Reflection Questions

The day stretches before me. Last night, with Kay at a class and Caitlyn at Orchestra Hall, I decided to stay at the office later than on a usual Friday night and get some more work done. I suppose I stayed till 9:15. It felt great, and it meant that this morning I could sleep in (till 7:50, laughable by my kids' standards). Today I have some phone calls to make and a couple of other church-related items to do, but they are not many and I can do them from home. The day feels like Sabbath, a day to catch my breath before Holy Week starts tomorrow. It's a day to exercise, to let the sun fill me, to hang out with Caitlyn (Kay's class continues all day), to tackle some small house projects (yes, they feel like Sabbath--there's something about bringing order to one's basic living space that breathes life into my soul), to reflect on life and to pray. In sum, this day feels like gift, in which I feel myself "protected and rescued by God as the psalmist describes" in Psalm 16 (see reflection question #5). How about you? How has your energy been restored recently? --Brian

Self-Forgiveness

Self-forgiveness is sometimes difficult for me. Not all the time, but sometimes. I think that Sarah Parsons is on the mark when she notes that we can often be kind and forgiving toward others but hold ourselves to a higher standard for some reason, and therefore find it hard to forgive ourselves. My question to myself then is, "Who made you so high and mighty that you think that you can't forgive yourself?" I try to ask this gently of myself....and remember the psalm (46) that says, "Be still and know that I am God." Are you growing in forgiving--others and yourself?

Brian

Dependence on God

My older brother Paul is a United Methodist pastor in the Asheville, North Carolina area. Ever since I let him know during my college days that I felt a call into the pastoral ministry, Paul has been insistent in reminding me that I must never let go of music. He saw me practice many hours as we were growing up together, first the piano, then the violin; he heard me perform.

While his insistence was at first annoying--"Why can't he accept my chosen path?" I would ask myself--I have always known that I need to pay attention. When I am involved in significant musical endeavors that stretch me, I find that my heart and mind--and ministry--catch fire. When I go on hiatus from such endeavors, my spirit droops. If my preaching is woven with at least a little musicality, then it speaks to me much more, and probably to others as well. Paul is right: if I let go of music, I am no longer myself, the person God made me--and is making me-- to be.

Where do you need to make sure that you are being yourself, the person God made you to be?

Brian

Our need for neighbors

This whole question of neighbors has been on my mind a lot lately. I think about all of the debate going on right now around immigration law. To be honest, I haven't given enough time to really looking at the different proposals that have been put forth, so I can't really speak to any of them. But in all of the debates, the question we need to ask ourselves as Christians, is "who is our neighbor?" Jesus was asked that question, and he tried to offer an explanation through the parable of the Good Samaritan. All of the people who were supposed to help out didn't, and it was the "foreigner" who offered the care, who treated the wounded person like a neighbor. In all of the "us" versus "them" language being tossed around, it seems we make immigrants out to be less than human. If we saw immigrants as fully human, we would have to see them as our neighbor. And we know what Jesus said about our neighbors. We are supposed to love them. We need them.

- Melanie

Renewed Commitment

My thoughts today have more to do with the title "renewed commitment" than they do with the actual reading for the day. I've decided it is important to have time away from the things that we value and love doing, in this case - work and family. When I am away from work for either a conference or vacation, when I come back, I am reminded how much I love what I do. It always feels good to be back. (It doesn't feel good to get up out of bed when I want to sleep in and it's Monday morning, but after I get that out of my system, it really does feel good to be back!). Or when I see my family after not seeing them for awhile, I'm reminded over and over again how wonderful they are (They also drive me a little nuts, but I figure that's pretty normal!). It's reaffirmed to me how much they love me, I love them, and that I would do just about anything for them. It's a renewing or remembering of commitments that I don't get if they are around all the time. I will be there for them, they will be there for me. My legs don't ache from a desire to go run, but my heart aches when I haven't seen my family in a while. Renewed commitments bring such wonderful joy! What commitments do you renew every once in a while? What causes you to renew them?

- Melanie

Weathering Storms

Well, I'm "weathering a storm" as I write this. I decided to stop eating chocolate during lent, because I had begun to realize that I ate it in ridiculous amounts whenever I was stressed out. And I was feeling stressed too often, and subsequently eating too much chocolate. With a history of diabetes in my family, I decided I needed to get a better handle on this now. But it's been a long day and my stress level is increasing a bit as we move closer to Holy Week, and I just so happened to have two chocolate covered graham crackers from Starbucks (they are really great) in the drawer of my desk. I wasn't two sentences into reading the chapter "weathering storms" before I put my book down and ate that chocolate! It tasted so good. I guess reading about setbacks, I ended up creating one. I agree with Sarah, we all have setbacks, and the thing they remind us of is our humanity. Our inability to reach "perfection". And God's persistent love for us in our imperfect states. How are things going for you, as we move closer to Holy Week? How is this clearing time going for you?

- Melanie