Sink the doubt....

Among the miracles that Jesus performed, the one that has always fascinated me the most is one that isn't even considered a miracle by most people.  In Matthew 14, the story is told of Jesus walking on the water, and Peter wanting to go to him.  It is a fascinating look at the crushing nature of self-doubt, and speaks loud and clear to me about where our faith should be focused.

The idea of walking on water is a visually powerful image of purity, goodness and light.  Because we are imperfect creatures, we constantly engage in self-sabotage.  Whenever we think, I would like to do X or Y, but I can't, we are predetermining our own failure before we even start.  How many opportunities have we missed in life, simply because we didn't dare to dream we could succeed?

Finding the needle's eye...

Over the last couple weeks, I have been going through everything I own, making decisions about what to keep, what to donate, what to sell at the biggest garage sale I've ever had, and what just needs to go into the trash.  It is an interesting experience to see your life reduced to piles of belongings which have meaning tied to them, but which, in and of themselves, are rarely considered.

I have found things I didn't know I owned shoved back in cupboards.  I have clothes that I wore 20 years ago and more, which have seen better days, and will likely never be worn again.  I have collected enough Tupperware that I could, as a friend put it, start my own dealership.  I am going through wedding gifts from almost 30 years ago, remembering the givers with fondness and affection.  I sort childhood toys and books, baptismal outfits and little boots, mementos created with loving care by adoring children who still believed Mommy could do anything.  How can I bear to part with any of these treasures?

Deliver us from evil....

During this Lenten season, my congregation has been taking a closer look at the Lord's Prayer. It is a comfortable prayer, one that most of us can say by rote without thinking about what the words really mean. We occasionally shake things up by going to the new fangled version, or switching back to the traditional words after a few weeks of the contemporary verbiage. Either way, too often the prayer itself is barely thought about as we recite the familiar words, thinking in the back of our minds about what to have for dinner or when church will be over.

The power of one Word....

"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me," goes the childish chant.  Of course, we all know that could not be more wrong.  Words have the power to wound the inner place no weapon could ever reach, to poison the heart and soul so deeply that they cannot heal.  Words also have the power to uplift and encourage, nourishing the bits and pieces of our self-esteem that remain after life has shredded and scattered them on the ground before us.