Author Archives: karbly

Beautifully and Wonderfully Created
Sue Schneider of Ashland, KY, USA

Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace-in peace because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock. -Isaiah 26:3-4

I don’t know if your kitchen cabinet is like mine: a menagerie of coffee mugs. No two of mine are the same. I did not really set out to have such a variety, but over the years I have often been given a mug as a gift or I came across one I liked.

Some of my old standbys are the flower garden mug I received from a former boss, an old hospital mug, and a pottery mug with Russell, KY, on it. I have the leftover one from Mother’s Day at church two years ago. Pastor Mary bought all the ladies a mug, but I was in Columbus that day. My leftover mug has been a hit at the house with my girls. It says: “Go ask your Dad. I’m drinking my coffee”.

In my glass cabinet are the cups I only take out for “special” occasions. There is one from the Greenbriar, a gift from Rachel and Greg, the Qatar mug Becky brought home from her world travels, the Myrtle Beach mug Hannah and Abbie brought one summer, and my pink camper mug from my sister-in-law Kathy, to name a few.

I love taking turns drinking from the variety of mugs because they each carry special memories. I love that my mugs are all different.

Like my mugs, we each have special qualities that are not replicated in anyone else. That’s how God wants us to be. I have a variety of friends, and no two are alike either. I hope you are beginning to see that we are each beautifully and wonderfully created. I hope you know you are, too. We each admire one another’s qualities in a very loving and accepting manner. May you be blessed with just who you are.

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

The Lake
Brenda Roberts of Collingwood, CA, USA

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father\’s only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. -John 1:14, 16-17

Not being allowed to have our grandchildren in our house due to pandemic restrictions has been difficult, but we could still use our outdoor space. And who knew what thrills awaited us there?

Melting snow in a drainage ditch, not too deep to be dangerous for little people under supervision, soaked our feet and warmed our hearts. Our children splashed in that ditch in spring when they were young, and now, another generation experienced the same joy. Floating sticks in the gentle current enthralled even the youngest. Seeing who could stand on the thin layer of ice still intact on the puddles, without breaking through, brought the thrill of challenge and daring. Jumping across the small stream and cheering when one succeeded and laughing when another got wet provided hours of entertainment. These are the ageless activities of childhood that enticed them back again and again and delighted us all while creating memories to cherish.

One day my granddaughter said, “Grandma, can we play in the lake when we come to your house?” The lake. After relaying her question to my husband later, we both had a chuckle about a child’s perception. But isn’t that what we often do as adults when faced with the difficulties of life? If we viewed them from an alternate perspective, through the lens of having a loving God who is there to help us in those hard places, many of our lakes would turn out to be puddles and more easily navigated. God is there to assist us, but just like parents and grandparents, God will let us struggle to develop skills and strength, and we may even get wet, but will not drown.

Isaiah 46:4 says, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Our loving God is in the puddles of life with us and isn’t going anywhere.

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Called to Deeper Prayer
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” -Isaiah 52:7

To pray only when we feel like it is more to seek consolation than to risk conversion. To pray only when it suits us is to want God on our terms… To pray only when it feels good is to court total emptiness when we most need to be filled. -Joan Chittister, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

Lately prayer has felt like
Distance, distraction, dryness
Restless resistance
Aching absence
Flat and fruitless
Forced and strained-

Motivation lacking
Desire waning
Bored and frustrated.

I’m even weary of small consolations-
Too small, too confining,
Too insular, too privileged.

It feels like something more expansive
Is trying to break through.
These rituals run dry-
A deeper source to tap
That is less about little self-revelations,
And more about the throbbing heart of reality
Awakening all I’ve been evading,
Numbing, avoiding, ignoring
That is too raw and messy and hard

And holy and beautiful to bear-
Too out of my control
Too much mystery and surrender.

I should know by now the persistence
With which “the more”
Will penetrate a life,
A prayer,
Turning to dust the false fruits
Of surface prayers only interested
In what feels good right now.

Reluctant, I step timid toward an opening
Where what is soft and tender
Is exposed to every prick and pull of The Real.

I notice a surge of longing
Out of the dusty dryness of comfortable prayers,
A solace urging onward.

What is this all for anyway
If not to chase, to touch, to surrender all
Into the sacred mystery at the heart of life,
If not to be continually transformed?

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation.” – https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

We Voice Our Lament
Matt Frizzell, Human Resources Ministries director

O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul…
How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan lies slain upon your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; greatly 
beloved were you to me…  -2 Samuel 1:24-26, excerpted

I felt the expectations of manhood growing up. Don’t cry. Control your feelings. Tolerate pain. Even in the 1980s, I felt pressure to “man up.” It was acceptable to look down on boys who cried easily or complained too much.

It wasn’t hard to turn the tears off. I got used to it. At first, it was freeing. I could push through bad feelings without drama. I felt more grown up. But in my late teens, I realized I felt numb inside. Things that should make me sad, angry, or hurt didn’t. I shut certain feelings off. The effects were subtle. Something that made me human and whole was missing. I turned to other things-smoking, eating, and overthinking-to feel better.

I spent my 20s learning to have healthy feelings again. I had things to lament. I had broken relationships, a broken family. I had seasons of depression. I presented as a happy person, but behind the depression was anger, and beneath the anger, tears. I learned to feel the depth of them. It took time.

Living in Chicago, Illinois, I ministered with our church family and friends of the church on Chicago’s Southside. My family and I were loved and welcomed by the African-American community there.

At a funeral, I was graveside. The deceased spouse grew up as a Baptist in the South. She followed that funeral tradition. As the service ended, the casket was lowered bit by bit into the ground. She wailed loudly with every inch her love descended. Her wailing echoed through the cemetery. The pallbearers and her wailing followed a litany. She was mourning. She lamented. It was not a performance. The funeral tradition she grew up with held wisdom about the healing power of lament and expression of deep feelings.

I mourned with her. I would deeply miss “Deacon Rounds,” as we called him. I would miss his royal blue suit, his catchy smirk of a smile, and his presence at church every Sunday. 

I remember the tie he gave me for church, and a tear escaped my eye. I opened my mouth and groaned to voice the feeling running down my cheek. Together, we lamented. God was there.

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

There Is Always Something We Can Do
Grace Andrews of Independence, MO, USA

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. -Matthew 11:28-30

“God, where will your Spirit lead today? Help me be fully awake and ready to respond…” During the alarming times of the pandemic, many front-line individuals were recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty to save lives. Among them were nurses and technicians who faithfully went to their jobs in hospitals and care centers. I was able to acknowledge them first-hand when I became a patient in the hospital for several days, for other reasons than COVID.

Every day, these 12-hour-shift nurses tended to my needs as well as others with efficiency and compassion. I would say to each one: “Tell me about yourself.” And they willingly did so. I listened to many stories of faith, love, divorce, impending marriage, goals, joys, and sorrows. Now that I am home and recovering from surgery, one story continues to come to mind.

A nurse, in her 30s, was married and had two children when her husband suddenly announced he was leaving. He accused her of being too generous with people, caring too much for everyone around her. She talked about her faith in God and being assured that God would be beside her in the future. With little support from her husband, she attended nursing school and eventually became an RN to help others. She works nights at the hospital and goes to school by day to further her education, while raising her two children.

Several years ago she began supporting an 8-year old boy from Zambia. They corresponded through the years and developed a wonderful relationship. He’s about to graduate and wants to become a doctor. The organization says she will no longer need to support him when he turns 18. So she requested a girl from another country, and is so excited to begin supporting her. All on a nurse’s salary…

She came to my room as I left the hospital, took my hands in hers, and prayed for me. And I asked God’s blessings on her as well.

There are many ways we can help others if we only would. When we think there is nothing we can do, remember this precious nurse and so many others like her. I know I will.

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Embracing Mystery
Louita Clothier of Lamoni, IA, USA

“Community of Christ,” your name, given as a divine blessing, is your identity and calling. If you will discern and embrace its full meaning, you will not only discover your future, you will become a blessing to the whole creation. Do not be afraid to go where it beckons you to go. -Doctrine and Covenants 163:1

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic when our congregation had no service or choir practice on Wednesday, I became addicted to the PBS program “NOVA.” After one episode, I said to my husband, “These ‘NOVA’ programs have been like prayer meeting for me.”
One “NOVA” series, “The Planets,” dealt with deep-space exploration. An unforgettable episode took us along with the mission of the spacecraft “Cassini,” traveling across the solar system to orbit Saturn. High-tech cameras sent back hundreds of close-up, breath-taking images of the rings of Saturn, some brilliant colors, some sparkling pure white “diamonds” of frozen particles. I strongly felt there the presence of God, creator of all that beauty.

Then the camera turned toward Earth, a tiny speck in the black void and I felt very small. Yet, as I gaze at the heavens from Earth, my spirit feels warmth and unmistakable assurance that the Divine Artist that painted the rings of Saturn loves and cares for me and is the same Spirit that brings me to my knees in worship.

Who has not grappled with the paradox “God of grace and God of glory”? Even the Psalmist recognized the contrasting attributes of God: Transcendence, the power of infinite greatness and distance, and Immanence, the loving and personal presence in our lives and our world.

God is infinite in largeness and infinite in smallness (as in the tiniest microorganisms). So how can we limit Infinity in any way? I am humbled by the majesty and complexity of creation, yet also feel deeply the indwelling of the same God, who stands ready to guide and to bless. I call it MYSTERY…

Praise Mystery, hidden in galaxies,
Yet near as our own breathing.
Praise Mystery, infinite beyond knowing,
Yet filling our souls with love.
Praise Mystery, source of all being,
Yet weeping over the sorrows of Earth
How marvelous you are!

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Take Time for Yourself
Terri Pulleyblank of Harrison Township, MI, USA

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. -Psalm 36:5-7

People ask questions daily. Is it this or that? What or when? Now or then? Yes or no? Can you or can’t you? Will you or won’t you? Why or how? Would ya? Should ya? Could ya?

Our jobs, children, families, and friends constantly pull us in many directions. It leaves our heads spinning as we try to do things for other people or for work. We often forget about ourselves in the dizziness. We are on our own back burner because it seems everything and everyone else is more important than we are!

I hate to dampen dreams you might have of a peaceful future. However, there will never be a perfect time! The time is now! I know the thinking, “After the kids are gone, I am going to do this or that. Then after the grandkids have grown…or maybe after I retire…” Your place on the list is always somewhere down the road.

My family reunion caused me to think about time. It was so great to see everybody-to reminisce about old times and share current news. Then I thought, “Seriously, it’s been since 1973? Precious years go by in the blink of an eye!”

Consider yourself as a precious flower garden that needs nourishment to flourish (taking care of our body and mind and finding time for ourselves). What would you do to nurture this beautiful flower garden? For starters we need to “weed” out certain things in our lives. We need to care for our “roots” (those things that form us and our values and traditions). We need to examine our relationship with God. Then ask again the questions above. We may have different and decisive answers.

Take time for yourself-get to know God, pray, rest your eyes and mind, do spiritual practices, walk, read…or don’t do anything. After all, it’s your garden, a gift from God. Take yourself off the back burner. The cat’s paw prints are still on the coffee table, dust is still on the piano, the laundry still sits undone-let it wait. It doesn’t matter. Remember what matters most.

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

All Sacred
Mary Kay Speaks of Independence, MO, USA

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind-just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you-so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. -1 Corinthians 1:3-8

Every part of nature connects with every other part. We are part of it all-all sacred.

Every cone in the pine-scented forest, each grain of desert’s hot sand,
ever-glistening drops of rain, the sunrise that blesses each day,
lush green meadow, loud pounding wave, mountains standing so high
-all sacred.

Bird song, mouse squeal, the smack of koala chewing on juicy bright leaves,
the buzz of the bee, the howl of the wolf, the click of a dolphin at play,
the scent of flowers on whispering wind, the rich, clean smell of the dirt
-all sacred.

The taste of fresh fruit, cool falling water, lava glowing at dusk,
the calm and the storm, the snail and the lily, limestone-ready for work.
Imagine yourself and the one at your side, sisters and brothers of Earth
-all sacred.

Reflect on yourself, creative partner, who grows, teaches, and heals,
fixes and helps and cleans and leads, while loving all that lives.
It is part of you, all God’s creation, and you are part of it
-all sacred.

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

A Good “Noticer”
Margaret Gunderson

Scripture, prophetic guidance, knowledge, and discernment in the faith community must walk hand in hand to reveal the true will of God. Follow this pathway, which is the way of the Living Christ, and you will discover more than sufficient light for the journey ahead. -Doctrine and Covenants 163:7d

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey is one of my favorite children’s books. Recently my seven-year-old grandson, North, and I read it together. As North read the names of the ducklings: Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack, he announced, “They are in alphabetical order!”

I have read this story to dozens of children over the years. I had never noticed the order. None of the many children with whom I had shared this story ever pointed it out to me. I said, “North, I am amazed that you discovered that.” North replied, “Well, my friend, Sam, says I am a good noticer.”

We treasure the gift of our children. Discernment is also a gift from God to open, to touch, and to use. Each day we need to listen, observe, and evaluate the details of our lives. Each morning we can excitedly and eagerly ponder what lies before us. How else can we be ready to hear and to answer God’s call? I know discernment is not always this simple. However, the first step may be to listen to one another and simply be a good noticer.

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Dark Horizon
Peggy Young of Independence, MO, USA

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:4-7

Every day on my way to work, I drive through the Little Blue River valley in Eastern Jackson County, Missouri. Today, as I came over the rise on the east side of the valley, a winding white cloud rose above the narrow river. As my car curved down the hill, I wondered how thick the fog would be on the road below, along the river.

At the bottom of the hill, only a light film of mist surprised me. It scarcely obscured my visibility. The sun shone right through the cloud, lighting the way and evaporating the moisture still hanging like a thread in the air.

I thought, how like life that is. We see clouds on the horizon and worry that when they arrive in our lives, everything will be gray and dark. We fear becoming lost in the mist of impending troubles. Yet when the event arrives, it often turns out to be not nearly as dark as we feared. And even if it is, we know the Son is beyond every cloudbank, continually trying to shine through and light our way, even in the darkest circumstances. We have only to call on him to help guide us to peace.

Prayer Phrase

“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).

Spiritual Practice

Embodying God’s Shalom

Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.

What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.