Tap Into Power

(March 17, 2021) Imagine two men walking into a dark room. One stares at the light switch and  says, “Everyone talks about how powerful electricity is, but I won’t use it. I’ve read about it, and it just doesn’t make any sense to me. How can I trust  something I don’t understand?” The other guy flips on the light, turns on the  computer, pours himself a cup of hot coffee, picks a favorite song from his playlist  and starts humming along to the music. 

Sometimes we can be like the first guy when it comes to our faith. We may be slow to trust God. We want to understand Him on an intellectual level before  we’re willing to trust Him on a spiritual level. We’ve read about Him and we know about Him, and yet we haven’t let Him into our hearts or into our daily lives.  We think, “If only I could let myself believe the promises of Christ…” Sometimes  we just need to ask ourselves, “What do those promises look like?” 

Here’s a scripture passage that came up recently:  

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in  himself. And he gave him power to judge because he is the Son of Man.” (John 5:26-27) 

What does the power of Christ look like? Here’s one intellectual explanation: 

Jesus has paid the price for our sins. He took upon Himself all our guilt – past,  present, and future, because God is not bound by time or space – and nailed it all  to the cross. He promises us that He will forgive us time and time again, and so  we can let go of our guilt and move forward. This is the purpose of His coming to  earth: that we might believe in Him so that we can ‘tap into’ His power to love,  forgive, serve, heal, and do things as great as He did and even greater (see John  3:16 and John 14:11-13). 

Now, let’s let the above words sink from our head into our soul. Let’s let them  sink so deeply that they inspire us to desire Christ’s power and put it into action. 

Let’s ask Him to soften our hearts and show us how He wants to use us to share  His love in the world, with His power. Here are just a few of the countless ways  the power of Christ may move us: 

The power of Christ moves us to serve the needy; strengthens us to speak kindly  in times of stress; prompts us to call a friend we haven’t heard from in a while; nudges us to pray for our adversaries; humbles us to offer or ask forgiveness; and  gives us courage in times of trouble. The ideas and gut feelings we get that  prompt us to do an act of kindness, to speak or bite our tongue, to pray, work, relax, serve and be served – all of these and more come from God through Jesus  when we let down our defenses and listen for His direction (see John 14:25-27). 

Let’s not keep our faith an intellectual exercise. Let’s let God soften our hearts.  Let’s let Him empower us to do His work; what that looks like will be different  from person to person. Let’s trust Him and all His promises. 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 

“Lord, empower me to love as You love.” 

This article is a personal reflection by Gina Bedell © 2021. It and other reflections written by her invite  the reader to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual  reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other persons who may guide the reader to a deeper faith  and understanding of God’s love and will for their life. 

A Gentle Invitation

(March 10, 2021) Do you have an image of God as a stern man ‘up there somewhere’ watching your every move? Maybe you imagine Him holding a big tally sheet, keeping track of everything you do wrong, all your poor choices and missed opportunities. Sometimes our guilty conscience makes us picture Him glaring down at us; maybe we think He’s too far removed to have anything to do with us. If any of this is true for you, then I want to show you a different perspective. 

Take a look at this passage from Isaiah: 

“Listen, heavens, and hear, earth, for the Lord has spoken:

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. 

Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord: though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.” – Isaiah 1:2, 16-18

If I may paraphrase: God says, “It’s time to wash off the mud you’ve gotten yourselves stuck in. I know you made the mess; I don’t want to focus on that. I simply want you to stop doing what’s wrong and do what’s right instead. I want you to help those in need.”

And then, with a gentle smile, God invites us back to Him: “Come now, let us set things right.” There is hope in that statement. ‘Let us’ – together – He and we, working together so we can put this behind us and move forward. There is no condemnation, no pushing us away. With open arms He welcomes us back, embracing us as we cry with our “I’m sorry” for the wrong we’ve done (see Luke 15:11-32).    

This entire passage expresses the gentleness of God. Yes, we have sinned. Yes, damage has been done, and still God will help us clean up our mess and work with us to make a plan to do better in the future. 

We can and will be forgiven.  And, being forgiven, we have another chance to do what’s right.

 “I waited, waited for the Lord,

Who bent down and heard my cry,

Drew me out of the pit of destruction,

Out of the mud of the swamp,

Set my feet upon rock,

Steadied my steps,

And put a new song in my mouth,

A hymn to our God.”

Psalm 40:1-4

“Lord, help me to understand that You are a God of love, not anger or condemnation. Help me forgive others as You forgive me.”

This article is a personal reflection by Gina Bedell © 2021. It and other reflections written by her invite the reader to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other persons who may guide the reader to a deeper faith and understanding of God’s love and will for their life. 

Ordinary and Holy

(March 3, 2021) Recently, we watched the movie ‘The Letters’ about the life of Mother Teresa of  Calcutta. (It’s available to rent through Amazon.) Mother Teresa was one of the  most spiritually influential people of our generation. She won the Nobel Peace  Prize in 1979 and was canonized in 2016.  

Mother Teresa has been a source of inspiration for me for as far back as I can  remember. Watching the movie prompted me to do something a little differently for this reflection. This week, I’m letting her do the talking; I’m sharing with you  some of her spiritual wisdom. Her quotes below assure us that, among other  things, giving doesn’t have to be complicated, and that even our ordinary and  everyday work can become holy if it’s blanketed in love.  

I invite you to let her words sink into your mind and heart. Notice what grabs your  attention and maybe moves you to act. May her words and example inspire all of  us to find our way closer to God and each other through our prayers, love, and  service. 

“Sanctity is not a luxury for the few. It is a simple duty for you and me. I have to  be a saint in my way and you in yours. Thoughtfulness is the beginning of great  sanctity. If you learn this art of being thoughtful you will become more and more  like Christ, for His heart was meek and He always thought of others.” 

“Start by making your own home a place where peace, happiness, and love  abound, through your love for each member of your family and for your  neighbor.” 

“Even if we do a small thing for somebody, God, being almighty, sees everything  as great. Even if you write a letter for a blind man, or you just sit and listen to  someone, or you take the mail for him, or you visit somebody or bring a flower to  somebody, or wash clothes for somebody or clean the house… small things, but  God sees everything as great. There are many people who can do big things. But  there are very few people who will do the small things.”

“Pray at home for only five minutes. Prayer is simply talking to God. He speaks to  us, we listen. We speak to Him, He listens. A two-way process: speaking and  listening.” 

“You can pray while you work. Work doesn’t stop prayer and prayer doesn’t stop  work. It requires only that small raising of the mind to Him: ‘I love you, God. I  trust you. I believe in you. I need you now.’ Small things like that. They are  wonderful prayers.” 

“It is so beautiful that we complete each other! What we are doing in the slums,  maybe you cannot do. What you are doing at the level where you are called – in  your family life, in your college life, in your work – we cannot do. But together you  and we are doing something beautiful for God.” 

“To the cast of a musical performance in Calcutta I said, ‘Your work and our work  complete each other. What we are doing is needed in the world as never before.  You are giving them joy by your action and we are doing the same by service. And  it is the same action whether you are singing and dancing and we are rubbing and  scrubbing. You are filling the world with the love God has given you.’”  

“What made me start my work, what inspired me and kept me going during so  many years? Jesus. We do it for Jesus. I take Jesus at His word and He never lets  me down. He said, ‘Ask and you will receive.’ So I ask. If it is for His glory He will  grant it; if not, let us forget about it. God knows what is good for us.” 

“I do not think I have any special qualities. I don’t claim anything for the work. It is  His work. I am like a little pencil in God's hand; that is all. He does the thinking. He  does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. The pencil has only to be  allowed to be used.” 

“A rich man came to me and said he wanted to give up something in his life – his  house, his car. I suggested, ‘When you go to the store to buy a new suit or some  clothes, instead of buying the best, buy one that is a little less expensive and use  that extra money to buy something for someone else, or better still for the poor.’ 

When I finished saying this he looked really amazed and exclaimed, ‘Oh! Is that  the way, Mother? I never thought of it.’ When he left, he looked so happy and full  of joy at the thought of helping others.”

And, finally: “We can never know how much good a simple smile can do.” 

I found nothing mentioned about it, but I suspect Mother Teresa loved this happy  and hopeful verse: 

“Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken  down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which  you measure will in return be measured out to you." -- Luke 6:38 

PRAYER: “Lord, may everything I say and do be for You, with You, and because  of You.” 

This article is a personal reflection by Gina Bedell © 2021. It and other reflections written by her  invite the reader to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer,  additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other persons who may guide the  reader to a deeper faith and understanding of God’s love and will for their life. 

Listen for the Lord

(February 24, 2021) “Thus says the Lord: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and  do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful,  giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word  

be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my  will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” 

(Isaiah 55:10-11) 

We don’t think of rain and snow returning to the heavens. Yet that’s what they  do: they water the soil to make plants grow to give food to the earth and its  people, and then, through evaporation, they return to God.  

In a similar way, God gives us His words in scripture to fill us, nourish us, and  sustain us. When we allow His words – His words of love, peace, forgiveness,  mercy, and joy – to permeate our very being, these virtues affect us and they influence how we live. They spill out of us in our words and actions, which spread His love and peace to the people around us (see Galatians 5:22-23). We are then  moved to thank God for His words and His gifts. That is how His words of love and  peace return to Him: they return to Him through our attitudes, words, and actions  toward each other, and in our thanks and praise to Him. 

God created us; He loves us. He speaks to us through His words. What He says to  you may be different from what He says to someone else. How do we hear Him?  One way is for us to read short passages of scripture using a simple practice called  lectio divina. This method allows us to focus on just a few words to see what God  wants to say to us through them: 

Read. Pick a short passage and read it slowly and thoughtfully. (Some people like  to start with a few verses from the Psalms.) What word or phrase captures your  attention?  

Reflect. Dwell on that word or phrase for a little while. What thoughts come to  mind?

Respond. Respond to God from your heart. Speak to God of your feelings and  insights about this word or phrase. Ask Him any questions that come to mind. Rest. Sit quietly in God’s presence, and listen. You may not ‘feel’ anything  happening. Just savor the quiet time. When you feel the time is right, end the  session with a simple “thank You” to God. 

Instead of merely reading a lot of words, following this practice slows us down and opens our hearts to what God may be trying to tell us. Allowing His words to  ‘soak into us’ inspires us to live with deeper love. 

We came from Him.  

He wants to speak to us.  

Listen to Him and His words: “I love you more than you can know” (see Ephesians  3:16-19). 

“Now return to the Lord your God, 

For He is gracious and compassionate, 

Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness 

And relenting of evil.” 

(Joel 2:13) 

PRAYER: “Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening” (see 1 Samuel 3:10). 

This article is a personal reflection by Gina Bedell © 2021. It and other reflections written by her  invite the reader to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer,  additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other persons who may guide the  reader to a deeper faith and understanding of God’s love and will for their life. 

The Purpose of Lent

(February 17, 2021) “Teach us to discipline our wills and follow, Lord, Your way.”

From the hymn, “These Forty Days of Lent”

Lent is a time Christians set aside to prepare for the joyous celebration of Easter. Much like the discipline a student, athlete, or musician puts himself or herself through to achieve a desired goal, the discipline of Lent strengthens us spiritually. For 40 days, Christians are called to pray, fast, and give alms in order to experience God’s immense love more profoundly and then share that love with others. My dear late mother-in-law used to say, “I love Lent. It makes us stronger.”  

When we were kids, the standard question was, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Yet the goal of Lent is not to see if we can make it all the way to Easter without eating chocolate or watching TV; its purpose is not to give us Friday fish fries. Giving up something good won’t make us better people, but it might make us stronger. For example, if we want to eat a burger on a Friday and then we stop and think, “Oh, wait. It’s Lent,” that’s a reminder to us that we’re trying to grow spiritually. This reminder might later help us to, say, bite our tongue instead of curse at a driver who cuts us off. 

Still, Lent is less about what we do and more about what we allow God to do in us. Our praying, fasting, and almsgiving during these 40 days help us move thoughts of God and His love for us from the back of our mind to the front. It’s about being more mindful about how we spend our time and use our God-given talents. It’s about doing without and remembering that many people go without every day – and then allowing God to give us the strength to share more of what we have with those in need. It’s about letting God move us out of our slothful routines and our old unloving ways of doing things

Think about the attention we give to our highway driving when we’re traveling to a new destination versus when we’re going for a routine drive.  When we’re traveling to somewhere new, we don’t just get in the car and go; we take time to prepare.  We use a maps app to find the best route to take. We set the GPS and keep our eyes alert for signs, telling us when it’s time to exit or make a turn. Our attention is sharp and we’re focused on the journey.  On the other hand, when we’re driving somewhere that we’ve been to many times before, we’re more nonchalant. We don’t prepare as much and we don’t use the GPS. We settle into our seat, set the cruise control, and casually follow the cars in front of us. We pay attention to traffic but don’t have to watch for signs too closely. Sometimes we don’t even think about where we’re going and might lose track of where we are between signs. 

In a similar way, maybe spiritually we’ve been coasting along for some time. We’ve been operating on cruise control, set in a routine, trying to be good people and live good lives. We haven’t done anything terribly awful to anyone – and we haven’t done anything exceptionally great for anyone, either. Maybe we’ve stopped thinking about God’s immense love for us. Maybe we’ve become lukewarm and lethargic in how we treat the people around us. Maybe we’ve forgotten about giving to those in need. 

Lent is a time for us to drive, spiritually, more deliberately. It’s a chance for God to show us signs we hadn’t seen before. Here are just a few examples; we all have our own ideas we can add to this list:

If we take a few moments in the morning to thank God for another day and ask Him to be with us, we may notice blessings in our day that have always been there but we never paid attention to.  

If we take a moment in the evening to write down what was good about our day, we may notice more things to be grateful for.

If we choose to give up griping, we may find it takes just a little effort – not heroic effort -- to be patient with our spouse or a coworker.

If we decide to look for opportunities to compliment someone each day, we’ll find something worth complimenting.

If we set aside time each day to read a page from a devotional, we may become more aware of God’s presence and power in our life. Here are two of the many devotionals available online: https://www.morningoffering.com/

https://www.guideposts.org/faith-and-prayer/daily-devotions

In her reflection titled, ’Give Lent a Chance to Change Your Life Forever,’ Regina Brett makes some beautiful statements about Lent:

“Lent doesn’t have to be a 40-day guilt trip or an endurance test. We could make it a 40-day gratitude journey and spend 40 days practicing that greatest commandment of all: Love… Make it something with meaning that will make your life or someone else's better.”

I encourage all of us to read her inspiring piece, in which she gives many practical suggestions on making Lent more meaningful:

https://www.reginabrett.com/blog/40-days-to-give-lent-a-chance-to-change-your-life-forever?fbclid=IwAR0tDOnJyxqsokvIEb21FH-VS0isfClyw1Dck4J-hybX4W02FLdWxo1R-AY

Regina Brett is one of my favorite authors and is from our area. I highly recommend her books, including Be the Miracle and God Never Blinks.

God loves us so much that He wants to spend eternity with us (see John 3:16). He sends us His Spirit to guide us and bring us closer to Him (see John 14:15-21).  So let’s turn off the cruise control of our lives and, instead, take advantage of the 40 days of Lent to receive God’s love, strength, and power that He wants so much to give us.  

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, 

but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

2 Timothy 1:7

PRAYER:

“Lord, thank You for these 40 days to draw closer to You and each other. We ask You to accompany us on our journey through Lent so that, strengthened by its discipline, we may celebrate Your resurrection triumphantly on Easter morning.”

This article is a personal reflection by Gina Bedell © 2021. It and other reflections written by her invite the reader to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other persons who may guide the reader to a deeper faith and understanding of God’s love and will for their life. 

A Simple Reminder

(February 10, 2021) How cool is it that the same God who created mountains and oceans and galaxies  looked at you and thought the world needed one of you, too? (Author unknown) 

This quote is a fresh expression of a fundamental truth many of us learned as  children, a statement that might be good for us to recall -- especially now, in the dead of winter during a pandemic: 

God created us because He loves us. 

We’ve heard this a million times, right? Has it become ‘old news’ for you? If so, I  invite you to ponder its reality. Wherever you are spiritually, emotionally, or  physically, stop for a moment and remind yourself of this fact: You did not come  into being as a random act of science. You were created by God; you were created in His image and likeness (see Genesis 1:26-28).  

Imagine God smiling with delight as He thought of you and loved you so much  that He wanted to create you. Imagine Him carefully selecting everything from  your eye color to your temperament. He gave you a unique combination of strengths, weaknesses, quirks, and personality traits that fit together in a special  package called YOU! There never has been and never will be another YOU! 

Imagine, if you will: After God created you, He cradled you in His arms, hugged you tightly and wrapped you in His love. This love is so deep and so powerful that  it permeated every cell of your body and made your heart swell. And then God said, “Now I will bless My child with the gift of life.” And He held you close to  Himself and breathed His life into you.  

And it doesn’t end there, not for you or me or any of us! Throughout our life,  whether or not we’re aware of it or even wanting it, God always loves us. He shows us His unending love through the gifts of His creation. He blesses us with each other. He invites us to seek Him out in prayer. He gives us the capacity to  learn, grow, and adapt as we find ways to contribute to our part of the world. He 

allows us to have victories and defeats, and He promises to be with us through all  of them (see Joshua 1:9, Matthew 28:20, Romans 8:38-39). 

So tap into your inner child and remind yourself: God made YOU because He  loves YOU! 

“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) 

“We are His handiwork.”  

(Ephesians 2:10) 

This article is a personal reflection by Gina Bedell © 2021. It and other reflections written by her invite  the reader to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual  reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other persons who may guide the reader to a deeper faith  and understanding of God’s love and will for their life. 

The Game of Life

 

(February 3, 2021) Life is a lot like football. (Hey, I have three brothers! I ‘get’ the game!) With the  Super Bowl coming up, now seems like a good time to make some comparisons. 

Each team is one unit, yet each teammate contributes his own talents to the shared mission of scoring points. On offense, players pass, catch, and run with the  ball to move it down the field toward the goal line. As individuals they are  powerless – what good does it do to pass the ball if there’s no one there to catch  it? So they strengthen each other by working together, and that makes the whole  team more powerful. They also stop to huddle on a regular basis, which gives  them the chance to regroup, strategize, and encourage one another to do their  best to advance the ball.  

Football is a rough game; the offense expects the defense to attack and fight to  overpower them. The offense uses the huddle to try to anticipate how the  defense will attack so they aren’t caught by surprise.  

In life, our goal isn’t to score touchdowns but to love and serve God and love our  neighbors as well as we love ourselves (see Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew  25:34-40). We also are part of ‘teams.’ We may have a spouse and family, our  work, church, neighborhood, clubs, and organizations. Maybe these teams’ purposes and activities differ, but they all give us opportunities to contribute our  gifts and talents to the common goal of living in loving service. 

How do we do this? We strengthen our offense by working together, and we  meet on a regular basis – kind of like huddles. Huddles for our work and  community groups include meetings and rehearsals. Family huddles include setting aside time to listen to each other and sharing meals. Huddles to  strengthen our spiritual resolve include making time for private prayer,  participating in church services, and receiving the sacraments. (Even participating via live-stream because of COVID can strengthen us and boost our feeling of  belonging.)

And, just like in football, life can be rough. There are evils in the world that will attack us and fight to overpower us. They’ll use all kinds of tactics to stop us from loving and serving others. They’ll try to get in the way of our efforts to strengthen our ‘offense.’ We know this, and so we shouldn’t be surprised when it happens.  We should expect these challenges as part of life (see John 16:33). 

So let’s stay focused on the goal of living in love and service to God and our  neighbors. Let’s huddle with our teams regularly to regroup, encourage each  other, and pray for God’s wisdom, guidance, and power. With God on our team,  we know we’ll win in the end. 

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” 

Romans 8:31 

This article is a personal reflection by Gina Bedell © 2021. It and other reflections written by her  invite the reader to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer,  additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other persons who may guide the  reader to a deeper faith and understanding of God’s love and will for their life.