Free Therapy
It is good to be you.
About 3 years or so ago my dear friends went to marital counseling. They had been married for about 5 years and needed some maintenance; a 60,000 mile tune-up of sorts. For anonymity I will call them Brew and Frannon.
Hot Jeff and I loved Thursday afternoons when Frannon would call and tell me all about her session with the doc and what her and Brew's homework for the week was. I would relay the information to Hot Jeff and bam, Bob's your uncle we had some free marital counseling. Without the couch. Without the dimmed lighting.
As The Shrink and I were talking today and I was having a big breakthrough (that's shrink talk) I was thinking, "I can't wait to tell the internet about this" I'm under the belief that we could all use a little therapy and that anti-depressants should be added to the water just like fluoride. And as you saw yesterday, when I get really excited about something I just assume you'll be excited too and that it will equally rock your world. Please don't ever tell me different, it will burst my bubble and I already have enough to discuss with The Shrink that I will be in therapy for like the better portion of the REST OF MY LIFE. My co-pay is $31.50 a visit. So I figure if I see The Shrink twice a month for the next 40 years that will be roughly $30,000 in co-pays I will have paid. I would just like to take a minute and thank my Dad for that.
So anyway, back to your free therapy. Turns out I have a low self-esteem. I took a quiz in The Shrink's office (sorta like those teeny-bopper quizzes I took in high school that told me if I should break up with my boyfriend or not but different) and I scored really high in the "Extremely Low Self-Esteem" category. I made myself feel better about his by exclaiming "well at least I got the highest of scores". My Mom said she was surprised at this because I seem confident. I would agree, I am pretty self-assured but apparently things like being a people pleaser, making decisions based on what others will think of me, etc. qualifies you as a person with low self-esteem.
Its important here to interject that your free therapy will, by nature, be a really crappy, watered down version of what I'm getting. Sorry about that. If you would like $30,000 in co-pays over the next 40 years then I'll give you The Shrink's phone number and you can get good therapy. Until then, no complaining on the free-but-kind-of-crappy-therapy you get second hand from me. Ok?
The book The Shrink suggested I begin working through is very cleverly called, Breaking the Chain of Low Self-Esteem. I had it over-nighted to me. It will be here on Wednesday and I firmly expect to be a brand new person by Friday morning.
Oh one more thing: The Shrink thinks my expectations are too high.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Me n' Jesus Time
I want to clarify that as a woman with an English degree it has not been lost on me that the correct grammar is "Jesus n' me" not "Me n' Jesus", however, I like the sounds of the latter better and well you know I've said it before and I'll say it again: its my blog.
So you just never know when the Holy Spirit is going to get a hold of you and whisper and shout and nudge and shake until He gets your attention but yesterday I was in a leadership meeting, not typically known for their change-your-life-application moments but there I sat with an amazing group of ladies eating some sort of insane pumpkin crumb cake piece of heaven when my friend Deb spoke up.
Let me tangent here for a moment on my friend Deb. Deb is 50-somethin' and looks better at 50-somethin' than most of us do at 30-somethin'. She's gorgeous but what really makes her beautiful is that she makes everyone in the room feel like they are her favorite person. I'm not quite sure how she does that but my Uncle Bob could do it too and I'm convinced that those types of people must get a lot of Starbucks gift cards because people just really like them and like how they feel when they are around them and can't help but buy them coffee cards.
Um, ok, where was I? So Deb says to us ladies that her mentor challenged her to be in the Word everyday. And I mean IN IT. Like no messing around but seriously get your butt out of bed early and go get yo' self in the Word because God wants to change your life and He's just waiting for you to get serious about having a quiet time with Him so He can get busy. She talked for about 10 minutes about how her morning quiet times are rocking her world and changing her core and making her love Jesus like she's never loved Him before.
Now let me stop right here for a second. I've been a Christian a long time and I've been listening to other Christians tell me for 21 years that I should get up early and have a quiet time. And no matter how good they made it sound I never was convinced that a morning time was all that different than the bedtime quiet time I was owning. I love sleeping in; I'd sleep until noon everyday if I could. In my perfect world I would stay up really late blogging and writing and then I'd sleep late and get up just in time for lunch. I don't know that I can ever think of a time where my kids haven't been up before me; for over 3 years my kids have been greeted with, "5 more minutes. Just 5 more minutes." Poor little darlings.
So now you can imagine my surprise when I felt the Holy Spirit doing His Holy Spirit thing while I was listening to Deb. THEN, she pulled out the big guns: yep, that's right, a "challenge". As in, "Ladies, I challenge you to carve out some time to have some quiet time with God, away from the busyness of your lives and families. Any time of the day is better than none but there is something really sweet about doing it first thing in the morning". That last part, that first-thing-in-the-morning part? That's where I usually check out but man, she was passionate. I couldn't help but be interested. A little giddy actually.
I came home last night and set out "31 Days of Praise" a book I went through in '06 and LOVED. Its daily readings are short and totally focused on giving God our praise as an act of worship. I love how it shifts the focus from myself to Him. I set my alarm for 6:00 (gasp). I went to bed before 11:00 (gasp, gasp). I was ready.
The alarm went off this morning and I quickly hit the snooze but that's when something CRAZY happened. I didn't go back to sleep. I started praying, as Deb suggested, for God to wake me up. AND HE DID. Here's my favorite part of the story: I went downstairs to find Hot Jeff already showered, dressed and reading the paper with coffee (ugh, I married a morning person) and he looks up and sees me and says, "Are you sick?" Ha!
I realize this is getting long so I'm going to skip some of the details about my morning breath and thread-bare pajamas and skip to the good parts... As Deb suggested, as I settled in with a blanket and coffee I prayed that God would meet me and that our time together would be sweet. I prayed He would protect our time by letting my kids sleep until 6:45ish. I prayed He would keep my mind clear, focused and un-drowzy. Guess what? HE DID! Here's where I get all mushy on you...it was one of the sweetest times with God I can remember. Ever. The house was quiet, it was still dark out, I hadn't yet started to wrestle with kids, laundry, emails, phone calls, etc. It was just amazing.
One of the scriptures I read during my Me n' Jesus time (it was referenced in the reading of the 'Praise' book) was Psalm 23. How many times have we all read Psalm 23? 1 gajillion times, right? Me too but I tell you, my God is soooo cool because this just jumped out and got me, "He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul". Mmm. Good stuff eh? It was like God made Himself really tiny, met me in my living room and wrapped this verse up in a little box with a pretty satin bow. I could almost feel Him in the room, looking at me tenderly with love in His eyes saying, "Thank you for meeting Me here, I know its early but I got you something and I've been waiting until I could give it to you in person".
Maybe you have encounters like that with the God of the universe every day. If so, you're lucky. Its been a while since I have and it CHANGED MY DAY. Not much changes my day. I'm a mom of 2 little ones who like to eat and nap at pretty much the same time every day. I'm in a bit of a rut when it comes to who I see, who I talk to, what I think about, the words that come out of my mouth, the tone of my voice so when something changes my day I take notice.
I don't know why Deb's suggestion was any different than anyone else's in the last 21 years. Maybe its because I sensed she was doing this early morning routine out of relationship and not out of guilt. Maybe its because I'm at a point in my life where I'm desperate and I'll try anything, even something insane like getting up before anyone else. Maybe its because I'm finally realizing the Holy Spirit isn't something to be feared but Someone to be welcomed*.
Whatever. I'm hooked. He leads me by quiet waters, He restores my soul.
*quote from John Stumbo's sermon this weekend
I want to clarify that as a woman with an English degree it has not been lost on me that the correct grammar is "Jesus n' me" not "Me n' Jesus", however, I like the sounds of the latter better and well you know I've said it before and I'll say it again: its my blog.
So you just never know when the Holy Spirit is going to get a hold of you and whisper and shout and nudge and shake until He gets your attention but yesterday I was in a leadership meeting, not typically known for their change-your-life-application moments but there I sat with an amazing group of ladies eating some sort of insane pumpkin crumb cake piece of heaven when my friend Deb spoke up.
Let me tangent here for a moment on my friend Deb. Deb is 50-somethin' and looks better at 50-somethin' than most of us do at 30-somethin'. She's gorgeous but what really makes her beautiful is that she makes everyone in the room feel like they are her favorite person. I'm not quite sure how she does that but my Uncle Bob could do it too and I'm convinced that those types of people must get a lot of Starbucks gift cards because people just really like them and like how they feel when they are around them and can't help but buy them coffee cards.
Um, ok, where was I? So Deb says to us ladies that her mentor challenged her to be in the Word everyday. And I mean IN IT. Like no messing around but seriously get your butt out of bed early and go get yo' self in the Word because God wants to change your life and He's just waiting for you to get serious about having a quiet time with Him so He can get busy. She talked for about 10 minutes about how her morning quiet times are rocking her world and changing her core and making her love Jesus like she's never loved Him before.
Now let me stop right here for a second. I've been a Christian a long time and I've been listening to other Christians tell me for 21 years that I should get up early and have a quiet time. And no matter how good they made it sound I never was convinced that a morning time was all that different than the bedtime quiet time I was owning. I love sleeping in; I'd sleep until noon everyday if I could. In my perfect world I would stay up really late blogging and writing and then I'd sleep late and get up just in time for lunch. I don't know that I can ever think of a time where my kids haven't been up before me; for over 3 years my kids have been greeted with, "5 more minutes. Just 5 more minutes." Poor little darlings.
So now you can imagine my surprise when I felt the Holy Spirit doing His Holy Spirit thing while I was listening to Deb. THEN, she pulled out the big guns: yep, that's right, a "challenge". As in, "Ladies, I challenge you to carve out some time to have some quiet time with God, away from the busyness of your lives and families. Any time of the day is better than none but there is something really sweet about doing it first thing in the morning". That last part, that first-thing-in-the-morning part? That's where I usually check out but man, she was passionate. I couldn't help but be interested. A little giddy actually.
I came home last night and set out "31 Days of Praise" a book I went through in '06 and LOVED. Its daily readings are short and totally focused on giving God our praise as an act of worship. I love how it shifts the focus from myself to Him. I set my alarm for 6:00 (gasp). I went to bed before 11:00 (gasp, gasp). I was ready.
The alarm went off this morning and I quickly hit the snooze but that's when something CRAZY happened. I didn't go back to sleep. I started praying, as Deb suggested, for God to wake me up. AND HE DID. Here's my favorite part of the story: I went downstairs to find Hot Jeff already showered, dressed and reading the paper with coffee (ugh, I married a morning person) and he looks up and sees me and says, "Are you sick?" Ha!
I realize this is getting long so I'm going to skip some of the details about my morning breath and thread-bare pajamas and skip to the good parts... As Deb suggested, as I settled in with a blanket and coffee I prayed that God would meet me and that our time together would be sweet. I prayed He would protect our time by letting my kids sleep until 6:45ish. I prayed He would keep my mind clear, focused and un-drowzy. Guess what? HE DID! Here's where I get all mushy on you...it was one of the sweetest times with God I can remember. Ever. The house was quiet, it was still dark out, I hadn't yet started to wrestle with kids, laundry, emails, phone calls, etc. It was just amazing.
One of the scriptures I read during my Me n' Jesus time (it was referenced in the reading of the 'Praise' book) was Psalm 23. How many times have we all read Psalm 23? 1 gajillion times, right? Me too but I tell you, my God is soooo cool because this just jumped out and got me, "He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul". Mmm. Good stuff eh? It was like God made Himself really tiny, met me in my living room and wrapped this verse up in a little box with a pretty satin bow. I could almost feel Him in the room, looking at me tenderly with love in His eyes saying, "Thank you for meeting Me here, I know its early but I got you something and I've been waiting until I could give it to you in person".
Maybe you have encounters like that with the God of the universe every day. If so, you're lucky. Its been a while since I have and it CHANGED MY DAY. Not much changes my day. I'm a mom of 2 little ones who like to eat and nap at pretty much the same time every day. I'm in a bit of a rut when it comes to who I see, who I talk to, what I think about, the words that come out of my mouth, the tone of my voice so when something changes my day I take notice.
I don't know why Deb's suggestion was any different than anyone else's in the last 21 years. Maybe its because I sensed she was doing this early morning routine out of relationship and not out of guilt. Maybe its because I'm at a point in my life where I'm desperate and I'll try anything, even something insane like getting up before anyone else. Maybe its because I'm finally realizing the Holy Spirit isn't something to be feared but Someone to be welcomed*.
Whatever. I'm hooked. He leads me by quiet waters, He restores my soul.
*quote from John Stumbo's sermon this weekend
Sunday, November 8, 2009
PYKM
I gotta be honest, I have about 862,391 things to do tonight before I go to bed. Its 8:20 and my brain absolutely will not work one minute longer (well at least as far as writing is concerned).
One of my favorite things to do is make others do the "work". So here's what we're gonna do: you're gonna write the prayer this week. You're gonna go to the comment section and write a 2 or 3 sentence prayer for your kid and as we all come to this site we'll read the comment and pray for your kid and make it our prayer for ours as well.
If you don't have an account, leave the comment under "Anonymous" but be sure and write your name. Unless you're praying for your kid to stop smacking around a neighbor kid and don't want us to know its your kid; then feel free to keep it anonymous. We'll pray for you just the same.
Don't you just love delegating?
I gotta be honest, I have about 862,391 things to do tonight before I go to bed. Its 8:20 and my brain absolutely will not work one minute longer (well at least as far as writing is concerned).
One of my favorite things to do is make others do the "work". So here's what we're gonna do: you're gonna write the prayer this week. You're gonna go to the comment section and write a 2 or 3 sentence prayer for your kid and as we all come to this site we'll read the comment and pray for your kid and make it our prayer for ours as well.
If you don't have an account, leave the comment under "Anonymous" but be sure and write your name. Unless you're praying for your kid to stop smacking around a neighbor kid and don't want us to know its your kid; then feel free to keep it anonymous. We'll pray for you just the same.
Don't you just love delegating?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Full Disclosure
Don't you just hate it when I get on a blogging streak like last week and post every day and then I go and pull a stunt like this week and don't post anything for 2 days. I got an email today from a hostile fan saying she was tired of looking at my "green bean friends" and it was time to get a new post up. I can assure you it wasn't Rachel. She has been quite happy being front and center with her green bean stir fry recipe making you all drool.
This post is going to be a little bit of catching you up on a few topics as I don't really have anything else interesting enough to write about.
1) Since writing about Eric the Bastard in this post I have become Facebook friends with him. I know. He's changed his last name since college and when I asked him why he didn't respond. I am convinced he's on the run from the law. Shannon's husband Drew has an old college flame who is now a man. Eric the Bastard being on the run from the law would be awesome but not quite as awesome as if he had become a woman.
2) Speaking of attractive...I had the most steamy dream about Kevin Jonas last night. As in Kevin Jonas from the Jonas Brothers. As in he was born in 1987. As in I think I could be arrested for that. And here's the super weird part of this (well besides the part that I barely know who the Jonas Brothers are yet I'm having sexy dreams about the oldest) I was telling BFF Maryanne about my dream and she was all which-one-is-Kevin so I googled him to show her a picture and we discovered that TODAY IS HIS BIRTHDAY. Is that kinda weird or what? Like do you think Kevin Jonas had an X-rated dream about me last night and has spent his whole birthday searching for me? Do you think he'll be at all disappointed when he locates me only to find out I'm a 33 year old mother of 2 who pees when she coughs? Maybe a little bit.
3) I've started seeing a therapist because of all my Dad issues. I had my first session last Tuesday and yes, she does have a couch. Its not leather like I had pictured it to be; it is instead a floral print that Shannon would have slip covered so fast it would have made the Dr.'s head spin. My favorite part about going to therapy so far is telling people I am going to therapy. It seems like such a trendy thing to do and if I get a little less crazy out of the deal then I will consider it a real win-win. That's a little shrink talk for you: "win-win". No charge. You're welcome. I need to come up with a clever pseudo name for her and will try to do that before I write about her again. I imagine she'll get some good posts and maybe even her own label.
4) Wednesday BFF Kara and I have decided to start trading babysitting on Friday nights so we can have dates with our husbands! It was Kara's idea and back off because she's my Wednesday BFF and I hear her other days are booked. Kara is going to Nevada next week so it probably won't start up for a while. Also, Hot Jeff is taking the first of 4 CPA exams on November 29th so most likely I'll only be sitting instead of dating until December rolls around as Hot Jeff studies ALL THE TIME.
That's about it for now. Well except for this: it is Thursday night and I'm blogging instead of watching good Thursday night TV. And yes, I am bitter. Perhaps I'll talk to the shrink about it.
Don't you just hate it when I get on a blogging streak like last week and post every day and then I go and pull a stunt like this week and don't post anything for 2 days. I got an email today from a hostile fan saying she was tired of looking at my "green bean friends" and it was time to get a new post up. I can assure you it wasn't Rachel. She has been quite happy being front and center with her green bean stir fry recipe making you all drool.
This post is going to be a little bit of catching you up on a few topics as I don't really have anything else interesting enough to write about.
1) Since writing about Eric the Bastard in this post I have become Facebook friends with him. I know. He's changed his last name since college and when I asked him why he didn't respond. I am convinced he's on the run from the law. Shannon's husband Drew has an old college flame who is now a man. Eric the Bastard being on the run from the law would be awesome but not quite as awesome as if he had become a woman.
2) Speaking of attractive...I had the most steamy dream about Kevin Jonas last night. As in Kevin Jonas from the Jonas Brothers. As in he was born in 1987. As in I think I could be arrested for that. And here's the super weird part of this (well besides the part that I barely know who the Jonas Brothers are yet I'm having sexy dreams about the oldest) I was telling BFF Maryanne about my dream and she was all which-one-is-Kevin so I googled him to show her a picture and we discovered that TODAY IS HIS BIRTHDAY. Is that kinda weird or what? Like do you think Kevin Jonas had an X-rated dream about me last night and has spent his whole birthday searching for me? Do you think he'll be at all disappointed when he locates me only to find out I'm a 33 year old mother of 2 who pees when she coughs? Maybe a little bit.
3) I've started seeing a therapist because of all my Dad issues. I had my first session last Tuesday and yes, she does have a couch. Its not leather like I had pictured it to be; it is instead a floral print that Shannon would have slip covered so fast it would have made the Dr.'s head spin. My favorite part about going to therapy so far is telling people I am going to therapy. It seems like such a trendy thing to do and if I get a little less crazy out of the deal then I will consider it a real win-win. That's a little shrink talk for you: "win-win". No charge. You're welcome. I need to come up with a clever pseudo name for her and will try to do that before I write about her again. I imagine she'll get some good posts and maybe even her own label.
4) Wednesday BFF Kara and I have decided to start trading babysitting on Friday nights so we can have dates with our husbands! It was Kara's idea and back off because she's my Wednesday BFF and I hear her other days are booked. Kara is going to Nevada next week so it probably won't start up for a while. Also, Hot Jeff is taking the first of 4 CPA exams on November 29th so most likely I'll only be sitting instead of dating until December rolls around as Hot Jeff studies ALL THE TIME.
That's about it for now. Well except for this: it is Thursday night and I'm blogging instead of watching good Thursday night TV. And yes, I am bitter. Perhaps I'll talk to the shrink about it.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Green Bean Stir-Fry
I'm fairly certain my friend Rachel never thought she would see her picture under the heading "Green Bean Stir-Fry". Sometimes we just never know what is going to make us famous.
This is my friend Rachel Thurman and her husband Glen. And I'll be quite honest with you, I'm not exactly sure Rachel's husband's name is Glen or if he spells it with one N or two because he's a Greek Orthodox minister and always goes by Father Matthew. Don't you love that? It always strikes me funny that Rachel is married to a minister because she's really irreverent (one of my favorite qualities in a person) so I think Glen, or Fr. Matthew, must be a pretty cool guy. I've never met Rachel's husband, as you may have gathered because they live in Ohio. Rachel is a pediatric nurse and gives fabulous advice over Facebook; you should friend her for her really great pediatric medical advice and Mennonite recipes.
Here's a fab picture of Rachel and I being all cute and cheeky in our college days at Montana State. Neither of us can recall what we were doing in this picture but firmly believe that it must have been fabulous since Elvis was involved.
Alas, the Green Bean Stir-Fry recipe. A picture of this recipe on her Facebook page had me drooling for days (her picture was a lot better than mine). With the exception of canned, I've never met a green bean I didn't like however my family would positively sell me to gypsies if I didn't add carrots to the mixture because they aren't nearly as keen on the green bean as I am. I served it over steamed rice and topped it with toasted sesame seeds. It was Awe.Some. Hats of to Rachel for her dee-lish recipe!
Stir Fried Green Beans
Combine in small bowl and set aside:
Heat in a skillet:
If necessary, add more oil and reheat skillet.
I'm fairly certain my friend Rachel never thought she would see her picture under the heading "Green Bean Stir-Fry". Sometimes we just never know what is going to make us famous.
This is my friend Rachel Thurman and her husband Glen. And I'll be quite honest with you, I'm not exactly sure Rachel's husband's name is Glen or if he spells it with one N or two because he's a Greek Orthodox minister and always goes by Father Matthew. Don't you love that? It always strikes me funny that Rachel is married to a minister because she's really irreverent (one of my favorite qualities in a person) so I think Glen, or Fr. Matthew, must be a pretty cool guy. I've never met Rachel's husband, as you may have gathered because they live in Ohio. Rachel is a pediatric nurse and gives fabulous advice over Facebook; you should friend her for her really great pediatric medical advice and Mennonite recipes.
Here's a fab picture of Rachel and I being all cute and cheeky in our college days at Montana State. Neither of us can recall what we were doing in this picture but firmly believe that it must have been fabulous since Elvis was involved.
Alas, the Green Bean Stir-Fry recipe. A picture of this recipe on her Facebook page had me drooling for days (her picture was a lot better than mine). With the exception of canned, I've never met a green bean I didn't like however my family would positively sell me to gypsies if I didn't add carrots to the mixture because they aren't nearly as keen on the green bean as I am. I served it over steamed rice and topped it with toasted sesame seeds. It was Awe.Some. Hats of to Rachel for her dee-lish recipe!
Stir Fried Green Beans
Combine in small bowl and set aside:
1 t. salt
2 t. sugar
2 t. corn starch
2 T. soy sauce
1 c. water or soup stock
Heat in a skillet:
2 T cooking oil
Add:1 lb meat (beef or chicken, cut stir-fry style)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. onion, diced
Stir-fry over high heat until beef begins to change color. Remove beef, onions, and garlic from skillet and set aside.
If necessary, add more oil and reheat skillet.
Add:1 lb. long green beans (fresh or frozen works)
Stir until beans become bright green. At once add reserved soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring until clear. Cover skillet and cook over medium heat until beans are just crisp-tender. Return beef to skillet, stir well and remove from heat. Serve with rice (I mix white and brown rice, cooked with stock or with some bouillon added).
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Praying for Your Kids Monday
Remembering the Marginalized
Last week the kids and I were meeting Shannon and her kids at a McDonalds playland and on our way there we saw a man on the side of the road holding a sign reading he was hungry and homeless. As I was stopped I looked in my purse for a few bucks only to find that I didn't have any cash and as the light turned I realized I could get him lunch at McDonalds and take it back to him.
At McDonalds I asked Shannon if she would watch Samuel and Emily in the playland while I ran the meal to him; it was raining and I didn't want to load them in again. She said no problem but suggested I actually should take them so they could see Christ's love in action. It was a great idea and Samuel was able to fully understand why we were taking that man lunch and asked some really great questions on our way home.
Please don't misunderstand this story; I don't tell it to pat myself on the back but to instead to highlight Shannon's great idea.
The New Testament is filled with exhortations to care for the poor, feed the hungry and love our neighbor and you don't have to read very many of the words in red to know that Jesus' heart was for the marginalized and the forgotten. "On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.' (Mark 2:17).
Hebrews 13:3 reminds us, "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." I love Shannon's idea that the earlier we teach our kids lessons of compassion and generosity the more likely they are to practice it later. One thing to do as these winter months are coming upon us is to check with your church or local rescue mission to see if there are age-appropriate ways you and your children can serve the poor and homeless. Can you deliver meals to shut ins? Can you donate toiletries to a mission? Maybe your kids can color pictures to give reminding those people that they matter, someone is praying for them and that Jesus died for them. Make a call--you may be surprised how little time and effort it takes to make an impact on others and your kids.
Lord of love, You sent Your only Son so that we may have hope and I confess I all too often overlook the poor, the lonely and the needy because I am too swept up in my own world. I pray for __________ to have Your heart for the marginalized. I pray You will spring up compassion and mercy in her heart and that she will look at those who are less fortunate around her and want to be kind and generous. I pray _________ will never take her blessings for granted and always know You are the One to whom she owes thanks. Amen.
Remembering the Marginalized
Last week the kids and I were meeting Shannon and her kids at a McDonalds playland and on our way there we saw a man on the side of the road holding a sign reading he was hungry and homeless. As I was stopped I looked in my purse for a few bucks only to find that I didn't have any cash and as the light turned I realized I could get him lunch at McDonalds and take it back to him.
At McDonalds I asked Shannon if she would watch Samuel and Emily in the playland while I ran the meal to him; it was raining and I didn't want to load them in again. She said no problem but suggested I actually should take them so they could see Christ's love in action. It was a great idea and Samuel was able to fully understand why we were taking that man lunch and asked some really great questions on our way home.
Please don't misunderstand this story; I don't tell it to pat myself on the back but to instead to highlight Shannon's great idea.
The New Testament is filled with exhortations to care for the poor, feed the hungry and love our neighbor and you don't have to read very many of the words in red to know that Jesus' heart was for the marginalized and the forgotten. "On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.' (Mark 2:17).
Hebrews 13:3 reminds us, "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." I love Shannon's idea that the earlier we teach our kids lessons of compassion and generosity the more likely they are to practice it later. One thing to do as these winter months are coming upon us is to check with your church or local rescue mission to see if there are age-appropriate ways you and your children can serve the poor and homeless. Can you deliver meals to shut ins? Can you donate toiletries to a mission? Maybe your kids can color pictures to give reminding those people that they matter, someone is praying for them and that Jesus died for them. Make a call--you may be surprised how little time and effort it takes to make an impact on others and your kids.
Lord of love, You sent Your only Son so that we may have hope and I confess I all too often overlook the poor, the lonely and the needy because I am too swept up in my own world. I pray for __________ to have Your heart for the marginalized. I pray You will spring up compassion and mercy in her heart and that she will look at those who are less fortunate around her and want to be kind and generous. I pray _________ will never take her blessings for granted and always know You are the One to whom she owes thanks. Amen.
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