MomminginMinistry

I do not remember a time before I loved God with all my heart. I have a "conversion" experience, in which I knelt at an alter at junior high camp one day in June, with a clear understanding of what it meant to choose to give my whole heart to Jesus. I remember where I was, who was there, most of what was said. It was significant, and I can even figure out an approximate date to insert into the forms I fill out as I renew my minister's license. I'm not downplaying that. But I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't believe Jesus had come to live in my heart long before that day. I remember sitting in big church with my mom and dad-the spicy-fresh taste of the mint my grandma had snuck me to help me be quiet, the sketchbook where I'd scribbled comic strips of the scripture reading for the day, the smell of pine-sol from the linoleum floors out in the narthex my parents had helped clean the night before. Yes, we used the word narthex. I remember the holy cadence...

  Sometimes turning on light means just buying someone a cup of coffee and sometimes it means having hard and uncomfortable conversations. For the past week and a half I've been thinking, praying about how to best reflect light right now. Because things are pretty dark out there. And some of this darkness needs a warm hug and a cup of coffee, and some of it needs some uncomfortable conversations.  There's a lot within me wanting to be said about the events of this past week, month, year.  I'm tempted daily to engage in the "whatabouts..." (insert some other news event) and the "what if...(slide in something suggested by a Qanon video) conversations. I do have lots to say about the apples and the oranges. But we could go around and around for days and never get anywhere. At least no where we want to be. Maybe when emotions are not so high and we can talk about these things in civil and logical ways. Today is not that day. I could also talk about what I think s...

 I'm not going to pretend I don't ever make New Year's Resolutions. I am the kind of person who gets excited about calendars, goal setting, and the Evernote Ap on my phone that keeps me on path. I love fresh ideas, planning retreats, and dreaming of the future.  Or at least I used to be. I think 2020 might have kind of broke me. I'm painfully aware lately of just how little control we have over things. I barely know whether we'll be able to make our dentist appointment Monday, much less if I'll be able to train for a marathon, follow a low carb diet, or check some National Parks off our Bucket list. At this time last year I was elbow deep in plans for planning a morning art and science day-camp experience at our church...who would've ever dreamed that by March I'd be trying to teach Bible stories over zoom instead?  So I'm a little gun-shy when it comes to committing to anything bigger than thawing something for dinner as we come into 2021.  As we st...