The Sounds of the Day

   It’s Good Friday and I have been thinking about the sounds that would have comprised this day in Jerusalem. It is obviously a day that focuses on Jesus, and the sacrifice He made for us. However, I wonder what the sounds were like that day.
   It’s been like living in a rain forest here, a cold damp wet rain forest, which creates lovely sounds on the roof as I settle in to sleep. The sounds of the birds outside, the dogs as they bark their hellos, the television, the wind in the pines… there are just so many sounds surrounding me today.
   I wonder what the sounds were on that day in Jerusalem. After Christ died, after his body was removed from the cross. The heckling sounds, the feet on the roads, and the sound of the hammer and nails have all faded. Now, it is the sounds of soldiers and the sigh of wood as it is relieved of its weight. The night sounds could have occurred. People would have returned to their homes, I wonder what that sound was. Doors opened and closed, and what were the conversations that occurred? Had the fever of the day been broken with the realization of the actions of the day and its consequences? Were voices lowered in fear or raised in irritation? Did children sense the tension and rev up their little motors to pitches normally only reached during full moons? Were there the sounds of sobs in the streets or laughter?
  Today we remember. Today we think back and remember the actions, sights, and sounds of that day.

Heart Headline

   I heard the most interesting news piece on the radio this morning, asking people what the headline of their heart was. We see headlines all over the place: newspapers, blogs, tweets, news sites, magazines, and news broadcasts. Unfortunately, those headlines are often violent, troubled, angry, and divisive. But, the headline of the heart might be something entirely different.

   I look around me and wonder what the headlines of the heart might be for those around me. For me, I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for my family this week. After not feeling well and having my feet knocked out from under me with a recent winter cold, I have seen my family bend over backwards to care for me. Everything from the snow being cleaned off my car to a rich and healthy vegetable soup – my heart was overwhelmed with the love shown. I hope your heart headline is something wonderful.

The Empty Mall

   Our shopping mall isn’t really quite the hot spot of mercantile activity that others are, but still, there are a few stores and a movie theater. The day before Christmas is known as a major shopping day. There are the last minute gifts to buy, the just so perfect outfit for that party, and the last bit of décor for the dinner. So, I thought that this mall would be at least a hot spot of the last little bit of festive planning. A Santa picture place was staged, a few trees were set up here and there for decoration. Carols played over the loud speakers. But, the halls were fairly empty minus the people who actually worked there and had to be there. A few shoppers were there, but they looked rather humdrum at best. It was an empty, depressing sight.

   Standing at the window of the mall, doing a bit of people watching, it struck me that for too many of us, our hearts are much like that mall. If we could see inside, it would look empty of joy and with only the required actions taking place, just enough to function. How sad it is to have an empty heart, to have a sense of life that is withered not with age but with emptiness and coldness. It struck me over after hearing a conversation take place not soon after about how Christmas was just another Saturday. Sitting on a mall bench, talking on the cell phone – this individual apparently didn’t have anyone that they had been invited to spend Christmas with. That is quiet sad in and of itself; but to remain so insular when there are so many people who have such needs that could be reached out to and to remain isolated anyway.
   I encourage you to reach out, make the decision to contact others and open up those heart doors.

Posture of Prayer

   Kneel, prostrated, standing, sitting, and the list of postures goes on. Prayer, the act of talking to and listening to God, can be seen to require a formal posture. As if I am some sort of radio antenna that must achieve the perfect stance before the God signal can go to him and back to me. Well, though I am the first to admit that there are times that I have been on my face before God and examining the carpet threads quite closely, and other times when my knees have had the imprint of the floor boards on them, more often it is during the normal postures of the day. It is a pause as I turn on my computer at work, that God will bless my efforts that day. Walking in the store, sitting on the couch, lying in the bed, during a meeting, during a walk, or mid-conversation.
   How grateful I am that I am not required to have a specific posture for God to hear me or for me to hear God! I mean, it’s not that I couldn’t stop and kneel in the aisle at my local grocery store, but it could certainly slow down the process. Instead, it’s the posture of my heart, mind, and spirit that is important. My heart must be open, seeking the answerer of questions and needs. It is important that my mind be something which is both utilizing the gifts that God has given me and also relies on Him to fill in the blanks (of which there are many). It is the posture of my spirit, that it be prone and vulnerable even when in the middle of a meeting or driving in the car. The posture of prayer is important, but it’s perhaps not the initial thought of physical posture that is important.

Inventor

I mentioned yesterday that I needed to find ways to encourage and inspire myself to attain long term goals and objectives. But, how? Rewards at the end are nice, but when you are mid-way they can be sadly lacking. This started my thinking on how this happens. When I have been successful in completing something, what have I done to keep myself focused and energized? I have to become an inventor of motivation.

If I were to put on my mad scientist outfit, metaphorically speaking, make my hair stand on end, and have rows of chemicals in test tubes in the background, perhaps I could mix a formula for inspiration and motivation. Starting with a collection of the liquid energy and put a few ounces into our test tube. Then, I’ll drop in a few granules of patience which probably turn the whole thing blue. Stir in a green glob of stick-to-it-ness. It will have to be stirred quite well or that will just stick to the wall of the test tube. Place under a Bunsen burner and heat slowly. Add in a combination of the ingredients of determination, will, encouragement, and one heaping teaspoon of accountability. Remove from the heat and check for clarity. Then, spread liberally over the matter at hand, applying liberally whenever dryness appears.
For me, this takes the view of little bits and pieces. A calendar page with Shakespeare quoted, a phone call with a friend, a saying on something small, watching butterflies fly and Queen Anne’s lace stretching the little blooms up and out, the puppy who chases the butterfly while the other watches in mild amusement, a well written letter, a surprise card, listen to little feet run through the house and giggles floating back towards you, clean laundry, a good salad that someone else makes, and a cool morning breeze. They can each be a moment of movement to help me progress in my task.

Grow Up

A fan of Disney movies, Peter Pan is right up there, especially the one with Robin Williams. They are flying all around, a then a great food fight. Or the song, Young at Heart, crooned by Frank Sinatra, those words are wonderful as well.

I just celebrated my birthday. Birthdays really don’t bother me. The only one that really has is 25, because it was a quarter of a century mark – which led to a few minutes of thinking. But, all in all – they really don’t bother me. I did receive the inevitable question several times though, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” I have to grow up?
No, not the Peter Pan type of staying away from growing up, where the actions and thoughts are childish, I don’t really want that. I think it’s more about being Young at Heart. Let me take the lessons learned, continue to dream, and still hold joy in my life – young at heart! Now that really doesn’t answer the question though. Let’s see, I want to be a friend, a woman, a Christ follower, a daughter, a cousin. I want to be accomplished in my profession, I want to be an author, an artist, a philosopher. I want to be someone who has the nerve to explore and the wisdom to know how to do that. I want to be a help, a leader, and a source of inspiration. I want to be creative, analytical, and independently dependent. I want to teach and to learn. I can’t grow up right away – I have a long list of things to do along the way!

A Heart Condition

There was a lot of talk of blueberries on the trip, rich with antioxidants to allow the brain food it needs. There are lots of foods that are reputed to be good for the brain, good for the heart. Heart health is important, but there are a couple of different kinds of health that could be referred to under that heading. The physical heart, the muscle that pumps blood throughout the body is one. The emotional heart, as the seat of emotion, perspective, personality; that is another.

As I meet people in one location, and think of people I know in another location, I think of if the people in one spot would accept those in another. For instance, would the people I went to school with in college accept those who I work with or go to church with or befriend? Would those who have more than the surveyed norm accept others who have considerably less? Would those who have a different accent accept someone who sounds different, uses different terms of local vernacular?
Sometimes, I think we have a heart condition that makes us a little more reluctant to see beyond the initial differences. We grow stiff and established in our ways, set in our patterns until we find it hard to move and stretch, to encompass other things that seem new or different. What a wonderful heart condition it would be to have a wide open heart, to be careful and caring with each other, a heart condition of love.

Mother’s Love and Spit

A week ago I was watching a small herd of bison (buffalo) in Illinois. Two young calves had been born only days before and were out walking with the herd. One of them, took an opportunity to give her new baby a bath.

Some may say that the universal language is math, but in the case of moms, I think it’s a mother’s love and spit. Yes – spit. Didn’t your mom ever stick her thumb in her mouth, and then proceed to clean your face? Here it is, translated to a giant and beautiful animal, stopping to clean her child.

Yes, we can make faces as mom wipes away something after sticking their thumb in their mouth, but remember – it’s just mom saying that they love you.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Brazen Little Chickadees

When I was in elementary school, there was a park nearby with an open shelter. Walking through the woods, over the worn paths, I remember hearing crunch of dirt, leaves, and sticks underfoot. Then, you slowed down and walked as quietly as possible into the shelter. The sound of dirt changed to the sound of wood. Passing a few wooden benches, I remember walking all the way to where the shelter acted more like a roofed deck.

Looking out, there was a gully, full of trees and undergrowth. Standing there, open handed with sunflower seeds in my palm, I practiced patience. Soon, a chickadee would fly and land nearby. Then, moving a little closer, the little feathered creature hopped hopped hopped until it was perched a breath away from my hand. Finally, the chickadee would land on my hand.
I remember my heart racing as the little bird would sit there, easting its sunflower seeds. With bright black eyes and intricate shades of grey, white, and black this tiny creature would perch on my hand, moving here and there, finger to finger and eat quite peaceably.
It still amazes me, how brazed that little beauty of a bird was, and yet chickadees are still that way. Such brave big hearts in a tiny little bird. They may not look big and strong, but they are brazen little beautiful birds.

Don’t Get Plank Eye

There is so much going on between Jesus entering the city up to this point. We have witnessed the words of betrayal, hope, fear, future, and past. Words that have taught of trials to come, hints at a future, and a perspective that is truly shattering have been shared. Words of treason, of love, and of instruction wrapped up in whispers of conspiracy and murder, shrouded in hope.

It is easy during the reading of these words to become impassioned. “I wouldn’t have done that!” “I would have done this!” “How could they?” And yet, I think those are the moments we get plank eye. I know that I am a few days behind to line this directly up with Easter – what can I say, there is just so much here. Knowing that, I am still going to continue and finish up the story, even if it is a few days after the day we mark on our calendars.

Plank eye, you know that disease don’t you? What are the symptoms you ask? Well, there is single minded focus on self, self-righteousness and a tendency of the patient to temporarily forget their own screw-ups. They may be loud mouthed or loud mouth-hearted during this time. If left untreated, they may even develop a callous shell over their being which will hinder future growth. When we get the plank in our eye, we are losing sight of what is wrong in our own life and judging someone else.


This was a time when this group who wrote the words and lived these words suffered from some serious plank eye. First there is Judas, “waiting for the opportunity to hand Jesus over,” (Matthew 26: 16). Then, there is the warning of the betrayal which has already happened and not fully been acted out, “‘I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.’ Followed by ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me,’” (Matthew 26:21).


There is betrayal and falling away to come. It is easy in the next few days to judge, to make those quick statements. And yet, I would say to examine your heart of hearts. Would you really have stood firm?

Mid-terms

Mid-Term exams, Final exams- preparation and study culminating in a few hours of question and answer time before being totaled and averaged into the final grade. Remember the hand wringing, or maybe it was just me, as I worried over the scores of the tests and my final grades.


Jesus was going through a different kind of question and answer session, but no less a test. This however was not going to result in a report card or parent teacher conferences. Instead, it was designed to trap Jesus.


The Sadducees were silenced by the answer that Jesus had provided earlier, so the Pharisees got together and started to test Jesus. An expert in the law tossed out a question. Can you imagine the arrogance that came with that?


‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’


What law is the best? Which law is the most important?


The response – now pay attention, because this is Jesus answering this question….


‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’


Man, talk about the Bible slimmed down into a few words. Love God with all your heart. Love God with all your soul. Love God with all your mind. Your heart or emotions and love. Love God with your emotions, with the feelings you feel. Love God with all your soul, with the hope and spirit that you have been given. Love God with all your mind. With your intellect, your capabilities.


Jesus didn’t stop there – he went to say, “and the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’


But, that is a new answer for a new day.