Monday's Blessing
1 Peter 5:6-7

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

I was recently speaking to a friend who was trembling with frustration over her life. She was feeling especially burdened by all the concerns she was carrying: illness, marriage failure, teenage problems, potential business failure, and a boot of personal problems. She said, "I just don't get it.  I pray and pray and pray and my prayers go to the waste side unanswered.  Does God even care?"

I felt a gentle nudge from God and answered, "Are you really praying to God for answers? Are you truly giving up your concerns as God wants you to?  Or, do you have the absolute end in mind begging God to take you there swiftly?"

She quieted for the moment contemplating.  I went on to explain that we usually carry personal prayer concerns with an answer in mind we expect when we pray.  When we don't receive that answer we become frustrated, out-of-tune with our spirituality.  We know what we want, and gosh darn it, we will keep praying until we get it!  Such feisty beings he created.  

Yet, Peter's admonition to cast our worries to God is based on the above verse: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." I think we often get mixed up in reality.  We feel the Puritan ethic at times and assume we must carry our fair share of the load for ourselves and others.   However, Jesus, said his yoke was easy and light and with it we'd find rest for our souls.  Did you catch that?  Rest for ours souls!  God promises peace when we offer our prayers to him!  But first we must place our trust in his power and goodness.  Casting our cares on him means we trust he will handle it despite the end result.

In order to cast our cares on him, we must trust in him completely.  Otherwise, the sheer act of the prayer itself becomes tarnished.  First, above all, you must realize that God can handle the problem better than you.  Second, worry is unacceptable.  Once you cast your prayers to God, he will give you a solution in time - his time.  So be patient and realize once you do God promises peace! 

Paul wrote,
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding , will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Monday's Blessing
Proverbs 11:13

"A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret."

We know we shouldn't talk about people behind their backs, but sometimes it is difficult to help ourselves. Whether we’re among family, at work, or with friends, what’s really behind these shameful betrayals that makes it so difficult to stop? 

Janie just got that promotion! I’m not surprised, the way she flirts with the boss grumbles a colleague who’d like to be promoted herself. ‘That bean pole? I’m sure she’s anorexic,’ replies her friend.

The sad fact is gossip offers a state of comfort. A few spiteful words shared in confidence can offer us the illusion of control. With friends, colleagues or family, saying bad things about other people brings the onus of the situation back into our own mirrored reality.  A reality that is out of touch at the moment.

We all know it’s wrong to gossip, and no one wants to seem deliberately malicious. So why do we indulge in such atrocities? Gossip builds social bonds because shared dislikes create stronger bonds than shared positives. Believe it or not, two people who don’t know each other will feel closer if they share something nasty against a third person than if they say nice things. It’s a way of demonstrating their shared values and sense of control over a distasteful situation.

Anytime I tell others something that could perceivably hurt someone's reputation, I am gossiping.  Even if my words are crouched as trying to help them.  In Proverbs we learned that "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.  In other words, when someone tells us something in confidence, we should keep that information to ourselves.  A few words we've heard over the water cooler can ruin a person's reputation and break up relationships.  Then in the heat of the moment, in a frenzy of gossip, we can create a stew for the makings of a true mess.

Gossip can be a risky activity; it can quickly lead to awkwardness, and distrust. It leaves the victim unable to defend themselves, and can leave a trail of suspicion. We gossip when we feel unfairly treated. Once you stop feeling like a victim, the energy you invested in that activity can be focused on prayer instead.

Dear Father,
Teach me to trust in you during
these awkward situations where I feel 
mistreated.  Stop gossip before it
comes out of my mouth.  Challenge
me through your love in the art of
prayer instead.

Monday's Blessing
Psalm 51:10

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit withing me."

Nothing will cut the umbilical cord like the day your child graduates from high school. All of a sudden they are swarmed with new adventures rarely taking your heading advice as they do so.  It is during this time it can be a bit challenging as parents as we learn to maneuver a new road ourselves - being parents to young adults.  

Now begins the expressway of continued thwarts of forgiveness.  We step on toes; we intervene all in the blatant confession of true faith!  After all we we've been down that road, we are trying save them from the chains that once kept us bound.  But our pleas go unnoticed as we are relentlessly told to mind our own business in a new founded way. What happened to these little beings that once worshiped the ground we walked on?

King David once stopped worshiping the ground God walked on, too.  He was attracted to Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, and had gotten her pregnant.  David had Uriah sent to the battlefront where he would be killed so he could be with his wife always.  He didn't think anyone knew his dastardly dead, but God did.  He reprimanded him saying:

Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?  You struck down Uriah the Hittite with a sword and took his wife to be your own.  You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.  Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to bey your own.  (2 Samuel 12:9-10) 

David had no personal remorse until God displayed his misfortune.  After all there was much pain that had a ripple effect from David's sin - Uriah's death, Bathsheba's grief, the death of and unborn child, and of course the adulterous union.  But there is one good thing that became it was Davids true repentance: "I have sinned against the Lord." (2 Samuel 12:13)

We, too, must follow the Lord's advice and allow our children to fall.  God is often back there trying to intervene saying, "Say your piece and move on." But we say it again and again in hopes it will truly sink in this time causing the relationship of trust to fray and unravel.  We must realize that when they do fall, God will pick them up, dust them off, just as we did when they first began to walk.  Our role has suddenly changed to a parent-guide now just as God mentors us.  

Practice the model of true confession when you need to in David's form:

• He recognized his sin and its effect.

Have mercy on me, O God.....
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

• He asked God to forgive him and cleanse his heart.

Cleanse me with the hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

• He asked God to restore him.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.

Monday's Blessing
Psalm 107:1

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

I have gotten into the habit this New Year of beginning my prayers with praise and thanksgiving.  Praise recognizes who God is to me.  By giving him specific thanks, I am recognizing all he has done for me.  I try to mesh these two together as I humbly begin each morning so that there is no doubt that I am forever grateful for all the blessings in my life.  How can I ask God for something more if I haven't even thanked him for what he has done?

When we give thanks we are following Biblical tradition.  In many of St. Paul's letters he tells the church and its people how he gives thanks for each of them.  He told Thessalonians that he thanked God for their faithful and love-filled work and their hope-inspired endurance.  (1 Thessalonians 1:3) Solomon thanked God for the opportunity to fulfill his father's desire for a temple. (1 Kings 8:15)  Daniel thanked God for telling him what the king's dream meant. (Daniel 2:19-23)  Jesus even gave thanks for the five loaves and two fish that feed five thousand.  (John 6:11).

But I think the true challenge comes when we are asked to "give thanks to all circumstances, for this God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ( 1 Thessalonians 5:15)  But how do we do that when our lives have become so unraveled that we fear how to put it back together again?  This has got to be one of the hardest things we're asked to do as Christians, giving thanks for what seems to be one awful mess. 

But remember that faith implies a leap.  It may not make sense at the time, but awful things do happen to true believers.  And from awful messes true light will form in the midst.  Giving thanks to all circumstances releases a great burden.  It sheds light knowing God is working in our lives, and he will take care of everything.  We know in the end God will take care of the pain, and make us more like himself in the outcome. This spiritual strength takes us one step closer to God as we endure what he has set out before us.  

So no matter how trivial or disheartening your circumstances may be, always - always - always begin with praise and thanksgiving.  Look into your soul and mention the good things still present in your life.  Have faith, let go, and begin again.

And so let us pray..........

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endure forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say this-
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west from north and south.
(Psalm 107 1:3)