Let Them Play

"The glory of God is man fully alive," wrote St. Irenaeus. At times I've contemplated what that means to me and in my own life, but today there was no mistaking that people, more specifically kids, are fully alive when they play.

This year, I decided to have my fourth grade students learn a new American English proverb each week. Monday they are given the proverb to copy in their journals and practice at home for the week. Each day's activities then revolve around some type of lesson that connects the statement of truth with language arts, science, or social studies. The more connections made linking everything together, the better it will stick. Letting them play as part of that process? Absolutely unforgettable and necessary. Today, was a testimony to that.

"In unity there is strength" is our proverb for the week. Their task for science was to experiment with loose parts-tape, paper clips, Popsicle sticks, rubber bands, pipe cleaners, and yarn. They had to play or tinker with the items to create a design that represented the concept of unity. They could use all of the materials or just a few, but their final product could not break or it would be back to the drawing board.

Three of the girls gathered together at the first station, while the boys paired off at two other stations set up in the room. Feverishly, all of them worked trying to put things together that would form some kind of shape and not break. Kim started out with a circle and kept adding different materials to reinforce the edges while saying, "I'm upgrading." The other boys made triangles or diamond shapes with all the materials and the girls simply created one large circle linked together with all the different items. At the end of class came the testing time. I took each item one by one and proceeded to pull or break the items apart. Every one's broke, except for Tiger's. He started with a triangle shape and then reinforced it with other materials and lot's and lot's of tape. On the way out to the bus he boasted to another teacher, "Mine didn't break!"

Their conclusion? The more tape and stickiness, the harder it is to break; which leads me to thinking of another truth. "And over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:14

Love is the glue that binds us together, "because love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8.

I have a long way to go in learning to love others that completely. Being the first one to take the initiative to love that way is quite another matter also. My prayer is that my students will be able to fully grasp how important it is to love and grow into that for the sake of peace and unity.

Today they were fully engaged, alive and testing what it is that makes materials strong and unified. I have no doubt they will remember the lesson for a long time. Now it is making that connection to loving and working with others. I suspect that too will come through more playing. Why? Because it's fun and they each have their own part to play.

Small Beginnings

I love the quote from Mother Teresa, "Ek. Ek. Ek.", which directly translated from Hindi means, One. One. One. More often than not, my dad has had to admonish me to stop trying to eat the whole elephant at one time. I see the whole picture and can become overwhelmed. I can't see or imagine how it will all get done and work out, even though, somehow, it usually does.

As I type this, Josh Groban is in the background singing, "You raise me up so I can stand on mountains. You raise me up to walk on stormy seas...." Everyone knows, you only get to the top of that mountain, one step at a time.

It is with one step in the right direction and much tenacity, I have observed fellow believers to be flourishing and spreading their wings in my hometown and its surrounding communities. Thus, I am reminded to not despise small beginnings.

Sunday, I had the pleasure of visiting a new church, only 6 minutes down the road from where I live. A friend of mine was preaching. Traveling south, I saw the sign for Bridge Builders Community Church and turned left into the parking lot of the school they rent space from. As I pulled up towards the building, I saw about five or six vehicles. When I walked through the side entrance of the school, I saw a large rectangular table with a variety of literature and information about the church and other services. One of the women walking towards the meeting area, pleasantly welcomed me. I could hear guitars playing on the other side of the bluish green partition.

My friend, Jay, welcomed me with a hug and explained the rest of his crew was home sick, including his dear wife, Chris. Shortly after, Pastor Tim walked in and greeted me with a great smile, pleased to see I had come. Although there were not more than 25 people there in all, there was a pleasant sweetness. Bridge Builders began just two years ago this month. With a clean up day planned for next month and a variety of other activities shared during the announcements, I could easily tell these were people looking to bless others and declare a message of hope and healing.

It brought me back to my younger years as a teenager, when my family was meeting in a small home church setting in the city. The couple from Missouri had relocated to the area to plant a church and started in their home. We were small for quite a few years, but gradually grew and as God led, became part of another church which rented different places, before finally buying our own building.

After Pastor Charles had retired and moved back down south to be closer to his family, we united with a larger church in the city. Today, we are part of a congregation with over 300 people. We reach out into the city to meet the needs of the people in our community and love people to Christ.

It is exciting to see that other churches are sprouting up in neighboring towns outside of the city to do the same. Many hands make light work. With believers spreading out and sharing the love combined with a message of healing, there's no telling what will be accomplished in the years to come. There's no telling and no stopping. It's good to remember, one. One. One.

From little acorns, mighty oaks do grow.

Proverbs 14:23, "All hard work brings a profit.."

Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Turn, Turn, Turn

So long summer. It's finally over. This morning's air had a bit of a chill to it, refreshing, but beckoning me to stay huddled beneath the covers. This evening, was the first Open House at school. It's the night parents get to visit the teachers with their children and see what it's all about. So, goodbye summertime.

Upon arriving home late and firing up my PC, I decided to change my desktop background. Bye, bye photo of the brightly colored Begonia, resting outside on my stoop and hello ocean. Yes, the ocean. I'm not quite ready for those orange and yellow leaves to appear and fall.

After a long day at school, I wanted to go back to the beach. Looking out at the ocean from the boardwalk, clouds a bit grayish white and the waves calm and comforting, I felt renewed. I uploaded the vacation shot, resumed my full size desk top,and instantly felt as if I really was back, standing on the boardwalk. I could sense the lulling of soft waves and imagine the gentle breeze blowing. Sometimes, that's all it takes.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 reads, "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven..."

Tonight was a night for meeting some new parents and gathering with others I've known for some time. It was fun and a bit sad. Why? Because summer is gone and soon my garden, along with the rest of nature, will near it's end and begin to cease growth.

Yet the beach will remain and our sun and moon never cease to shine. There are variables and there are constants. I am not sure where I am going with all this, but I do know in a period of change, we all need some consistency. Something rock solid to hold on to is like a warm blanket and teddy bear wrapping itself around you. It's a shelter in the time of storm.

Hebrews 13:8 reads, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Furthermore, Isaiah 25:4 reads, "You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat."

I long for the warmth of summer and relaxing days of strolling the boardwalk down by the sea, but even more so, the One who ceases to cease. I thank God for those constants that will never cease to be.

Read the Directions

Laying in bed this morning, I thought to myself, "Mmmm, I think I want pancakes this morning. Yum!" So I rolled out of bed and trotted into the kitchen, pulling out all the ingredients needed. I found I only had enough mix to make three pancakes, which was fine because that's all I would eat anyway with the maple syrup in the cabinent. There was just enough.

I flipped the pancakes onto my round, white correl plate and poured the maple syrup on. "Oh, no! Yuck," I blurted out. Onto my fresh piping, hot pancakes came a thin film of greenish, gray mold with the Vermont Maple Syrup. So much for pancakes. Luckily, it did not get over all of them and I was able to salvage part of my freshly made breakfast. Strawberry preserves would have to do instead. I picked up the bottle of syrup and looked on the back. In fine print it read, "Refrigerate after opening." I never thought to put it in the fridge. I just figured it would be fine like the syrup you find in the pitchers at IHOP. The obvious lesson here was to read the directions.

Which brings me to a new opportunity I've been presented with. An opportunity to pursue getting to know someone beyond casual friendship. To be more direct, it's a guy. Yes, a guy I was introduced to by a dear friend last year sometime. What will come of it? I don't know and I am not sure what I want to come of it just yet.

As the years have gone by and I've gotten older, I began to wonder more recently if I was just meant to be single and that was it. Not that I didn't want to meet someone or have a family, but for so long and after so many disappointments, one can't help but think, "Perhaps this is just the way it's supposed to be." In addition, I've felt a leading towards some type of mission work for quite sometime now. I remember reading something from Elisabeth Elliot about how some are meant to walk a life fully devoted to God, in deeper relationship with Him, so that others in the body of Christ may benefit. Although she has been widowed twice and married three times, Elisabeth has spent most of her adult life as a single. She has served as a missionary, author, and teacher. However, in her book, Let Me Be a Woman, she expressed to her daughter that one of her greatest joys and fulfillment as a woman, has come through being a wife and mother.

It is clear to me, that both marriage and singleness are gifts given to different people at different times. After meeting the yucky film of mold from the Vermont Maple Syrup bottle this morning, I was reminded to check the ingredients and follow directions even more so. I know, far too many marriages that have ended in divorce these days. Not to mention, the relationships that don't result in marriage, but still cause much heartache for those involved. Why? As my pastor from many years ago stated,"They don't follow the Book!"

Matthew 19:5-6 reads, "..'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Most truly, it was never God's heart for divorce to enter the picture.

I do not know where this opportunity will take me. I have no doubt that he and I were meant to meet and develop a friendship. Time and God will both tell where things will lead. Until then, I am going to begin a more in depth study of what the Good Book says about relationships, singleness, and marriage as I prayerfully consider what to do.

A Labor of Love Spread

I love flowers, lot's of them. There is such diversity amongst them-large, tiny, scented and non, dainty, or voluptuous. It's no wonder I can't name one as my ultimate fave's. They are simply beautiful, brightening our world and individual lives daily.

Hard to believe I waited so many years before asking if I could plant some outside my apartment. Each day I walked down the path, I ignored the 12x3 rectangular plot in front of our building, as it was filled with weeds. Each day, that is until my friend, Ellen from the laundry room, ecstatically shared about the new community garden she started over by her building. She planted brightly colored orange and yellow marigolds under our complex apartment sign. The neighbors now take turns watering. That simple act got me to thinking, maybe I could plant some flowers over by me. So I called the rental office and asked. The response? One of pure delight.

"We would love it if you planted flowers over there," gleamed Mr. Seagrem. I had never heard this man so happy. Yesterday, when I saw him as I dropped off the rent check, he offered to reimburse me for the plants. He was thrilled with the beauty of this new garden and so appreciated the time and effort that went into it. I told him, "Ellen inspired me when she planted the flowers under the sign, so I hope it inspires others because it adds so much."

Earlier this morning, I spent time weeding, watering, and fertilizing. I love it! The cost for such beauty is minimal compared to the results gleaned. Each day I discover a new bud or blossom on one of the plants. I am so thankful for the gift of these flowers. Flowers thriving, rejoicing, and most definitely inspiring. Inspiring others to create, labor, and spread the love. Now I have another friendly neighbor, Tony, who has taken an interest as well. He helps with the watering.

No act of kindness or labor is ever fruitless. Instead it leaves a footprint in the sand of the Savior who brings health and beauty to wherever He passes through.