I am a little late to the game but here in my interpretation of Becky’s TOPS IN A SQUARE CHALLENGE. #APRILSQUARETOPS.
Tops in Squares
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The Wall #1
Here is an article about some of our recent ministry at Cornerstone Winchendon
Just over a year ago God gave me a vision during a Sunday morning service. In this vision I saw a satanic force coming against our church. The Lord showed me that for a season we would be able to thwart this spirit power in the strength God had already given us. But the Lord told me that there would come a time when the enemy would be too powerful for us to face in our own strength. The Lord instructed that when that time came we were to call the church to pray and He would send us divine helpers to strengthen and revive the church.
I believe we have come to that time when we cannot face the enemy in our own strength…. and so we have started THE WALL prayer meetings to call the church to pray and ask God to send us the help He promised…
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Moving A Season
April 17.
Spring
Was called for almost a month ago.
Flowers
And Showers
Are supposed to be our lot now.
But
I Am
In the storehouses of the snow.
This place
Says, “no”
To the new.
Old
Wineskins
Die hard,
Even in the temples which worship new growth.
When
The Mystery gets used to what was
Spring
Cannot find its Space.
But
I Am
Not
Staying in the storehouses of the snow,
Insists
“Wine flow,
In
Daffodils
And lilacs.
Survive.
Crack
Those old
Casks and finally
Burst Forth!”
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Life By the Bells
How are you structuring your life now?
Many years ago, after taking a course called 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I started planning out my week using an agenda. Over the years I have adapted a shorthand that helps keep me on track throughout the week. My agenda looks like this.
It’s pretty simple really and covers everything from sleep to daily exercise and even prayer.
I found that just writing down what I planned to do in a weekly agenda did not help me to do the things I planned. The agenda helped me to keep track of my meetings ( which as a pastor is important, you don’t want to be missing funerals or weddings), but as far as the big rocks went (the disciplines of everyday living I valued like prayer or exercise) just writing them on a weekly to do calendar did not help me prioritize them. I found it too easy…
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Living In This New Space
We are making a new space. Are you?
I’ve had a revelation: The world has changed. That has changed the Vicarage. It has also changed everyone who lives in The Vicarage.
My life before the shut in was busy. My life “shut in” is also busy but it is filled with different things and a different kind of busyness now. This busyness feels slower more evenly rhythmic than the busyness from before.
Now that I am mostly recovered from pneumonia my days start early again and they have fallen into a repeating meter: I walk and feed the dogs sometime between 4 and 6 A.M. I pray for an hour or so. I have breakfast with the Fam. Then I do chores until noon. At noon I make lunch for Mom and the Fam and we eat together. I pray again. I take a short nap or do some more chores depending on my level of weariness. I…
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In the Midst
Are you humbled?
Last week our grocery store started limiting the number of people who could go in at one time. One in one out, is the new rule.
This week we were asked to start shopping in two week stints to limit the amount of exposure each of us have to the public, as cases of the Covid-19 mount across the state. I could feel the fear as I was shopping yesterday. One man yelled at me when I pulled down my face mask for a moment to defog my glasses.
In the midst of our world falling apart around us by bits and pieces, I have been “attending” an on-line retreat regarding the sorrows of Passion Week. Today our leader in the retreat wrote this:
“Where is our hope? Our hope is in a God who died publicly humiliated outside the walls of a minor city in a great empire. This…
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Evening Meditation 4-9-20
Praise the Lord.[a]
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord
or fully declare his praise?
3 Blessed are those who act justly,
who always do what is right.
4 Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people,
come to my aid when you save them,
5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may share in the joy of your nation
and join your inheritance in giving praise. PSalm 106 1-5
What does the knowledge that God’s love lasts forever make you feel like?
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Share Your World 4-6-20
It is time to once again SHARE OUR WORLDS! This is the challenge where our hostess Melanie asks four or five questions and by answering them, we her contributors share pieces of our worlds. You can see how everyone answered the challenge questions by clicking on the link above.
In the meantime, here are Melanie’s questions for this week and my answers:
If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make them?
I think I fear mistakes because of my fear of other people’s reactions to them. I know I have and have had people in my life for whom nothing short of god-like perfection is acceptable. I rebel against that and tend to go into hiding everything from these people especially my mistakes because I am afraid of their reactions to the real me.
How do we know that pleasure is good and pain is bad?
Ummm…… I don’t think that. There are a lot of things that are very pleasurable which are very very very bad. There are also a lot of things which are hard and even painful which are actually not only good for us but necessary.
What problem or situation did TV / movies make you think would be common, but when you grew up you found out it wasn’t?
I saw this on Facebook a while ago and I couldn’t have agreed more. “Growing up I always thought quicksand would be more of a problem.”
If you drive, do you speed when no one is watching? Have you ever run a red light late at night on purpose, particularly if it doesn’t seem to change very quickly? If you don’t drive, what minor law may you have broken?
My kids always make fun of how slow I drive. They call me a “Granny -Driver”. That said I have been stopped for speeding (going 45 in a 35) and running a stop sign and when I was in Ireland I got stopped for running a red light. Of course none of those things were “my fault”.
What positive things are you finding to do to occupy your time right now?
Here is my list:
Praying A LOT
Reading the Bible A LOT
Contacting church folk by phone and facebook to see how they are doing
blogging
rewriting my book
doing some yard work
trying new recipes
watching a documentary on the history of England on Youtube
playing Skipbo and Uno with my sister and daughter
Calling my kids a lot
Doing a family Bible Study I taught to the church a while ago on Youtube with the Fam.
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The Way We Do It Now.
What’s your favorite color?
In these days of social distancing, this is the hub of church life now. The staff and board are all on line first thing in the morning or on the phone connecting with people to show up at on-line church. All through the service Amanda, Brenda and I are here at The Vicarage “greeting” people as they come on line and gathering info through private message convos and on-line comments. We follow up on these throughout the week by phone and Facebook.
After the service, Amanda goes in and makes a few copies for people who do not have internet service and then we distribute the CD version to the doors of those individuals homes.
I hope you enjoy our pastor’s message today.
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Busy Social Distancing
Busy!Slow! Busy!
I haven’t posted here in the last few days because I have been busy social distancing. You might think….”Wouldn’t the stay at home order make you less busy than usual?”
Well, truthfully the nature of the work is changing but the work itself is still taking the same amount of time . I am moving slower now. Some of that is because I am still recovering from pneumonia. I am noticing it takes me longer to do things than it used to. I need to rest more frequently. But I think the second reason I am moving slower is because of the amount of prayer I am doing these days. That prayer has shifted my mindset to a much more peaceful space.
I am also doing a lot more writing these days too. The book is coming along nicely.
This week I have also gone back to meetings. Not as…
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Lillie-Put 