Moving Forward

Today marks the beginning of advent for Christians, a theme of Hope. I was reminded today how important that message is as it brings themes of patience, love, understanding, and faith. We were reminded by our leader this morning about the story of Zacharias (name meaning “Yahweh remembers”)  and Elisabeth (meaning “God's oath”), both characters in the introduction to the Christmas story and strong examples of this message. It is a story of light appearing in a dark circumstance as Zacharias and Elisabeth were seen as leaders without child, and that was seen, and sometimes still viewed by some, as being a punishment from God.  Late in life they were blessed, prayers answered as they had a child, John, who became a blessing to many people. The message of Christmas begins as a story of hope. As a 42 year old mother of two teenage boys whose parents are divorced, I often feel my family is broken and look around to see so many teenagers from broken homes.  Divo...

This weekend we were challenged to consider the advantages of waiting. Often I find myself criticizing the youth of today and their need for "instant" gratification. However, I am so guilty of the same actions and of not taking time to wait. One of our pastors today was so accurate when he reminded us that we have a lot to learn from the art of waiting. We do live in a culture that lives "on demand", In fact, the great leaders of our world are often called to wait. I think of Nelson Mandela, who continued to choose to learn from his mistakes, sacrificed, and is a prime example to me on the art of waiting. Today we were given the example of Joseph, the great dreamer, forced to wait in prison for 12 years for a crime of which he was innocent, before becoming a leader and fulfilling his purpose in life. We were posed with the following question. What is the opportunity cost to getting what we want, when we want it? I have recently realized that I tend to run...