Holding hands

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
— Psalms 73:23-24

In kindergarten you learned that the safest way to cross the street was to: stop, look, listen and hold hands with the other person.

Hiking through the woods on a dark night you learned the safest way to navigate the tricky ground was to hold hands with the person who had the flashlight.

No matter the your age, education or profession, when you encountered something new, something different, something you weren’t sure of, something you were even afraid of, you found the best way through was to hold hands.

Literally or figuratively, you and I are called to hold hands with each other as we journey through life!

“Who ya gonna call?”

When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them
—Psalms 91:15 NLT

“Who can I call?”
“Who can I ask?”
“Who knows how to go about this?”

Questions we face almost every day. Where do you turn when the challenges are in your face, the opportunity is knocking, or the problems seem insurmountable? “Who ya gonna call?” was the refrain in the move Ghostbusters but your daily life is much more than a movie and the issues you face are much more important. But still the question remains…“Who ya gonna call?”

One thing I have learned well in life is the value of asking for counsel or help! I used to think I had to have all the answers, but wisdom knows when to ask for advice or help. I am reminded of this in the counsel from the Bible:

Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success. — Proverbs 15:22

The joy of asking for advice or help is that you find the blessing of developing a “go-to-person,” one with whom you connect, trust, and communicate well and with whom you find both courage and counsel. In fact you can probably list a couple of names right now if I asked you.

Show me your eyes

You will open the eyes of the blind and release those who sit in prisons of darkness and despair.
—Isaiah 42:6-8

Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
—Matt 6:22-23

“My own eyes are not enough for me; I will see through those of others.”
― C.S. Lewis

Dealing with a pollen inspired asthma problem, I had been wheezing like a steam engine and coughing like a backfiring car. My friend Norma asked “How are you feeling?”

“OK,” was my tired answer.

“Show me your eyes” she said, and upon looking offered this advice, “You are having a tough afternoon, why don’t you go home early?”

I did. She saw what I was feeling, but wouldn’t voice.

The eyes told the tale … they never lie do they??

One Letter

Finally I admitted all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, "I will confess them to the Lord." And You forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
—Psalms 32:5 TLB

A friend recently forwarded a word challenge. Change one letter in the word below to make it a different word. Not too hard at all. What was interesting was looking at the iterations of words that changed because one letter was changed such as “Shoe – Shot – Soot – Foot – Boot….”
What caught my eye was the word change “Shame – Share”. Easy to change one letter, but what a challenge to turn Shame into Share in real life.
It seems when things go wrong and you mess up, Shame is the first thing you encounter. Shame that you did not rise to the occasion, Shame that you let others down, Shame that you failed to do what was expected. Shame is a powerful foe if left unchecked.