Kindness Matters

It is no secret that this is a difficult time for many people. Given the reports you read on social media, the world itself is in a state of constant turmoil and the United States, in particular, is going through a tough time.  No matter which side of the political fence you lean, the division seems especially marked right now and people all over the country are witnessing angry attacks on those whose views are different from their own. This is one reason I decided to take an indefinite break from Facebook--I cannot control the posts of others, but I can control my exposure to them and this is the way I am choosing to do that for now.

But, something else is happening too-a movement that may have been born out of frustration, but one that actually has the potential to change the world. If you are reading this, then you have probably been touched by the "Be Kind" movement in some way, even if just a hashtag. It is nothing new--the command dates back thousands of years. In fact, one of the very first scriptures I ever learned was The Golden Rule--"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".  Be Kind.

As a little girl, when I came home distraught over the mean comments of a friend or feeling left out of an activity, my mother's advice was often to "kill them with kindness". The words often frustrated me at the time because sometimes I think I wanted her to give me permission to be mean back. But, she was so much wiser than that.  She knew that the sting of a bitter retort often backfires and leaves the giver feeling worse than the receiver.

I believe that God can bring good from any situation if we let Him. I have experienced it firsthand many, many times. Maybe, just maybe, the Be Kind movement is just that.

Perhaps He is working slowly, quietly, behind the scenes with all those who will listen, to create a voice that is louder than the negative ones we hear and read. Being kind could lead to a world where we can appreciate our differences-even different political views-and know that they are all equally important in creating a balanced world. A world full of kindness.

 

Rock Chapel - Hidden Treasure

It is Sunday afternoon and the house is quiet except for a playlist playing in the other room from our Bluetooth speaker.  Both Toddler D and BabyD2 are here for a few hours.  Both are asleep right now, as is their Papaw.   It is a bit chilly outside and the rain is falling from time to time.    The only light in the house is coming from the lamp hanging on the wall behind me.  Even the dogs are napping on the deck outside my back door.

While they nap, I am looking back through photos I've taken since the first of the year and trying to purge and organize them into folders for easy retrieval. As I scroll, I am reminded that I haven't yet shared our first adventure of 2017. Ron was off on that Monday, January 2 so we decided to go for a drive. Months earlier, my friend Debbie had posted some photos of a small chapel hidden away in the woods near Shreveport and I wanted to visit it as well. We GPS in hand, we drove to Mansfield in search of the Rock Chapel.

At first glance, we thought the gate across the road was locked, but upon further investigation, we found it open, so we walked down the winding road into the woods.

As we neared the chapel, we noticed wooden crosses hung on the trees lining the road. (We later learned that there is one cross for each monk that lived at the monastery).

Then we saw it.  A small, humble stone chapel built on a hill above a stream.  A bridge crosses the trickling stream and is flanked by beautiful camellia bushes that were filled with blooms.  It was beautiful!

Rock Chapel was built in 1891 by Carmelite monks as a place to meditate, reflect, pray, and to study in seclusion. The chapel itself is the last remnant of an old Carmelite monastery which flourished in the late 1800s. 

The monks living in the monastery built the chapel itself, carrying rocks from the surrounding hills and using mud as plaster to hold it together.  The monastery itself burned down shortly after the turn of the century and was never rebuilt, but the chapel remains.

In front of the chapel are six graves with crosses, 3 of which have names and dates on them. The monks were so very young when they died, most likely victims of some illness that is now treatable. 

I'd heard that the doors of the chapel are often locked, but this day, the lock was left unhooked.  We carefully opened the doors and stepped inside to find frescoes that were created over 100 years ago! Back in the 1960's the painting had been meticulously restored, but the recent effects of termites was evident.  

While the painted churches I have visited in Texas were in much more ornate and spectacular, there was something so incredibly sacred about this place.  


The painting above the door translates (roughly) "I have much love for the Lord God."

The afternoon we were there, the sun shone down through the trees creating a glow that was so beautiful. It was the perfect opportunity to work on my "shooting the light" through my camera lens.

We wandered around a bit and then just sat, breathing in the air and listening to the birds. 

Neither of us wanted to leave, and I really wanted to paint he scene, so we went back to get the truck (where my art kit was), drove it down the road and parked it so that we could sit in the back until the sun went down.

Curled up on the back tailgate, I sketched until we heard voices approaching on the road behind us.  We turned to find a young couple laughingly walking dow the path.  We greeted each other and then watched as they made their way across the bridge and up the hill.  The looked around a little bit and then the young man got down on one knee.  I snuck a few pictures of his proposal and then we cheered as she obviously accepted.  Later, we exchanged email addresses so that I could send them the photos and he explained that this was a special place to him since he had grown up nearby (they now live in Colorado, I believe).

Everything about this adventure was special and one I am likely to never forget!  What a hidden treasure this sweet chapel is and a gift that continues to bless so many people.

It's Here! For the Love. . .

It's here!!!  Jen Hatmaker's new book was officially released today and I couldn't be more excited.   Several months ago, I had the privilege of being chosen to serve on her "Launch Team", so I received an advance copy of the book.  I love books, and actually enjoy reading, but quite often don't make the time to sit still long enough.   The books I choose must be VERY engaging to keep me interested, because I now seem to have so many things vying for my attention (plus a bit of ADD, I'm sure).

For The Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards is one of those books!  It is a series of essays on a variety of topics that relate to women today.  In her casual, witty style, Jen makes you feel like you are sitting down and chatting with your best friend.   She is funny and entertaining and there are several instances that I quite literally laughed aloud or nodded my head in agreement.   Through her writing, however, Jen is able to speak into your heart, reminding you of what is important and true.

Here's a recent video clip of Jen.

It is a wonderful time to be a woman in America.  We have opportunities afforded us that our grandmothers never would have believed possible.  With those opportunities come responsibilities, however, whether real or imagined.   There is increasing pressure to keep up with the Joneses (whomever they are), to produce Pinterest-worthy lunches and parties for our children and mates and to be the Wonder Women of our families and churches.    It is so easy to get caught up in the lies that we are "not enough", that we need to dress a certain way, behave a certain way or even own particular brands.   Yet, instead of banding together to support one another through the challenges of dating, marriages, children and just life itself, we become judgmental towards ourselves and others.

Life is hard.  If we spend our days focusing on our failures rather than our successes, on rejoicing in the failures of others rather than being happy for their successes, what have we really accomplished?
This book challenges the notion that we need to be all things to all people.  As Jen states in the book, “We measure our performance against an invented standard and come up wanting, and it’s destroying our joy.” God extends GRACE to all of us, so why is it so hard for us to accept it and then extend it to others as well?   I don't know about you, but I NEEDED to hear that message, and then to be reminded of it from time to time as well.

I hope that you'll get a copy of the book and read it for yourself.  Jen is going to be leading an online book study of For The Love through www.faithgateway.com beginning September 19.   This fall, I am hoping to gather a few friends again to do our own version of the book study---it's always more fun to do something like this together and hear the opinions of others.    If you are interested in the online book study, you can click here to read more about it and even see a video of Jen talking about the book.

For The Love

Sometime back in the summer, I read a post by Jen Hatmaker about the new edition of her book Interrupted.  I had never read any of her books, but had heard a lot about her books from both Callie and Jana, and I had begun following her blog a few months back.  I loved her writing on the blog, and the description of the book sounded like something I would really enjoy.  I even asked a few friends to join me in the online book study that Jen talked about leading in the fall, thinking that would make me more accountable to the reading.   I downloaded the book, but the online study never materialized, so I pretty much forgot about the book.

Then, last month I flew out to South Carolina to visit my new grandson and prepared to download a book to read on the plane.   I'm so busy on a daily basis that I don't make much time for regular reading, so traveling provides me with a block of time to get a little reading done. It was then that I remembered Interrupted and decided to read it first---or at least try to read it.   I'm not a fast reader and tend to a be a little ADD, so I need things to be fairly entertaining to keep me engaged.

I should not have worried about this book keeping my attention.  Can I just say that I.LOVED.IT!!   I found myself smiling and laughing to myself more than once (and almost laughed out loud at one point on the airplane).  But, mostly, I found myself nodding my head.  Yes!!  Someone had actually been able to find words for things that I've never been able to articulate.  As one book reviewer (Karen Lee-Thorp) observed, "Jen Hatmaker is just crazy enough to actually do things Jesus talks about in the Bible, even though it's messing up her middle-class Christian life."

I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since, and want to read it again---with a group of friends this time and I'm making plans to do just that.

But, in the meantime, something kind of exciting happened.  Last week, Jen blogged about the upcoming release of her newest book,  For The Love.  You can see that blog post right here.  Instead of the kind of launch that involves reviews by professional authors and bloggers and such, she decided to launch this particular book with a group of ordinary women from all over the United States and gave people a chance to apply to be part of the team.  Fairly certain that I didn't stand a chance of being chosen since I'd only read one of her books and don't really have a very large-reaching blogging audience, I decided on a whim to go ahead and apply.  I mean, it couldn't hurt, could it?

Well, yesterday, I got an email letting me know that I'd been selected to be part of the Launch Team!!   I'm pretty excited!!!! The book is still in draft form right now, and the official launch won't be until the middle of February, but it is already available for preorder on Amazon here and on Barnes and Noble here if you are interested.  I can't wait to read this new book and explore the idea of grace through Jen Hatmaker's perspective.

Our Father . . .

Over the last month of so, we have been learning and talking about the Lord's Prayer in Sunday School.  You may remember that I teach a class for adults with special needs, and many of my friends enjoy doing some sort of "craft" while we discuss the lesson.  As we talked about the meaning of the different sections of the Lord's Prayer, I sketched what they described when I asked what it meant to them to say "Our Father, who art in Heaven . . ?"  onto a large 4' x 4' strip of freezer paper (taped together).  Next, I gave each person a stack of old magazines and scissors with instructions to cut out pictures of either blue or yellow things and I glued the colored pictures into place on the banner.   A couple of the guys helped to pull apart/spread out cotton balls and to glue them onto the collage.

It took several weeks to complete, but finally today, we were done.  I cut out letters and they each helped me glue them into place before we hung it in the hallway for other church members to enjoy.

All The Colors Of The Rainbow

Yesterday, I served breakfast at the Hospitality House and lunch at Herbert House for men.

(Betsy, Cheryl, Martha, Mimi, Benny and Sue are really rocking the hair nets, aren't they?--notice I am conveniently missing from this picture!)

It ended up being a good time of fellowship, but also a time to recognize that without volunteers, the Hospitality House is not very hospitable and that we have far more in common with the groups that received the meals than we have differences.
This morning in Sunday School, the message was repeated as we remembered that "God has no favorites". As we cut out pictures of every hue , I asked if anyone knew why we were making a rainbow.


Darlene answered, "Well, it's kind of like us. We're kind of like all the colors."
Yes!!! Each one is special in and of itself, but what a beautiful thing when we are all together!

rainbow collage by the Good News Class

Facing Terror

Today, I heard Carrie McDonnall of Carry On Ministries speak. She was here for the first event that my good friend, Debbie hosted as part of her new ministry, Journey of Sisters. Carrie tells her amazing story in a book, Facing Terror . I haven't yet read her book, but after hearing her speak, I feel that I should. In 2004, she and her husband were serving as relief workers in Iraq when they were ambushed by terrorists. Their three companions were killed instantly, and her husband David survived long enough for them to reach medical attention.

To see her live through this ordeal is a miracle in itself. But after hearing about the injuries she sustained, and the circumstances that brought her to safety, I realize that there are so many miracles in her story. Carrie has faced unbelievable tragedy, excruciating surgeries, rehabilitation and the kind of heartache that some people never recover from. Yet, she chooses to believe that even the worst tragedy will be used for "good". Instead of feeling bitter and sorry for herself, she is determined to be sure that her story helps others through difficult times.

As I listened to her speak, I kept thinking about the fact that at the time of the attack, she was only a year or two older than Jana! Her mother was there with her today---she is facing her own battle with ovarian cancer. I don't know why things like this happen to people--it's one of many questions I plan to ask one day. But, I do know that Carrie has already made a difference to so many people.