There are many Bible admonishments regarding Christian behavior. Over and over Jesus himself created parables revolving around what He expected of us. Yesterday I was privileged to witness an example of Christ’s words reflected in deeds.

A young man was enjoying a restaurant meal with his family. Near the end of the meal his phone rang. When he answered it he discovered that a 70+ year old acquaintance was stranded at a local Walgreens. She had just been released from the hospital where she had spent several days battling Covid 19. Her roommate had picked her up but he was so impaired by alcohol that she was frightened for her life. She convinced him to stop at a nearby Walgreens so she could fill a prescription. Amazingly, he pulled into the parking lot of the pharmacy. From the store she called the police.

When they came they arrested the inebriated roommate. Now she was stuck at the Walgreens. She did not feel able to drive the fifteen miles to her home. A police officer agreed to take her home. But what about her car?

She reached out for the promise the young acquaintance had offered, that if she ever needed anything she should call him. The young man talked with her, calmly creating a plan to retrieve her vehicle the following morning. She apologized profusely for calling, for interrupting his meal, for making him leave his newborn child simply to retrieve her vehicle. To every heartfelt apology the young man replied, “No, you’re not bothering me. It’s okay. We’ll work it out.”

He did. The following morning, after enlisting the help of a family member, he arrived at the pharmacy and drove the vehicle to her home. There he made certain she was doing alright. Then he left her to recover.

Was this an inconvenience for him? Yes. Did it cost anything? Yes, gasoline. Was it worth the effort? Undoubtedly.

This is the point. As we travel this earth together, our Lord asks us to care for one another. All too often we assume this means we must go big or go home. This is not so. The small things, the smile, the uplifting message, a reassuring pat on the shoulder, can do wonders. This young man gave of his time and his heart. The elderly woman, still feeling the effects of a disease, felt loved, felt cared for. Praise God for this!

I was blessed also, for I was able to witness Christ’s words in action. In his humble way this young man inspired showers of blessings upon his own heart, his family, the recovering woman, and me. Thanks be to God.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the opportunity to witness such selfless love. In our world of never-ceasing negativity, thank you for reminding me that Your light still shines in those who follow You. Rekindle my light, Lord, that I too may take Your light into the darkness of the world. Amen.

I was still upset by the Capitol insurrections that took place on January 6th. Grateful that the new president and vice-president had been sworn in without rampant violence, I was nevertheless still plagued by the heavy burden of the promise of discord from my fellow citizens and our elected leaders.

Driving back to my home on a grey afternoon with spitting snow showers and drizzle, I glanced out of my windshield and saw a full rainbow before me. This symbol of God’s promise stunned me. Tears stung my eyes. I felt the heaviness begin to lift and soar into the bright colors from God’s paintbrush.

In my mind I began to process the words that a fellow traveler had spoken to me only minutes before. I had taken a half-dozen handmade afghans to a local agency committed to housing homeless families. I had felt the call to create these small symbols of caring for my fellows. When she took the afghans, the young woman in the office told me a story of how one of my previous creations had been received.

A homeless teen who had been living in a vehicle with her father was moving into one of the agency’s apartments. When she saw her bedroom she was thrilled. She now had her OWN pillow, her OWN bed, her OWN warm blankets. Then she spied the afghan spread across the foot of the bed. “Oh,” she cried. “Someone cared about me. Someone cared enough about ME to make this for ME!”

The young woman who had witnessed this had tears in her eyes. I felt my throat close. It had been my fondest wish, as I crocheted the afghan, that the family receiving the simple, bright throw would indeed feel that they were singled out for special care. For reasons I did not know, did not need to know, their lives had been turned inside out. I could do this one small thing to help them.

God knew this. He knew this! Because of this one simple act, this act that cost so little time and money, the young agency woman, the homeless family, and I had been blessed. We were a community woven together by a soft, warm, bright afghan. We can all do something like this. We don’t need accolades, we don’t need our picture in the paper. We can all minister to each other, quietly, joyously.

God works through such small, seemingly insignificant ways. By heeding His call, we can all be blessed, we can all be giving rainbows among the clouds. Let’s do it!

Dear Father of us all, I thank you for once again showing me that no situation is too small or too large for You to handle. I struggle daily, forgetting to allow You to manage the world. Help me to hear your directions and heed your call. In this way I shall receive Your blessings and bring a spark of joy to those I touch, no matter how fleetingly. Amen.

I wanted this blog to be apolitical as possible, but the event that unfolded on January 6, 2021 makes that impossible.

How, as a Christian woman, do I process what I saw and heard from the mob of rioters who broke through barricades, broke windows, destroyed my property and roamed savagely through the Capitol complex looking for people to harm?

How do I, as a Christian woman and American citizen, deal with people who believe what was done was right and good? How do I speak about an elected leader who incites, congratulates, and honors such radical, brutal, insurrectionist behavior ?

Doesn’t the Bible tell us to beware of those who lead others astray? Isaiah 5:20 declares: “Woe to them who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness….”

The traitorous mob who vandalized the citizens’ house have descended into a darkness that they insist is light. For many years the poison has been slowly dripping into their veins, it has been dished up into their food and sprayed into the very air they breathe. Hatred is their motivating factor. Perhaps it is disguised as a loss of “rights”, but it is only blind hatred in disguise. Those of us who see this and understand must not hide ourselves and be mute.

We who are Christians must speak the truth quietly but forcefully. Our small, warm candlelight must shine as points of hope in this darkness. We must not return evil for evil. We must support our duly elected officials, but we must also hold them accountable to the oaths they took. We must not allow them, as we have allowed so many of them, to speak vile lies.

We must pray for this nation, the World’s most enduring light. We must pray that eyes be opened and ears unstopped. We must never, ever give an inch to the evil in this world. To those who are in positions of power, we must listen to their words and sift them through the sieve of Truth. No more must we allow hatred, lies, and threats of violence to silence us.

Onward, Christian soldiers, in Spirit and in Truth.

Dear Father, we are nearly broken in two by the violence and lies of the past. January 6 must be a day of remembrance and a time of renewal. Dear Jesus, we who are your lambs must find Your voice through all the noise of the violent ones. We need Your strength to respond to our Father’s voice asking “Whom shall I send?” so that we reply, “Here am I. Send me.” We stand upon Your promise, dear Lord and Savior, that you will never leave us. We depend upon Your still small voice to lead through darkness and strife into the light of freedom. Amen.

I have often felt like a lamb among wolves. Up until the day she died, my mother used to chide me about being what she called a “Pollyanna.” I knew she meant that I was gullible, perhaps even silly. I could never make her understand that though perhaps I was gullible, I wasn’t silly.

I have no desire to be a wolf.

All around me I see both types of people. We call the wolves bullies, and the lambs victims. But that doesn’t mean wolves can’t change their ways, or that lambs can’t have an inner strength that isn’t always visible to the world. They are not true victims.

Lambs are born innocents, that’s what they are. Like me, they cringe at the foul words, gestures, and ideas that have spawned all around us. With me, it is almost a physical pain. So I try to avoid those situations where I know I will be bombarded. It’s my choice.

Wolves will be wolves unless and until they decide to stop. Not being one, I can’t speak to their inner nature. But they too have choices.

So how do we lambs lives our lives? Do we pretend we don’t hear and see what is wounding to us? Do we retreat into our safe little worlds, shut the door and never come out?

I don’t think so. I think we must go forth, sent as Christ sent us, as lambs among the wolves. We must show the way to God, to Jesus, by our own actions and words, by our own inner strength and the strength of those other lambs around us. I know it’s hard not to become like the wolves themselves, bombarded as we are with hurtful words and actions. But we must do as we are commanded or those wolves will never, ever change their ways.

Isn’t it strange to think that lambs, meek, gentle little creatures as they are, can show aggressive, mean wolves the way to God? But it is so. Let us go forth, fellow lambs, and make our corner of the world a better place by our example.

Dear Lord God, we gentle people come to you for guidance and support. Your Word is our guide. May we surround ourselves with other lambs and rest safely in the fold together. Keep the wolves from harming us, and reveal to them the error of their ways. In Jesus name we pray.

“And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.” Luke 24: 15

This Bible story of disciples meeting Jesus after His resurrection has always been special to me. When a small child, I liked to think as I walked along a forest path that I too would find Jesus waiting for me in the shady shadows. I always looked for Him.

As I matured, I realized that He did come to me many times during the day. I only realized it if I was attuned to His presence. The older I got, the more harried my life, the more jaded and impatient I became. Over time, I lost the sound of the still small voice that directed me to Him.

I decided to start this blog one day when I was feeling overwhelmed by the Covid infection’s destruction, the incessant blather of politics, and the willful indifference and sometimes downright cruelty of men and women toward their fellows. I was angrily taking a shopping cart that someone had left in the parking lot to the corral (as I usually did when at the grocery store) when I was smothered by a cloud of despair. After all, how hard was it for the shopper who’d used it to place it in the corral where it belonged? Leaving it free in the parking lot was a hazard to the rest of us. Why didn’t they care?

Suddenly, right then, in the parking lot of our local Safeway, I decided to let go of the bad experience and find the good. So I thanked God for the sunlight that warmed the winter morning. I noticed the bird calls in the bare trees and gave Him praise. I gave thanks for the groceries in the store and the legal tender I possessed to exchange for them. I was walking into the store using my own two legs. My mind was flooded with examples.

I pondered the ease with which I had fallen into gloom, and how quickly finding God’s blessings lifted me out of it.

Therefore, I decided to focus this weekly blog on blessings. I pledge to find the sparkle in the mundane, the joy in the ordinary. I am inviting you to come with me and do the same.

This site will not tolerate foul language or bullying in any of its many forms. We are here to celebrate our blessings, not find faults. We will all attend to the log in our own eye before complaining about the splinter in our neighbor’s eye.

Come with me now on the road to Emmaus. Come and celebrate the walk with our Lord.

Dear God, now in this season of blessings, we come to You with full hearts. All of us have unmet needs, Lord. Some of us have small needs. Many of us have dire needs. Please, Lord Jesus, come and walk beside all of us. Lead us by Your example, and help us focus on Your light and not the darkness in the world around us. Amen