Reflection

Author: Tracie

Apr 21

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In my last writing, Share the Love, it was Ash Wednesday and I ‘charged’ myself with a challenge.

So this is my charge.  For this time of Lent I will find ways, in all of my encounters, to share the love.  I will be very intentional in my actions and my thoughts.  When I begin to have negative thoughts, thoughts of anger or wrath, I will stop and remember the greatest commandment.  I want to be like Him, and this is how I know my Lord…through His love.

Today is Maundy Thursday.  I am reflecting on my time of Lent asking myself…”How have I done?”  Always, I think, I could do better.  But I did well in many areas, not as I would of wanted in others.  But here is what I am taking with me from this experience, from this time of setting aside for the purpose of bettering my Christian walk.

“Jesus love” is so VERY GOOD in every way!  I have never felt better emotionally, spiritually, physically, as I have these past days when all my thoughts and energies were focused on how to love another.  Each day I found that what I received back was the real gift.  Jesus knew this!  Jesus knew that if we could just figure out that to love another, the Jesus way, was to love yourself too.  And that is how we follow His commandment,

“The most important commandment is this: …Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength.  The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself.  No other commandment is greater than these.”

To love ‘the Jesus way’, has become my drug.  I cannot give and receive enough of it!

Tonight, our church will celebrate with each other and our Lord, the Last Supper.  Just as Jesus did with His disciples on that Maundy Thursday so many years ago.  It was on that night that Jesus had this conversation with Peter,

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.  But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail.  So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.  Peter said, Lord I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you.  But Jesus said, Peter, let me tell you something.  Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.  Luke 22:31-34 NLT

We are no different.  We think we do so good, we run a list through our minds of all the good we have done, we make promises to our Lord, we break them.  I think the hardest part for me is the omissions.  All of the times I could’ve, but didn’t.  I think those times of denying Christ are just as harmful as the times when we simply become weak in our temptations.  What are your omissions?  Do you know?  Failing to talk with Him throughout your day, perhaps?  Failing in developing your relationship with Him, maybe?  You can correct them.  And the best news is this…

But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail.  So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.

Jesus pleads for us, Jesus prays for us as we go through our day, that when we fail Him, we will turn and repent and help our brothers.  Wow!  Isn’t He amazing!

I pray your Easter will be fruitful in your life and in the lives of others!

God Bless!

Tracie

“Be the change you want to see in the world”  Ghandi

 

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Share the Love

Author: Tracie

Mar 8

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Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent.

Lent in the Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Lent is a time of sacrifice for Jesus. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

(source-wikipedia)

I have made it my custom to spend this day before Ash Wednesday, in contemplation.  I have typically, spent much time in prayer in the days and weeks prior so by the time this day before Ash Wednesday comes, I can honestly choose that part of me that I will give.

I have one particular thought that keeps coming to my mind.  Share the love.

I completely understand and respect the idea of giving up something for the time of Lent.  I agree with it.  However, I have found a discipline that works best for me.  It is just my own way of giving up for Jesus, of preparing my soul for a new life, one that comes after resurrection.  So it has become my habit to choose a particular character that is “un-Christ-like” and work to rid myself of it.  In these past few years I have been able to give up bitterness and selfishness (not that I don’t have those moments).  I have been able to practice an attitude of forgiveness as I reach forward to the ways of Christ.

If you are a friend of my facebook you will know that I have been very forward with the thoughts of “sharing the love”, these past couple of weeks.  God has been talking to me and I’m trying my best to listen.

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other.  Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  John 13.34-35 NLT

So this is my charge.  For this time of Lent I will find ways, in all of my encounters, to share the love.  I will be very intentional in my actions and my thoughts.  When I begin to have negative thoughts, thoughts of anger or wrath, I will stop and remember the greatest commandment.  I want to be like Him, and this is how I know my Lord…through His love.

“The most important commandment is this: …Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength.  The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself.  No other commandment is greater than these.”

Love your neighbor as yourself…these words I will be praying over heavily.

May your Lenten Season be productive!

Tracie

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On Wounded Knees

Author: Tracie

Mar 27

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When I began this Lenten Journey I offered a prayer given by Henry Nouwen.  In it he states, “I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me.  The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life.  I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions.  There are no times or places without choices.  And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.”

I have been keenly aware of these words, keeping them at the forefront of my mind as I encounter the world on a daily basis.  Sometimes that world can be very hateful, spewing unnecessary demeaning words, taking actions meant on division and destruction.   We are such a divided people, in religious attitudes, political views, and so many other ways.  I tolerate political hatred and division but I don’t like it.  I feel I have no other choice but to tolerate, else I would spew my own anger which would not help matters.  But when it comes to the matters of Christian attitudes and actions, I cannot simply tolerate for to me it is my very life, my existence in every meaning of the word.  To choose words that are His words, thoughts that are His thoughts and actions that are His actions, requires of me, a dedicated prayer life.  I am not always successful.

These past weeks have been a struggle for me as I have encountered a heavier dose of adversity and I find my desire to choose “thoughts that are His thoughts” quite the challenge.  I have found my actions and words easier to control.  But I do not like that my thoughts have “a mind of their own”.

Through prayer I have been getting a sense of the direction I should be going.  Stepping over resentment is oh so difficult and is my greatest struggle at this time.  But if I am to continue on this journey, to continue to grow toward sanctification and to obey Christ, to be like Him, I must defeat this foe.

As Christ was enduring the mocking, the beatings, the long walk to Golgotha with the added burden of the weighted cross, (until lifted by Simon) what were His thoughts?  We know He humbled Himself; He did not strike back with words or actions.  What were His thoughts?   Very few words are spoken by Jesus as He hung in unimaginable pain; these are the most powerful, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34 NLT)

Forgiveness, then, is the answer?  Forgiveness even when the offender doesn’t seek it?  That would be Christ’s model.

Today I read from my devotional book these words from Henry Nouwen.  “God’s forgiveness is unconditional; it comes from a heart that does not demand anything for itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking.  It is the divine forgiveness that I have to practice in my daily life.  It calls me to keep stepping over all my arguments that say forgiveness is unwise, unhealthy, and impractical.  It challenges me to step over all my needs for gratitude and compliments.  Finally, it demands of me that I step over that wounded part of my heart that feels hurt and wronged and that wants to stay in control and put a few conditions between me and the one whom I am asked to forgive.    This stepping over is the authentic discipline of forgiveness.”

When I have asked God to allow me to lead a Christ-like life, I expect the hard road.  Christ’s actions and words were not that of society, his thoughts were not his own, but those of His father.  If my heart is true in its desire then I will take the hard road and I will do so on my knees no matter how wounded they become.

God loves you!

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A Lenten Prayer

Author: Tracie

Feb 18

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As I begin my journey through the Lenten season, I awake this morning knowing immediately what it is I must do. Prayer, oh yes but I wanted something to set my mind in focus. When normally I would reach for my Bible, today, I was looking for a different guide. I stooped to look under the bed where I knew I would find one of Rick’s many devotional books. One in particular caught my eye and it just happens to be exactly what I was looking for (unbeknown to me at that moment). It is titled, ‘Eternal Seasons; A Spiritual Journey through the Church’s Year’ by Henri J.M. Nouwen. I offer this prayer as it is tugging at me hard.

Dear Lord Jesus,
Today the Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.

I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, human respect, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.

I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are no times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.

Please Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easter comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life which you have prepared for me.

I offer this in your name, Amen.

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Preparing for Life

Author: Tracie

Apr 3

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Promises of bloom I love Easter for with it comes Spring; new life, warmer temps, flowers blooming, trees coming alive again. I like getting outside playing in the dirt as I prepare my flower beds in order that they grow vibrant and healthy. If I don?t prepare their soil properly, they won?t grow properly, if at all.

How appropriate it is that the season of Lent coincides with Spring for it too involves preparation; the preparation of our lives for the resurrection of our Christ. As we began the Season of Lent, Rick asked me what I would be giving up this year. I told him, “self”. For me, Lent is a time I take to seriously consider my attitude, my actions toward others, my “love level”. In other words, I ask myself how much closer I am to having the spirit of Christ than the previous year and what do I need to do to attain that? Christ was certainly selfless in all he did. It requires a lot of prayer, a lot of self examining, a lot of truth finding about the self. It is an act of preparing in order that my soul grows vibrant and healthy.

Self denial…the deliberate refusal to satisfy ones desires, as a method of disciplining oneself or making it possible to help others. Resurrect…to bring back to life, to bring back to memory or into use Vibrant…full of life and energy As we are nearing Easter and I look back upon this lent season I have to say that I could’ve done better, but I did better than the previous year. Of course, it is all just the beginning and doesn’t end with Easter, for Easter is the time of resurrection.

The next time you?re out working in your yard, ask yourself how you are preparing your life for vibrant growth. Is your life full with the love of Christ or is it lying dormant in need of some care?

God loves you immensely!

Tracie

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