A Smattering of Thought

Single circles. Intersecting circles. Combined circles. Circles have been on my mind for a few weeks. {No, my life is not running in circles, although I feel that way at times.}  We recently had a women’s conference at our church that used circles as its focal point as a picture of the beginning of revival…the individual.  If we want to see change in the world around us, we had better be willing to be the first changed.  Hard.  Painful.  Freeing.  Scary. This first step is so important regardless of the pain it may cause.  See, we are not supposed to stay the same as we were a year ago…we are called to grow, change.  To be transformed by God through the renewing of our mind found (Romans 12:2).  This transformation is unlike the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, it requires work, effort, tears, and surrender.  However, unlike the caterpillar, we are not alone in our cocoon waiting for transformation.  Whew!...

I love being a part of a church family where it really seems like family.   With all the good and the bad that involves...they are family! This past week I have reflected a little bit on how my relationship with the church body has grown. As a young child and a pastor’s kid, you were at church anytime the building was open.  In my teens years I came because it was a place for me to see my friends, maybe learn something and but not to be involved.  It was an obligation and one I do in order to please those around me.  While in college, the church became more of a necessity, a staple.  It was a place I knew I would be safe.  The friends would be different from the majority of the friends I had at work, or at least they should be.   Fast-forward to present day. I have been attending the same church for a very long time.   I have been passive and active.   I have been stagnant and stretched.   There were t...

As we approach summer, plants are nestled into the dark soil, seeds are pushed deep below the surface and pesky weeds are plucked & tossed.  Similar to this process, we were placed by God's design into the sphere {garden} of influence we now occupy. As followers of Christ we want to flourish and we want to grow.  Unfortunately there are times when along with the good seeds there are some seeds of dissatisfaction that get dropped.  We begin to see that the tomatoes have a trellis to climb or that the strawberries can fan out over the ground and here we {I} am just a carrot who gets to pop my little green sprout up just in time to be plucked from the earth. Often these seeds of dissatisfaction can almost look like good things.  The fact that I am unmarried when I desire to be married.  To be joined to another person so that life can be lived together, challenge each other, spur each other on.  The fact that I do not have children a...