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Daily quote from Real Simple

"If everything went the way it was supposed to, I'd be happy." Many of us approach school, marriage, and other parts of life with the blind optimism of the inexperienced.

"Real life" is a shock! We hurt and get hurt. We hunger and thirst. Our families suffer. Our finances become undercut or in disarray.

"What happened?" we cry. "Life wasn't supposed to be this way."

In light of last week's shooting of youngsters, I agree. We are created for so much more. God made us to be moral, upright, and kind. He set us in family units where we find safety and peace. He designed human communities that are supposed to love and nurture us.

But we have chosen our own way. We decide each day whether or not to live within God's boundaries. The tides of our minds tug us here and there, yet each person must define how obedience or disobedience will affect self and others.

Our struggle against God takes many forms: anger that God allows free will of others which destroys and tears down. Sometimes we rage when He hedges us in and doesn't let us rampage through life in purse selfishness and greed. Often, we're confused when He doesn't give us a checklist of "do this, do that" and we feel like we're muddling through our options in the dead of night.

Jesus showed us how to live in relationship with God. He came as our Wonderful Counselor to demonstrate the flexibility, gracefulness, and justice of his Father. When friends betrayed him, he forgave. When disciples sought power, he empowered them with the Spirit not political clout. As he walked the roads of Israel, he lived every moment to the full.

We treat the Beatitudes and similar teachings of Jesus as metaphorical and impossible to live up to. Yet Jesus doesn't say that turning the other cheek, not worrying about tomorrow, or being meek are ideals that we can't achieve. In dying to self, he brought us new life. That's the abundant life we bring to others through self-denial, godly living, and alignment with God's truth.

Jesus calls us to do the radical. The unthinkable. The holy. In the middle of horror, grief, and despair, he pulls us into his Presence (if we'll let him) to transform us with his Goodness and Mercy. How will you make time for your transformation today?

Read more:
*For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

*I have loved you, says the Lord. Malachi 1:2

*May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 3:5

Moravian Prayer: O faithful and steadfast God, you are unmoved. You are rooted to us and bound to us by a divine love and we humbly offer you our worship and praise. Amen.

Living familiar patterns rather than new life?

The beautiful back salon of the boat
rocks in harbor

My desk is rocking on gentle waves. I'm having a hard time keeping my fingers on the keyboard as my office sways back and forth.

Actually, the trees outside the house aren't even moving. It's dead calm. Tea waits quietly in the teacup on the glass desktop.

But when I least expect it, I feel like the chair moves back and forth, up and down. We just spent 4 days cruising the coast on our friends' boat. We didn't feel unsteady when we walked ashore to eat or shop. But once in a while, usually when seated at a restaurant, someone would ask, "Do you still feel like you're on the waves?"

And another would respond, " I think my chair is swaying."

Waldemar sets the bumpers
after leaving the dock

Sometimes our habits are so familiar, traumas from childhood so ingrained, or old patterns so deeply set that we act as though we have no choices. Like the imagined swaying of my office walls, we follow the old grooves in unguarded times:

• We lie to present ourselves favorably instead of answering quick questions with the uncomplicated truth.
• We interact with others as "our best self" (who we think we should be - or as we think others want us to be) rather than being honest about our preferences, backgrounds, or giftings.
• We compromise intimacy in marriage by fantasizing rather than enjoying and building up the spouse who loves us. If we have been traumatized by others, we may not trust ourselves to give our whole heart and soul to our mate.
• We're dishonest at work, claiming benefits that belong to others or stealing supplies and resources that belong to others.
• We pretend to diet at meals or when we eat in public while snacking all day where others can't see us, because food is our comfort or friendly go-to when stressed.
• We lie to ourselves about our strengths and weaknesses, focusing on what we do not have so that we cannot benefit from the beautiful ways God made us and the gifts God gives us.

Waldemar and Terry head for the crab pots

I know where I get off the rails, where my little engine jumps the tracks to ugly, familiar destinations. And when I am hungry, angry, tired, or depressed, it's easiest to get derailed into destructive comforts rather than stay the course.

"Not one of us has achieved the goal of the high calling of God," Paul warned. "Let the one who thinks he/she stands be careful lest he/she falls."

God calls us to new life but salvation is not a magic trick where everything we've known or done disappears so that life becomes perfect. This newborn life has to be defended, guarded, and built upon!

How are you learning to live our your salvation? Here are some guidelines that help me:

Waldemar and Debbie navigating
our course

1. Recognize myself. God called me from where I was, as I was, to follow him.
2. Acknowledge God's power. He is able to transform what we have ruined, to create anew what sin has broken.
3. Thank God for his gift of free will. God lets us choose to obey or disobey. He partners his strength and wisdom with our faith (trusting obedience).
4. Form good habits over time to replace wrong thinking or destructive patterns. Little by little, line by line, one day at a time, we are being transformed into the image of God's son (Romans 12:1-2).
5. Trust that God is enough for each day. When we fall, let's repent. Get up and move forward, believing that God knows you and me inside and out and willingly walks with us on life's journey. If he chose you as his child, he already knows the days you will fail as well as the days you succeed!

Read more:
*Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Psalm 113:1-3 NIV

*[Joab said,] 'Now go out there and congratulate your troops, for I swear by the LORD that if you don't go out, not a single one of them will remain here tonight. Then you will be worse off than ever before.'

So the king went out and took his seat at the town gate, and as the news spread throughout the town that he was there, everyone went to him." 2 Samuel 19:7–8 NLT

*For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

*Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

Moravian Prayer: Chief Elder, we elect you each day to be the guiding force in our lives—your ways are so much better than our ways. Help us to trust that you know fully, and if we seek to be like you we will be living life to the fullest. Amen.

Don't cry for me

This week two countries grieve the loss of their leaders. Czechs lit candles for their departed leader. To those of us in the West, the tears and wailing over North Korea's dictator's death seems surreal. How could people mourn someone who brought them poverty, hunger, and alienation from the rest of the world?

We come into this world and leave it alone. No one asks for our permission to begin or end our days. Only God knows the length and breadth of our lifetime.

It's been a great treat to watch Kinsey, our first grandchild, begin her development. Her personality has not yet emerged, but one thing is clear. She likes people and blossoms around them, as does her sweet mother.

Her Opa watches her every Friday night. When she wails and he can't comfort her, Oma knows the tricks to putting her to sleep. Oh, I can't wait to get this degree done so I can relax with her, too. Our house feels like it is slowly but surely being invaded by baby stuff. (Yeah, Mom, I remember the same thing happening to your place when our kids were little.)

What will life bring her? We don't know what aspirations will drive her, what her hopes will be, if she will marry and have a family, and if she will be beautiful or plain. We hope she has great joy and health, influences people toward a relationship with Jesus Christ, and lives a long, full life in a peaceful country.



Looking at the pictures of the outpouring of sympathy for this week's two dead men, I doubt that either she or I will generate such festivities in passing. I'd like to be remembered for loving others, serving with genuine care, and seeking after God with all my heart. Whether or not anyone lights a candle in my memory, I hope they don't cry for me.

Christians enjoy the wonderful hope of walking through death's door to be with God. That's what we were created for, and that will be the ultimate fulfillment. It's worth living a holy life that pleases God.

This Christmas, I'm thrilled to accept God's ultimate gift, a relationship made possible by the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his Son. Thinking about that makes me want to celebrate! 

Read more:

"The LORD detests people with crooked hearts, but he delights in those with integrity." Proverbs 11:20 (NLT)

*Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!  

      Behold, your King is coming to you;  

      He is just and having salvation,  

      Lowly and riding on a donkey,  

      A colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
      And the horse from Jerusalem;
      The battle bow shall be cut off.
      He shall speak peace to the nations;
      His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
      And from the River to the ends of the earth." Zechariah 9:9-10 NKJV

*2 Samuel 7:1-11,16; Luke 1:47-55 Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

*Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Jeremiah 25:6 NLV

* The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. Luke 1:49

*Even though there may be so-called gods - for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 1 Corinthians 8:5, 6 NLV

Moravian prayer: One true God, we are on bended knee. We are not always deserving of your wellspring of all that is good. Empower us to better serve your kingdom here on earth and to be gracious stewards of all that you have entrusted to us. Amen.