Author: Carol Schierlmann

BEHOLD THE CHICKENS!

This spring I have become the mother to four young chicks that I am raising to hopefully provide eggs in the future for our household. One of the things my babies love is to stretch their little legs in the warm sunshine and peck at the ground.

HOLY WEEK

As I prepare for a very busy Holy Week, I am reflecting on Psalm 46. The familiar and oft-quoted refrain of “Be still, and know that I am God” is a command that I need, that I know, and that I rarely follow. It is so easy to be swept away by my to-do list. There are really important things on that list, y’all. Preparing for classes at church, reading Theology for school, budgeting, taxes (ugh!), delivering my daughter to and from her various activities, cooking healthy meals for my family – my life is FULL. Sometimes, my life is SO full that I realize I have left no space for God. While I am busy researching spiritual disciplines and teaching classes on how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, I am guilty of dropping into the bed at the end of most days without having engaged in the very practices I am suggesting to others. This week, as busy as it is, I am committed to engage in stillness each day. I plan to listen and see what God has to say to me this week.

Welcome to the middle, mid-lifers. And by middle, I mean that caught-in-the-middle, stuck-in-the-middle-with-you kind of middle. It can be a time full of upheaval, raging hormones, empty nests, job change, caregiving and exhaustion. But, it can also be middle like center – a time of knowing ourselves and others so that we are powerful in the best kind of way. We have lived through real trials and have learned the lessons that only experience can teach. So, to recap, we are in a whirlwind of change and challenge and we have some badass wisdom in our bag. Do we need a support group or do we need to lead one? And where does God fit into this picture? Perhaps we need to do both and God fits right into the middle.