Word Ways

…Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.” ”Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, ”You are upset by many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41 (NIV)

Ancient customs demanded that visitor must be offered food. Jesus didn’t travel alone.  Martha was a conscientious hostess, and she probably had many people to feed. Mary was fascinated by the new insights and wisdom she was hearing from the visiting rabbi, and remained sitting near him to listen to every word.

When I was young, I wanted to be like Mary. When I was older and had a home of my own, I knew I needed some of Martha’s ability, too.

This morning a Bible study was scheduled at church. I got out of bed and hurried through my prayers. I ate my breakfast quickly and took my dishes to the sink. As I turned away from the sink did I hear them call “Aren’t you going to wash us?  We are feeling grimy.” “Later dirty dishes,” I replied, ”I’ll take care of you this  evening.”

After getting dressed, I went back to the bedroom to get my purse and keys. Hurrying from the room did I hear the bed whine “Aren’t you going to straighten my covers? I am feeling rumpled.” “Maybe later,” I sighed.

I wondered what Martha would think if she saw me leave my chores neglected,  then I felt Mary put her arm around my shoulder and whisper “Come to the Bible study.”

Prayer:  Dear Lord, I thank you that you love all the Martha’s and Mary’s in this world and you love those of us who are trying to find a balance between the two.  Thank You that you love each of us as we are.  Lead us to serve you with the gifts you have given us individually according to God’s plan.

Barbara Crow

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Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.” Revelations 3:12 (NIV)

Several years ago we spent three months inUzbekistan. While there we visited an “orphanage,” actually a home for disabled children. Under the Soviet system, such children were shut away in institutions, considered an intolerable burden on their parents and on society. Our friends who guided us through the orphanage described the changes they had seen since they began working there after the collapse of theSoviet Union. They recounted the appalling conditions in which they had found the children–the stench of urine and feces that permeated the building, children lying in their beds day after day with no attempt to stimulate mobility, the general attitude of hopelessness that prevailed among both staff and residents. As we walked along newly-painted, clean corridors, children smiled shyly at us. One small girl enthusiastically navigated her way toward us with a tiny walker. At four years old, she was finally learning to walk.

But of all the new features of the residence, the one that struck me most poignantly was the name placards posted on the wall of each bedroom. It was not the placards themselves, but the fact that each child now had a name. When our friends first arrived, none of the children bore names; all were simply called, “idiot”. Without names, the children remained invisible, impersonal, unworthy of relationship or attachment. With a name, each child began to matter.

Names are important to God. The first task God gave Adam was to name the animals. God’s own name is so closely bound to His identity that to misuse it is to break a commandment. On the other hand, reverential use of His name provides security and blessing. God gave new names to those He was setting apart for a particular task: Abram, Jacob, and Saul becameAbraham,Israel, and Paul. Our names, too, are important to God as our Good Shepherd calls each of His sheep by name. And we are promised that one day we will be given new names, especially chosen by God. 

God sees each of us as a beloved individual, worthy of redemption and of a unique relationship with Him. We may be members of His flock, but He sets each of us in a special position by bestowing us with our own name. What a privilege to be significant enough to be named by the creator and ruler of the universe!

Prayer:  Dear Lord, thank you for the love you bestow on the Uzbek children in the orphanage through your people who name them and care for them. Thank you that I, too, bear a name you have chosen for me. Amen

Jean Andrianoff

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…We will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.  Psalm 78:4 (NRSV) 

Going to church with my grandmother when I was very young is one of my favorite early memories. She took me to the preschool class where the teacher taught me that God loves me. During the service in the sanctuary I would sit by my grandmother entertaining myself with paper fans decorated with  illustrations of Bible stories. During the Kansas summer it is hot, and there was no air conditioning then. I spent a lot of time fanning myself and my grandmother. She was a woman of infinite patience.

When I was in high school, I pestered my father to drive my younger brother, Art, and I to church. He would leave us there and come back for us after the church service. I would deposit my brother in his Sunday school class, and join my friends in our class. After class, I would take Art to sit with me through the service. Sometimes my parents would come to the service, and Art would sit with them.

A few years later after I was married, my husband and I followed the Sunday routine with our three children. At home I had some children’s books about Bible stories which I read to my two sons and daughter. When my children were the appropriate ages to attend Vacation Bible School  I would volunteer to help with the program.

Now I have grandchildren who are young adults. They too were taken to church when they were young. Some still go to church; some have drifted away. Once in awhile I have and opportunity to remind them that God loves them and He listens to their prayers. I know that seeds have been planted in their young minds. I trust God to nourish those seeds by His Holy Spirit and bring them to maturity. I pray someday I will hear about my grandchildren taking their children to church and teaching them at home that God loves them.

Prayer: Thank you Father for your word which enriches our lives and nourishes our souls. Thank you for the freedom to read your word and worship you in our churches. Thank you for the generations that have gone before me and those who are following. I pray for Christians who live in places where they are restricted in their worship. Protect and sustain them so their faith will blossom like beautiful flowers in the desert. Amen

Barbara Crow

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A right time to cry and another to laugh… Eccles 3:4 (The Message)

Although it’s not mentioned in Corinthians as one of God’s spiritual gifts, I truly believe that one of God’s greatest gifts to us is laughter. I’m especially partial to the laughter of a child. It’s as pleasurable to my ears as the tinkling of bells or beautiful music. No matter what I’m feeling, a child’s laughter is marvelous, delightful, infectious and truly a gift from God. Their laughter makes me smile, makes me laugh and makes me thankful for it.

In the past few months, I’ve had lots of reasons for it being the time to cry but through it all, our grandchildren and great grandchildren have provided so many moments of laughter. Laughter is a very healing antidote for those crying times. There is nothing quite like a child that can make you laugh and we are very blessed with having several children in our family that can do just that. What a wonderful gift they are.

Not only do these children make me laugh but other family members and friends make me laugh also. Laughter helps in times of pain, sorrow, trials of life and disappointments. They are little moments in time that take us out of those things happening in our lives and offer us temporary respite. Laughter doesn’t make the troubles go away but it certainly strengthens our ability to deal with them.

There’s even an organization dedicated to the healing qualities of laughter called Laughter Heals Foundation. WebMD says “We change physiologically when we laugh. We stretch muscles throughout our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure go up, and we breathe faster, sending more oxygen to our tissues.” It might really be true that laughter IS the best medicine! I know it has been for me for several months now and I’m counting on it to get me through the rest of my life!

Jesus knew what he was doing when he said, “Let the children come to me,”  in Matt 19:14. He knew how much they needed Him and my guess is that they brought their laughter to Him too. He must have felt their joy in just being with Him. That familiar picture most of us grew up with, the one with children sitting at the feet of Jesus was always one of my favorites. I even pictured myself sitting there with the other children. What a great gift it would have been to sit and laugh with the Son of God.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Giver of Spiritual Gifts, thank you so much for laughter and the joy of being with children who can make us laugh. May the healing of laughter touch each of us when we need it the most. Amen.

Katie McCoy

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I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5

A stroll through the Hoh rain forest or many of our woods in western Washington offers the treat of seeing a nurse log.  This beautiful relic once stood tall among trees, providing protective cover for the shade loving sword ferns, trilliums, and huckleberry, the lush undergrowth at her feet. Seedlings from her cones were carried by the wind, or maybe gathered by brown squirrels that stored them away in forgotten underground caches, sprouting in the spring.  These progeny survived on purely propagational chance, without any nurturing from the tree.

Later, after death, she stood greenless but ironically full of life as a forest snag, both dining room and nursery for pill bugs, carpenter ants, and termites.  Flickers and pileated woodpeckers enjoyed the bounty, and if she were large enough, perhaps an eagle family created an aerie in her uppermost branches.  Then a gust from a winter windstorm toppled her horizontally with a mighty crash, like a cry in labor, opening up sunlight where once she reigned as queen.

Now our tree becomes a mother in the most beautiful way, all the richness of her life mingling with the incessant rains and moldering within, sending invitations first to fungus and mosses which transform her into a fertile womb for the seedlings from huckleberries and nearby trees.  As she hunkers down, becoming slowly one with the soil, she is hostess to a crowded nursery of hemlock, fir, and spruce that thrive from her goodness and the sunshine that peeks through the woods where she once stood.  What a blessing her nature is to the generations that live beyond her tall stand among giants.

How I long to be a nurse log!  My faith, in the deep peace and sense of belonging it provides me personally is not meant to be self-serving. In letting God molder within me, in teaching my children whether from my womb or not, I hope to provide in some small way the roots and seeds of faith for others, not from my own center but from that which comes through the Holy Spirit. Many of us have been blessed, like Timothy, from the strong faith of grandmothers and mothers before us, nurse logs of a spiritual kind.  May we pray to be that for the generations that follow.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, Inspire and grow within us the rich fertile soil for faith that we may become your spiritual nurse logs for your children.  Amen.

Karen Jensen

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. . . in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3, 4 (NIV)

On the eve of Easter Sunday our pastor sent out an e-mail encouraging us to remember acts of kindness that we had received so that we as a congregation could create a “Big Book of Human Kindness” scrapbook.

I thought about the family that took us in when we were abruptly expelled from the country where we had expected to minister for decades. We had lost our home and job. I had even lost my health, spending two weeks in the hospital. After my release from the hospital, we stayed with this family for a couple weeks until we had sufficient physical and emotional strength to manage on our own.

I also remembered how my sister-in-law and her husband graciously shared their home with us when we moved to theUnited States. It took much longer than we had hoped to find and purchase our own home. Never did they make us feel unwelcome or a burden.

Then there was the friend who offered to help in any way while my husband was overseas for an extended period. My computer, the only way Dave and I could communicate, died in a power outage. When I called on our friend for help, he researched the problem, took the computer apart, then put it back together in working order. He even printed up a picture of the inside of the computer with clear instructions for fixing the problem myself if it should recur.

While these examples–the grand gestures– are remembered through the years, small, simple courtesies and thoughtful acts also make an incredible difference in daily life. The motorist that pauses to let you into an endless line of traffic; the husband who has dinner ready when you get home from a long day of work; the person who smiles and says, “It’s all right,” when you’ve made a mistake; all of these generate a wonderful feeling of gratitude.

But perhaps the biggest impact on one’s life is made by those whose very lives are marked by kindness. I was blessed to be born into a family where practicing the Golden Rule was taken for granted and where each member actually lived out Philippians 2:3, 4.

Where these words are followed, simple acts of kindness flow naturally.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your grace reflected in those who have been kind to me. Help me to convey that grace with kindness toward those I meet each day. Amen.

Jean Andrianoff 

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Listen Heavens, I have something to tell you. Attention, Earth, I’ve got a mouth full of words. Deut. 32:1 The Msg

I’ve had a life long love of words. A few years ago I made a quilted wall-hanging with Love, Faith, Hope, Joy and Peace appliquéd to a beautiful background. They daily remind me to thank the Lord in gratitude and appreciation for his words, for his plan and for his concern for me and for all who will believe.

The phrase that “GRACE is getting what you don’t deserve and MERCY is not getting what you do deserve,” brought a whole new perspective in my mind of what these words really mean. In this light, the Lord has truly graced my life and has shown me such great mercy. I am grateful that God has seen fit to apply these concepts to me. Because of my faith in Him, He makes certain that I frequently get things I don’t deserve and just as frequently makes certain that I don’t get what I truly do deserve. Praise to you, oh Lord for this and other blessings.

Taking words a little further, I believe that HOPE is expecting things we want to experience and to have in our lives. We all have hopes and dreams and with God by our side we will often times receive those things we desire. COURAGE on the other hand is required for difficult experiences we must endure. But because we know God is there with us, we can endure them. Thank you, Lord for giving me both hope and courage. I have needed them over and over.

Exploring even more words, I submit that LOVE for Christ becomes our FAITH because we believe in Him. Hebrews 11:1  (KJV) says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We cannot see God, Christ or the Holy Spirit and yet we certainly have the evidence to believe in the Trinity. And I love seeing my faith explained this way!

These phrases are so much more than just words. They are part of God’s mouthful of words to guide, direct and plan for us. And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Eph. 3:6 (NLT) Without God’s Son coming to earth and thereby changing everything, we would be doomed, cursed and have none of God’s mouthful of words to guide us throughout our lives.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for letting your words of wisdom, guidance and love reign down on us from morning through night. And may our words to others be governed by your teaching. Amen

Katie McCoy

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Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? Psalm 139:7 (ESV)

As I child these words from Psalm 139 reminded me of Jonah who tried to get away from God but found there was no escaping Him—even “in the uttermost parts of the sea.” The words seemed to me to carry a warning that God sees all, so I shouldn’t try to get away with anything. There was nowhere I could hide that God couldn’t find me and see what I was doing.

But a few years ago, as I was facing travel to some remote location—one of the “stans” of Central Asia, most likely—I read the words in a new light. The words are not meant as a threat but as a promise. There is no place hidden from the caring presence of God. No place too holy (“heaven”); no place too evil (“Sheol”); no place too far (“the uttermost parts of the sea”); no place too dark (“even the darkness is not dark to you”) to be out of sight of God. I do not need to fear that God won’t be able to keep up with my comings and goings and lose sight of me just when I need Him most. He is always with me and understands me, knowing me better even than I know myself since He “formed my inward parts and . . . knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

The word “flee” in verse 7 may create the impression that the Psalmist is trying to get away from God. We use that word to imply an escape attempt. But the other words in the Psalm imply that the Psalmist feels a sense of comfort and gratitude that God knows Him so well. Even when we, like Jonah, may attempt escape, God lovingly pursues us to bring us back to His forgiving embrace. He does not force us, but when we turn to Him, He is there, no matter how far we have traveled.

I love the sense of security this omnipresence of God provides. No matter where I am geographically or emotionally, I need not fear abandonment by my Heavenly Father.

Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your consistent, loving presence no matter where I am. Search my heart and lead me in your ways. Amen

 Jean Andrianoff

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Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfailing beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. I Peter 3:4 (NIV)

Most of the time I’m grateful to be living in a place where what one wears is not much of an issue. As long as my clothes are reasonably neat and clean, I am accepted at work or on the beach or at church for who I am, not for what I’m wearing. I basically agree with this idea, but sometimes I long for the places and times where dressing up, especially for church, was important. I still tend to wear my best clothes to church out of a sense Mother instilled in me that wearing one’s best to the House of the Lord honored the sacredness of the day and the space. And I found pleasure in getting dressed up, choosing the right dress and shoes, and yes, even the right hat! Focusing on one’s appearance is not the most spiritual exercise for a Sunday morning, though. 

Yet while Peter admonishes women not to worry about their outward appearance, he doesn’t say that women should not adorn themselves at all. Instead he encourages us to think about inner adornment—the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. The writer of Proverbs, too, offers suggestions for proper spiritual accessories. Most of these center around following wise instruction, with the instruction of a father and the teaching of a mother described as “a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck” (Prov. 1:8,9). Wisdom is portrayed as “a graceful garland,” “a beautiful crown,” and as more precious than jewels. “Steadfast love and faithfulness” are also presented as adornments for the neck and heart. Even my unwelcome gray hairs are considered by this writer as “a crown of glory . . . gained in a righteous life.”

These days I’m not compelled to worry about my clothes as I dress for church, but that doesn’t mean I’m required to forgo the pleasure of dressing up. What the Bible does tell me is that I need to pay greater attention to spiritual adornment than to my outward appearance, preparing my heart with wisdom, gentleness, steadfast love and faithfulness as I face each new day.

Prayer: Lord, increase my desire and concern for the kind of inner adornment that pleases you. Amen

Jean Andrianoff

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…Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.  She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?  Tell her to help me.”  “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered.  “You are upset by many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:41 (NIV)

Ancient customs demanded that visitor must be offered food. Jesus didn’t travel alone. Martha was a conscientious hostess, and she probably had many people to feed. Mary was fascinated by the new insights and wisdom she was hearing from the visiting rabbi, and remained sitting near him to listen to every word.

When I was young, I wanted to be like Mary. When I was older and had a home of my own, I knew I needed some of Martha’s ability, too.

This morning a Bible study was scheduled at church. I got out of bed and hurried through my prayers. I ate my breakfast quickly and took my dishes to the sink. As I turned away from the sink did I hear them call “Aren’t you going to wash us? We are feeling grimy.” ”Later dirty dishes,” I replied. “I’ll take care of you this  evening.”

After getting dressed, I went back to the bedroom to get my purse and keys. Hurrying from the room did I hear the bed whine “Aren’t you going to straighten my covers? I am feeling rumpled.” ”Maybe later” I sighed.

I wondered what Martha would think if she saw me leave my chores neglected. Then I felt Mary put her arm around my shoulder and whisper “Come to the Bible study.”

Prayer: Dear Lord I thank you that you love all the Marthas and Marys in this world, and you love those of us who are trying to find a balance between the two.  Thank You that you love each of us as we are.  Lead us to serve you with the gifts you have given us individually according to God’s plan.

Barbara Crow

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