             Something I bake frequently is chocolate chip cookies. I know the recipe by heart, it isn’t complicated. So, this past week I decided to bake cookies to take to work. Eggs, butter, flour, baking soda, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla all blended together and the chocolate chips of course. I tasted the cookie dough and I knew something wasn’t right, but I continued to scoop the dough onto the baking sheet and bake them.   I placed the final baking sheet into the oven and took a bite of a slightly cooled cookie and it hit me. I forgo