Stewardship Of Time

When I hear the word "stewardship" the first thing that comes to mind is money, but how many times have I really thought about stewardship in the sense of "time"?

Yesterday during the worship service we were reciting the "Church Covenant".........

We will be faithful in our stewardship and support of the Church, recognizing that our time, our abilities and our resources are all a trust from God to be used in serving Him and assisting others.

I was reading along and as I got to this section it hit me hard, as I continued to read the rest of the covenant things became a blurr, I could hear the rest of the congregation but everything was drowned out by this one paragraph. I could no longer continue to read the rest of the covenant. It's like reading scripture, sometimes you'll read over a passage that you have read several times but this time it grabs you.

All sorts of things start going through my mind, I'm not using my time, abilities and resources to serve God and others as I should.

I am feeling so in touch with God. What a perfect time to refocus my attention on Jesus, the week before he dies for our sins...my sins.

My eyes are now watering and I have goose bumps and all of this comes 45 minutes before I am to lead the church women into a 30 Day Challenge of Prayer.

God speaks to us in all sorts of media. I believe God is reminding me to use my time and resources to worship Him and to help others to really use this 30 day challenge to get closer to Him through the scripture and prayer, to narrow the gap.

Confession: I can be very selfish with my time and this whole thing has made me re-evaluate how I spend my time.

God has shown me that my time is a gift from Him and I need to be a good steward of that time.

I AM

Helen Mallicoat

I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly my Lord was speaking:

My name is I AM.

When you live in the past,with its mistakes and regrets,it is hard. I am not there.

My name is not I Was.

When you live in the future,with its problems and fears,it is hard. I am not there.

My name is not I Will Be.

When you live in this moment,it is not hard. I am here.

My name is I AM.

Source: Found in The Silence of Unknowing by Terence Grant

Getting on our knees

Lent is marked by a time of prayer and preparation to celebrate Easter.

Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of Lent, and are refered to as the Sundays in Lent. This I did not know until I started actually questioning what Lent really is.

The number 40 is connected with many biblical events, but especially with the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, I think I knew that one.

Lent has traditionally been marked by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. By the way, what exactly is almsgiving? To be honest I had not even heard that term until I was sitting in a Catholic baptism this last Sunday. For some reason I couldn't let this term go undefined. According to the Crossmap Dictionay: "Alms" is anything given gratuitously to relieve the poor, as money food, or clothing, otherwise called charity.

God uses all sorts of ways to get our attention, to speak to us, and to teach us - we need to listen.

To put it in simple terms (because I usual need the simple version) Lent is the preparation to celebrate God's wonderful redemption at Easter, and the resurrected life that we live, and hope for as Christians.

In her blog Jumping Tandem, Dee asks the question, "So much space between me and the holy. The sacred. How did that happen?" How does that happen I ask? Part of itis the enemy and the busy life we think we must lead - but that's just my opion.

Dee reminds us of the spirtual disciplines - Inward, Outward, and Corporate, holy experiences, and sacred pathways. Folks, it's time to unplug, yes enven from blogging for a while, to shut off the cells phones and Ipods, the television, and other distractions in our lives. It's time to get on our knees and give thanks to The Holy One, the one who offers grace and forgiveness when we don't derserve it. The one who gave his only Son so that we may have eternal life. To the one who made the ultimate sacrifice.

It's time we stop making excuses and narrow that gap between ourself and the holy, the sacred and it all starts with getting on our knees.

Why is it so hard?

Ecclesiastes 1:18
"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief."

What's this, I thought the Bible was supposed to be encouraging? Why is God telling me the more wisdom and knowledge I have the worse life will be? I don't need more sorrow or grief in my life right now, after all I have two teenage girls in the house. If more sorrow and grief comes with more wisdom and knowledge - I'll stay ignorant.

Then I went to the bottom of the page for a clearer understanding of the verse and in a nut shell this is what God is telling me:

Only in God does life have meaning and true pleasure. Without him nothing satisfies, but with him we find satisfaction and enjoyment. True pleasure comes only when we acknowledge and revere God. One of the tools God gives us to acknowledge him and to communicate with him is through the Living Word. We need to spend time in the Word everyday. Sounds like a pretty simple task or is it?

I co-lead our Women's Group at church with a wonderful person, I will call her D. D has sharpened me and been such a blessing to me in so many ways that I couldn't even begin to count. I thank God for bringing her and her family to our church. She is such an inspiration. You can visit her blog here.

Ok, back to the story, right now we have challenged the women of the church to spend time in the "Word" everyday for 30 days. We put together suggested reading for those who like a little more structure and/or guidance, leading a short meeting after church to see how everyone is doing, and just plain encouraging them.

Five days into the challenge I get the following email from D:

...how's the Bible reading going?

Crap, how does she always know when I start acting like a wondering sheep that needs to be brought back to the herd. How 's the Bible reading going? What kind of a question is that? I'm one of the leaders and I'm supposed to be setting an example for the women. Now she went and asked how it was going.

How do I tell my close friend and co-leader that I've picked up the Bible twice during this challenge so far and we are on day 5?

So I responded with the following email:

I support the challenge 100% but yet the flesh wasn't as willing. I was so excited about the enthusiasm of the women in regards to the challenge,but after the meeting I went home did our Sunday thing and then went out of town to celebrate a family birthday and it ended there. I prayed about it that night but again - a brick wall. Pretty much the same story with Monday, I did listen to KGBI and they quoted some scripture, does that count? No, I imagine not. Why is this so hard?

Tuesday I started to listen to Matthew in the car, how refreshing. I still didn't have a pull to dig into the Gospels. For the past week or so I keep hearing little snippets from Ecclesiastes which is weird because it's not one of those books that usually comes to mind for me. It seems no matter where I turn - there it is. I even put it on my own blog several months ago. So Tuesday night I started reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. Last night I was playing around on my Ipod and found free pod casts that could be down loaded. I thought to myself, I wonder if they have any pod casts of the Bible? You'll never guess, the last six pod casts that were posted were Ecclesiastes chapters 1-6, individually. Ok God, I get it, I hear what you are saying, I'll start studying Ecclesiastes. So with all my technical wisdom - I gave my Ipod to kj and asked her to down load them for me.

I'm struggling with this book, it's not one I've studied before, but what God is showing me is that with out Him EVERYTHING is meaningless. I am so thankful God gave you this idea and I hope that the other women are having a "light bulb", or as in my case a "duh" moment as well.

There you have it-authenticity (or maybe just too honest).

This is part of the encouraging email I received back from D:

....Why is this so hard you ask? To that I answer...never underestimate the power of the enemy. He really doesn't have to work that hard, does he? But he sure is influential! Ecclesiastes is a great book! There are so many beautiful words and turns of phrases. The message there is amazing! Sometimes it literally takes my breath away! Stick with it. You'll be glad you did. One of the things that makes God so amazing is the fact that He gives us choices. He knows what's best for us, but He doesn't force us into anything In The Message version of the Bible it's called "the unforced rhythms of grace." It's up to you to choose to spend time in the Word or not. You won't be punished for not doing it, but you'll be blessed beyond your wildest imagination if you do.


Thank you D for being a friend.

Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man that is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

So when life appears to be impossible or meaningless ask yourself, "Have I included God?"

Merry Christmas

Like everyone else, it seems like there is more to do then there is time to do it. But as of today there is no swimming practice/meets for a week, my dh's company is on shut down until after the first of the year and I actually have a chance to take a deep breath. Even though I have to work the day before Christmas I am thankful that my family is at home taking care of the last minute Christmas preparations. Thank you guys for picking up my slack today.

I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas. As I have said in an earlier post, it has been a different holiday season for me and still holds true today, but I feel warm inside and a little teary thinking about Joseph's and Mary's experience all those years ago at this time. I know God is working on great things for me and my family. Now is the time for me to put aside the confusion in my life and concentrate on the true meaning of the season, the birth of our Lord and Savior and all that comes with it.

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2: 11-14 NIV

Peace be with you and your family this holiday season.

We are never alone.

Make it a GREAT day !

Grab your favorite mug, fill it with your favorite hot beverage and enjoy the day.

God Loves You ! ! !

Shortest Distance

The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your
knees and the floor. For the one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything!