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A Letter From a Mom to a Daughter with dyslexia
I was given this letter by a friend who is a mom, who wanted not only her daughter to see it, but others parents, and their daughters. For all of us who have kids who are outside the norm, it is an encouragement to love them, care for them and hunt for the teachers who will do the same. Thank you!
My Daughter,
There is a picture of you I keep at my desk, a beautiful bubbly blue eyed girl with golden curls. You are standing in the sun eyes closed head tilted toward the sky. It seems as though you are trying to absorb the sun and you look like pure joy. Every time my eyes gaze upon it, it fills my heart with joy. But that joy is fleeting because I know now what was to come. From the moment you were born, and they laid you on my chest I knew that you were going to be a force in this world. You have amazed me with some of the things you have done in your life. At the age of two, you hopped on a bike with no prior experience or even training wheels and rode off down our cul de sac with all the confidence in the world. By age four you were asking me things that I couldn’t answer, like how radio waves worked, how you even knew what a radio wave was at that age has always surprised me. At seven you were rollerblading and skateboarding with amazing balance, and when you got on skies at 17 for the very first time, you tackled the highest slope with the skill of someone who had been skiing their whole life.
When it was time for kindergarten you weren’t scared in fact, the excitement you had was contagious, and I knew just how amazing you were going be. After all, you were clearly very intelligent.
Kindergarten was full of fun and learning new things, but even then, I could tell something was off. The teacher told me you were just a little slow in learning new things. That wasn’t true I knew that in my gut, but I listened to them and took their word for it. First grade proved to be even more difficult for you, and you started to notice that you were different. At seven you asked me why you were stupid. My heart broke into a million pieces, and even though I assured you that you were smart I could see that you didn’t believe me. They told me to hold you back so that you could catch up to the other kids and fearing this would only make you feel dumber I decided to take you to a fancy private school that promised they could “fix” you. Thankfully you flourished there emotionally, but academically you only grew further behind. By the fifth grade you were having anxiety attacks and teachers started to complain about your behavior. You would often hide in the bathroom in favor of going to class. I fought with them, I tried to make them see what I could see in you, I wanted them to see just how intelligent you really were. Nothing I did seem to work, and I could see in your eyes the light beginning to become duller and duller with each passing year. Each time you would bring home a piece of paper that said, “Try harder” or “Did you even STUDY”? in big angry red letters or when teachers would say things to you like, “You should know the answer to that” when you tried asking them questions, and with every bad grade on your report card I could see your confidence evaporating. Those teachers who had the power to lift you up were slowly breaking you down. My heart ached for you. It was as if one day I had this bubbly girl excited about the world and all of its possibilities and the next I looked into your eyes and the light had gone out, you were covered with scars from torture you inflicted upon yourself, and I knew that your soul was full of scars too. I failed you and I am full of regret for not finding the answer in time for you to have not felt like a such a failure. School should have been a wonderful experience for you and instead it was torture.
Today we know the answer to your struggle, Dyslexia. We know that you weren’t just a little slower to develop, but that your brain just works differently. We know that it is because of dyslexia that you have amazing athletic abilities and can remember the words to practically every song you have ever heard. It is because your brain is wired differently that you have such a big imagination and a knack for conversing like an adult even from a very young age. It is not a disadvantage when someone receives the help they need, it is just a difference.
My Dearest Daughter, I want you to know that every time I sit across from one of my students, every time I see their pain, every time I see them struggling to fit in, it is your face I see. Every time a fellow teacher tells me that a child is just slow, or when I hear teachers say they just need to try harder or they are lazy, it is your face I see. It is a fight I choose to fight not only for them but also for you. The reason I get up in the morning is to be the voice for those who don’t have one and deep down it is your voice I am hoping the world hears. Your reach in the world if far greater than you will ever know. In the faces of the Wade’s, the Abigail’s, the Sydnie’s and the Ryan’s the Rachel’s and the Caden’s is your face. As your mother I will never stop trying to heal your soul. As a teacher I will never stop trying to protect theirs from being scarred.
Love Your Mother
one last thing… if this letter resonated with you… please hit like…and let others know as well…it took a lot for my friend and her daughter to make this journey, and dedicate her lives to those who are making it as well, the other daughters and sons, parents, and teachers. God Bless all on the journey!
Do I love My Neighbor Enough to…
God, who am I?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. Romans 1:32 (NLT)
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Galatians 6:1-3 (NLT)
19 My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, 20 you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. James 5:19-20 (NLT)
We must indeed meekly bear with our friend in his imperfections, but we must not lead him into imperfections, much less imitate his imperfections ourselves. But I speak only of imperfections; for as to sins, we must neither occasion them, nor tolerate them in our friends. It is either a weak or a wicked friendship to behold our friend perish and not to help him; to see him die of an abscess, and not to dare to open it with a lancet of correction, to save his life.
I am preaching this weekend on Jesus’ direction to us to really love those around us, even our enemies. To be so committed to people that we won’t even consider what we sacrifice to help them. To be so dedicated to what is best for them, that we don’t look at the impact on us.
But before we get to loving our enemies, I need to consider whether I really love my friends, and those I claim to love.
Given the passages above, it is not as easy a question as I would like to think.
Do we love our friends enough to rescue them from sin? To bring them back when they wander away from the truth?
Are we willing to see the relationship deep enough to where they know our love and care enough to respond when we ask them to confront the demons that assail them and allow them to do the same for us?
Or will we ignore the sin that so easily takes us captive, the temptations that so distract us from the presence and grace of God? Will we even let our friends think we approve of their sin? ( or will we simply abandon them in their sin?)
I think, more than we want to admit, that we need to repent, so that we can encourage their repentance.
So that we can hear the answer, together, to our cry,
“Lord,, have mercy on us, for we have sinned, and need your healing touch.”
Francis de Sales, Saint. An Introduction to the Devout Life. Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, 1885. Print.
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
Ezekiel 33:7-9
† In Jesus Name †
May the peace of God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ be your sanctuary, your refuge, and may you always welcome the journey there!
Cain’s question should haunt us….
There is something special about having friends and family around us. We see that today, as some have come long distances to help their friends celebrate forty years of marriage.
But there is a challenge for family and friends as well, for no one can disappoint us, no one can hurt us, no one can challenge our ability to love, as much as they do. It seems like it has always been so, well not always. Once Adam and Eve screwed up in the garden though, there has always been tension in families, and among friends.
We see it especially in the relationship of their first two sons, Cain and Abel. The challenge of loving each other was brutally sacrificed to bring some sense of relief to the pain and jealousy that found a place in Cain’s heart.
The reason that I bring him up this morning, is a question he once asked of the Lord.
Am I my brother’s keeper?
The son of man hears the answer to Cain’s question, and the answer is found in our Old Testament reading today.
7 “Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me.
Yes, we are to work to keep your brothers safe… for if something happens to them and they are unaware, the passage from Ezekiel tells we are held responsible.
That is a heavy burden, yet is our mission in this life.
The Apostle John wrote about this as well:
20 If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God whom we have not seen if we do not love others, whom we have seen. 21 The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also. 1 John 4:20-21 (TEV)
We have to be watchmen for each other…we have to warn each other, as best as we can, for this is the will of God.
We have to care for the wicked folk too!
As we look at Ezekiel’s watchman, it helps to make the connection between the words watchman and keeper. It’s the same word in Hebrew, to guard them. TO be on guard is to work for the safety and peace of those entrusted to your care. A peace and safety corrupted and destroyed by sin.
But note in the Old Testament reading, those entrusted to the watchman’s care are called the people of Israel. They are named, appropriately, after the one whose name means to struggle with God. Not after Abraham, the father of Nations, or Isaac, laughter, but Jacob/Israel, the one who wrestles, who fights God.
It goes on to say that these we care for are wicked, and are certain to die unless they change their ways.
Great description of the people we have to keep safe! Oh wait – he’s describing the people of God. Uhm, that means the description could very well be of us.
Wicked here means those who are guilty, those who have violated either God’s law or His will. Scary thought, if that is the definition of evil. Do we realize we embrace evil when we sin? Paul said it this way,
29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. Romans 1:29-31 (NLT)
All those people are evil, right? Do you hear that it includes those who gossip and quarrel? That it includes those who are proud and boastful? What about those who do not show kindness or mercy?
It is them we are called to warn that certain judgment is coming.
Some of you may contend that the watchman are just the Old Testament prophets, and maybe the apostles and evangelists of the New Testament. We might bristle a bit when we realize it includes the pastor, and that it could include deacons and vicars and elders.
But what if I said that each of one you is called to care, to help your brothers and sisters stand firm in the love of Christ Jesus?
That keeping them, guarding them in Christ by warning them is what we do, because we are called to love them? Think about it for a moment, is it loving to allow someone to do harmful actions? Maybe we can’t prevent them, Ezekiel seems clear about that, but we can call them to repentance. We can call them back to Christ. We can love them that much because He loved us!
Let this mind be in you…. Which is in Christ!
So what do we do with our past? What can we do when we screw up and fail? What do we do with our sin?
What do we do with those times when we failed to be our brother’s keeper, to serve Him as a watchman? When we’ve allowed them to be in bondage to sin without warning them, or when we failed to call them to repentance? When we’ve failed as watchman, guards, and keeping them safe? What about when we’ve rejoiced that they got what they deserved, ignoring our responsibility to call them to trust God?
Well, we don’t “do” something. We listen.
When we confessed it we need to listen and hear of the faithfulness of Jesus to forgive us, and to cleanse us of that sin. Maybe we need to hear His absolving us again. Maybe we need to hear the words of our baptism, that we are united with His death and sin has died to us. We need to hear that His blood was shed, His body broken, that we would live forgiven. We need to hear (and therefore proclaim) His death, until He comes again.
You see, ultimately, this prophecy is about Jesus as well. He is our watchman, our guardian; He is our brother who is our keeper. He is the one who warns us, and makes possible the very repentance, the change of heart and mind that repentance is.
That is why Acts talks of repentance being granted to the Gentiles, even as it was to the apostles and disciples who were Jewish.
He’s called you out of wickedness, into a life filled with hope, with goodness, with joy as we see Him at work. As we see Him take people that are gossips and haters and do not show mercy, who struggle with God, and re-create them into children of God.
This is why the cross happened; this is why He died, taking on the burden of the death and condemnation that awaited us.
That is how a brother acts towards his brothers and sisters. He sacrifices Himself, so that they may live. That is what it took to get our attention, to reveal not just the existence of God, but His love for us.
For our brother, our Lord, Jesus our savior is our watchman – He is the One who is our Keeper, as He keeps us firm our heart and mind in the peace of God our Father. AMEN!
Forgiveness is Not A Learned Action or Skill
Devotional Thought of the Day:
6 For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. 7 It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may even be that someone might dare to die for a good person. 8 But God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! 9 By his blood we are now put right with God; how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God’s anger! 10 We were God’s enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ’s life! Romans 5:6-10 (TEV)
804 That friend of ours with no false humility used to say: “I haven’t needed to learn how to forgive, because the Lord has taught me how to love.” (1)
There are times where I am amazed by the simplicity and truth in St. Josemaria’s writings.
A lot of ministry deals with reconciliation, bringing back together, and balancing out that which is broken. It might be reconciling the relationship of a married couple who have “fallen out of love”. Or reconciling a church that has too long buried conflict, thinking that if they ignored it, they could all get along. OR reconciling someone who is so burdened and oppressed by sin, that they cannot even imagine that they could be forgiven.
Reconciliation begins with forgiveness, which is where the healing starts.
But forgiveness, true forgiveness, where we ask that God doesn’t count their sin against them, (and therefore neither do we) is difficult or hard, or at least it seems to be. It seems to be unnatural, something we have to be forced to do. Our hearts cry against it, saying things like, I will forgive, but I won’t forget. It requires we give up our right for revenge, we lower our defenses, we acknowledge that this could happen 7 times 70 minus one more time.
Forgiveness leaves us weak and defenseless, or so we fear. It leaves us anxiety ridden, as we await the next blow. If it is not real, but if forgiveness is simply an act, it leaves us grumbling and ready to complain to whomever will listen, and assist us in self-justification. We can even justify ourselves by pointing out that while we’ve forgiven them, they haven’t done anything to reconcile the situation.
Forgiveness can’t be done simply because it is commanded. It is not a matter of obedience and discipline in its own right. There has to be something in us, that causes us to desire forgiveness, to desire to find that reconciliation, to give up all of our rights, in order to do what is best for the other person.
Forgiveness is impossible, without love.
Deep, abiding love.
The kind that acts like superglue in our relationships.
If we love them, we will seek what is best for them, which includes the forgiveness of every sin.
St. Josemaria has it right, if we love them, as Christ loves us, it is not a matter of needing instruction, or even being commanded to forgive, to reconcile with them. We become like Paul, willing to sacrifice anything, in order that they would be reconciled to God, for that is what forgiveness is about as well. Asking that the Father not hold them accountable, asking that God forgives them. Forgiveness and reconciliation become what we are naturally compelled to do, as we love them.
Which means we have to know Christ’s love first. We have to see this in action, and more importantly know that we’ve been forgiven this way. Romans 5 above has to become so integral to us, we have to realize what it means that God loved us, and therefore forgave us, and made His home among us who sinned against Him.
It is that love of His, which we are embraced in, that leads us to know the joy of having sin removed, of having guilt and shame done away with, that brings us to the joy He sought for us, the joy that He shares in, as reconciliation is not just a word, but a reality. We are loved, we are free to love in return, all else is shed.
In that moment, loved by God, we find that forgiveness doesn’t take strength of character, it simply is the natural action of one who loves, as they are loved.
Thankful for many friends… whose love for me demonstrates their faith.
Devotional Thought of the Day:
34 I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. 35 It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognise you as my disciples.John 13:34-35 (NJB)
I spent five days this week with other servants of God at a deacons conference and then at a pastor’s conference.
Saw a lot of old friends, many of who showed interest in how I was doing with my father’s death two weeks ago.
I came home to folks in crisis… not my family but those in my church family. It’s been a hard morning – a very hard morning.
But for 5 friends – my wife, a young pastor, a vicar, a deacon, and a friend who gave to me the most precious gift you can give a pastor. A friend who let me be her pastor… who let me speak to her of God’s grace. That takes a sense of God’s love and trust that is incredible and is a blessing.
You see, loving each other isn’t just about the kind words and deeds whcih we usually count as showing love. It is equally loving, even more loving, to let someoen in close enough to see your hurts, your pains, your embarassment and ask – is God still with me? Not that we don’t know this in our heads, but our hearts so deperately need to hear this as well. It takes great amounts of love to let people in, to let them care about you, to let a pastor, pastor you.
And to do so, letting me in, trusting God to work thorugh me… is one of the greatest ways to show love.
So in these days… I am thanking God for many… but especially for the friends who not only call me pastor… but let me…
a very precious gift you give me…
God Bless….
D†
In Trouble? Call Collect!
Call Collect!
Romans 10:8-13
† IHS †
May you realize the grace and peace given to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, and may your life reveal it to our broken world!
If you get in trouble, call collect!
I still remember hearing the words, as I went out the door on February 13, 1981, my gosh, 32 years ago this week. I had just gotten my license two days before, and as I left the house, to go pick up my buddy John Cartier and the two girls that were supposed to go skating with, I heard these words…
“if you get into trouble, remember – you can call us collect!”
So I hopped in my first car, a very fast Pontiac Astra – and headed out, not thinking about the words much.
As I was writing this sermon, I was thinking how odd it is this sermon illustration has run its course – the people younger than 30 will never understand it! The kids today can call on their cells, text, even drop pictures of the car with the flat tire. Or skype their parents – even if they are on the other side of the world! I mean – when was the last time you saw a pay-phone anyway?
Calling collect? Wow – that was a big thing back then! It cost so much money! It was only for emergencies, or perhaps, to call a grandparent on a birthday.
That was the big thing about it – being given the assurance that my parents would help – or at least try to help if I found myself in trouble. Even if it meant I was calling collect from whatever problem I would find myself. They would be there. Looking back – a very special promise.
If you need to be saved…
Do you? That’s the walk of Lent!
The irony of a 40 day temporary change!
Generally, there were only two reasons to call collect in the old days. Incredibly joyous news, or oh boy, were you in trouble. Cell phones and skype are used now – the incredible technology we only dream of in comic books back in the day.
But you can still call collect if you are in trouble, matter of fact at county jail that is the only way you can call someone, I hope you all never find out how very, very expensive it is.
As we look at Paul’s epistle today, there is a similar call that is encouraged. As Paul tells us, “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved!”
It is logical- that if you call on someone to save you, that there is something serious going on, and it isn’t a good thing! Especially for us guys – because we will take something that is a minor problem – and before we call someone else for help – we have turned it into a major crisis.
That is so often with the sin in our lives, as one sin leads to another sin, and rather than confess our sin, we end up creating a major war. Even so, one sin is enough to render us broken, one crisis caused by someone else’s sin enough to render us useless.
It is part of our walk during lent, to survey the damage that sin has caused, the problems and divisions, the anger and resentment and hurt, and to realize, just as my parents did – God encourages us to call out to Him –that we may be rescued!
It’s a pretty harsh thing – to look at the brokenness caused by generations of sin, but our generations aren’t innocent either – just the sins of the past months would be a harsh devastation to face for most of us. Yet, looking at such isn’t about creating within us a level of guilt or shame, or disgrace. For as Paul reminds us,
“As the scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced!”
That is the thing about knowing we have the ability to call collect – the assurance that though we are in trouble, we won’t be turned away – that there is almost an expectation that someday, we will be in a situation where our parents, or our close friends, may need to rescue us.
If our parents were so willing to care, how much more does God – who paid the price for our “collect call”, as Christ hung on the cross.
That is what church is about; a bunch of God’s kids reminding each other that God isn’t impossible to get to! That God isn’t going to be upset at us, when we call out to him to rescue us, or to rescue someone else who we care about – to rescues those who’ve we hurt, and even those who have hurt us.
That is what is so incredible, that God knowing our lives, the temptations we would face, the struggles we would have, the sin we would commit, planned and paid for all of our collect calls.
Indeed, it is even our normal thing to call, it is something that God places in our hearts, in our lives, It is the power of the Holy Spirit, working through God’s word, as it is communicated to others, that brings us to the point where we can call. Where, tired of the burdens we bear, tired of the hurts, tired of the stress in our lives and in the lives of those we love… we are compelled to reach out to the hand that has been offered, as we realize the price has been paid for the call…already
Is it time to call?
Generously He Gives
He answers all – Judean and Greek
None are disgraced!
There have been days where I thought that this passage was only about our call to faith, that it was a passage that a pastor or preacher would use at a revival, to assure us that our prayers to be saved would be heard, and having taken care of that, we could go about our lives, joyfully, complete.
We have a Lord who gives generously scripture tells us. A Lord who we can call on as we deal with all the struggles we have in this life, as He answers all of us, no matter our ethnicity, or our age, none who call on His Name – is disgraced. For that is why we’ve been given it – to call upon in need. We can call on Him anytime, in any place, and know that He is there. Ready to show mercy, ready to clean up the mess, ready to heal our brokenness, ready to heal and help us back on the road.
The sermon is short today, with a reason. It’s time to call upon His name – to give us time to call on God’s name – to extend our prayer time out a little, to take Him at His word.
That relieved of all stress, of all burdens, of all the sin and unrighteousness we deal with, and which we think about at this time, that our hearts and voices, undisgraced, can rejoice that indeed, His message, His declaration of love, is indeed on our lips.. and in our hearts.
AMEN.
Related articles
- A Sacrifice for Lent…a broken heart? (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Ash Wednesday (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Pope Benedict’s Full 2013 Ash Wednesday Homily (catholicglasses.com)
- An incredible Lenten Friday Sacrifice – the “safe” distance. (justifiedandsinner.com)
Sainthood
Devotional/Discussion thought of the day….
” Tell Our Lord constantly and sincerely that you desire to be a saint and to do apostolate… Then the poor vessel of your soul will not get broken. And should it do so, it will be put together again and acquire an added attractiveness, and it will continue to be of use for your sanctity and the apostolate.”
This morning, as I prepare for Sunday’s sermon, I am thinking about those I know who have passed away in the prior year, and the names just seem to keep coming.
Some I know well, Warren, Joseph, Shirley, JoAnn, Frank and Peter. Other’s I know of, because I know their families or friends. Janice, Melanie, LaVonne. There are other friends that I still can’t believe are gone, Clyde and Armando, Rich, Richard, Dale, These people make a mark on our lives, and among those names above are some people whose lives spurred an increase in my faith, as I watched them live, even as their bodies were betraying them. The lessons they left me are invaluable – the faith they modeled inspired.
Today is All Saints’ Day, and depending on one’s church traditions, it is celebrated differently. I remember preparing for it as a young student, looking through the lives of saints and seeing how different they were. Francis, Bonaventure. As a Lutheran pastor, we look to those who have gone before us, to join the “great cloud of witnesses” as described in Hebrews 12, or in the words of our liturgy, the whole company of heaven. It is rare that in reciting that line that I don’t think of some of the names above, or other names that have impacted my life over the years.
But if there is a reason to consider those who have gone before, it is to remember how God sustained them. How God worked through them in so such diverse ways. Some where, as the quote from St Josemarie notes above – broken, yet in their brokenness, they found God’s beauty in ways we can never explain, except to agree – it demonstrated how God had set them apart, how God had made them holy, and how that holiness was such that it called people to them. As we see what God did through them, even though they were bed-bound, even thought their bodies were broken, we realize that God can do such in our lives, He can and does work to heal our brokenness. He can bring us into places, where we are His representatives, His apostles, brought there to share His mercy and grace.
We are called to be holy, we are called to be saints. we are called to be His children.
Learn to desire it, looking to those who have seen it happen in their own lives, imitate them, even as they imitate Christ.
Lord, teach us that you do have mercy on us, even as You had mercy on those who have gone before us….
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1413-1415). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Golf and the Art of Discipleship
Devotion/Discussion thought of the day…
It’s after 2 o’clock and I am finally writing this entry, because I went golfing with a good friend and his son – both of who are much better golfers than I ( I also had some visits to make… please keep my friend Brenda in your prayers – she’s awaiting some reduction in swelling so they can remove her gallbladder..) I had planned to be back here around 10- – but life happens.
A s I was playing golf, it caused me to contemplate on our lives as disciples of Jesus, as those who try to walk with Him, imitate him (or imitate those who serve Him imitating Him). Far too often, my concentration isn’t enough – and though I hit off the tee well, and onto the green, I end up three putting. Or maybe my weight issues cause some imbalance in my swing – and off goes the ball into the trees. And sometimes, on the hole that appears to be the hardest, we relax knowing we can’t make it – and instead hit it perfectly, and find ourselves wondering why we can’t do this – every swing, every time.
It’s that Romans 7-8 thing – the things I want to do – I can’t manage to – the things that I don’t want to do – dang it that’s just going to happen (like on the 7th and 9th hole – where I hit the ball into the same spot in the same exact sand trap!!!!) So often in my Christian life – oh does that happen – I sin and can’t avoid it, I get frustrated because I can’t play like Tiger or Phil, I can’t seem to overcome the sins and anxieties caused by not trusting in God.
As the round ends, as you enjoy a diet coke (or a beer – but we were playing to early for that) , the game fades away, as you remember the laughs, the companionship, and realize what a great time you had – kicking back in the sun, enjoying the trees and the silly squirrel that wanted to attack the ball. That’s what makes the day – not the frustration of averaging a double eagle. So to – at the end of the day, as we realize that our bad “putts” and hooks have been forgotten, as we enjoy the day in the presence of our Father in heaven… as we realize that He just enjoys the walk with us – and He’s the One who judges whether the day was a success, or not – that’s life.
Don’t take the game seriously – enjoy the companionship, the fellowship… with the One who for joy endured the cross, and for laughs let us invent golf…..
