As it is Father’s Day, I thought I’d write a bit about my Dad.  My Dad has been a teacher for the past 30 + years.  He “retired” seven years ago but has two part-time teaching jobs which keep him busy everyday.  My Dad has been one of the greatest influences in my life, and I wanted to share with him (and you) some of the most important lessons this perennial teacher has taught me over the years.

Lesson One: The Importance of Faith
I was raised in the church.  From the beginning, church was a priority.  If the doors were open, we were there, actively involved in kids groups, choir, missions, bells, etc…  But more than that, it was important to both of my parents that not only were we in church, but that we “got” church.  In our house, we talked about our faith constantly.  After church on Sundays, my dad would ask us what we learned.  It wasn’t a quiz, it was a true discussion.  We’d share, then we’d talk and reflect on what was shared as a family.  My dad encouraged us to go deeper into our faith, to ask tough questions and to ponder the answers.  Even now our conversations are full of biblical study as we continue to question and ponder the mysteries of faith.  If I have a Bible question, I call my dad.  He gets his Bible out and we go through it together, figuring out the answers together.

Lesson Two: It’ll be Okay
Born out of faith, this expression is one of my father’s personal mantras.  Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I call Dad and he assures me with full confidence that, “It’ll be okay.”   And when he says it, I believe him.  My Dad gives me peace of mind and heart, while he takes all of my worries and anxieties upon himself.  He works through my problems, seeks expert advice, then comes back to me with possible solutions for the problem at hand.  No matter how old I get, I know that I will always be my Daddy’s little girl and that, until he takes his last breath, he will be working in my life and the lives of my children trying to “make it okay”.

Lesson Three: Laughter Cures All
In our house, there is laughter.  It doesn’t matter how serious the circumstance, how formal the occasion, we laugh.  My Dad, with his goofy sense of humor, has taught me that you can, and should, laugh at yourself on a daily basis.  And, if I can’t laugh at myself, he will do it for me!! 🙂  Laughter relieves tension, makes impossible situations seem manageable, and keeps you from taking yourself too seriously.  When my sister was younger, she had a lisp.  And, although my parents got her into speech therapy, it didn’t stop us laughing about it.  My Dad and I used to ask her to say my name, which has several “s”‘s in it.  When she’d lisp her way through it, we would all be rolling on the floor.  Mean?  Maybe.  But was my sister embarrassed about her lisp?  No way!  No one could give her more trouble about it than us! 🙂 Laughter cures all.

Lesson Four: Work or Play, Give Your Best Each Day
My Dad’s philosophy on life is to take it by the horns and go.  Work as hard as you play and play as hard as you work.  My Dad’s philosophy on life is that it’s a gift which should be used.  When my Dad works, he gives all of himself.  He builds relationships with his students that last throughout the years.  Students from 25 years ago proudly call him friend.  Growing up, Dad lived at the school.  He taught high school English, History, Speech, Psychology.  He directed the school plays for fifteen years, announced the high school football games for 20, kept stats at the basketball games, coached the golf team to several state placements,  and ran the speech/debate program.  If his students were in the building, he was there.  And, more often than not, so were my sister and I.  The high school was a second home to us, which probably explains why my sister and I love working with teenagers today.

Yet, not only does Dad give 110% at work, he also gives 110% at play.  Growing up, Dad would play golf every day in the summer leaving my sister and I at the pool.  We spent our time splashing around in the water and ordering frozen Snickers bars, cheeseburgers and Shirley Temple’s from the clubhouse bar.  We’d slide back home minutes before Mom got there and scramble to do at least one of the chores she’d left for us that day!  Each summer would also bring a road trip with picnics and museum tours and hours spent scouring old Civil War battlefields.  We got up early and stayed up late, filling each day with memories.

Lesson Five: Love Each Day
Now that I have children of my own, my Dad is helping me to appreciate the beauty of each day.  One of his best and most common pieces of advice is, “Just enjoy it.  You’re going to miss these days when they’re gone.”  And although toddlers are a challenge, there’s a part of me that knows he’s right.  Because, Dad does know best.

I love you, Dad!!
Sara

Heading down to Springfield, Missouri this weekend for Annual Conference–bureaucracy in the name of the Lord!  I’m not sure this is what John Wesley had in mind in the early days of Methodism.  I think he’d prefer a two hour business session and then send people out to continue the work of God.  However, this is the 21st century, and we like meetings.  Wish me luck!  My bottom is already sore just thinking about all of the sitting I’m going to be doing.

I am going to make it a productive session, however.  I’m beginning the process of writing a devotional book using the themes in some of my blog posts.  I printed all of them off, and I have to say it’s kind of cool to be holding a body of work I’ve actually written.  I don’t know that anything will come of it, but writing is a dream I’ve always had and I figure there’s no time like the present! 🙂 

So, what’s your weekend look like?

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

Posting today on being God’s hands and feet at Seeds of Faith today.

See you there!
Sara

As we are going to be gallivanting through the realms of Disney World this week, I asked my fellow bloggy writer and friend Amy Sullivan to guest post this week. Amy has devoted this year and her family to the practice of gracious giving.  And in the process, she has pushed me to think more of and attempt to do more with all that God has given to me.  This post will give all of us mom’s needing things to do a head start for the summer!!  Be sure to check Amy out at  Amy Sullivan!

One of the things you may or may not know about me is that I love shopping.  Don’t worry, I’m not talking about some sort of Confessions of a Shopaholic syndrome.  I never go into “cool” stores.  If Kohl’s doesn’t sell it, then I’m not interested.  And, I refuse to buy anything full price.  That said, shopping can be a recreational activity for me.  So, this past year has been difficult as my shopping ability has been limited to the max.  No money = No shopping.  On the plus side, it’s been an excellent lesson in discipline for me.  And, as Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey says, if you live like no one else now, later, you will be able to live as no one else.  That said, when I was invited to a “Lei Sophia” jewelry party, I knew I was in trouble.

As I was walking out the door of our house, my ever disciplined and self-controlled husband said to me, “Don’t take the checkbook!”  I was okay at first.  I kept reminding myself of our upcoming vacation my in-laws are taking us on and that spending $30.00 here would be $30.00 less to spend at Disney World.  But the more I looked, the more the shopping fiend in me said, “it’s only….., it’s only…..”  However, through it all I stuck with the plan.  I held my ground and didn’t spend anything.  And when the ticket numbers were called for the two doorprizes (necklaces, both) my numbers were called!!  Of course, I only kept one of the necklaces.  And I felt so guilty about not buying anything that I booked a Lei Sophia party for July.  But I have to say, as I slipped that necklace around my neck, I felt like I was getting a little hug from God.  It was as if God was saying, “I know you, my little girl, and I’ve got you covered.”  Silly…yes.  And, if my seminary professors read this they would absolutely cringe at my consumeristic, entitled, Westernized theology.  But in that moment, I felt God speaking.  And the message I heard was, “I love you.”

So tell me, has God given you any little hugs lately?

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

For mother’s day, I thought I’d write a tribute to my mom.  She’s impossible to shop for, always insists there’s nothing she needs.  So, I thought this might be a better gift.  I love you, Mom!!

When I look in my rearview mirror, I see her standing there, a silent sentinel watching, watching, until the van turns a corner and is out of sight.  It has been the same for seventeen years now, ever since I made that first trip from home to college.  My mom, standing on the front porch, watching over her children until she can no longer see them.  A touchstone, a reminder that no matter how far I go Mom is always there, the northern star on which I set my compass.

This is the woman who held my hair back and stroked my face with a cool washcloth every time I was sick, who woke me up with songs in the morning while her fingers gently rubbed my back.  The woman who made Cream of Wheat while singing the Cream of Wheat song on cold winter mornings, who made my lunch even when I could have made it myself, writing my name on the brown bag in black Sharpie marker in her flowing cursive hand.  Another reminder that mom was there, even through the emotional upheaval that is junior high.

This is the woman whose arms are always open to me, who showed me that it’s okay to just need a hug every once in awhile.  The woman who took my hand and led me to stand before my first casket, softly reassuring me that it was okay to cry as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.  “It’s not easy,” she told me over my grandfather’s grave.  “But in this culture, we bury our dead.”  We bury them, but we don’t forget them, making the rounds every Spring to resting places that would otherwise be long forgotten.

This is the woman who taught me that in our house, we do the right thing, no matter how hard, no matter how popular.  The woman who stayed up nights with me, watching while I finished countless papers and projects, who would not let me put off until tomorrow things that could be done today.  The woman who trusted me enough to make the right decisions, but who left post-it notes on the bathroom mirror late at night instructing me to wake her up so she could make sure the choices I had made were, indeed, the right ones.

When I look in my rearview mirror, I see my mother.  She is always there, watching, waiting, letting me go, with the knowledge that her lessons and her love will carry me wherever I need to go.

Thank you, Mom.  I love you!
Sara

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”….A week later, his disciples were in the house again… John 20:19-22, 26

 It’s been one week since Easter Sunday.  One week since the church was full of people smiling, laughing, embracing and singing.  One week since the pews overflowed and the balcony door was thrown open.  One week since the “hallelujahs” and “amens” filled the air and we celebrated God’s victory over the grave.  One week…a lot can change.  On Easter Sunday we celebrate our salvation, we commemorate our freedom from a life of sin and death.  On Easter Sunday we take hope in transformation, both of ourselves and the world through the love of Christ.   On Easter Sunday, we BELIEVE.  Yet, as my husband asked the congregation in his sermon this morning, “Where are you today?”  Where are you one week later?  Do you still believe?

Look carefully at the Scripture passage above.  On the first day of the week, the disciples had a transforming encounter with the risen Christ.  They had been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and were commissioned to go forth and continue the work Jesus began.  They were excited, they celebrated, they BELIEVED!!  Yet, one week later… Do you see it?  One week later the disciples were locked in the house again!!  They had SEEN Jesus, they had TOUCHED Jesus, they had IMBIBED the Holy Spirit and they still didn’t believe enough to LEAVE!!  The disciples were stuck in the muck of their fear and despair.  The chains were broken but they couldn’t bring themselves to open the door and step outside.  A world was waiting, and they were hiding out.  Praise God they didn’t stay stuck in that room forever.  Jesus came back (he always comes back) and sent them forth once again.  But we do the same thing, don’t we? 

For some of us, we find ourselves longing for the freedom Christ brings but are too afraid to step out of ourselves to claim it.  For others of us, we profess to believe in the transforming love of God but fail to take that love out to a world in need.  We leave the miracle of the Resurrection behind us in the sanctuary until next Easter rolls around.  Yet when we do that, we miss the entire point of the story.  Christ didn’t live, he LIVES.  HE LIVES!!  It is now up to us, his disciples, to act like it.

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

I’m posting over at Amy Sullivan’s blog today, as well as Seeds of Faith.  It’s been a busy day!! 🙂

Blessings and Peace,
Sara