Give

Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give unto your bosom. Luke 6:38

This is one of those verses that tend to get memorized early in a Christian walk.  I've known it for years.  What follows are some musings on this verse as I meditated it during one of my runs.  (side note - still not sure I can call what I do running :) Still doing it by faith though).
Give:  this is my job, and actually the only job for me in this verse.  I can give every day - time, money, kindness, help, words...I also give what I have to give.  It doesn't have to have lots of zeros or get on the 6:00 news to be a gift.  My job is to give what I can, when I can, and do it with the right heart.


And it shall be given unto you:  here I receive - simple.



Good measure:  a good measure is a couple things.  It can be a lot.  Lots of gold coins is a good measure. A hand full of pennies not so much so.  It could also be just the right amount.  A good measure of something will make the recipe, pay the bill, put gas in the car, build a house, etc.  If I need 2 gallons of paint to paint my bedroom and I have 1.5 gallons - that is not a good measure.

Pressed down:  Having recently turned veggie (another blog topic, I'm sure) I know that when you use tofu it is recommended that you press the water out of the block.  Pressing releases things and creates a better product.

Shaken together:  I have been baking bread.  I was always taught that when you measure flour you shouldn't shake it down in the measuring cup because that will pack it down and you will have too much!  I would a little "too much" in some areas of my life!

Running over:  What would you like to "run over" in your life?  Money?  Jobs?  Love?  Patience? Laughter?  Running over is the ultimate gift.  I have enough for me and I can give the run over away.  Kind of like living off the interest. 

And so the cycle repeats itself.  If I can begin to invest in giving - at every level - I can begin to receive at every level.

Here's to giving!

Hail to the Chief!

Sometimes you just have to step up and do what's right even if it's something that you never imagined you would do.  This is how I found myself as union president this year.  Now anybody who knows me even a little can only imagine the step of faith I am taking to accept this role.  For one thing - I have never had any union experience nor do I have any family history of involvement.  I am a life long conservative Republican (most of the time) and until 5 years ago, I had never worked anyplace that had a union.


Enter my new favorite verse - I can do all things through Christ!  I have already had more meetings, spoken with more people, worked late, and dug into issues that 3 months ago wouldn't even have made me blink!  Do I anticipate a major life philosophy change due to my new role?  Not really.  I hope that I can put God's stamp on an already great organization by being faithful, honest, hard-working, and courageous.  As one who has spent most of her time behind the scenes where it's comfortable, I do think I will cover a lot of new ground this year.

Christians - let's not be afraid of the world but let's get in there, get our hands dirty (not our hearts) and make a difference.

I really can do all things.

Philippians 4:13.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. This is the year I live this verse, not just quote it.  Let me explain:  I have been a Christian since September 27, 1984.  I have lived a good life and done many things.  I serve in the church and have served faithfully for many years.  What's the big deal?  I'm living my "good" Christian life in the shadows, behind closed doors, in the walls of the church, and in my private life.  This year I want to live as a Christian in front of the world.  You see, it's easy to be "on fire for God" when I'm by myself with 4 bible translations and a concordance spread out before me.  My question to myself is this: "What do people see?"  Am I doing what Jesus would do, saying what He would say?  So this is an opportunity for me to practice what I have preached and believed for the last 26 years. Come what may - I'm about to go viral!

I love the first 4 chapters of Proverbs.  One of my favorite verses is 3:8 .  In the Message it reads as follows:  Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!  Now I have been meditating on this verse for some time, rejoicing in the fact that if I know the word and live the word I will be so healthy even my bones will vibrate with life.  That is an amazing picture to me.  Of course, like many people, I have a lot of health and fitness knowledge but I haven't always maintained the ship - if you know what I mean...  Since I want to live my life by faith I have been working on hearing from God and doing what He says to me. (Yes I really do believe that I hear from God - literally!)  So Saturday morning this is what I heard.  "You need to run."  That's it.  Not "it would be healthy for you to run" or "you need to start exercising."  So I went for a run.  While running I was reminded of the above proverb.  The next thing I heard was "an instrument needs some kind of action to vibrate."  Oh.  You see I have been a lot of a couch potato lately.  It seems that inactivity breeds more inactivity which leads to depression and blah.  Now I'm wondering in how many other areas of my life  I need to put some action to my ideas. 

So this is the starting point of my big blogging experience. As for the title - I want to be able to look back on this year, and every year after, and see that God was right about me when He said I could do all things.  I know He is right, His word is true.  It's time I started living like it, don't you think?