from John Calvin
However many blessings we expect from God,
His infinite liberality
will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.
(Definition of liberality: the quality of giving or spending freely)
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Identify with
from Flying Free
We support and defend those we most identify with.
Remember that the next time someone you know defends an abuser.
We support and defend those we most identify with.
Remember that the next time someone you know defends an abuser.
Monday, December 9, 2019
She was beautiful
by Susan Reynolds
SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL...
...but she didn't know what that meant.
When she was a little girl
they told her she was beautiful
but it had no meaning
in her world of bicycles
and pigtails
and adventures in make-believe.
Later, she hoped she was beautiful
as boys started to take notice
of her friends
and phones rang for
Saturday night dates.
She felt beautiful on her wedding day,
hopeful with her
new life partner by her side
but, later,
when her children
called her beautiful,
she was often exhausted,
her hair messily tied back,
no make-up,
wide in the waist
where it used to be narrow;
she just couldn't take it in.
Over the years, as she tried,
in fits and starts,
to look beautiful,
she found other things
to take priority,
like bills
and meals,
as she and her life partner
worked hard
to make a family,
to make ends meet,
to make children into adults,
to make a life.
Now,
she sat.
Alone.
Her children grown,
her partner flown,
and she couldn't remember
that last time
she was called beautiful.
But she was.
It was in every single line on her face,
in the strength of her arthritic hands,
the ampleness that had
a million hugs imprinted
on its very skin,
and in the jiggly thighs and
thickened ankles
that had run the race for her.
She had lived her life with a loving
and generous heart,
had wrapped her arms
around so many to
give them comfort and peace.
Her ears had
heard both terrible news
and lovely songs,
and her eyes
had brimmed with,
oh, so many tears,
they were now bright,
even as they dimmed.
She had lived and she was.
And because she was,
she was made beautiful.
SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL...
...but she didn't know what that meant.
When she was a little girl
they told her she was beautiful
but it had no meaning
in her world of bicycles
and pigtails
and adventures in make-believe.
Later, she hoped she was beautiful
as boys started to take notice
of her friends
and phones rang for
Saturday night dates.
She felt beautiful on her wedding day,
hopeful with her
new life partner by her side
but, later,
when her children
called her beautiful,
she was often exhausted,
her hair messily tied back,
no make-up,
wide in the waist
where it used to be narrow;
she just couldn't take it in.
Over the years, as she tried,
in fits and starts,
to look beautiful,
she found other things
to take priority,
like bills
and meals,
as she and her life partner
worked hard
to make a family,
to make ends meet,
to make children into adults,
to make a life.
Now,
she sat.
Alone.
Her children grown,
her partner flown,
and she couldn't remember
that last time
she was called beautiful.
But she was.
It was in every single line on her face,
in the strength of her arthritic hands,
the ampleness that had
a million hugs imprinted
on its very skin,
and in the jiggly thighs and
thickened ankles
that had run the race for her.
She had lived her life with a loving
and generous heart,
had wrapped her arms
around so many to
give them comfort and peace.
Her ears had
heard both terrible news
and lovely songs,
and her eyes
had brimmed with,
oh, so many tears,
they were now bright,
even as they dimmed.
She had lived and she was.
And because she was,
she was made beautiful.
A major life disruption
Trauma permanently changes us.
This is the big, scary truth about trauma:
there is no such thing as "getting over it."
The five stages of grief model marks
universal stages in learning to accept loss,
but the reality is in fact much bigger: a major
life disruption leaves a new normal in its
wake. There is no "back to the old me." You
are different now, full stop.
This is not a wholly negative thing. Healing
from trauma can also mean finding new
strength and joy. The goal of healing is not a
papering-over of changes in an effort to
preserve or present things as normal. It is to
acknowledge and wear your new life - warts,
wisdom, and all - with courage.
Friday, December 6, 2019
The good shepherd
Bible Gateway Verse of the Day
John 10:14-15
I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep, and I am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:14-15
I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep, and I am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
The door
Bible Gateway Verse of the Day
John 10:7, 9-10
Jesus the Good Shepherd
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
John 10:7, 9-10
Jesus the Good Shepherd
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
Light of the world
Bible Gateway Verse of the Day
John 8:12
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
John 8:12
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
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