Ladybug Kisses

I was brought up Catholic. When I thought of God, I thought of a loving father who looked at me with happy eyes, unless, of course – I did something bad. When I was little, those bad things weren’t so bad. Maybe I tried to incriminate my brother for something that I actually did. Or, maybe I said the Lord’s name in vain.

As I got older, those bad things I did got worse. I started to think that God was mad at me. The Catholic Diocese that I was in did not do a good job of letting us know that everyone sins and that God still loves us. The Catholic guilt set in – the number of sins that I was completing were beginning to rack up. And my fear of going to confession was increasing. My fear of pretty much EVERYTHING Kept increasing. I was a worrier. And it was the 90’s. People didn’t talk about worry much – they just told people not to do it. So if you were a worrier (like me) and couldn’t stop – you thought something was wrong with you.

When I was in my 20’s, I met a boy who wasn’t very churched, so we decided to settle on a Methodist Church. Within the early days of this Methodist Church, I learned that God was a God of love and understanding. Mark 10:17 and Matthew 6:25 were two often read passages and sermons were easily made from these.

I Joined the Choir, and each year we sang an Easter Cantata on Palm Sunday, Matthew 6:25 – “Do Not Worry About Tomrrow” was one of the songs in the Cantata.

It talked about the birds and the flowers and how they didn’t worry about their next meal or how they would be clothed and yet they were so beautiful.

For Who of You, By Worrying, Can Add a Single Hour to His Life?

I sang this song at least 5 years in a row. I would say that it took at least 4 times for the song to actually start to kick in. To this day, I think about this song in my head when I read this verse in Matthew.

In Mark 10:17-31, Jesus talks about a man who thinks that he has followed all of God’s Commandments since he was a boy. Jesus told the man – you need to do one more thing – Go and sell all you have and then give all of the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven.

The man was very sad because he was so rich – Jesus looked around him and said “How hard is it for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God”. The last will be first and the first will be last.

I think that this can be true – there are lots of ways that we can give of ourselves to god. When my first husband and I got divorced, I said a prayer and gave myself to God. I told God that I would put myself and my children in his hands – I would put my trust for my soul in his hands. It has not been an easy time. Things have happened that have been heart wrenching and downright scary. But through it all, I have felt the presence of God. His hands wrapped around me. I have felt his kindness in others when they give me just the amount of comfort that I needed, just when I needed it.

I truly believe that I have been lifted by angels here on earth. I have been lifted by my Parents, My current husband, by the angel that helps me with my Discharge Monitoring Reports, I have been lifted by my boss, I have been lifted by my angel neighbor across the street, by the wonderful teachers that love my children and give me words of encouragement, by the small words of encouragement I get from the mothers of my children’s friends. You are all angels and you have been sent by God.

Thank you – And Than you to others I may have missed.

Over the last five years, there have been so many “unforgivable” events that have occurred in my life that I no longer have enough digits left to count them all.

This past week, after a freak accident, a straw has broken the camels back. The aggressor has taken things to a whole new level, a level I thought they never would. Because deep down, I truly thought that they did appreciate what I had done for them in the past. I really believed that at some level they realized my abilities as a mother. But I now have my final message that is absolutely not true. They will stop at nothing.

I really am at my wits end. I have to say that Jesus’s 7×70 command to me is truly being tested.

It has taking every ounce of my energy to even function at basic levels this week. I’m tired. I am so tired.

But this is the thing. This is where God’s promise comes in. We don’t have to live by the laws of this earth. I mean, we generally have to-because God’s Laws are the laws here on earth. But when the laws start to separate-when you have that twinge in your stomach that you know if you do something society wants you to do won’t be what God wants you to do, you don’t have to question it. GOD KNOWS. GOD IS THERE. God is walking with you.

God didn’t promise us perfect lives free from pain, but he did promise us salvation if we believe in him. So GOD is who I am setting my eyes on right now. He is who is getting me through.

The teachings of the Laws and the Prophets were preached until John came. Since then, the good news of God’s Kingdom is being preached. And everyone is trying very hard to enter it.

-Luke 16:16

Obviously we don’t want to go to jail, so we do have to follow the laws of this world. However ANY time the laws of this world cause you to have to question your integrity with God, follow God’s law.

I have hidden your word in my heart so that I won’t sin against you. Lord, I praise – teach me your orders.

-Psalm 119.

10 Commandments:

As I was driving over the main bridge into my town this evening, I looked south down the river. The sun was setting Over the Fox.

It was beautiful.

Do you know what I saw? Church steeples. Now, lots of towns have churches, but my town has an abundance of churches. Historic churches.

In 1836, at the request of a prominent early settler of Batavia, William Van Nortwick, a circuit rider was dispatched to serve the Methodist of the Fox River Valley. In Batavia, classes were held for 16 years in the residence of William Van Nortwick. A street is named after him.

Seeing so many steeples made me think of the following questions…

1. What is the draw of the Church? What do people need?

2. Why are there so many types of churches?

3. What is the answer?

What do we need?

According to 1 Corinthians 13, we need Love. If we give all we possess to the poor, but do not love, we have nothing.

According to Ephesians 6:10, we need to put on the Armor of God. This is in order to stand against the devil’s schemes. We can have all kinds of good intentions, but if we aren’t aligned with God’s intentions, it will be more difficult.

According to James 14, we need both faith and deeds. If you have faith, but let a person in need go, the faith does no good. If you do good deeds, but have no faith, same thing. You need both.

Why so many churches?

Martin Luther, known for nailing his “95 Theses” to the door of a Catholic church on Halloween in 1517, did not like the book of James, amongst lots of other things including paid indulgences in the Catholic Church. No one knows the true reason why he didn’t like the book of James and there are lots of assumptions. First, however, according to one Biblical Commentary, His opinion of the book (written in his preface to the New Testament) was as follows.

“St. John’ Gospel and his first Epistle, St. Paul’s Epistles, especially those to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and St. Peter’s Epistle – these are the books which show to thee Christ . . . Therefore, St. James’ Epistle is a perfect straw-epistle compared with them . . .” (Basic Theology, article “The Canon”)

So Martin Luther basically said that the Book of James was an “Epistle of Straw”. So essentially he was saying that it didn’t show the true character of the apostles.

He apparently rescinded his remark later.

His thesis and protests caused the second major split in the Christian Church. Protestants split off from the Roman Catholics and from there several churches have been formed.

Martin Luther’s attempt to remove James from the Bible did not hold-it is in the Protestant bible. It is an important book-especially for those who are going through difficult times. Short and sweet.

What is the answer? Forgiveness. Forgiveness heals everything. God is behind forgiveness.

The Catholics and Lutherans have begun the healing process. Everything needs forgiveness, because even in his fleeting moments, Martin Luther WAS right. The indulgences that the Catholics were paying for in the 16th Century were wrong. However, his deeds were not in line with what God wanted (as God asks for in Ephesians 6:10) He didn’t listen to God’s will. In his anger and frustration, he went a little overboard and the message got misconstrued for over 500 years.

A major split occurred in the Christian Church due to his boisterousness.

But God fixes everything. This year during advent, my Catholic Church did a special Lessons and Carols with a nearby Lutheran Church because the two corporate churches are trying to repair the rift.

So yes. God can heal the deepest wounds and fix the worst situations. He can bring anything back together.

If you get the man or woman right, you get the world right. Such a simple message – yet we seem constantly obsessed with things we have no influence over, rather than focusing on where WE have the most impact, which is our own thoughts, words, and actions. It is our own thoughts, words, and actions that are at the epicenter of our circle of influence. The further we get away from them, worrying about what other people are thinking and saying or doing, the weaker our influence and impact becomes. Focus on effecting what you can affect and you will have the most effect. It all starts with you. – Matthew Kelly