Five Minute Friday: Ache

An ache, dull and persistent and unrelenting, thrums in my brain.  An ache that throbs away in the background of my days like a heartbeat.  An ache to which I am becoming too accustomed, too complacent.  This ache is not from excess but from absence, like the phantom pain of a missing limb.  They are gone; the words are gone, and I fear they will not return.

For more on the Five Minute Friday topic ACHE, visit thegypsymomma!

Five Minute Friday-- Grit

Isn't it interesting how the thing that wears things down—sand, grit-- is an essential element in holding things together? When coarse, it can scour away great amounts, leaving ruts and scars and pits. But, as the grit becomes finer, those ruts smooth out, those scars fade, until, at its finest, grit polishes what was once dull and rough into some smooth, with a fine sheen. But the grit cannot effect this change on its own. It requires application—the tool of grit must be applied to an object with the appropriate amount of pressure, before, finally, painfully, that sheen gloriously appears.

Wow, rough, rough, rough.  It needs a little grit applied to it, doesn't it?  This is my little contribution to the Five Minute Friday meme. 

Praying for Your Heart's Desire

My sticky-noted copy . . .

Your 100 Day Prayer
John I. Snyder
Thomas Nelson Publishers

“Whether we pray for one day, one hundred days, or one thousand days, let's do it the way God wants us to.”

John I. Snyder

Let's get it out of the way: I really like this book. At this point, I should reveal that I received a review copy of this book from the publisher. I am, however, under no obligation to give a favorable review, even though I shall. I like this book enough to have stuck multicolored sticky notes throughout the book, and I keep picking it up to re-read passages and affix more sticky notes. I will be buying copies (yes, plural) of this book for gifts. Yes, I really like it.


I truly did not think I would since the author, in the chapter called “How To Use This Book,” encourages the reader to ask for anything: health, happiness, even a Lamborghini! That statement elicited a groan and I expected one hundred days of self-centered money-grubbing justified by out-of-context Bible verses. I could not have been more wrong. The author, a Presbyterian minister and founder of online faith community Community321.com, goes directly to the crux of the matter of prayer:

“Do you keep laying your plans at Jesus' feet then picking them up again and trying to do things your way?”

Your 100 Day Prayer is not your usual pop-culture pabulum. It's a combination of a devotional book and prayer journal whose purpose is to lead the believer into praying the way God wants. Beginning with the first day's lesson, called “In the Beginning,” each of the days contains a Scripture passage, a devotional reading, and a prayer goal, just as many other devotional guides do. The real treasure of this little book comes at the end of each day's prayer in a section called “Today's Progress.” This encourages the believer to reflect on the reading and on the prayer experience. This reflective approach leads the believer to examine not only the content of prayer, but the process. The believer is led into more and more substantive practices through sections entitled “The Power of Persistence,” “The Silent Heaven,” and “When God Says No.” The key to this journey is in the transformation of our “heart's desire” from the temporal (a shiny new car?) to the eternal. It leads the believer to the bedrock understanding: believers' hearts should desire that the will of the Father be manifested through them. And that's the prayer God always answers.

While the prayer warrior has already figured out that truth, this book would be helpful to younger believers, especially those who find their prayers seemingly ignored or denied. It would be helpful to the mature believers who may find themselves somewhat “adrift” in their prayer life. Those battling trying times would find it a comfort. I found it a blessing.

Help for a Healing Heart

I'm not sure what I expected from Stained Glass Hearts by Patsy Clairmont. The subtitle, Seeing Life from a Broken Perspective, certainly seemed to apply to anyone who has lived a life which contained disappointments. So, I kicked back, cracked it open, and dug in. To start with, the author's writing style is very, very chatty. I could almost hear her. I really enjoyed, at the end of every chapter, her suggestions for healing activities: Scripture, music, art, literature, museums and the like.

Clairmont is very personable, seemingly very open about her own struggles with agoraphobia. She seems incessantly cheery, almost to the point of being flip. In fact that became a problem for me; I could not imagine sharing such a book with a suffering friend. I almost put it down. But somewhere around the middle, in a chapter appropriately entitled “Stained Glass Prayer,” the author truly let the reading have a glimpse of her broken heart. I began to get a real sense of the caming that holds her broken heart together: “ . . . when we lose our joy, the Spirit replaces it with endurance, that indestructible internal insistence to keep on keeping on.” And so, finally, I saw how the Almighty pieced together her broken heart through prayer, reading, poetry, nature, and grace. That is what I needed to hear.

Would I share this book with a broken-hearted friend? Probably not. But I would certainly share it with one whose heart is healing.

Buttermilk Sky

Candid Camera Moments

Now that the holiday programs in our congregation are finally over (with the exception of Christmas Eve Communion), I'm coming up for air and just had to share a moment from youth/children's program rehearsals.


(Background info: we were in the transition week between an outgoing interim youth director--who was fabulous--and an incoming "permanent" youth director--who seems fabulous--both of whom were in attendance and desperately trying to maintain some sense of order.)

Picture the small sanctuary (seats 300) of a county-seat church with the ENTIRE children/youth department (K-12) working on the program:

Grades K-3 bathrobe shepherds are in one corner,

Grades 1-4 angels are in another corner,

middle/high school youth clearing the chancel to use as a stage,

responsible adults trying to teach lines and staging in the midst of the usual utter bedlam.

In the middle of the chaos, enter the men's sections of the choir (with director and organist) who proceed to rehearse "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come" with the organ because it has a built-in transposer and their program is a week before the youth program.

And when the cacophony had reached its apex, I stopped and looked around for the "candid camera" that just had to be in the corner. It was like some archetypical holiday movie. I couldn't help but laugh and praise the Lord that He does work even in the midst of chaos. Both programs were blessings, each in its own way.

As I write this, I realize that maybe that "candid camera" moment really was archetypical of the way we share God's love in the world. Rarely is the ministry of a congregation the well-designed, thoughtfully-planned, cohesive program we'd like it to be. More often it is like a worn patchwork quilt stitched together that, somehow, despite a few new patches, strained stitches, frayed edges, and holes worn by overuse, still manages to provide warmth and comfort.

So, if you're feeling a little frayed, or strained, or just plain worn out, take a moment to remember that He is with us in the midst of sickness and sorrow and strife and storm and joy.

Peace to you.

The Last Roses of Autumn