One Word At A Time: Reconciliation

By MAD21

Everyone is discussing reconciliation over at my friend Bridget's blog this week. My life has been totally insane the last month with family and school activities, and will be until at least Thanksgiving. I wish I had the time to talk about all the things that are written on my heart about this topic. But in the end, it isn't more words that will express my point. It's my heart.

I believe reconciliation is the end result of a long and difficult process of forgiving and healing. It's the reward for persevering, for having the courage to say what needs to be said, the courage to admit when you were wrong, and the desire to make love win over pride. If you have ever experienced true reconciliation, you will know that it's more than just what happens after saying, "I'm sorry." So much more.

But from Jesus' perspective, he had nothing to reconcile for himself. He went through all the pain and suffering so that each one of us could reap the reward of the ultimate reconciliation with our Father. Instead of us being punished for our sins and being eternally separated from God, in one action Jesus took it all. The perfect example of grace, of mercy... of love.

Here in this place...

If you have relationships that need to find a place of healing, let me encourage you to take that first step. Meet them at the table. God is already there.

This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Bridget Chumbley's One Word at a Time.
Be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Reconciliation.

One Word At A Time: Hope

By MAD21

We have a good friend who is going through a pretty traumatic time in his life. In most cases, people generally have some responsibility for the situations they find themselves involved in, but this time the pain is being caused by another person. I wish I could say that this is something that is a one time thing, something that just happened and that he will be able to move past it quickly, but unfortunately our friend has been living in this nightmare for a few years and can only pray it will be resolved soon.

We pray daily for him to have perseverance and strength, and for everyone involved to be wise in the decisions that need to be made. We pray for resolution, for peace to come into his life so healing can begin. But in the midst of the storm, how do you help someone find hope?

Most of us have lived through terrible events in our lives. Some short, some long, but either way, the pain and disappointment can be unbearable. When your life takes a sudden unexpected turn and you have no control over the direction you are now taking, how do you not lose hope?

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One Word At A Time: Children

By MAD21

"A child is a revelation from God.
Prophets receive visions, mystics ponder the ineffable,
great preachers deliver God's word.
The greatest revelation comes through flesh and blood.
Every child is a fresh, unheard-of image of God,
and children keep coming and coming because the world
has not yet conceived of all the fullness of God's glory."

- Mike Mason, The Mystery of Children

I was a little surprise addition to our family. An unexpected challenge to my parents who thought they were already done having children. I have 11 and 13 years between my brother and sister and I, which technically puts me in a new generation (and considered and only child in some ways). I always told people I had the best of both worlds. I had a brother and sister, but I lived alone in the house with my parents by the age of nine. However, if I had had a choice I have to say I would have preferred to have had a sibling closer to my own age. It's one of the reasons it was important to me to have more than one child. I didn't want my kids living their lives without siblings they were close to, who were closer to the same stage in life.

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One Word At A Time: Laughter

By MAD21

"Why do you always do that?" A past coworker said to me on the way to lunch one day about 18 years ago. "Do what?" I asked. "Laugh when you talk." She said. It was a character trait I had never really noticed in myself before. But since this person brought it to my attention, it is something I have thought of often. Oddly enough after she said asked me this, I noticed the same trait in my dad. Guess I at least know where it came from, and it's not a bad thing.

Funny how comments like these stick in your head, isn't it? Honestly, I don't think I had a good answer. I probably just said something ordinary like, "I don't know." I'm not sure if the friend was asking me because she was annoyed by my habit, or jealous in some way, but for some reason she felt the need to ask such an odd question.

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One Word At A Time: Ego

By Alan

It’s interesting to guest write on Ego. Of all the sins, of all the topics, Pride and Ego are the most malevolent, the most evil. Love is the greatest of the spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 13:13), but is the oppositely most powerful evil Hate? I don’t think so. I contend that it’s Ego.

It is no less than Ego that struck down the second most powerful being in the universe. Satan was a shining beautiful angel. The Second In Command in Heaven. He was all set for Eternity on the winning side, and he let one little idea get into his head. He could maybe get a little bit more ambitious. He could succeed on his own, without any help from the Big Guy. In fact, the Big Guy was in the way. Satan began to think “I will get more” and “I will become like God.”

Read what it says in Isaiah 14 (the emphasis are mine):

How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!

You said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

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