My Grandmother had a funny way with words in order to get her point across. Some of her favorite sayings were: “This is how the cow ate the corn” as she grabbed your knee to get your attention, “Well, shoot a monkey” when things did not go her way and “A little bird told me” when she was curious about something she had heard.
Recently one word out of this verse hit home: advisers. Plural.
Notice it does not say adviser.
In fact, the verse says many.
Have you ever had a conversation that helped you reframe a current circumstance? Recently my husband’s comments about a difficult situation provided me much-needed perspective.
A much younger friend works out with me to help me improve my health. She regularly reminds me that I “pace myself” when I’m doing any given physical challenge. While she would like for me to exert myself fully throughout, instead I start slowly and gradually increase my effort. She says I hold back.
Japanese culture has a beautiful tradition. When a piece of pottery breaks, it isn’t thrown away. Instead, the cracks are glued back together with flecks of gold through a process called kintsukuroi, or “golden repair.” The pottery is then carefully secured so that the pieces stay together as the gold dries. After the repair is complete, the piece has even more value than it did before it broke.
I love broken people. Do you know who I’m talking about? The folks you meet and instantly click with? There are no walls of pretense you have to climb over, no barriers to keep you away. All you see is pure, humble transparency. Every time I meet someone like this it's refreshing... and convicting.
One afternoon I was hiding under the bed covers, feeling defeated as usual. I cried out to God and felt His calm, familiar presence envelop my tired spirit. And I saw this…
Believe it or not, the process that Paul describes above is similar to the one oysters use to make pearls. But did you know only about one in ten thousand oysters actually produce pearls?
A few years ago, I attended a seminar on helping foster children recover from abuse. The speaker talked about a technique where children draw self portraits throughout the therapy process. As he flipped through the pictures, my eyes filled with tears.
Have you ever thought your life would be better if you just had one thing? I have dreamed that a bigger house, a different job, a changing family situation, or more time would make me happy.
Not long ago, we had an ice storm. Layers of ice weighed down bare tree branches. They looked like bony fingers reaching toward the ground. The snapping and groaning of limbs was eerie. Many trees plummeted to the ground, unable to endure the stress.
My nephew, Josh, was always a prankster. He was the class clown in school. He provided entertainment for his family. He initiated fun adventures with his friends. He had “a smile his face couldn’t contain,” as his brother noted.
The woman in Luke 7 that poured perfume on Jesus’ feet was called Sinner and Sinful Woman by the local townspeople. Jesus called her Forgiven.
Sarah was known as Barren and Disgraced. God called her Princess and Mother of Nations.
Mary Magdalene was labeled Demon-possessed. Jesus knew her as Healed.
I recently joined a group of ladies for Bible study. Noticing that some of the questions were fill-in-the-blank type, I thought, Okay, these are familiar questions requiring perfunctory answers.
It is inevitable. We wake up one day and realize we are in the valley of life. Life is like that. Mountains and valleys. Ups and downs. Highs and lows. If you aren’t living in the valley right now, chances are you just came out of one or you’re heading into one.
Today, I write from a place of raw emotion. How is it sometimes the people closest to you wound you the most? If God created us for relationships, why are they so hard? At times, friendships prove challenging. Sometimes, family trumps the charts in difficulty.
How often do you think about your pinky toe? Not very often, I would suspect. That is, until you stub and break it! Then, all you seem to think about is that toe.
Picture this: Take a dry sponge and pour water over it. All its holes fill up, and it doubles in size. When it gets to the point it can hold no more, the water flows over the edges. It is “satiated;” the Hebrew meaning of satisfies, in our verse today. It is the filling and even overfilling of appetites or desires.
Have you ever taken on a project that felt impossible? You don’t know where to start. It feels overwhelming. There are too many steps in the process. Certain things have to happen that are out of your control in order to accomplish it
