Hearts in Service

We received a phone call early yesterday morning, letting us know that mother-in-law had passed away. While we are sad, we are so very thankful that she is no longer in pain. Who she was as a person had slipped away a few years ago as she struggled with advanced dementia and Alzheimer's. I am also thankful that the siblings and spouses spent Sunday afternoon and evening together at her bedside and were able to remember the good things, enjoy one another's company and say our goodbyes. We weren't sure how long she would last and I am so happy that we spent our Easter that way. She leaves behind children and grandchildren who loved her. Her family meant the world to her and everything in her life centered around them. She introduced them to music and art and beauty. We all have wonderful memories of her and her art pieces in our houses. We will be having a small graveside service in two weeks. I will miss her unending patience and kindness and her attentive interest in whatev...

We are on the cusp of Easter, and this year it has suddenly become a difficult one. I have no plans for tomorrow other than going to church in the morning. We will see what the afternoon holds. On Thursday night, my mother-in-law took a turn for the worse and developed a high fever. She has an infection, the sepsis is back, and the pressure wound on her ankle has not healed and is open down to the tendons. Yesterday, she was put on hospice care and it's now a waiting game. Her pain is being managed and she is provided comfort, but no other medical intervention will be happening. I've been down this road before with my own mother and it's hard. And this decision stirred up memories of that terrible time 5 years ago. It's difficult to know how long it will be and it's hard to make decisions of any kind about anything. I was on my way to go for a walk at my favorite place yesterday when Dan called me. He told me to go ahead and finish the walk and when I got home he...

Luke 24:28-35 (HCSB) ~ They came near the village where they were going, and He gave the impression that He was going farther. But they urged Him: “Stay with us, because it’s almost evening, and now the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them. It was as He reclined at the table with them that He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.    Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, but He disappeared from their sight. So they said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?”  That very hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and those with them gathered together,    who said, “The Lord has certainly been raised, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. It is the day of the resurrection and t...

Luke 9:23-24 ~  Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it." Today is Palm Sunday and I love the celebration and symbols of this day. Like the crowds in this Palm Sunday story, we celebrate and excitedly welcome Jesus into our midst. In our context here, we have breakfast together. We decorate the aisle of the church with palms. Later today the children and adults will march around the sanctuary and wave the palms. We've created crosses from some of the palm branches that people can take home with them. As I was reflecting on this day, the thought occurred to me that when we follow Jesus we enjoy certain aspects of that, but we don't always weigh the cost of following Him. We forget that following Him means we are to pick up a cross and live a crucified life.  Picking up my cross means that I ...

Dan and I got back on Wednesday afternoon from three days away at our district prayer conference. Every other year it is a business conference and then the opposite year is a retreat. This is for pastors in our district and this was a retreat year and took place at a YMCA campground in the middle of our state. I am so thankful that we went together this year. The main theme of the weekend was long-term sustainability in our ministry and how to weave some soul-care in there. The pastorate is a strange job and without trying to be melodramatic, can wreak havoc on your life. If you don't have some level of self-awareness and have some tools to help you through, it can tear apart your life and your family's life.  There was a workshop one afternoon on how to sustain ministry for the long-haul. I had planned on going to it when the thought occurred to me that it was probably for the younger ministry couples in the room because Dan and I have been at this for 35 years! In fact, we we...

This week's Lent prayer focus is kind of a touchy subject for me as it has to do with praying for our government leaders. To be honest, it's because I'm unhappy with our current administration and the handling of just about every aspect of life. But as a Christian I'm called to pray for our leaders, regardless of how I feel. And that means even if you don't like the person in office. One of my irritation points is that Christians are very quick to quote the verses in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 until the person they didn't vote for or are unhappy with is in office.  I generally stay away from politics because it is a huge division point among many people. But regardless of how you feel or how you voted and who is in office, we are told in God's word to pray for them. And not just that they would do what you want, but we are to pray for God to work in their life.  So it seems a fitting way to end our 6 week Lenten prayers by praying with the responsibility of running our...

I was sitting and reading in a little corner of the kitchen the other day and I looked up to see the sun dappling across the floor. It made me happy as it seems to be such a rare occurrence lately.  I was reading there because I needed to get out of my windowless basement. I spend a lot of time down there as my office is there, as well as our family room. And I'm finding that, combined with the lack of sunshine, has really affected my overall mood. It was a long hard winter and spring isn't shaping up to be much better.  I'm trying to get outside more, even if it's a drab and dreary day. I'm working on getting more movement into my day because that certainly helps. We have one car and Dan has it much of the time, so while I haven't been able to go hiking like I was, I'm going for walks around our neighborhood.  I'm also just trying to spend part of each day at my church office, so I'm out of the house. Most of what I do for our district is done virtu...

It got busy today and I almost forgot to post the prayer focus this week. You can find the complete Guide to Help You Walk Through Lent here.  I hope you are finding it helpful. I'm enjoying taking a slow day by day approach to reading and prayer.