Funny thing this whole faith thing, isn't it? I mean, for those of you that believe in a higher power, whatever it may be, do you ever get those moments when you just go..."Ohh, freaky?!".
And by that I mean, a message just seems to totally stick in your head and motivate you?
I thought that for Monday, I would blog about how cold it's been, how I just can't seem to warm up and how I made myself this scarf.
And I started to plot out a few quick instructions I would share on the scarf so you could make one too. Plotting as I woke this morning and got everyone up and going. And then, as we always do, we headed off for church.
I totally love our worship service. I grew up in a very traditional church where our service was the same most Sundays. And my current church still offers that however, we opt to go to the contemporary service. For one, my kids are in sunday school and so this is the service we can go to after their class. Second, our dear close friends happen to be the worship band leaders. And they totally rock.
And this Sunday, there were little video snippets that played before church began. No music. Just text. Asking if we were really "here". What were we "hoping for"? Hoping the service didn't go long? Hoping to go home soon to eat lunch? Hoping to sit back and just observe? It was honest and uncomfortable.
Every Sunday, it's like this. Something that stops you and grabs your attention and brings you for a moment into clear focus about why - just WHY we are sitting there in church.
And every Sunday, it's the same. I'm hoping to get out of there soon. Hoping the baby will sit still enough for me to grasp part of the sermon. Hoping to go get a coke soon and hoping to get home and sew in the afternoon. So much to do before the week starts.
And every Sunday, most Sundays, it's something like that first message - am I REALLY HERE - that makes everything around me disappear, makes my eyes focus on the cross, brings tears to my eyes and makes me remember what has been given to ME so I can have children, lunch, a sewing machine, a big glass of coke...a life.
Much of today's sermon was focused on doing what we've been asked and doing it when we are too comfortable.
Too comfortable in our chairs to get up and share a message with someone who really needs it today.
Too comfortable to not just write a check for money but to go out and give of our time.
Getting uncomfortable. Doing things that are hard. Doing things we'd probably rather not do but then again, hey, I'm pretty sure Jesus wasn't very "comfortable" dying on the cross but He did it anyway...for me, for you - for all of us. And asks us to just do one little thing. Tell others about Him.
Google this. Jeremiah 1:4-10.
And it's not comfortable for me to do that. Because people come here from all over the place and from lots of different perspectives. Different religions. Or no religion at all. Everybody has a journey that led them to where they are. And this is mine and I'm doing what I feel that I'm called to do. I hope you'll allow me to do that now and again with you and I'd love for you to do that with me as well, with all of us.
Sharing faith can be very hard. Uncomfortable. Is this really the right forum? Should I talk about this here?
Of course I should. Of course you should. Of course this is the right forum.
Which is why I thought when I wanted to write about how cold I've been - how I can't seem to get warm lately because of our freezing temperatures - how "uncomfortable" I've been in my sewing room (I even talked about this at my sewing class last Friday!) - that today's message and my message - seemed to have a purpose. Right?
{Yep, so Thursday (here comes the "how to make a scarf" bit) - I cut scraps of fabric 6.5" wide and whatever length they were, stitched them together using a 2.5 stitch length.
Pressed the seams to one side and top stitched. Once I had a long enough strip of around 64" or so, I layed it out on some fleece I had. Cut around it, pinned and with right sides together, stitched it on leaving an opening for turning. Turned it right side out. Pressed it. Topstitched all the way around and closed my opening.}
Then I wrapped it around my neck and that's where it's been every day since. Making me more comfortable on those cold uncomfortable days. See the analogy here? I sure do.
xoxo,
Trish