Sunday Morning Worship

Something has been missing in my life recently. Now I could load you up with all kinds of excuses...my husband has been incapacitated and is still recovering, one of my children and her family have moved back home and are staying with us while they get things in order. The usual end of the school year business. My "real" job. The work I do with the Youth. Bottom line, while searching to find what is different I have come to realize that I've not been fully present in Worship for several weeks now. Looking back, I can now see that what was wrong was me. I was there to be entertained. In fact, I've become quite lazy! Perhaps I wasn't crazy about a couple of the hymns one Sunday. Another Sunday, someone was sitting in MY seat! Did the Pastor really use different words to the "Great Thanksgiving"? On each of these Sundays, I've entered not with a humble and contrite heart but knowing it just had to be "All about Me" and what I want!

Church is a community of believers. Worship should never be about just what I GET out of the service, but rather also, what I ADD to it. Has the experience been more fulfilling because of my presence? Have I been unselfishly giving of myself? Singing with gusto or at least devotion?  Following the verses read in my Bible rather than just listening? Greeting a visitor or spending time with a fellow member I haven't talked to in a while? Truly lifting up to God those whose names have been read during the Prayer Request time? 

We should be a gathering of individuals who, through praise and worship, form a whole body.

And, although I shouldn't have to, I must watch that I don't try to be a member of an audience. God is the audience. Going to church isn't like going to the movies. I am not there just to receive the Word that is spoken...God is there to receive our love and praise and HE is the object of our affections. If we believe it to be a "worship service", then we should be as much a part of it as the organ, the Pastor or the special music.

We're supposed to be the givers. And if we give, God will be blessed and we will receive what we need from Him and not the sound system.

Control

Most of us envision our lives as being orderly with all things happening the way we want. We make plans and have dreams, some of them divinely inspired, that we want to see through to completion. We want to be happy, successful, and healthy, all of which are perfectly natural and perfectly human. So when life takes us to places we don’t want to go, we often feel as if something has gone wrong, or we must have made a mistake somewhere along the line. Although this will repeatedly happen in all our lives we rarely understand the reasons...at least in the beginning. Eventually we all come to realize that trials are designed to strengthen us, teach us and mold us.

It may take something major to wake us up. After all, it's very hard to turn our lives loose, to feel out of control...even though control is a huge illusion! It is loss of control more than anything else that humbles us and enables us to see the big picture. It reminds us that there is someone else in control. Hopefully, this awareness will help us release our resistance to what is. Joy exists within our lives whether things go our way or not. And when we don’t feel it, it is because we choose not to.
 
Learning to release our imagined control to the One who truly IS in control is life changing...and it's oh, so much easier!

How much...

do you love your cell phone?

According to a new survey by phone security company Lookout, the majority of Americans would put themselves at risk to get their lost or stolen phones back. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed cared more about their device and the data on it than the danger they were putting themselves in to retrieve it...

As for the aftermath of having your phone stolen, ten percent of theft victims lost confidential company information, nine percent had their identities stolen, and twelve percent found fraudulent charges to their accounts. They also suffered a variety of negative emotions:

Not passing judgement, just passing along information. Read the whole article here...

Mother's Day gifts

We've all heard the phrase (and have probably used it), "If I could, I would give you the world!". We all know that's not possible but the love behind the statement is real and heartfelt.

If Mother's Day has snuck up on you and you're still wondering what to give to the woman who gave you life, try http://www.uwingu.com/mars/
The company is called Mothers on Mars and for prices ranging from $5.00 to $5,000.00 you can name a crater for the #1 woman in your life. Now how cool is that?

The website says:
Half the revenues from MoM will go to fund grants for space-related educational projects. Uwingu will publish the name of your mom’s crater and send it to the Red Planet on the private manned Mars One mission, scheduled to lift off in 2024. However, the new name won’t be officially recognized by NASA (or, we presume, the Martians).

But, after all, it's the thought that counts, right?

The First

Look Up

I am as guilty as the next...
This is worth 5 minutes of your time...

Happy in God...

When people find that you're a Christian, are they surprised? Can they tell by your words and deeds that you have found joy in your life or do you follow the "I'm a Christian so I can't have fun" stereotype? Do you spend all your time thinking of the things you cannot do?

The happiest people on earth ought to be those of us in God's service. And we ought to look like it. We have every reason to smile more than anyone else. Even though our work is terribly serious, we ought to have more fun and have a better time doing it than anybody. Why would we not enjoy life? For whom do we live it? 

 

Those who look as if they've just finished their last piece of bread do not minister very effectively. We really don't need to spend all our time on the negatives of life; there are enough heart-breaking experiences to go around for all of us. Who wants to follow a God who is perceived to be standing over us hand on His hip, shaking His finger? If God does not want us to be happy creatures, why would He have provided us with food, drink, books, music, friends and all the beauty in the world?

On top of all the wonderful things to be found in our world He also offers us the opportunity to be in communion with Him? One on one. We can't allow ourselves to get so wrapped up in daily life that we forget the gifts.

I don't mean to sound like life is always easy if you're a Christian...we do not have an easy calling. God holds us to a higher standard but He is also a loving guide who is always there to help us through the hard times and offer us joy, His joy. What more could we want?

Praise!

As I've mentioned, we've had an illness in the family that has been serious enough to totally disrupt life as I know it...thank God, we've reached a turning point and can see progress toward health! With this wonderful news, I hope to be able to be more attentive to the blog from this point. 

In honor of God's good grace:

Jeremiah 17:8
"They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."