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<\/a><\/p>\nOn Further Reflection<\/h1>\n
I normally work at home on Monday morning and it is a beautiful one to do just that. \u00a0The ladies are gathering at the church about now for their Life Group\u00a0Christmas party. \u00a0This Monday morning group is a lively one. \u00a0It encourages me so much to see them gather and enjoy themselves as they do.<\/p>\n
I took my son to the wharf this morning at 5:15am and he is on the high seas today, doing what so many Grand Manan-ers are at this time of year. \u00a0I am grateful that he is having this experience and that he has someone who allows him the work. \u00a0Elaine is filling in at the school today. \u00a0She loves her work there.<\/p>\n
It is natural on Monday mornings for me to review the service in my mind and heart. \u00a0My heart still feels the weight of Jon’s concern yesterday and I am praying for him even now. \u00a0Melissa Badger was unable to be out yesterday for physical battles that she faces. \u00a0I am praying for Melissa. \u00a0Eric & Berneta are on the move as per usual and my prayers are with them as they walk together through sickness … in sickness and in health … I remember those words almost 40 years ago now. \u00a0Praying for Vick & Sheila, Carl, Rob, Claude, Bonnie, and the list just keeps on going. \u00a0These are physical cares and concerns represented in my prayers.<\/p>\n
I am also praying for the spiritual needs of loved ones today in my family and the others. \u00a0It is no less a concern and perhaps even more. \u00a0In recent years especially as I pray, I can quite literally feel the weight. \u00a0Often it movers me to tears.<\/p>\n
If we could just fix things<\/strong> …<\/p>\n God can fix things<\/strong> but rarely in the way that we might … and I am grateful for that.<\/p>\n If Christmas is to bring us Hope, Love, Peace and Joy, it will be in the Person of Christ. \u00a0So that’s where I am looking. \u00a0The holiday changed for me once I made that change. \u00a0Like so many others, it was more depressing than joyous as I looked in all the wrong places. \u00a0Not wrong in terms of evil but wrong as in “not right<\/strong><\/em>“. \u00a0The biggest challenge for me was to extract myself from the centre of the universe. \u00a0I would never have said that the world revolved around me but I acted and thought as though this were the case. \u00a0And when the world didn’t cooperate, I was down in the dumps. \u00a0God wasn’t quite so real. \u00a0People didn’t care as much as they should have. \u00a0You know how it goes.<\/p>\n The more I think of me, the less I think of God and the more I think of God, the less I think of me. – KI<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It is such an unhealthy place to be self-absorbed. \u00a0Again I speak of the tragedy of this perspective not right or wrong. \u00a0It is so natural for all of us to see the world as it relates to us. \u00a0But there are other people in our world and many of them are having an experience that is different from our own.<\/p>\n So I am not giving up on a Merry Christmas. \u00a0I’m on a roll actually. \u00a0For the past few years, it has happened for me. \u00a0It has to do with thinking more of others and thinking more of God. (both quantitatively and qualitatively)<\/span><\/p>\n This week, I get to go to the Nursing Home with Jean, to distribute some gifts to the residents. \u00a0I can just about guarantee that I won’t be thinking of Karl during that time. \u00a0I get to practice with Vera who is playing in church next Sunday. \u00a0That is a privilege and I’ll be so busy trying to follow her that I’ll forget about me. \u00a0I’ll give Alice a guitar lesson. \u00a0That will be fun because I know that I can teach her and I remember how good it felt when I was learning to play the guitar. \u00a0That makes me happy to think about sharing a skill. \u00a0I get to serve a wonderful local church this week. \u00a0Really … one that I love because it is so unusual and I needed that more than you can ever appreciate. \u00a0You wondered if you were too different. \u00a0My heart sang as I discovered each nuance of the working of God in the lives of our fellowship. \u00a0I know it was difficult but I am glad that you stepped away from the status quo. \u00a0That took courage.<\/p>\n I do feel bad about the message yesterday. \u00a0I always enjoy hearing you talk more about your own experience with God. \u00a0And I wanted to finish the message … but God knows and I am trusting Him with the results.<\/p>\n Lord jesus … be with our folks this week in whatever experience of life they know. \u00a0I ask that you would make yourself more real than their circumstance. \u00a0Be bigger than their problems and strong in their weakness and failing. \u00a0Pick them up when they stumble. \u00a0Love them in their most critical moments as an ever-loving Father only could. \u00a0Let the scriptures bring light to their path. \u00a0Make them hope for those who have lost hope. \u00a0Build your Kingdom here and now, I pray. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Further Reflection I normally work at home on Monday morning and it is a beautiful one to do just that. \u00a0The ladies are gathering at the church about now for their Life Group\u00a0Christmas party. \u00a0This Monday morning group is a lively one. \u00a0It encourages me so much to see them gather and enjoy themselves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[16,17,13,15],"class_list":["post-1251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-between-sundays","category-uncategorized","tag-community-life-church","tag-grand-manan","tag-karl-ingersoll","tag-reflection"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6IX45-kb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1251"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1255,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions\/1255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikemediology.com\/clc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}