The Birthday Club
Peggy Mack
October 15, 2013
One of the things I admire most about my husband in our retired years is his commitment to "getting things done" each day. There's never a day that passes when he isn't awake and thinking of what needs to be done and what can be done. In the beginning, in that first year of marriage when you are learning to adjust we were both also learning to adjust to the realization that we were retired and no longer going to follow the schedule of get up, get coffee, get a shower, get dressed, get to work. The "gets" were no longer defining our daily lives. But with them gone, I was of the simple mind that nothing needed to replace them.
I had worked 40 years of my life and not doing anything was fine with me. That was not the case for him. He woke, had his first cup of coffee and I could see the wheels spinning. "Now let me see", he says as he thinks aloud. "What is it that I need to do today?" Many nights the day ends with a self evaluation of sorts. While he watches tv and a commercial comes on I hear him say, "Well, I got some things done today. Let's see. I replaced those light bulbs in the bathroom. I refilled the bird feeders and put corn out for the rabbits." And on he goes with his list of accomplishments. With time I have come to realize he's smart. He is a man of purpose and accomplishment in life. He measures his worth by how he continues to get things done and though light bulbs and feed seem like menial tasks, they do two things. He is focused on "home" being a place well kept and cared for because "home" is never taken for granted. And a purpose filled life is a rich life of gratitude and joy. He finds joy in doing things. I learn slowly, I admit, but I do learn. He's taught me to find joy where I am and to do things with a purpose to remain joyful.
As we age, we have to reshape our definition of important. Our neighbor was once a nuclear scientist. Another worked 30 years for Anheiser-Busch. Another built ships in Virginia and so on it goes. Now, we are past those years of being able to define ourselves by our profession where we knew what we were going to do everyday and scurrying to get them done because we are retired. But retired should be changed to another word I believe. We are re-purposed. When Bill retired the first time from the Washington, DC Police Dept, he went to work with the Marshall Service and finally as head of security for Brookgreen Gardens. He continued, with time, to re-purpose himself to meet his needs and abilities. If we wake up with a purpose and a joyous attitude about what there is to do and what we can do, not a day that God has given us is wasted. But as the years continue to pass and the challenges knock on our door, we have to hang on to that determination and desire to "get something done today."
When my mother was still living I had taken her to a doctor's appointment. While we were in the waiting room, I met this delightful lady in her mid-eighties. Mom was lamenting about days going by with nothing to do. The tiny octogenarian said, "I am a member of The Birthday Club at my church and I just love it!" Her face was filled with joy and her eyes sparkled. "Yes", she went on to explain, "five other ladies and I meet once a month at the church and we write birthday messages on cards for folks with birthdays or anniversaries that month. We get their addresses from the church secretary along with an updated list of new members. If we are having a "little trouble" the others send a package of cards and addresses to us at home and we do them there. We haven't missed anybody, yet." She hesitated, "well, no one that we know of!" She laughed out loud.
"I am part of the "News Prayer Group" too," she went on. "Every morning I listen to the news and write down people who are struggling in my community and around the world. I pray for the government and bad things that are happening." I got tired of worrying about things on the news and listening to people complain about how there's nothing on the news but bad news and decided the news was a great place for a prayer list." On the way home my mother asked me what I thought about "that crazy old lady" and I softly replied, "she was wonderful!"
Bill has taught me not to waste a single day with no purpose. Start the morning with a simple plan for what can be accomplished and at the end of the day, take a minute to evaluate what has been done. It confirms that I am still part of this world and have a purpose. God has so many opportunities for us in our communities, our church and in our home. Even when the time comes that we might be infirmed or confined to our homes, we can still have a purpose. We can still serve and do. I have learned their secret. When you do, you find joy. Without a focus on achieving simple tasks each day, there is an opportunity for self-pity and loss of self-worth. There is too much time for, as my dad would say, "one big pity party."
God challenges us to reach out, to serve, to care for others, to find a purpose and in doing so, to receive joy in serving. No matter how old or infirmed we might be, we can serve and do. Working with a purpose makes a difference in others lives but it also makes a difference in our own. So I have decided, I am no longer retired. I am re-purposed!
Dear Heavenly Father,
We live in a time when 'elders" are no longer looked to as sources of wisdom. Our society celebrates youth and does all it can to keep looking young and acting you to the point where they ignore and reject the elderly. You know differently! You know that time is a gift that allows us to transform from the foolishness of youth and to seek Your face. Guide those who face retirement or infirmities or other challenges inspire them to fill their days with service. Speak to their hearts and show them ways they can touch others lives in a positive, joy-filled way. Enlighten others to reach out to our elders with projects which give them purpose. Teach us to love and appreciate each other as we serve You.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Mile High Meringue Pies
Mile High Meringue Pies
Peggy Mack
October 16, 2013
I loved Jerry Clower and his stories of growing up in Yazoo, Mississippi. I had the chance to hear him speak at Central Baptist Church in Panama City not long before his passing in through the pearly gates of Heaven. He was decked out in his famous red polyester suit covered in rhinestones and sporting a weight of over 300 pounds. He was an attention getter in every way! Over many decades, he had developed his gift of telling humorous stories for television and books into a way of sharing God's love in a way no one else could. It became his full time ministry in his later years. One of my favorite visual images from his tales of the South involved his mother's unique ability to make meringue pies better than anyone else in the county. Those meringues were a mile high and so light and fluffy that you would swear you were biting into a cloud from Heaven. Everytime the church doors opened for a covered dish dinner or bake sale, Momma Clower was asked to make "a half dozen or so" of her delicious pies. She would place her completed delicacies on the back seat of the car and tell her husband to drive "real careful". As they pulled off the main highway, they reached the extreme downward slope of driveway toward the little country church. That's when Momma would go to hollering, "Cut off the engine Poppa, I don't want my meringues to slide." Now I cannot begin to tell it in such a way that brings belly laughter from a crowd, but I love that image of Momma watching over her pies.
This morning I revisited that image of Momma fretting over her pies as they arrived at church and remembered my mother in her later years devoting her energies to the Wednesday night dinners at Advent and Lent when our congregation gathered to share a meal and then worship together. I dropped by my parents home after teaching school to find Daddy lining the trunk with an insulated pad. On top of that were carefully and strategically placed cardboard boxes lined with beach towels or newspapers. I joined in helping them carry several pans of food she had cooked for the meal and her pottery jars of sweet and unsweet tea. The two of them worked like clockwork together. Mom shared the menu as we drove that the "ladies" had planned for supper and she was "all a flutter" with getting the food to church "good and hot and on time." She was focused on her mission. In time she became frustrated with petty arguments between the ladies and the behavior of kids who broke in line and took too much food and the lack of "donations" to defray the costs for plates, napkins, plastic wear and cups. I remember now how it affected her once focused mission to serve food as part of the service and reduced her thoughts to despair and disgust. She gave up and removed herself from the list of volunteers.
In these two stories we have to see beyond the meringue sliding and the little tiffs that occur when we are human. We see two ladies focused on getting food to the church and we wonder how that connects to serving God in His church. That's when we are challenged to see all those who do good works, through Christ's eyes. We are asked to see them as part of the whole picture in how the church functions to share the mission of God's church. We are admonished not to value one contribution as more valuable than another. Our pastor, the Sunday School teachers, the members of the choir and the pie maker all share valuable gifts that God has given them to work for the good of others. It is the challenge of our church to encourage church members to pray to become certain of their many gifts and to use those gifts God has given to them. Jerry Clower found a way to share his stories and humor to the Glory of God. His mother served her church by drawing members to share a meal and worship in a way no others could. The ladies of our congregation were called to plan, organize and serve other members in a shared meal. In Corinthians we are challenged to appreciate the differences we see in each other and to find opportunities to do good works. There is no room for belittling or hovering with attitudes of greatness. Rather, we are called to remain encouraging in our words, humble in our works and thankful to God for all the wonderful gifts in our congregation. The deacons are no more fine than the sweet eighty year old who volunteers to rock the infants in the nursery. When you see someone serving with joy and doing all they can to glorify God, take the time to voice your thanks and to tell them you see God's light shining in them through their good works. By nature, we love to be encouraged and to know we are appreciated. It is not the pastor's job to accomplish an endless lists of to dos while we sit back in the pew every Sunday and wonder why "so and so" is not attending. The todos exist in a church congregation as opportunities for us to find our own gifts, put them to work and to support and love others. It is a HUGE challenge when our minds are prone to see differences and failures. Where do we go for this transformation in our vision of others in our church family? To Christ who is our center of focus. The cross is centered on the wall of our church to remind us to hold Him as the center of our focus and love.
You know, when I share these thoughts with you, that they are part of my own walk in faith. As I share them with you I am admonishing myself to show gratitude for my gifts by putting them to work and to see only the uniqueness in the gifts fellow Christians offer and to support them through recognition and gratitude.
Dear Heavenly Father,
What a gracious and giving Father you are! You know our uniqueness and shower us with gifts that match our abilities, interests and talents. You take into consideration our limitations and our strengths. Keep us mindful that those gifts are given to share your story, to support Your church and to do good works. Close our mind's eye to criticism and open our minds and hearts to all that can be done through us with You as the center of our lives.
We are filled with gratitude for all you do in each moment of everyday. How amazing you are!
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Peggy Mack
October 16, 2013
I loved Jerry Clower and his stories of growing up in Yazoo, Mississippi. I had the chance to hear him speak at Central Baptist Church in Panama City not long before his passing in through the pearly gates of Heaven. He was decked out in his famous red polyester suit covered in rhinestones and sporting a weight of over 300 pounds. He was an attention getter in every way! Over many decades, he had developed his gift of telling humorous stories for television and books into a way of sharing God's love in a way no one else could. It became his full time ministry in his later years. One of my favorite visual images from his tales of the South involved his mother's unique ability to make meringue pies better than anyone else in the county. Those meringues were a mile high and so light and fluffy that you would swear you were biting into a cloud from Heaven. Everytime the church doors opened for a covered dish dinner or bake sale, Momma Clower was asked to make "a half dozen or so" of her delicious pies. She would place her completed delicacies on the back seat of the car and tell her husband to drive "real careful". As they pulled off the main highway, they reached the extreme downward slope of driveway toward the little country church. That's when Momma would go to hollering, "Cut off the engine Poppa, I don't want my meringues to slide." Now I cannot begin to tell it in such a way that brings belly laughter from a crowd, but I love that image of Momma watching over her pies.
This morning I revisited that image of Momma fretting over her pies as they arrived at church and remembered my mother in her later years devoting her energies to the Wednesday night dinners at Advent and Lent when our congregation gathered to share a meal and then worship together. I dropped by my parents home after teaching school to find Daddy lining the trunk with an insulated pad. On top of that were carefully and strategically placed cardboard boxes lined with beach towels or newspapers. I joined in helping them carry several pans of food she had cooked for the meal and her pottery jars of sweet and unsweet tea. The two of them worked like clockwork together. Mom shared the menu as we drove that the "ladies" had planned for supper and she was "all a flutter" with getting the food to church "good and hot and on time." She was focused on her mission. In time she became frustrated with petty arguments between the ladies and the behavior of kids who broke in line and took too much food and the lack of "donations" to defray the costs for plates, napkins, plastic wear and cups. I remember now how it affected her once focused mission to serve food as part of the service and reduced her thoughts to despair and disgust. She gave up and removed herself from the list of volunteers.
In these two stories we have to see beyond the meringue sliding and the little tiffs that occur when we are human. We see two ladies focused on getting food to the church and we wonder how that connects to serving God in His church. That's when we are challenged to see all those who do good works, through Christ's eyes. We are asked to see them as part of the whole picture in how the church functions to share the mission of God's church. We are admonished not to value one contribution as more valuable than another. Our pastor, the Sunday School teachers, the members of the choir and the pie maker all share valuable gifts that God has given them to work for the good of others. It is the challenge of our church to encourage church members to pray to become certain of their many gifts and to use those gifts God has given to them. Jerry Clower found a way to share his stories and humor to the Glory of God. His mother served her church by drawing members to share a meal and worship in a way no others could. The ladies of our congregation were called to plan, organize and serve other members in a shared meal. In Corinthians we are challenged to appreciate the differences we see in each other and to find opportunities to do good works. There is no room for belittling or hovering with attitudes of greatness. Rather, we are called to remain encouraging in our words, humble in our works and thankful to God for all the wonderful gifts in our congregation. The deacons are no more fine than the sweet eighty year old who volunteers to rock the infants in the nursery. When you see someone serving with joy and doing all they can to glorify God, take the time to voice your thanks and to tell them you see God's light shining in them through their good works. By nature, we love to be encouraged and to know we are appreciated. It is not the pastor's job to accomplish an endless lists of to dos while we sit back in the pew every Sunday and wonder why "so and so" is not attending. The todos exist in a church congregation as opportunities for us to find our own gifts, put them to work and to support and love others. It is a HUGE challenge when our minds are prone to see differences and failures. Where do we go for this transformation in our vision of others in our church family? To Christ who is our center of focus. The cross is centered on the wall of our church to remind us to hold Him as the center of our focus and love.
You know, when I share these thoughts with you, that they are part of my own walk in faith. As I share them with you I am admonishing myself to show gratitude for my gifts by putting them to work and to see only the uniqueness in the gifts fellow Christians offer and to support them through recognition and gratitude.
Dear Heavenly Father,
What a gracious and giving Father you are! You know our uniqueness and shower us with gifts that match our abilities, interests and talents. You take into consideration our limitations and our strengths. Keep us mindful that those gifts are given to share your story, to support Your church and to do good works. Close our mind's eye to criticism and open our minds and hearts to all that can be done through us with You as the center of our lives.
We are filled with gratitude for all you do in each moment of everyday. How amazing you are!
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Wipeout!
Wipeout!
Peggy Mack
October 20, 2013
Somehow I have ended up a Pollyanna of sorts in a Rambo kind of world. The contrast certainly has presented me with endless challenges and pitfalls and I see now, finally, that life is not a rose covered path in a garden of life but more comparable to the challenges in WIPEOUT. If you have not seen this television show, those of you far more intelligent with your time than I am, I encourage you to look up WIPEOUT on youtube. I watched an episode of it Friday afternoon. In fact, if I am not mistaken, it was a marathon of episodes of WIPEOUT. I am forever in awe of those whose faith is so rock solid that they never waiver far from the church doors and express their total excitement and joy in their next opportunity to be with their fellow Christians. My goal in this faith walk is to return to that place where I once was, also.
I do remember, when I push back the cobwebs in my memories, a time when my former husband and I were up with an infant and toddler and off to church every Sunday for the trifecta of Sunday School teaching, worshipping in church and staying for the covered dish dinner. We served not only in the Sunday School but also on church councils and loved meeting in family or home meetings where we shared a meal and our concerns and love for each other as a support in our efforts to live Christian lives. But somewhere through time that devotion ended in a train wreck and we "lost interest" and "found fault" and "drifted away" from the church and the lives we loved. We became, over time, independent and self-confident and busy with life.
While those I admire who have been faithful their entire lives as if they followed a clear and simple path, I on the otherhand was on a merry go round of faith which entailed in the door and out the door. I am still coming to grips with the whys and hows for I am determined to release my heart and mind to the simple knowledge my marriage counselor once gave me with an affirmative jolt. "We go to church because it is a commandment!!!" He was in total shock at my lack of understanding and I could almost hear the end of that phrase had it come from someone less a Christian, "YOU DUMMY!"
I am still in a weekly battle with the endless excuses that pop up on Sunday morning. There are as many of them as there are for why I cannot go to the gym. This battle of wills is far more important to me because I am dealing with God's commandment to worship Him. I am in clear understanding of the endless benefits of being in a Christian family as a member of a church. And, like I said, when the cobwebs are dusted away, I do remember the joy and ease of going to church on Sunday.
I have been in the process of redefining my life since my marriage ended 6 years ago. Everything I knew has changed from my location, my belongings, my home, my state and how my family interacts with me. The one thing that has remained constant in my life of drastic changes is God's love for me and the gift of His Son who is present in my life each day. Worshipping God seems like a natural response to my deep, unending gratitude for all He has brought me through and all I have been given. Even if my current status were not one of love and comfort, I would be compelled to thank God in my darkest of nights. I have done that also and called on Him to quell my deep heartache and fears.
Life for me has been no walk down a rose covered path as my Pollyanna mind had always dreamed. But I have learned in recent re-connections with a dozen high school friends that life has been extremely painful and hard for them also. This no one who reaches the age of 63 without Rambo like survival stories to share with others. We were never told we would live in castles with all we could dream of including a love that lasted happily ever after. We are challenged to walk confidently through whatever life throws at us, swings at us or knocks us to our knees with and to get up and go worship God on Sunday for all His loving kindness and His light of guidance in our darkest nights. We are given, in return, endless blessings from smiles, handshakes, warm welcomes, beautiful music, giggles of children, wonderful messages and words from God's Holy Word that will speak to our heart. We are blessed with a sense of being part of something greater than ourselves and feeling God's love through the kindness of others.
My hair is in electric rollers. We have both had our showers. My make-up is on. My clothes are on. The dog has been fed and walked and is sleeping peacefully. There is no torrential storm outside. My husband has new clothes to choose from giving him something he will feel comfortable wearing. I am waiting for that last moment when something is going to prohibit me on my quest to do what is a simple task. Get dressed, get in the car and go to church. You know, it amazes me. We went to a movie both Friday and Saturday. We went through the same process. We got dressed, got in the car and went to the movie. Why, I ask myself, does this become impossible for us every Sunday? I do not know and I do not care. The old habit of laying around on Sunday has got to be broken. My rewards of many blessings wait for me behind those big red double doors. We are retired now from our forty plus years of working and our excuses are, as dad would say, "Weak, real, real weak!"
Life is not a path of roses and more like WIPEOUT for me but I can simply do what is commanded. Worship God on Sunday and expect amazing blessings to be mine.
I thank all of you who keep me in prayer as I learn what you all seem to figure out in diapers. Go to church, Peg.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for my counselor, Mr. Stephens. He told me years ago to just "Go to Church!" I hear his words of advice and admonition and they are my montra that keeps me focused on my goal to be an active member of a church family, again. Thank you for your endless forgiveness and patience.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Peggy Mack
October 20, 2013
Somehow I have ended up a Pollyanna of sorts in a Rambo kind of world. The contrast certainly has presented me with endless challenges and pitfalls and I see now, finally, that life is not a rose covered path in a garden of life but more comparable to the challenges in WIPEOUT. If you have not seen this television show, those of you far more intelligent with your time than I am, I encourage you to look up WIPEOUT on youtube. I watched an episode of it Friday afternoon. In fact, if I am not mistaken, it was a marathon of episodes of WIPEOUT. I am forever in awe of those whose faith is so rock solid that they never waiver far from the church doors and express their total excitement and joy in their next opportunity to be with their fellow Christians. My goal in this faith walk is to return to that place where I once was, also.
I do remember, when I push back the cobwebs in my memories, a time when my former husband and I were up with an infant and toddler and off to church every Sunday for the trifecta of Sunday School teaching, worshipping in church and staying for the covered dish dinner. We served not only in the Sunday School but also on church councils and loved meeting in family or home meetings where we shared a meal and our concerns and love for each other as a support in our efforts to live Christian lives. But somewhere through time that devotion ended in a train wreck and we "lost interest" and "found fault" and "drifted away" from the church and the lives we loved. We became, over time, independent and self-confident and busy with life.
While those I admire who have been faithful their entire lives as if they followed a clear and simple path, I on the otherhand was on a merry go round of faith which entailed in the door and out the door. I am still coming to grips with the whys and hows for I am determined to release my heart and mind to the simple knowledge my marriage counselor once gave me with an affirmative jolt. "We go to church because it is a commandment!!!" He was in total shock at my lack of understanding and I could almost hear the end of that phrase had it come from someone less a Christian, "YOU DUMMY!"
I am still in a weekly battle with the endless excuses that pop up on Sunday morning. There are as many of them as there are for why I cannot go to the gym. This battle of wills is far more important to me because I am dealing with God's commandment to worship Him. I am in clear understanding of the endless benefits of being in a Christian family as a member of a church. And, like I said, when the cobwebs are dusted away, I do remember the joy and ease of going to church on Sunday.
I have been in the process of redefining my life since my marriage ended 6 years ago. Everything I knew has changed from my location, my belongings, my home, my state and how my family interacts with me. The one thing that has remained constant in my life of drastic changes is God's love for me and the gift of His Son who is present in my life each day. Worshipping God seems like a natural response to my deep, unending gratitude for all He has brought me through and all I have been given. Even if my current status were not one of love and comfort, I would be compelled to thank God in my darkest of nights. I have done that also and called on Him to quell my deep heartache and fears.
Life for me has been no walk down a rose covered path as my Pollyanna mind had always dreamed. But I have learned in recent re-connections with a dozen high school friends that life has been extremely painful and hard for them also. This no one who reaches the age of 63 without Rambo like survival stories to share with others. We were never told we would live in castles with all we could dream of including a love that lasted happily ever after. We are challenged to walk confidently through whatever life throws at us, swings at us or knocks us to our knees with and to get up and go worship God on Sunday for all His loving kindness and His light of guidance in our darkest nights. We are given, in return, endless blessings from smiles, handshakes, warm welcomes, beautiful music, giggles of children, wonderful messages and words from God's Holy Word that will speak to our heart. We are blessed with a sense of being part of something greater than ourselves and feeling God's love through the kindness of others.
My hair is in electric rollers. We have both had our showers. My make-up is on. My clothes are on. The dog has been fed and walked and is sleeping peacefully. There is no torrential storm outside. My husband has new clothes to choose from giving him something he will feel comfortable wearing. I am waiting for that last moment when something is going to prohibit me on my quest to do what is a simple task. Get dressed, get in the car and go to church. You know, it amazes me. We went to a movie both Friday and Saturday. We went through the same process. We got dressed, got in the car and went to the movie. Why, I ask myself, does this become impossible for us every Sunday? I do not know and I do not care. The old habit of laying around on Sunday has got to be broken. My rewards of many blessings wait for me behind those big red double doors. We are retired now from our forty plus years of working and our excuses are, as dad would say, "Weak, real, real weak!"
Life is not a path of roses and more like WIPEOUT for me but I can simply do what is commanded. Worship God on Sunday and expect amazing blessings to be mine.
I thank all of you who keep me in prayer as I learn what you all seem to figure out in diapers. Go to church, Peg.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for my counselor, Mr. Stephens. He told me years ago to just "Go to Church!" I hear his words of advice and admonition and they are my montra that keeps me focused on my goal to be an active member of a church family, again. Thank you for your endless forgiveness and patience.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Our Dream List
Dream List
Peggy Mack
October 21, 2013
Often when we are asked to consider new ideas or concepts by a teacher, we are given examples of familiar things to help us visualize and connect to the new idea. This morning I was reading from one of my favorite little gems, "God is in the Small Stuff" and the concept was presented that God wants us to experience joy and blessings in our life. With that statement, I began to ask myself to remember a time when I dreamed or wished for something and someone surprised me and made my dream come true. I remember many times when my mother was somehow able to imagine and surprise me with things I loved so much. The author encourages us to consider that God wants our wishes to become realities in even greater abundance. God wants us to imagine and dream wonderful things for those we love.
Do you remember years ago when basketball was first added to the Summer Olympic Games? Basketball coaches worked with Olympic officials to form an American team of prime athletes from the NBA and to choose the best coach for that team. I remember watching that year and was in awe of the power and beauty they possessed in the gifts they had as athletes. They came home as victors who had been givent he opportunity to live their dream for Olympic gold medals. Until that dream was created by the Summer Olympic organizers no one in the NBA had ever dreamed it for themselves. But standing on the podium surrounded by the American flag and wearing their medals, tears streamed down the cheeks of proud and joyfilled men.
So this morning, with that little seed of a visual memory and the pastor's suggestion, I lingered into something I would love for you to do this morning. Find the time to make a list of ten people beginning with family members, friends, others and finally yourself. Look at the first name on your list and wish something for them that you want to come true for them, something good in their life that will keep them or bring them to a stronger, closer walk in faith and will be a blessing to them, something they need and want to make their life easier or better. Wish for something that will bring them peace and joy or comfort and consolation or clarity of thought or complete recovery and healing. What do you dream for them? Write that one line of thought by their name for your eyes to see. Do the same for each person on the list. Keep this list near you and as you say your morning or evening prayers, ask God for each one if it is His will. We are encouraged to ask and it will be given. Are we asking for small things and hoping they will happen. Or are we taking a leap of faith and dreaming big and asking God to do amazing things for us.
Do not be afraid to dream big, very big. God has no limit to His powers and has promised us so many blessings and joy. I like dreaming big. It is easy for me to step into a world of "what if" and "wouldn't this be amazing?" because I spent a lifetime in a classroom with five and six year olds who had no problem stepping into a world beyond boxes, rules and limits. Within seconds they could transfer themselves into being anyone they wanted to be from "mommies and babies" to "Power Rangers". When you live in that amazing world for decades you find it "normal" to say, "Really? Are you serious? I can imagine anything I want for my marriage or my son and daughter or my friend who battles fibromyalgia or my church which is struggling to pay for an airconditioner? Really?"
Yes, really. We are encouraged to think carefully about our visions, our needs, our wishes and dreams and THEN to pray earnestly about them asking for them, if it is God's will. Now, not all our ideas are going to be the best of ideas. As my mother would say to my often creative ideas, "That one's a little scatterbrained, Peg, if you ask me." She was my voice of reason while my creative, playful mind went running amuk joyfully.
Over the years, I have surrendered to more serious thought and silenced that voice of dreams. I have coaxed myself into being a more reasonable person...... until this morning. I have been given license by a wonderful pastor/author to make a list of wishes, hopes or dreams for ten people whom I care about and I am number ten. I am so excited. I can not tell you how excited I am! I am getting a piece of paper and a pen and I am going to get busy in that corner of my creative and joyfilled mind. God wants us to fill joy and excitement about our faith! When you think of your morning prayers or time in devotions what expression is on your face? Some folks walk into church so long faced and "down in the mouth" that you would think Grandma had just given them a dose of cod liver oil....(I vaguely remember that threat from my tiny German grandmother.)
What if........what if......we surrendered our doubts and released them like balloons drifting into a field of blue sky? What if we believed what others tell us about God wanting good things for us? What if God truly wants blessings for us in our lives, so good in fact that His dreams for us are bigger and greater than our own? I have witnessed it in my own life. Those of you who have known me for ten years and longer know what a huge transformation I have been through in every single aspect of my life. The person I once knew as "me" has been brought to a place of such joy and peace and love. Now notice, it has taken ten years. I am not believing God often uses the "poof" method and often chooses to let magnificent gifts and blessings evolve slowly as we adjust to the changes, but Oh! what gifts they are! What blessings they are! I can only believe I was on many peoples "wish list for blessings". I am nothing special. I am a sinner. I am a merry go round of faith. I am a stumbler and faller....(If there is such a thing.) God has showered me with blessings and I am joyfilled this morning.
Just try it. All of you who are reading my thoughts this morning, please, try it and let me know in a message how you feel about our chance to imagine and dream BIG!. Go find a piece of paper and a pen. Write down the list of all who come to mind and try to reduce it to a list of ten and YOU are number 10. As you think of their names and imagine their faces what is your dream or hope for them? Write it down! I am serious! When you finish ask God to hear your prayer of blessing requests for others and to grant your prayer requests, if it is His will. I can only imagine......I can only imagine.....how remarkable it will be for you to see God's gifts unfold for others and for you!
Dear Heavenly Father,
We often come to you with praise and with a list of concerns for others and ourselves but we rarely consider asking you for wonderful dreams turned into blessings. As we prepare our list, Dear God, present those names to us whom we can pray for and guide us as we form dreams for each one. And dear Lord, if it be Your will, in your own time.....make these dreams turn into wonderful blessings. We have been taught and we believe you want great things for your children as we draw closer in faith to you each day.
All praise and glory to you dear Heavenly Father!
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Peggy Mack
October 21, 2013
Often when we are asked to consider new ideas or concepts by a teacher, we are given examples of familiar things to help us visualize and connect to the new idea. This morning I was reading from one of my favorite little gems, "God is in the Small Stuff" and the concept was presented that God wants us to experience joy and blessings in our life. With that statement, I began to ask myself to remember a time when I dreamed or wished for something and someone surprised me and made my dream come true. I remember many times when my mother was somehow able to imagine and surprise me with things I loved so much. The author encourages us to consider that God wants our wishes to become realities in even greater abundance. God wants us to imagine and dream wonderful things for those we love.
Do you remember years ago when basketball was first added to the Summer Olympic Games? Basketball coaches worked with Olympic officials to form an American team of prime athletes from the NBA and to choose the best coach for that team. I remember watching that year and was in awe of the power and beauty they possessed in the gifts they had as athletes. They came home as victors who had been givent he opportunity to live their dream for Olympic gold medals. Until that dream was created by the Summer Olympic organizers no one in the NBA had ever dreamed it for themselves. But standing on the podium surrounded by the American flag and wearing their medals, tears streamed down the cheeks of proud and joyfilled men.
So this morning, with that little seed of a visual memory and the pastor's suggestion, I lingered into something I would love for you to do this morning. Find the time to make a list of ten people beginning with family members, friends, others and finally yourself. Look at the first name on your list and wish something for them that you want to come true for them, something good in their life that will keep them or bring them to a stronger, closer walk in faith and will be a blessing to them, something they need and want to make their life easier or better. Wish for something that will bring them peace and joy or comfort and consolation or clarity of thought or complete recovery and healing. What do you dream for them? Write that one line of thought by their name for your eyes to see. Do the same for each person on the list. Keep this list near you and as you say your morning or evening prayers, ask God for each one if it is His will. We are encouraged to ask and it will be given. Are we asking for small things and hoping they will happen. Or are we taking a leap of faith and dreaming big and asking God to do amazing things for us.
Do not be afraid to dream big, very big. God has no limit to His powers and has promised us so many blessings and joy. I like dreaming big. It is easy for me to step into a world of "what if" and "wouldn't this be amazing?" because I spent a lifetime in a classroom with five and six year olds who had no problem stepping into a world beyond boxes, rules and limits. Within seconds they could transfer themselves into being anyone they wanted to be from "mommies and babies" to "Power Rangers". When you live in that amazing world for decades you find it "normal" to say, "Really? Are you serious? I can imagine anything I want for my marriage or my son and daughter or my friend who battles fibromyalgia or my church which is struggling to pay for an airconditioner? Really?"
Yes, really. We are encouraged to think carefully about our visions, our needs, our wishes and dreams and THEN to pray earnestly about them asking for them, if it is God's will. Now, not all our ideas are going to be the best of ideas. As my mother would say to my often creative ideas, "That one's a little scatterbrained, Peg, if you ask me." She was my voice of reason while my creative, playful mind went running amuk joyfully.
Over the years, I have surrendered to more serious thought and silenced that voice of dreams. I have coaxed myself into being a more reasonable person...... until this morning. I have been given license by a wonderful pastor/author to make a list of wishes, hopes or dreams for ten people whom I care about and I am number ten. I am so excited. I can not tell you how excited I am! I am getting a piece of paper and a pen and I am going to get busy in that corner of my creative and joyfilled mind. God wants us to fill joy and excitement about our faith! When you think of your morning prayers or time in devotions what expression is on your face? Some folks walk into church so long faced and "down in the mouth" that you would think Grandma had just given them a dose of cod liver oil....(I vaguely remember that threat from my tiny German grandmother.)
What if........what if......we surrendered our doubts and released them like balloons drifting into a field of blue sky? What if we believed what others tell us about God wanting good things for us? What if God truly wants blessings for us in our lives, so good in fact that His dreams for us are bigger and greater than our own? I have witnessed it in my own life. Those of you who have known me for ten years and longer know what a huge transformation I have been through in every single aspect of my life. The person I once knew as "me" has been brought to a place of such joy and peace and love. Now notice, it has taken ten years. I am not believing God often uses the "poof" method and often chooses to let magnificent gifts and blessings evolve slowly as we adjust to the changes, but Oh! what gifts they are! What blessings they are! I can only believe I was on many peoples "wish list for blessings". I am nothing special. I am a sinner. I am a merry go round of faith. I am a stumbler and faller....(If there is such a thing.) God has showered me with blessings and I am joyfilled this morning.
Just try it. All of you who are reading my thoughts this morning, please, try it and let me know in a message how you feel about our chance to imagine and dream BIG!. Go find a piece of paper and a pen. Write down the list of all who come to mind and try to reduce it to a list of ten and YOU are number 10. As you think of their names and imagine their faces what is your dream or hope for them? Write it down! I am serious! When you finish ask God to hear your prayer of blessing requests for others and to grant your prayer requests, if it is His will. I can only imagine......I can only imagine.....how remarkable it will be for you to see God's gifts unfold for others and for you!
Dear Heavenly Father,
We often come to you with praise and with a list of concerns for others and ourselves but we rarely consider asking you for wonderful dreams turned into blessings. As we prepare our list, Dear God, present those names to us whom we can pray for and guide us as we form dreams for each one. And dear Lord, if it be Your will, in your own time.....make these dreams turn into wonderful blessings. We have been taught and we believe you want great things for your children as we draw closer in faith to you each day.
All praise and glory to you dear Heavenly Father!
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Only Trust Him
Only Trust Him
Peggy Mack
October 24, 2013
This morning my friend, Gordy, posted a photo of a drenched cat looking through a window from his soaked perch outside in the storm. He was definitely insulted and not a happy cat. That photograph stirred an almost forgotten memory of our family cat, Meenow while I was living in Panama City. Florida is infamous for showers that strike in the summer with a deluge of drenching rain that borders on the description of a tropical storm. On one occasion, our family bronze and tan tabby warrior cat was prowling his territory in our backyard looking to conquer an irritating squirrel or screeching blue jay. Those were his favorite gifts to deliver to my kitchen back door or rarely, but on more than one occasion, delivered through the pet door and placed in front of my refrigerator.
On this morning, the storm came from out of nowhere and came crashing with numerous bolts of lightning. One of those close jolts struck one of the trees in our backyard sending Meenow into a panic and skittering up a forty-foot pine tree. When I heard it, I ran to the back kitchen door to let him inside but it was too late. There he sat on a short branch getting soaked horribly. All the while he was letting out this forlorn moan, Rowwwrrrr....Rowrrrrrr. It was a moaning gutteral sound which I had never heard coming from him before. I turned on the television to hear that the "front" was bringing forty mile an hour winds and a drenching rain. I really saw no way for him to survive and made the decision to call the fire dept. As I apologized for the call, I begged for some help. There was a long pause and then a response, "Lady, get a life. We're taking care of life threatening situations right now." Click. The phone call was over.
So I held vigil from my kitchen window and I cried and I prayed and I hoped the branch would not break and send him tumbling to the ground. He was twelve at the time and had suffered pnuemonia the summer before so I did not know what this would do to him. As the rain began to slow and the winds began to ease thirty minutes later, Meenow took a risk and attempted to bring himself down. As he swung over to the trunk, pieces of the pine bark gave way and he lost his grip with his claws. He slid, he scrambled, he hit one branch and finally he landed on all fours and ran for the garage door I had left open for him. He ran past me and upstairs to be left alone. When I found him, he begrudgingly allowed me to dry him off and offer him a favorite treat. With that he found a quiet place in a favorite chair and slept.
Thinking of Meenow today, I equated it with a time when I sat in a waiting room at 11pm while my mother was in with two doctors who were treating her for blood clots that had formed in her legs. We had arrived at the hospital at 6pm after she fell to the floor and could not walk. She was not injured by the fall but was now fighting for her life. One of the doctors came to tell me that he and a partner were literally working to destroy each blood clot but there were, in his words, an endless amount and IF they could not get them under control, they would face the decision of amputating both of her legs.
Oh God! There I was at 11pm in a lonely dark waiting room with no one around for miles, it seemed. Mother and I had been walking through one medical trauma after another and now she was facing the loss of both of her legs. Devastated? Yes, I was devastated! I may not have let out that God forsaken sound that Meenow was making but I felt that sense of total fear and a loss of an idea how to get out of this mess. I can remember thinking, "Where are you, God? How much longer is this going to go on? How can YOU keep giving her one medical trauma after another? " And then finally, I gave up. I can remember saying to myself, "I give up. I cannot do this." The hours dragged and I sat all alone in a mostly dark room, hungry, tired, alone and defeated. I would not even begin to think about how I was going to take on more than I already had on my shoulders.
And now, she was in a life threatening trauma that might take both her legs at once. So I sat, in the dark, silent and numb with tears streaming. At 3 am, the doctor came out and announced, we are 99% convinced that we have all of them and that her legs will be safe. I hugged him for going far beyond what anyone can expect of a physician. She was being transferred to ICU and because no visitors were allowed until 10 am he ordered me to go home. In two days, she returned to our home to continue her many medical battles, but God touched two doctors that evening and God got me through the night when I had nothing left in me.
In my readings yesterday I found a very healing passage for me. It said something similar to this. Faith is the willingness of our minds in good times to believe in God as our creator and Christ as our Savior. Trust is our ability to believe in God's willingness to get us through when we cannot hear His voice and no longer can put one foot forward on our own. Faith walks in good times involve a conscious effort to live our lives in love and peace choosing to lift others up and support them in their lives. Trust is surrendering under the pain and stress of life believing that God is in the storm with us. He weeps when we weep. He feels our pain and heartache and fear. In the storm when things are crashing around us and things are happening so quickly all we can do is go numb, we must understand that we may not hear His voice. We may not see those who God is guiding to protect us and get us through, but trust that He provides them. Only when we are at a place of rest can we look back and take time to acknowledge that God has placed somewhere near us to carry us through the storm. In those storms we may be numb and lost. We may feel all energy drain from our minds and bodies. We are asked to do one thing. Let go and trust God.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I have not thanked you for the night that you held me in your arms in a lonely, dark, hospital waiting room. I am filled with gratitude for your presence in the minds, hearts and hands of those two surgeons. I am filled with gratitude beyond measure. Loving you involves so little on our part. You ask us to have faith and to trust you. In return, we never walk alone and are blessed with your loving grace.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Deuteronomy 1:30-33
30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." 32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
Peggy Mack
October 24, 2013
This morning my friend, Gordy, posted a photo of a drenched cat looking through a window from his soaked perch outside in the storm. He was definitely insulted and not a happy cat. That photograph stirred an almost forgotten memory of our family cat, Meenow while I was living in Panama City. Florida is infamous for showers that strike in the summer with a deluge of drenching rain that borders on the description of a tropical storm. On one occasion, our family bronze and tan tabby warrior cat was prowling his territory in our backyard looking to conquer an irritating squirrel or screeching blue jay. Those were his favorite gifts to deliver to my kitchen back door or rarely, but on more than one occasion, delivered through the pet door and placed in front of my refrigerator.
On this morning, the storm came from out of nowhere and came crashing with numerous bolts of lightning. One of those close jolts struck one of the trees in our backyard sending Meenow into a panic and skittering up a forty-foot pine tree. When I heard it, I ran to the back kitchen door to let him inside but it was too late. There he sat on a short branch getting soaked horribly. All the while he was letting out this forlorn moan, Rowwwrrrr....Rowrrrrrr. It was a moaning gutteral sound which I had never heard coming from him before. I turned on the television to hear that the "front" was bringing forty mile an hour winds and a drenching rain. I really saw no way for him to survive and made the decision to call the fire dept. As I apologized for the call, I begged for some help. There was a long pause and then a response, "Lady, get a life. We're taking care of life threatening situations right now." Click. The phone call was over.
So I held vigil from my kitchen window and I cried and I prayed and I hoped the branch would not break and send him tumbling to the ground. He was twelve at the time and had suffered pnuemonia the summer before so I did not know what this would do to him. As the rain began to slow and the winds began to ease thirty minutes later, Meenow took a risk and attempted to bring himself down. As he swung over to the trunk, pieces of the pine bark gave way and he lost his grip with his claws. He slid, he scrambled, he hit one branch and finally he landed on all fours and ran for the garage door I had left open for him. He ran past me and upstairs to be left alone. When I found him, he begrudgingly allowed me to dry him off and offer him a favorite treat. With that he found a quiet place in a favorite chair and slept.
Thinking of Meenow today, I equated it with a time when I sat in a waiting room at 11pm while my mother was in with two doctors who were treating her for blood clots that had formed in her legs. We had arrived at the hospital at 6pm after she fell to the floor and could not walk. She was not injured by the fall but was now fighting for her life. One of the doctors came to tell me that he and a partner were literally working to destroy each blood clot but there were, in his words, an endless amount and IF they could not get them under control, they would face the decision of amputating both of her legs.
Oh God! There I was at 11pm in a lonely dark waiting room with no one around for miles, it seemed. Mother and I had been walking through one medical trauma after another and now she was facing the loss of both of her legs. Devastated? Yes, I was devastated! I may not have let out that God forsaken sound that Meenow was making but I felt that sense of total fear and a loss of an idea how to get out of this mess. I can remember thinking, "Where are you, God? How much longer is this going to go on? How can YOU keep giving her one medical trauma after another? " And then finally, I gave up. I can remember saying to myself, "I give up. I cannot do this." The hours dragged and I sat all alone in a mostly dark room, hungry, tired, alone and defeated. I would not even begin to think about how I was going to take on more than I already had on my shoulders.
And now, she was in a life threatening trauma that might take both her legs at once. So I sat, in the dark, silent and numb with tears streaming. At 3 am, the doctor came out and announced, we are 99% convinced that we have all of them and that her legs will be safe. I hugged him for going far beyond what anyone can expect of a physician. She was being transferred to ICU and because no visitors were allowed until 10 am he ordered me to go home. In two days, she returned to our home to continue her many medical battles, but God touched two doctors that evening and God got me through the night when I had nothing left in me.
In my readings yesterday I found a very healing passage for me. It said something similar to this. Faith is the willingness of our minds in good times to believe in God as our creator and Christ as our Savior. Trust is our ability to believe in God's willingness to get us through when we cannot hear His voice and no longer can put one foot forward on our own. Faith walks in good times involve a conscious effort to live our lives in love and peace choosing to lift others up and support them in their lives. Trust is surrendering under the pain and stress of life believing that God is in the storm with us. He weeps when we weep. He feels our pain and heartache and fear. In the storm when things are crashing around us and things are happening so quickly all we can do is go numb, we must understand that we may not hear His voice. We may not see those who God is guiding to protect us and get us through, but trust that He provides them. Only when we are at a place of rest can we look back and take time to acknowledge that God has placed somewhere near us to carry us through the storm. In those storms we may be numb and lost. We may feel all energy drain from our minds and bodies. We are asked to do one thing. Let go and trust God.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I have not thanked you for the night that you held me in your arms in a lonely, dark, hospital waiting room. I am filled with gratitude for your presence in the minds, hearts and hands of those two surgeons. I am filled with gratitude beyond measure. Loving you involves so little on our part. You ask us to have faith and to trust you. In return, we never walk alone and are blessed with your loving grace.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Deuteronomy 1:30-33
30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." 32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
God Moves
God Moves
Peggy Mack
October 25,2013
The morning of August 25, 2005, I was on the phone with a songwriter from the Northeast who had collaborated with me on three blues songs. We worked in a songwriters site called Songramp and at that site there was a Writer's Room. I often woke in the morning with little lyrics dancing in my head and would post them in a rough draft form in the Writer's Room in hopes of gaining criticism to possibly strengthen the lines or in hopes of a songwriter dropping by looking for a writer to collaborate on a song.
Ed and I had worked on and completed three blues songs and an amazing collaboration of four musicians called Lonely Highway which I still love as one of my all time favorites. This day we were leisurely talking on the phone about this and that but mostly the horrendous damage of Katrina as television stations had made their way into the city of New Orleans and began sending out images of the unbelievable devastation. While we were both watching an early evening news report, a helicopter image appeared of another helicopter crew air lifting a tiny boy thirty feet above flood waters in a basket up into the aircraft. Ed stopped in mid-sentence as he listened to the news commentator was stating that it was hard to believe in this day and time that there is no communication with the city to the outside world, but there is NONE. Ed's tone of voice immediately changed and he said, "Peg, I need to be there! I have to go. Let me hang up. I developed a portable IT transmission station that would make it possible for them to communicate. I need to call my boss and if he won't let me go, I am going anyway! Let me go! I've got to see what I can do!"
It wasn't until a few days later that I somehow learned from Ed, with a day or two of preparation and delays caused by impassable roads, he had made it into the city of New Orleans with his communication system and was working with Mayor Ray Nagel and staying in the Holiday Inn next to the Superdome. The windows of the hotel had been blown out by the storm. The heat was oppressive. The humidity was stifling. To access the room there were stairs only. To flush the toilet it was necessary to get water from the pool. I have no idea what he found to eat. It was no luxury stay but more a mission of the heart.
I would not describe Ed as a Christian but as a truly spiritual man. He was able to take a small team of his who agreed to jump into service for others. They did not know what they were walking into, and yet, they followed him because they knew Ed. His goal was to set up communication for Mayor Nagel enabling him to talk directly with the President and others who could begin the "after the storm" recovery and rebuilding worked without a flaw. He was not only the voice in a storm but a light of hope. He had honed this spirit of walking into danger as an Army Ranger in Vietnam. He is a natural born rescuer for those in harm's way. His life is so unique, as is each of ours. The experiences each of us have lived have brought us to a place that allows us to serve in unique ways. Ed is a rescuer from head to toe. In quiet times, he is a musician by soul, a husband and father and grandfather. He is New York classy and reminds me of the Dos Equis ad with the silver haired gentleman in the velvet lounging jacket giving us the impression of someone so relaxed and worldy. But beneath that smooth surface there lies a warrior ready in a heartbeat to fight for those who cannot defend themselves.
He is a warrior on both a small and earth moving scale. He came to my defense on a day I will not visit here except to say that because of his alertness and his caring for those who cannot care for themselves, he called and gave me a three step plan for the short future. I do not remember anything from that conversation except the sound of his firm, kind voice and the question near the end which was, "Now, can you tell me the one thing I want you to do today?" I had reached that day when I could not think. I was numb in my own home and struggling puts it mildly. I cannot explain his phone call. It was totally unexpected and I can only categorize it as an answer to my whispered prayer. With that one goal I made it through that day and I was moved into action to find my own way. God moves! GOD MOVES!
When I remember that moment in the midst of Katrina when I heard our friendly conversation evolve into a declaration of determined action, I have no doubt that our God, our Creator moved him to action. Life's experiences tell me that God more often whispers and nudges and suggests and guides but in a hurricane, God MOVES! Since this disaster, Ed has been called by that voice to move to action again and again. He was encouraged to chronicle his experiences in his book, "After Disaster: An Insider’s Perspective from the Heart of Chaos". It is available on Amazon and I hope you buy it for your husbands or dads or brothers for Christmas. Within the lines of his book there is this gentle whisper to act in those moments when we feel compelled to serve others.
I have not spoken to my friend in several years. Life has moved in different directions, so like so many others , we prefer communication on Facebook from time to time. It is an easy way to leave a word of praise or encouragement or celebration for those who have touched our lives as we keep them in our thoughts and prayers. He is well and happy and loving life and music. His family is vibrant and active and loving their dad. If you had the joy of meeting him, it would never give you a clue that in a world disaster, he moves into action. We are each blessed with endless experiences and endless gifts that are in place to serve others. Ed serves others in danger and has no fear of walking into the unknown to make a difference. I have been blessed to see God move him into action.
But we are all given those moments when something tells us to get up and go. What we do with those moments is up to how we respond with open hearts to serving and caring for others. We have gifts of love and encouragement and compassion and empathy. Where have we walked? What have we experienced? What have we seen and known and felt? All those experiences prepare us to serve. Be aware of the moment when God moves and respond with determination to make a difference. The opportunities are there for us everyday. Does the Humane Society need food? Does a family need a contribution because their house burned down last night? Does a homeless person on the corner need a gift bag or blanket? Does a child need tutoring? Does a summer camp for handicapped children need someone who is a wizard at arts and crafts? Does an elderly couple need an electrician to add a light to dark room where they are likely to fall? Does a neighbor need a ride to the doctor? What experiences and gifts do you carry inside your unique soul? Stay connected to life. The secret to joy is a giving heart. There is no joy like the one that comes in giving all you have for someone else. Start watching for opportunities to serve and start being in tune with God when he needs to move you into action. Amazing things happen....to others....and ultimately to you.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We are often told that if we want to hear you speak, we must remove ourselves from the distractions of life and become one with you in mind and heart and soul. Let us never forget that with all You have given us in our lifetimes we are totally unique individuals. With those gifts and blessings we are so capable of serving others. There will be times when we experience your moving through us in a call to action. Move us to respond with loving, giving hearts and not to hesitate. You know complete joy and peace will be ours through giving. Speak to us God. We are listening.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Peggy Mack
October 25,2013
The morning of August 25, 2005, I was on the phone with a songwriter from the Northeast who had collaborated with me on three blues songs. We worked in a songwriters site called Songramp and at that site there was a Writer's Room. I often woke in the morning with little lyrics dancing in my head and would post them in a rough draft form in the Writer's Room in hopes of gaining criticism to possibly strengthen the lines or in hopes of a songwriter dropping by looking for a writer to collaborate on a song.
Ed and I had worked on and completed three blues songs and an amazing collaboration of four musicians called Lonely Highway which I still love as one of my all time favorites. This day we were leisurely talking on the phone about this and that but mostly the horrendous damage of Katrina as television stations had made their way into the city of New Orleans and began sending out images of the unbelievable devastation. While we were both watching an early evening news report, a helicopter image appeared of another helicopter crew air lifting a tiny boy thirty feet above flood waters in a basket up into the aircraft. Ed stopped in mid-sentence as he listened to the news commentator was stating that it was hard to believe in this day and time that there is no communication with the city to the outside world, but there is NONE. Ed's tone of voice immediately changed and he said, "Peg, I need to be there! I have to go. Let me hang up. I developed a portable IT transmission station that would make it possible for them to communicate. I need to call my boss and if he won't let me go, I am going anyway! Let me go! I've got to see what I can do!"
It wasn't until a few days later that I somehow learned from Ed, with a day or two of preparation and delays caused by impassable roads, he had made it into the city of New Orleans with his communication system and was working with Mayor Ray Nagel and staying in the Holiday Inn next to the Superdome. The windows of the hotel had been blown out by the storm. The heat was oppressive. The humidity was stifling. To access the room there were stairs only. To flush the toilet it was necessary to get water from the pool. I have no idea what he found to eat. It was no luxury stay but more a mission of the heart.
I would not describe Ed as a Christian but as a truly spiritual man. He was able to take a small team of his who agreed to jump into service for others. They did not know what they were walking into, and yet, they followed him because they knew Ed. His goal was to set up communication for Mayor Nagel enabling him to talk directly with the President and others who could begin the "after the storm" recovery and rebuilding worked without a flaw. He was not only the voice in a storm but a light of hope. He had honed this spirit of walking into danger as an Army Ranger in Vietnam. He is a natural born rescuer for those in harm's way. His life is so unique, as is each of ours. The experiences each of us have lived have brought us to a place that allows us to serve in unique ways. Ed is a rescuer from head to toe. In quiet times, he is a musician by soul, a husband and father and grandfather. He is New York classy and reminds me of the Dos Equis ad with the silver haired gentleman in the velvet lounging jacket giving us the impression of someone so relaxed and worldy. But beneath that smooth surface there lies a warrior ready in a heartbeat to fight for those who cannot defend themselves.
He is a warrior on both a small and earth moving scale. He came to my defense on a day I will not visit here except to say that because of his alertness and his caring for those who cannot care for themselves, he called and gave me a three step plan for the short future. I do not remember anything from that conversation except the sound of his firm, kind voice and the question near the end which was, "Now, can you tell me the one thing I want you to do today?" I had reached that day when I could not think. I was numb in my own home and struggling puts it mildly. I cannot explain his phone call. It was totally unexpected and I can only categorize it as an answer to my whispered prayer. With that one goal I made it through that day and I was moved into action to find my own way. God moves! GOD MOVES!
When I remember that moment in the midst of Katrina when I heard our friendly conversation evolve into a declaration of determined action, I have no doubt that our God, our Creator moved him to action. Life's experiences tell me that God more often whispers and nudges and suggests and guides but in a hurricane, God MOVES! Since this disaster, Ed has been called by that voice to move to action again and again. He was encouraged to chronicle his experiences in his book, "After Disaster: An Insider’s Perspective from the Heart of Chaos". It is available on Amazon and I hope you buy it for your husbands or dads or brothers for Christmas. Within the lines of his book there is this gentle whisper to act in those moments when we feel compelled to serve others.
I have not spoken to my friend in several years. Life has moved in different directions, so like so many others , we prefer communication on Facebook from time to time. It is an easy way to leave a word of praise or encouragement or celebration for those who have touched our lives as we keep them in our thoughts and prayers. He is well and happy and loving life and music. His family is vibrant and active and loving their dad. If you had the joy of meeting him, it would never give you a clue that in a world disaster, he moves into action. We are each blessed with endless experiences and endless gifts that are in place to serve others. Ed serves others in danger and has no fear of walking into the unknown to make a difference. I have been blessed to see God move him into action.
But we are all given those moments when something tells us to get up and go. What we do with those moments is up to how we respond with open hearts to serving and caring for others. We have gifts of love and encouragement and compassion and empathy. Where have we walked? What have we experienced? What have we seen and known and felt? All those experiences prepare us to serve. Be aware of the moment when God moves and respond with determination to make a difference. The opportunities are there for us everyday. Does the Humane Society need food? Does a family need a contribution because their house burned down last night? Does a homeless person on the corner need a gift bag or blanket? Does a child need tutoring? Does a summer camp for handicapped children need someone who is a wizard at arts and crafts? Does an elderly couple need an electrician to add a light to dark room where they are likely to fall? Does a neighbor need a ride to the doctor? What experiences and gifts do you carry inside your unique soul? Stay connected to life. The secret to joy is a giving heart. There is no joy like the one that comes in giving all you have for someone else. Start watching for opportunities to serve and start being in tune with God when he needs to move you into action. Amazing things happen....to others....and ultimately to you.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We are often told that if we want to hear you speak, we must remove ourselves from the distractions of life and become one with you in mind and heart and soul. Let us never forget that with all You have given us in our lifetimes we are totally unique individuals. With those gifts and blessings we are so capable of serving others. There will be times when we experience your moving through us in a call to action. Move us to respond with loving, giving hearts and not to hesitate. You know complete joy and peace will be ours through giving. Speak to us God. We are listening.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Step One: Your Mind
Step One: Your Mind
Peggy Mack
October 23, 2013
Morning devotions are such a wonderful addition to waking up each morning and yes, I am so blessed because I am retired and have the peace of leisure mornings. I can remember flying out the door in the rain with toddlers and diaper bags in tow trying to get them to Mrs. Everitt's home to care for them while I taught first grade in an inner city school. I arrived at school by 7am and have no idea, in looking back, how I ever pulled that off. You do what you have to do and what you love. So, this morning, in my studies I discovered a Bible verse that has my mind joyfilled with the thought that I can do more than put Christ in my thoughts.....I can, with the Holy Spirit, have the mind of Christ in me. Here's the verse:
1 Corinthians 2:13-16
New International Version (NIV)
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
We have the mind of Christ. I find that to be such an amazing gift from God. How often I have needed God to crawl inside my head and to take over for me or to direct me so clearly that I would not stumble and fall and make critical mistakes. I needed Christ in my crisis. I needed to think clearly, calmly and wisely.
Robert Schuler was one of my favorite inspirational authors and his Power of Positive Thinking was a book my dad often quoted in his last years. While mother was in Birmingham having open heart surgery on her mitral valve ten weeks after dad had died, I sat alone in the cardiac surgical waiting room at UAB hospital reading his book. The surgery took longer than I was indicated to me and I found myself going from the filled and noisy waiting room to the first floor chapel. Throughout that long day and the next ten days of her stay there I made it my choice to stay in a positive mind and close to prayer. I was not trying to impress anyone. I knew this was a day of my own episode of survival while mother's life and heart were in the hands of Dr. Pasifico. I overheard other families dealing with those same frightening challenges of having a loved ones life hanging in the balance. One family of six gathered every hour on the hour and stood in a circle in family prayer. The love for each other and the family member who was in surgery was amazing to witness as was their belief in prayer. Another family, whose son had been shot were gathering as they learned the news and were filled with visible anger and promises to get even. The rage within in them was so great that you could feel it like a heat wave moving throughout the room. Another young couple sat holding hands, talking softly and watching televisio and often wiping away tears. Then finally, I noticed an elderly man sitting along and staring out the window. His shoulders were down and his eyes were filled with deep sadness. He appeared utterly lost and alone. You see a lot in a surgical waiting room and often they are so powerful that they stay in your memories for decades as these have for me.
Over the next week our family members were listed in critical condition and were being cared for in the Surgical ICU. I slowly introduced myself to them and carried on conversations and welcomed them each morning when we returned for our daily vigils. We were allowed ten minutes of visitation every four hours so the majority of our day was spent in a vigil, getting a bite to eat from the cafeteria or taking advantage of other services offered to us. The elderly gentleman was Mr. T. I do not want to mention his name so I refer to him as Mr. T. His wife had experienced numerous mild heart attacks and they were doing an open heart procedure to replace a valve and do other things which would hopefully prolong her life. I became friends with the mother of the group who had joined hourly for prayers and learned her son had a congenital defect that needed repair. It was effecting his level of activity and his ability to breathe. The three of us were offered a group therapy session to offer ways to alleviate the stress from spending 12 hour days at the hospital and seeing our family member so weak and in critical condition. We were incouraged to place our minds in another place. We were taught to visualize a place of peace that brings us comfort and a sense of well being. I found the sessions to be helpful and a distraction break I looked forward to each day. I was amazed that in the midst of the strong medicinal smell of a hospital, the screaming unpredictable sirens, the intermittent gut wrenching calls for code blue and the sad, worried expressions on so many faces, we could actually remove our consciousness to a place of calm, peaceful, solitude.
I remembered phrases I had heard as a child like, "Why don't you put your mind to good use?" or "Put your mind in gear before your mouth." or "You can get that done if you just put your mind to doing it!" All of these phrases and a few dozen more tell us that man acknowledges the ability to consciously reframe our thinking and guide it to think other thoughts. I find that simply amazing that we have that capability. But we do!
We are admonished and encouraged to PUT ON THE MIND OF CHRIST . 1 Cor 2:13-16 NKJV. We have control of our own thoughts and the thoughts we allow in our minds. The craze of WWJD can be extended to WWJT. What would Jesus think? Hopefully as we mature we involve planning and a thinking process prior to our actions during the day. Living the life of a mature Christian is not a Sunday morning block of time that we reserve for Him and then go merrily along the rest of the week living "our" lives. We are encouraged to enter every room, every activity and event, every meeting with others, every doctors appointment (you get the idea) with our mind in Christ. Our image of Christ as our precious Savior who suffered and died and was resurrected and ascended into Heaven is the way we most readily see Him. We are taught to acknowledge His life that way when we repeated the Apostles' Creed. His disciples encourage us to see Him, also, as someone who once lived as a man on earth, who faced the needs, the sorrows, the emotional challenges of anger and mental exhaustion. Christ is our friend. He is our conduit to speaking in prayer to His Heavenly Father.
Yesterday, I was facing a challenge I literally dreaded. I admit it. I do not like my neurologist. I assume because he has practiced for twenty years that he is knowledgeable in his field of study. He has little personality. He is about as friendly as Oscar the Grouch. I have been having some chronic symptoms and do not know which ones are connected to what else. I feared with my recent "bolt of light" that surged through my head last week leaving me with a blinding headache, it was not minor. I feared he would hear my description and make a snap judgment demanding my driver's license. I listened as he was talking to his nurse outside my door and I whispered a prayer of peace and guidance for his decisions. I imagined Christ behind my chair lifting his arms and showering me with peace and comfort and calm. The doctor sat down and asked, "how are you?" I responded, "I feel well but I do have a few symptoms and would appreciate your professional help in sorting them out for me?" "Go ahead", he said. And so the meeting went. What amazed me was how the negative thoughts I had left me with the moment of prayer and visualizing Christ in the room with us. What amazed me that the usually bristly, curt physician was soft spoken and compassionate. Instead of his normal behavior of reacting and jumping up with a quick decision, he took his time, asked questions and listened intently. He made the decision to focus on my continued problems with vertigo and to allow that one "glitch in the brain" and to watch for any further activity. He confirmed my concerns about my meds causing some of the "fuzzy headiness" and we had a plan.
Putting our mind in Christ is not a phrase that only applied to the small church members in Corinth. It is a wonderful plan for how to face each moment of everyday in our life. It should be part of our "survivor" plan for making the most of each day. I want to continue to encourage you to keep Christ close. Rely on him in those "have mercy" moments to step in close by you and to shower you with blessings that you need to get through with the best results. I admit it is going to be a challenge to bring Christ into my mind on my next trip to Walmart but it is well worth the practice, I have decided, since Christmas crowds and traffic are around the corner. Don't you agree?
Because God gave us free will and free thought, we are able to go through life never thinking of Christ, at all. We can wake up and face a day of challenges and never invoke Christ to walk with us. That is our choice. We are also capable of opening our mind to evil thoughts, thoughts of negativity and ill will toward others. We are capable of saying phrases that judge others and demean their existence. God lets us do that because we control our own thoughts and make our own choices. But God has ultimately given us the gift of life. He has blessed us with gifts to help continue His mission to reach others' lives in a positive way. He is pleased when our thoughts are in Him and He in turn, abides in us.
There is no major effort needed to begin the process. We do not have to plan what we are wearing to church to be in communication with God. Church is an extension of our faith that involves fellowship with others who love God. Walking in Christ, living in Christ is right here for the thinking. We are encouraged to actually "Put on the mind of Christ". It is one more gift we have been given in this amazing life of ours. All it takes is our conscious decision to face life with Christ in our hearts and MINDS.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We are blessed with your endless gifts of love. As your children, we are still free to think our own thoughts and make our own decisions. Remind us you are here with us and that we are in conversation with you, You are in us and with us. What a blessing it is to realize that you are not a distant God in our universe but One who is pleased with us when we open our minds to welcome you.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Peggy Mack
October 23, 2013
Morning devotions are such a wonderful addition to waking up each morning and yes, I am so blessed because I am retired and have the peace of leisure mornings. I can remember flying out the door in the rain with toddlers and diaper bags in tow trying to get them to Mrs. Everitt's home to care for them while I taught first grade in an inner city school. I arrived at school by 7am and have no idea, in looking back, how I ever pulled that off. You do what you have to do and what you love. So, this morning, in my studies I discovered a Bible verse that has my mind joyfilled with the thought that I can do more than put Christ in my thoughts.....I can, with the Holy Spirit, have the mind of Christ in me. Here's the verse:
1 Corinthians 2:13-16
New International Version (NIV)
This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
We have the mind of Christ. I find that to be such an amazing gift from God. How often I have needed God to crawl inside my head and to take over for me or to direct me so clearly that I would not stumble and fall and make critical mistakes. I needed Christ in my crisis. I needed to think clearly, calmly and wisely.
Robert Schuler was one of my favorite inspirational authors and his Power of Positive Thinking was a book my dad often quoted in his last years. While mother was in Birmingham having open heart surgery on her mitral valve ten weeks after dad had died, I sat alone in the cardiac surgical waiting room at UAB hospital reading his book. The surgery took longer than I was indicated to me and I found myself going from the filled and noisy waiting room to the first floor chapel. Throughout that long day and the next ten days of her stay there I made it my choice to stay in a positive mind and close to prayer. I was not trying to impress anyone. I knew this was a day of my own episode of survival while mother's life and heart were in the hands of Dr. Pasifico. I overheard other families dealing with those same frightening challenges of having a loved ones life hanging in the balance. One family of six gathered every hour on the hour and stood in a circle in family prayer. The love for each other and the family member who was in surgery was amazing to witness as was their belief in prayer. Another family, whose son had been shot were gathering as they learned the news and were filled with visible anger and promises to get even. The rage within in them was so great that you could feel it like a heat wave moving throughout the room. Another young couple sat holding hands, talking softly and watching televisio and often wiping away tears. Then finally, I noticed an elderly man sitting along and staring out the window. His shoulders were down and his eyes were filled with deep sadness. He appeared utterly lost and alone. You see a lot in a surgical waiting room and often they are so powerful that they stay in your memories for decades as these have for me.
Over the next week our family members were listed in critical condition and were being cared for in the Surgical ICU. I slowly introduced myself to them and carried on conversations and welcomed them each morning when we returned for our daily vigils. We were allowed ten minutes of visitation every four hours so the majority of our day was spent in a vigil, getting a bite to eat from the cafeteria or taking advantage of other services offered to us. The elderly gentleman was Mr. T. I do not want to mention his name so I refer to him as Mr. T. His wife had experienced numerous mild heart attacks and they were doing an open heart procedure to replace a valve and do other things which would hopefully prolong her life. I became friends with the mother of the group who had joined hourly for prayers and learned her son had a congenital defect that needed repair. It was effecting his level of activity and his ability to breathe. The three of us were offered a group therapy session to offer ways to alleviate the stress from spending 12 hour days at the hospital and seeing our family member so weak and in critical condition. We were incouraged to place our minds in another place. We were taught to visualize a place of peace that brings us comfort and a sense of well being. I found the sessions to be helpful and a distraction break I looked forward to each day. I was amazed that in the midst of the strong medicinal smell of a hospital, the screaming unpredictable sirens, the intermittent gut wrenching calls for code blue and the sad, worried expressions on so many faces, we could actually remove our consciousness to a place of calm, peaceful, solitude.
I remembered phrases I had heard as a child like, "Why don't you put your mind to good use?" or "Put your mind in gear before your mouth." or "You can get that done if you just put your mind to doing it!" All of these phrases and a few dozen more tell us that man acknowledges the ability to consciously reframe our thinking and guide it to think other thoughts. I find that simply amazing that we have that capability. But we do!
We are admonished and encouraged to PUT ON THE MIND OF CHRIST . 1 Cor 2:13-16 NKJV. We have control of our own thoughts and the thoughts we allow in our minds. The craze of WWJD can be extended to WWJT. What would Jesus think? Hopefully as we mature we involve planning and a thinking process prior to our actions during the day. Living the life of a mature Christian is not a Sunday morning block of time that we reserve for Him and then go merrily along the rest of the week living "our" lives. We are encouraged to enter every room, every activity and event, every meeting with others, every doctors appointment (you get the idea) with our mind in Christ. Our image of Christ as our precious Savior who suffered and died and was resurrected and ascended into Heaven is the way we most readily see Him. We are taught to acknowledge His life that way when we repeated the Apostles' Creed. His disciples encourage us to see Him, also, as someone who once lived as a man on earth, who faced the needs, the sorrows, the emotional challenges of anger and mental exhaustion. Christ is our friend. He is our conduit to speaking in prayer to His Heavenly Father.
Yesterday, I was facing a challenge I literally dreaded. I admit it. I do not like my neurologist. I assume because he has practiced for twenty years that he is knowledgeable in his field of study. He has little personality. He is about as friendly as Oscar the Grouch. I have been having some chronic symptoms and do not know which ones are connected to what else. I feared with my recent "bolt of light" that surged through my head last week leaving me with a blinding headache, it was not minor. I feared he would hear my description and make a snap judgment demanding my driver's license. I listened as he was talking to his nurse outside my door and I whispered a prayer of peace and guidance for his decisions. I imagined Christ behind my chair lifting his arms and showering me with peace and comfort and calm. The doctor sat down and asked, "how are you?" I responded, "I feel well but I do have a few symptoms and would appreciate your professional help in sorting them out for me?" "Go ahead", he said. And so the meeting went. What amazed me was how the negative thoughts I had left me with the moment of prayer and visualizing Christ in the room with us. What amazed me that the usually bristly, curt physician was soft spoken and compassionate. Instead of his normal behavior of reacting and jumping up with a quick decision, he took his time, asked questions and listened intently. He made the decision to focus on my continued problems with vertigo and to allow that one "glitch in the brain" and to watch for any further activity. He confirmed my concerns about my meds causing some of the "fuzzy headiness" and we had a plan.
Putting our mind in Christ is not a phrase that only applied to the small church members in Corinth. It is a wonderful plan for how to face each moment of everyday in our life. It should be part of our "survivor" plan for making the most of each day. I want to continue to encourage you to keep Christ close. Rely on him in those "have mercy" moments to step in close by you and to shower you with blessings that you need to get through with the best results. I admit it is going to be a challenge to bring Christ into my mind on my next trip to Walmart but it is well worth the practice, I have decided, since Christmas crowds and traffic are around the corner. Don't you agree?
Because God gave us free will and free thought, we are able to go through life never thinking of Christ, at all. We can wake up and face a day of challenges and never invoke Christ to walk with us. That is our choice. We are also capable of opening our mind to evil thoughts, thoughts of negativity and ill will toward others. We are capable of saying phrases that judge others and demean their existence. God lets us do that because we control our own thoughts and make our own choices. But God has ultimately given us the gift of life. He has blessed us with gifts to help continue His mission to reach others' lives in a positive way. He is pleased when our thoughts are in Him and He in turn, abides in us.
There is no major effort needed to begin the process. We do not have to plan what we are wearing to church to be in communication with God. Church is an extension of our faith that involves fellowship with others who love God. Walking in Christ, living in Christ is right here for the thinking. We are encouraged to actually "Put on the mind of Christ". It is one more gift we have been given in this amazing life of ours. All it takes is our conscious decision to face life with Christ in our hearts and MINDS.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We are blessed with your endless gifts of love. As your children, we are still free to think our own thoughts and make our own decisions. Remind us you are here with us and that we are in conversation with you, You are in us and with us. What a blessing it is to realize that you are not a distant God in our universe but One who is pleased with us when we open our minds to welcome you.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
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