Category: Tolerance

Dear Aunt Nell: Back to School Blessings

9/16/2020

Dear Aunt Nell,
Several of my friends have said they stopped checking social media because in our currently crazy world, it's so negative. I guess that's true a lot of times.

But more often than not, social media gives me the boost I need. Like this week...

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Corners

7/22/2020

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My initiation into serving in an urban elementary school was swift and heartbreaking.

Tossed about by poverty and neglect, Larry's family awaited the arrival of sibling number seven. A mother barely thirty and no baby daddies in sight for any of them, life held few promises.

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Forgiveness by the Number

6/10/2020

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What do you say, Dear Reader, when asked what your hobb(ies) are? That's a tough question for me to answer. I've done school for so many years, I've never landed on anything that kept my attention for long. Or I hadn't until I tried something with my granddaughters.

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You can't be serious!

8/26/2019

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If it's not one thing, it's another! We were finally making progress again on the wall. Meanwhile, we still had to stay on our guard from Sanballat and his "associates", as they liked to call themselves.

Now there's grumbling about corruption in the house. Who had time to make a buck off his brother? You can't be serious!

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Wanted: Financial Folks

7/29/2019

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Many of us are aware of the philanthropic contributions of Oprah, Bill Gates, and the Rockefellers. They've donated millions of dollars to impact the lives of millions through education and health initiatives.

But is that all there is to wealth in our world?

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Zipporah: Called to be more than a pretty face

7/8/2018

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It's hard to live in the shadows. It's hard to try and understand the person you have committed your life to when there are so many missing pieces from his life before he met you. And when his dream is greater than anything you could imagine, how do you keep up?

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WANTED: Losers, Failures, & Freaks

5/14/2018

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Loser! Failure! Freak!

Dear Reader, have those words ever rung in your ears? Maybe they weren't audible, and yet they screamed in your brain. Rejection wears many masks, has endless voices.

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Investment Banking

12/21/2017

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Don't worry, Dear Reader, I'm not stumbling into the minefield of money topics. My friend, Jeanne, has been doing a series about choices, and she got me thinking.

With the new year creeping around the corner, I'd like to share one of our investments that can bring major dividends.

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I Married a Coward

4/27/2017

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I'll admit I have my share of unreasonable fears: heights, speed, snakes, just to name a few. I carry my share of emotional baggage, too, that leads to fears like fear of failure. Who among us is free of faults?

In light of my fears and failures, I wonder if God keeps checklists for our perfect mates. If He does, He certainly went out of His way to ensure I married the man perfectly suited to me. I love Tom to absolute distraction; he brings out the best in me.Then there are other times . . .

When Tom, James, and I took a tour of Western Europe several years ago, Mary said her dad must be the only person to come back thinner. French pastries and Italian delicacies held no charms for Tom. Thank goodness we'd taken along granola bars.

I'm not saying Tom's a finicky eater. but he's afraid to try anything new. Okay, almost anything. And Dear Reader, sometimes it drives me a little crazy.

For years, it seemed like shortly after we found a restaurant we liked, it closed, burn to the ground, or was ruined by flood. I'm not joking. If that wasn't bad enough, Tom seemed mired in mourning their losses instead of discovering new restaurants we might like.

And don't even get me started on tv shows or clothes. If there's a John Wayne western, MacGyver, or M.A.S.H. on, he's there. And probably wearing the same thing he did when they originally came out decades ago.

Foods, restaurants, tv shows, clothing styles . . . Seriously, sometimes I think I married a coward. And then I remember.

I remember how brave he's been through the losses of children, siblings, parents, friends, letting me scream and bawl until I was spent, mindless of his grief.

I think about the times he's followed me into crazy: going back to college when we could barely pay our bills; uprooting our family to move across the state to follow my dream; believing in my calling enough to invest time and money into my journey.

A new dessert, a different style of shirt, oh Dear Reader, how petty my heart and mind are sometimes. And how ungrateful!

I frequently tell Tom that I wouldn't want to be married to me, and it's true. This frail flesh is so selfish and demanding. But Tom loves me anyway, and perhaps that's the bravest thing he's ever done.

May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ toward the other.
Romans 15:5 TLB

Dear Reader, Tom's love for me is the second best gift he's given me. The absolute best gift is the model of unconditional love that gives me a glimpse of the Father's love for each of us.

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Paul's Rx for Anger Management

2/13/2017

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The apostle Paul doesn't mince words in his letter to the Ephesians. He begins chapter four talking about how we are all to work together, recognizing and celebrating each others gifts.

Now Paul really cuts to the chase.

... you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,... 22 Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:17a, 22-24 RSV

Wait a minute, wasn't Paul writing to Gentiles? Yup! And yes, he's telling them to basically abandon their culture, their friends, neighbors, family members, business associates. Our guy, Paul, doesn't make this Christianity thing easy, does he?

But Paul launches into a list of specific do's and don'ts to clarify and help the Ephesians. Most of the items deal with "anger issues".

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My cynical brain wonders if some listening to Paul's letter may have been wondering, "That's just great, Paul. First you tell me to give up my way of life, and nearly everyone I care about. Now you're telling me to get over it. How am I supposed to do that?"

Good thing Paul knew his "audience", even if he doesn't know us, because he breaks it down even further. He gives the Ephesians a 3-step prescription for anger management:

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, ...
* be kind to one another,
* tenderhearted , and
* forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:31-32 RSV

Who doesn't get angry? I know I do (although not nearly as often as I did as a young Christian). A coworker, a child who smarted off once too often, an overworked, underpaid snippy clerk at the store, a spouse who forgot, again, to bring home milk.

Dear Reader, this is one of those passages where I think God is saying, "Look, kids, I know it's hard. But holding on to anger just isn't good for you,or for each other. So here's what I want you to do:

play nice;
cut each other some slack;
forgive and forget."

What do you think, Dear Reader? If we, as Christians, began to practice these prescriptions for anger management a little more consistently, would we begin to see less...

cringing when we read Facebook posts?
road rage?
"reality" tv shows in courtrooms?
bullying?
domestic violence?

God knows His children aren't perfect, that's why He gave us some tools to help us out. Maybe we could stretch the love card and candy companies are making big bucks off of, by promoting Valentine's Day, if we simply take our medicine. The Great Physician is on call 24/7, and His pharmacy never runs out of what we need most.

What makes you angry, Dear Reader? What are your strategies to manage anger? How are you teaching kids in your world to manage anger?

What if we all pitched in to give God a huge box of the kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness? Let's start with receiving God's love, followed by showing His love, and end with giving Him more love than we knew we had.