MISDIRECTED DIRECTIONS

As I sat by my window, a familiar yellow bus caught my eye. I could not believe it. Summer’s over, I thought.

On Friday evening, I saw bright red and white Santa Claus decorations in the Cracker Barrel. It must be nearly Christmas. Why is it so hot?!

Summer isn’t over and December 25 is not here. I had misread the signs. How often do we not see the guideposts left for us, jump to conclusions, or wander off on a meander path? Do we miss the rest of the season and tumble down hill into winter before the leaves have even turned on the trees?

Discernment is to see the red and green and interpret the colors as product flooding, not a festive noel. Don’t miss the Autumn because you are deceived by the glitz around you. Don’t miss the simple message of Love, introduced and embodied in the Christ, because the world says, “There’s gotta be more ‒ keep seeking, keep buying, keep longing for what is just around the corner.” The God of Love is at hand, take His in yours. Let us pray:

“Father God, lover of my soul, I praise your Holy name. May your kingdom come to earth this very day and dwell within my heart that I may know you as do the angels in Heaven. I ask for discernment that I may not be deceived by what the world calls truth, beauty, and contentment. Only you know what is true love and a fulfilling life. Forgive me when I have run after the phantom of happiness that masquerades as a glittering prize that will meet the desires of my heart. True happiness is found in serving you, not in meeting my own selfish needs. Let me see the guideposts you place along my path that I may find the beauty in the present day, the joy in loving others, and the path that leads me home. In the name of Jesus, our escort home, I pray. Amen”
Doris
Copyright 2010 Doris Gaines Rapp, Ph.D.
“God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine.”

GATHER THE STORIES WHILE YOU CAN

She was sitting in the bright August sun when I passed and paused for a moment. “Hi,” I offered then added, “I’m Doris Rapp.”

“Why Doris Rapp,” she smiled as she always did when I have seen her in the last year, “I remember you,” even though her memory was fading. And I thought, but I never wrote down all of the stories you had told me. One day when we were driving through town together, she told me the history of our little community. “Now the people on this street were mostly of German descent and the street over, they were . . .” How I wish I had written down the stories she had told me that day we were just moving about the city.

Write down all you can, while you can, in any way you can. That is what the disciples did more than 2000 years ago. Do you read their eyewitness account over and over, like love letters from the one who loved you most, the very son of God? Each chapter bears witness to truth of God. Read those stories, those Gospels, like someone is whispering in your ear, telling you, “Come my Beloved, learn of me and I will give you eternal life.” Yet some of us say, “Read the Bible? What am I going to get out of it? You’re kidding, right? You get nothing more and nothing less than eternal life from those old stories that are new every day when they are received in truth and stored in the heart. Gather the stories while you can. Let us pray:

“Our Heavenly Father, you loved us so much you sent your own son to save us from ourselves and the sin that is in the world around us. Holy is your name and the name of your son, Jesus. May your kingdom come and make its home in our heart that we may dwell with you even while we tarry a while. Forgive us when we have failed to gather every story of you that has been given to us, like love sonnets written with the finger of God. May the precious words of each line find their home in our heart and fall from our lips like rose petals, spreading your sweet perfume wherever we go. May all glory and honor go to you, dear Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior I pray. Amen.”
Doris
Copyright 2010 Doris Gaines Rapp, Ph.D.
“God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine.”