The Forgiven Forgive: a Q & A to help

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The Forgiven Forgive: a Q & A to help

How hard it is for us to forgive, isn’t it? In our last post, we discussed some points that truly make sense in the entire process of forgiving others. But let’s backtrack a bit more and look at this as a Biblical Q & A session.

The following are notes from a talk I gave to a small group of young married women (I was the “older woman teaching the younger” Titus 2). So why not use this as your own personal Bible study and see what the Holy Spirit reveals to your heart and mind for your particular situation.

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Forgiveness Revisited

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Forgiveness Revisited

Several years ago, I met with a group of moms to explore one of our Lord's first words from the Cross: Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23:34

As our discussion went on, we talked about the struggle we all have to forgive our offenders.  I shared a short section from a book that years before had an incredible impact on me in the area of forgiveness.

I used to think that the struggle to forgive was itself sinful...as well as the horrible feelings I had in the whole thing.  But I've come to realize that the struggle and the feelings are all part of the human condition on this earth. 

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Lenten Meditation: a Word of Forgiveness

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Lenten Meditation: a Word of Forgiveness

Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet, once said,To err is human; to forgive, divine.

So true...but we humans more readily echo what someone else has said,

To err is human, but to get even? THAT is divine.

We struggle so, with forgiving our offenders!  Perhaps that's why we are amazed and awestruck to realize that Jesus' first words from the Cross were ones of forgiveness.

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Lenten Meditation: Last Words and Conversations

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Lenten Meditation: Last Words and Conversations

The last words of a dying person are important.  They can communicate good or ill to those left behind.  Why?  Because the last words are so final...and so revealing of what was uppermost in the person's mind as he was leaving this earth to face his Maker. I've never been at the bedside of a dying person.  But I have been with a few people just days before their death.

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Dust to Dust but Glory to Glory!

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Dust to Dust but Glory to Glory!

From dust you have come, and to dust you shall return. 

Ash Wednesday has taken on a new meaning for me in recent years, since my 91 year old mom passed away early in November 2015. There was something that arrested me right in my tracks the day of my mom's funeral. I was undone by deep sobs of realization. And the depth of it had been helped along by the incense and the reverence afforded the treatment of my dear mama's frail little body being put to rest (or so they say).

But it wasn't the finality of it all. It had already been final when she had breathed her last, days before.

No! It was the Sacredness that came crashing through!

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Lenten Meditation: Dust to Dust

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Lenten Meditation: Dust to Dust

I grew up in a liturgical church.  So from my childhood into my early adulthood, I observed the church calendar.   Ash Wednesday marked a real turning point in the calendar year.  It was a turn from comfort, frivolity, and enjoyment (think Mardi Gras) to a time of repentance, self-denial, and mortification called Lent. Ash Wednesday was a day when we all remembered that someday we would each die and face our Maker.  The priest would put the sign of the cross on our foreheads in black ashes and say,

Remember, Man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return. [based on Genesis 3:19]

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Waking Thoughts: Love Not the World

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Waking Thoughts: Love Not the World

…As one friend said, “It sounds like Vanity Fair.” You know, the town in Paul Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress, that contained every worldly pleasure to suck poor Pilgrim in.

Well, I’ve been reflecting. Even though this place was “to the hilt” worldly perfect in so many ways, I can’t help but think that we each have a Vanity Fair all around us no matter where we are. Our Vanity Fair beckons us to chose the world of ___(FILL IN THE BLANK)_____ rather than God.

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Waking Thoughts: We Will Dance

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Waking Thoughts: We Will Dance

Wow, I hadn’t heard that song in years and maybe only then for the very first time…and not since. You see, I was in Indianapolis for an overnight stay because a medical procedure…maybe decades ago. The therapist had invited me to her church that evening, and I heard it for the first and last (or so I thought) time.

Then at the Memorial service for our dear brother in the Lord Mike Sabin on Tuesday evening, I heard it again. And it brought joy to my soul.

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Waking Thoughts

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Waking Thoughts

I pay attention to my waking thoughts.

Ever since I discovered a poem by George MacDonald, tucked away in an old notebook on my husband’s shelf, my waking thoughts have been captured and inspired by God’s Wind-Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. I have invited Him to do that.

Otherwise, my waking thoughts were being filled with the anxieties of life, the trap of the flesh aided by the enemy of my soul. . .

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Let Me Get Home Before Dark

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Let Me Get Home Before Dark

Hebrews 12:1-3 NLT

The imagery of the race as a picture of the Christian life on this earth has always held fascination for me. And finishing the race without pooping out is my heart’s desire . . . and more and more as I get older.

I get tired and so I grab hold of my God daily at a slower pace. But still I grab! Otherwise, would I end up not living from who I really am in Christ?

A spiritual father of mine, who is approaching his 90th year of life on this earth, shared this poem with me recently. He said that it is his prayer to make it to “the finish line” faithful to his God.

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A Time to Live & a Time to Die: Reflections on Time & Eternity

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A Time to Live & a Time to Die: Reflections on Time & Eternity

For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.
    A time to be born and a time to die...
    A time to grieve and a time to dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a,4a (NLT)

Time, that fleeting commodity that holds us while on this earth! Yet, we can't hold onto it! And for all of us, time is ticking away. We are closer to the end of our earthly journey every second that we live.

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A Love Song to Jesus

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A Love Song to Jesus

When my husband John and I were seniors at the University of Arizona, the Carpenters were at the top of the music charts.   We embraced them as our group who sang our songs as we were "a-courting."  Their mellow sound and rich melodies fed our romantic feelings toward each other and toward life in general. At our wedding, we danced to, you may have guessed it, "We've Only Just Begun." Lyrics like "White lace and promises, a kiss for luck and we're on our way" made it the perfect song to start out a new marriage...or so we thought.

But as the years have rolled by and reality and maturity have set in, so has the realization that the romantic expectations of youth are so unrealistic and can only truly be fulfilled by an Almighty God.

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Celebrating Cancer Survivors and a Son, 22 Years Cancer-free

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Celebrating Cancer Survivors and a Son, 22 Years Cancer-free

Today I’m celebrating Cancer Survivors, those brave but suffering souls who have battled and prayed and cried and begged and pushed through . . . or maybe who have suffered in silence and pushed through inspite of it all. All were scared and maybe still are.

I’m celebrating the loved ones who suffered alongside and didn’t run away from the “not knowing” . . . who cried and prayed and begged and never gave up….

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WE ARE FA-MI-LY -- on my way to the Villages

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WE ARE FA-MI-LY -- on my way to the Villages

♥We are fa-mi-ly...my mother, brothers, sisters, and me! ♥

They have left our beloved New Jersey (home of the famous Jersey shore and my favorite sunrises over the ocean) and have gone over to the “dark side” a.k.a. Florida!

So A Branch in the Vine will be taking a break for a while.

But before I do,  I would like to share a post from 2012, after one of our special times together at Nancy's home in Belmar, New Jersey. So may I introduce you to these precious folks who have beckoned me back to New Jersey again and again . . . and now to Florida.

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Almost a Flash mob . . . Just for Fun in the Journey

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Almost a Flash mob . . . Just for Fun in the Journey

Just for fun as we close out January and some gray days in OHIO, I just have to post this — an almost “flash mob” at my very own Kroger. But by doing so, I’m departing from my “rule” that everything that I post on A Branch in the Vine MUST have a spiritual theme or application.

Well, since everything is spiritual for a child of God, I guess I’m not really “breaking my rule,” am I? So here it is and enjoy with me. I dare you to not at least tap your foot or hum along.

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Life in the Spirit . . . The Dance in the Journey

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Life in the Spirit . . . The Dance in the Journey

Life, glorious life!  How we take life for granted, until...

someone we love dies,

our health or safety is gravely threatened,

we realize our days are waning because of the years...

It is then that we value what we've had all along.

But there's a Life that we never need fear will diminish, be endangered, be lost...

In fact, this Life can grow in our experience even in this time-based, fearful, waning physical life.

What is this Life?

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The "Ghost" Inside of Me . . . My Indwelling Hero in the Journey

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The "Ghost" Inside of Me . . . My Indwelling Hero in the Journey

To follow up the last post on our Hero — the Holy Spirit — I remembered this amazing song. Even my young grandson William started to “get it” as we sang it last Halloween.

You and I are never alone, my journeying friend. Let’s enjoy Him and His Presence . . . no matter what!

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