Paper Bridges » Thinking

What I learned about myself at VBS this year

Monica Brand — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:09:04 +0000

This past week, I played the part of Mary, the mother of Jesus, at our church’s Vacation Bible School program. Everyday I told the children a story of Jesus from Mary’s perspective. The birth of God’s son, from far-away Magi bringing gifts, an escape to Egypt, encountering old prophets in the temple, loosing a boy Jesus at Passover and that first water-to-wine miracle at a wedding.

I went to sleep every night with thoughts of how I would tell these stories, getting the words exactly right for the kids. Working into the narrative exactly how I would ask the children questions to pull them along into this imaginary world of ancient Nazareth. We had a script, but I tweaked most of it to fit the needs of our program, taking up a good deal of my mental energy.

Friends, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed myself more at Vacation Bible School.

Some days I felt I really nailed the story. I remembered everything I wanted to say (I memorized as much as I could, only going up on stage with an index card of key points.) I’ve done little skits and and plays at church before, but nothing like this. Few props, only one other character who popped out at the very end for me to interact with.

Basically, it was just me as Mary with the job of communicating a story. Each morning a monologue.

For the first time – and this is the part I want to express most of all – people came up to me to say how they enjoyed something creative I had done. On Monday, a church elder stopped me as I left the stage to give me a kiss on the cheek and words of well done. All week I heard pretty much the same thing. I think someone may have said “anointed”. I even got a, “Wow, Monica, you have found your niche!”

Never in all my years as a volunteer in ministry has anything like that happened before. I can’t ever recall a time when people expressed strong feelings of “Hey, you do that really well!” to me about anything.

Can I tell you all this without it sounding like I’m bragging? I hope so. I know where I made mistakes and fumbled a bit for the correct part of the words to come out. There were a couple of days when I came away from the children kicking myself for forgetting a part of the story. I wished a few times that I had more than one opportunity to present each story so I had time to get it right with more emotion and better expression.

But it was fun. Even with all the work, memorization, tweaking the script, nervous energy before the performance, it was a LOT of fun. And the children! Sometimes antsy, often distracted, they were engaged and wanting to hear what Mary had to say. I even had one young girl with her Bible open on her lap to show me where exactly she could read the story for herself.

Isn’t that neat?

So, that’s what I learned about myself this past week. It seems I have a knack for oral storytelling.

Dare I say it’s a gift? I would certainly like to think it is.

Another thought: Could it be that my love for writing, especially true-life stories, is directly related to a gift of storytelling?

This past week has given me a lot to think about. Just like Mary pondered all those stories about Jesus in her heart, I’ve now got something to think about too. Like . . . now what do I do with this gift?

Thoughts?

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Monica Brand — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:10:26 +0000

Peter loves raptors like me. Hawks, falcons, eagles. We go out of our way to be close to them. I’ve always been interested in birding, ever since watching the winter Chickadees, Cardinals and Downy woodpeckers at the feeder we could see from my mother’s kitchen window. A memory of third grade: gazing (daydreaming?) out the window to see a bird I’d never seen before. All black with red spot on wing. When home from school, mom and I look up the mystery bird together. Red-Winged blackbird and I are friends ever since.

Did Peter get his interest in the big birds from me? Or is it part of his boyishness to love these powerful birds? They’re killing machines, aren’t they? An eagle swoops, grabs, rips into flesh. You turn away for a moment, you miss it. Unless you have an expensive camera with fancy lens. I have no such camera and even more so lacking: the free time to plant myself outdoors to stalk eagles for pictures.

And I know they are out there, those eagles. The river is prime eagle hunting waters. I’ve yet to see one there, but I hear stories. Perhaps my tribe scares them off. We are too much noise for eagles.

Are Bald eagles shy?

Before Susan turned one year, I dented up the side of our old Sentra on a guard rail because I watched a Red-Tail flying low over a field. Don’t tell my mother.

Doc claims a Bald eagle plucked a fish from the water while we canoed on the lake near our honeymoon cabin. I missed it. I’ve always been jealous he witnessed and I didn’t.

I’m constantly looking for eagles and hawks when outside. I think Peter does too. Susan’s eye is looking for owls. I’ve never seen an owl in the wild. Unless I looked right at a Great Horned owl as it sat in a tree, but too difficult to spot, it blended in well. Owls are sneaky like that.

My sister loves owls and sees them often. I need to call my sister, Thanksgiving is coming; we need to coordinate dinner time, dessert. Feeding of the masses.

I’m thankful for owls, eagles, hawks, husbands with good eyesight, books that give flight to interests like birding and car insurance. The day will come when it will be quiet at the river and I will see that eagle with squirming fish in talons and I’ll turn to my kids to see if they saw too, but they won’t be there. That’s why it will be quiet. They are grown and gone. That’s why I’m alone at last at the riverside; all the quiet I need, yet no one to share the glory of creation.

Just me and the eagle.

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Heartbreaking

Monica Brand — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:46:09 +0000

Had an interesting conversation with a grandmother in McDonald’s today.

She’s helping raise her two granddaughters, and for the sake of their privacy, I won’t divulge more information. I will tell you that the mother is in rehab, her son is around, but apparently he needs help with two lively young children – understandably. Thank God he has a mother willing and able to help.

We got to talking about homeschooling. How it works, what it is and isn’t. Eventually landing on the topic of her grandchildren and their absent mother.

Unfortunately, I’ve heard her story before. Emotionally and physically absent mother due to drugs.

Heartbreaking.

For all involved.

Especially those children.

Mothers, there is probably nothing I could say that would motive you to give up your addiction. I mean, it’s a real problem. I feel for you. I don’t mean to stand in judgment, but still. . .

You are picking a drug/s over your child.

Heartbreaking.

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I do my best thinking when I clean

Monica Brand — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:08:55 +0000

And my mind can go on auto pilot allowing the thought process to drift and dig deep. These are thoughts that came to the surface as I scrubbed the bathtub this morning:

Why am I the way that I am? What motivates me to think the way I do?

. . . when my grandfather gave my brother those extra quarters because “He’s the boy and older.”

. . . when the county parks department didn’t give me that job I wanted my Senior year to maintain hiking trails because they didn’t think a “girl would want it.”

. . . when a male peer called me a “feminist” at our college and Career fellowship meeting because I believed women could serve as pastors.

. . . when I prayed my first baby would be a girl, so she would have the experience to be the eldest sibling.

As I sit here now typing this, I realize why I started pondering these memories.

I was thinking why I read the books I chose to read, the books that motivate me to run to the keyboard and write. These books by women, for women, to encourage women, to strengthen women. I can see how my life experiences have shaped what I chose to read, what causes and charities make my heart beat a bit faster, and what types of women I befriend.

I don’t think for a minute that my life and what I’ve experienced as a girl or woman has been an accident. I believe it’s all part of a master plan, designed by a Master Creator, to use me right where I am, right now. As a woman.

And I’m thinking now I would never wish any of it away. Those times I felt anger, bitter or helpless – no longer part of me. I forgave a long time ago. I am thankful for a powerful God who gave me the ability to do so. Without Him, I’m not sure I’d be able to let the bitterness go.

I think about what I’ll be doing when my kids are grown and I’m no longer homeschooling, mothering so intensely. I wonder how it all will come together and the things I’ll find to do. How I will help.

I would never trade any of it for it makes me who I am.

~ Monica

Welcome, friends, visiting for Mingle Monday. I am glad you are here.

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Christians and their “acceptable” porn

Monica Brand — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:23:08 +0000

From the article:

I watched the pilot episode of Glee when it premiered a few months before the show was to begin airing regularly. It was decent enough to at least give some time to the next few episodes. But by the end of episode two, I was getting a little uneasy.

Read the rest at Relevant Magazine.

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Monica Brand — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:06:07 +0000

Yo, Moms. Just so you know:

Miley Cyrus is no longer age appropriate for your preteen daughter.

That didn’t take long.

Bummer.

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Are paper books dead?

Monica Brand — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:06:17 +0000

I do. I don’t know how long it will take. You know, we love stories and we love narrative; we love to get lost in an author’s world. That’s not going to go away; that’s going to thrive. But the physical book really has had a 500-year run. . . But no technology, not even one as elegant as the book, lasts forever.

That’s Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, mastermind behind that eReader gadget known as Kindle answering the question posed by Newsweek magazine: Do you think that the ink-on-paper book will eventually go away?

Now I ask you -

Will the traditional paper book cease to exist?

Is technology that powerful?

Are we so addicted to our electronics that the eBook will send the paper book into extinction?

And do we care?

image: scrapetv.com

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Twilight, sex and the tween

Monica Brand — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:59:20 +0000

And now we come to what I believe is the most grievous problem with the Twilight series: the tween Twilight reader. The following is a real conversation I had with my 11 year old recently:

Susan: One of the girls in my class at church read Twilight.
Me: Hmmm. I see.
{Pause for dramatic affect}
Me: And how old is this girl?
Susan: I’m not sure. I think she’s ten.

Friends, Twilight is a YA novel. As in: Young Adult. Emphasis on the adult. The pre-teen reader is too young for the complex relationships, love triangles, make-out bedroom scenes, and Bella’s hot and heavy pursuit to bed her vampire boyfriend. Twilight is not for young kids.

I suspect my opinion is not the majority. Unfortunately, I think a lot of parents mistakenly believe that as long as their child is reading something, anything at all, then it’s better than nothing. We all want our kids to read. I get that. Remember how excited I was when Susan discovered the world of a page-turning novel? I love it that she loves to read.

But no way do I want her reading Twilight – or any other fiction with a heavy emphasis of sexual passion and pursuit – no matter how G-rated it is for a YA novel. And Twilight certainly is mild when it comes to those bedroom scenes. Twilight has nothing graphic that I can point to as evidence to say, “Ah-ha! See! Bella and Edward in bed with detailed description of fornication!!” No, there isn’t anything like that in the series.

And yet . . .

The problem isn’t so much what’s IN the book, it’s more who’s READING the book.

This is the problem with American culture; we expose our children too early to adult ideas, concepts they are not mature enough to handle. It’s in the music, television, movies, advertising, Internet, and books. Human anatomy and biology is fine, I’ve no problem with teaching our children how their bodies work, babies made. My concern is for the young reader being exposed to sexual desire, sexual passion. These are concepts our tweens need to hold off on until more mature.

Answer me this question: Why the rush to end childhood innocence?

Think about what the tween – the 9, 10, 11 and 12 year olds – are reading, and thinking about, if they read the Twilight series.

Bella’s continuous attempts to bed Edward – what does that teach the tween about dating relationships and sex?

What about Bella’s poor self-esteem?

And I shudder at the tween reading these books without any parental input. Bella is a horrible example for an impressionable tween girl.

What say you? Do you agree with my conclusions or am I way off the mark? Let’s discuss.

Up next: Final Twilight thoughts

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For discussion: Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer

Monica Brand — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:05:14 +0000

So. I’ve read the Twilight books.

I liked the writing, the story is interesting, totally unbelievable for reality, so it’s fun to lose yourself in the plot. I was surprised to find myself enjoying the vampire family, probably because they don’t really act like your typical, scary vampires. I was able to anticipate where parts of the story were going, and was completely taken by surprise in other places.Quick reads, these books.

As you know, I was reading Twilight to answer the questions: What does the Twilight series teach young people about sex and purity? Do the books promote godly behavior? I’m going to answer that question, and address other issues that pertain to the Twilight series, in several posts over the coming week. If you have read the series, or are a parent concerned about what our young people may learn from Bella and Edward, I hope you will join in the discussion.

Up next: The problem with Bella

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Blog book tour: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Monica Brand — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:06:42 +0000

If you haven’t figured it out by now, let me clue you in: I tend to do these book reviews a little differently. I’m not much for saying if a book is good or bad and why. I do go with that traditional approach occasionally; especially if I have issues with a title. I much prefer to write about how a book has affected me, how it makes me think (or perhaps not think.)

That’s the beauty of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life by Donald Miller. It’s a book slap in the side of the head to challenge my thinking.

Ouch! That hurts. Ouch! That hurts. Slap. Oh, man. No pain, no gain, right?

Oh, how I wish you we could dialog about it together just like in a real book club!

This is the sort of book you want to re-read once a year just so you can get the kick-in-the-pants feeling that comes with it. I didn’t get Donald Miller when I first read him. Then I tried again. Brilliant move on my part, because I so enjoyed Through Painted Deserts. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is about…

Right. I’m not much for that. Must know? Go over to Amazon. The only thing you need to know from me is two words:

Book slap.

Ouch.

Go read it. And come back here to engage me in conversation.

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What if…

Monica Brand — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:19:30 +0000

You lost IT all.

And by IT, I mean everything you physically hold dear. Your house, your car, laptop, clothes, all you have in your closet, attic or squirreled away under your bed. All those books you’ve collected, treasuring for years, keeping to re-read someday and pass onto grown children – gone, lost, never to be replaced. What about all the photos, scrapbooks and journals? What if they were gone too?

How would it change you?

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To thrive again at home

Monica Brand — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:44:06 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about how our home schooling has been progressing and it’s not for lack of want or what to say. I’ve lots to say, it’s just that most of it would be rants and complains and much whining. Who wants to read the blog of an angry home schooling mom?

For the past several years, teaching hasn’t made for a happy home life, especially when it comes to instructing my boys. I’ve been reduced to yelling, threatening, and pleading with them to do a math paper or reading lesson. That’s a difficult confession to admit, but it’s part of our story, and I will not edit out my mistakes to make me appear like I have this home school mom gig figured out.

Needless to say, when it comes to a traditional school work approach with pencil and paper, it’s been an unhappy home, with unhappy kids, and unhappy mom. An unhappy home school.

But I’m a fighter. I’m not giving up home schooling.

If I didn’t believe in the importance of keeping my kids home with me, I would’ve put them in public school years ago. This stubbornness must be part God-given determination to succeed, part Irish heritage. The freedom to do as we want, when we want, with no one outside our family influencing our schedule is a lifestyle I will not let go. These four belong home with me. We are a home schooling family. As imperfect as we are, we were created to be together, so together we will stay.

But change must come.

At this moment in our home schooling journey, I don’t have the hearts of my children. The list of subjects to have conquered at the end of the day became more important than love, joy, gentleness and patience. We started on a good path, but I got distracted by less important things like reading by a certain age and math facts. The point of home schooling is not about the college they attend or the career they chose or if they make a lot of money. Success means my children chose to walk in The Way, with Jesus Christ and in relationship with Him. Knowing Jesus has nothing to do with multiplication tables.

When I first started this journey five years ago, I never imagined home schooling would force me to deal with my own sins.

For our survival as a home schooling family, to thrive again as we once did, my approach to teaching must change. I’m forced to find a new way, one that is a better fit with the personality of my kids.

Change. Specifically, someone must change. Lord knows, I’ve tried changing all the little people around here. Lucky me. I best do the changing.

So.

I’ve been reading, searching the Internet, asking the Lord for answers and guidance. We are told to pray about everything and to ask the Lord for wisdom. I believe He is answering. I’ve found like-minded folks here on the Web that are inspiring me to rethink everything I thought before about how to home educate. Thanks be to God, it’s not too late to change hearts and correct course.

More to come: how I’m being led, what works and what doesn’t and why, and how it’s radically going to change my approach to this home schooling life. Stay tuned.

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Yet more thoughts on contentment

Monica Brand — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:20:49 +0000

Thanks for the encouraging words this week, friends. It’s nice fantastic that so many of you would miss my contribution to the blogosphere if I were to drop out. Thank you.

I’ve been thinking more about it and here’s what I’ve come up with: my problem isn’t blog influence, it’s me and mothering (Or mothering and I? Umm. Not sure.)

My youngest daughter has a friend who calls me, “Lucy’s mommy.” Never Mrs. Brand or Mrs. B like I tell her to when she comes to play. It was cute at first, very preschooler speak, but the more it continues, the more it makes me want to grind my teeth. Future play dates hang in the balance because of it.

Why does it irritate me so much to be labeled by an innocent 4-year-old?

Then there was the time our Pastor referred to a woman like me as a housewife.

Again: why am I so freaked out by another label given with the best intentions.

I don’t write much here about my previous life, my existence before kiddos and homeschooling. BC (Before Children), I was a newspaper reporter and traveled to the other side of the world. I met a slew of interesting people. Nowadays, I hang out with all these people much shorter than I who all require various degrees of daily care.

Patience, Monica. They are only young for a moment, really. Then they are grown and gone.

I know it.

My head does anyway.

My heart?

Guess not.

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What if?

Monica Brand — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:19:28 +0000

I deleted this blog.

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How to survive your homeschool convention

Monica Brand — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:08:18 +0000

This is it! It’s homeschool convention time here in New Jersey and I’m ready to go!

Even though I’ve been attending the ENOCH homeschool convention for several years, I still remember what it was like to go as a newbie. My feet and back hurt at the end of the day, I spent too much money at lunch and I kept running out to the car to dump all the catalogs I’d collected. And all the books! Overwhelming. So many choices of what to buy.

So I came up with this list. If you are planning to attend your local homeschool convention, I hope you find this list helpful.

How to survive your home school convention

1. Wear comfortable shoes. The convention is the home school mom’s shopping fantasy and you may want to comparison shop to get the best prices, so that means a lot of walking. Resist the urge to wear flip flops, heels or those new shoes you haven’t broken in yet. Go for comfort and practicality.

2. Bring a sweater or jacket. At my first convention, I froze in the workshops because of the air conditioning. Now I know better – I’m going prepared with my denim jacket.

3. Make a shopping list before you go. The convention can be overwhelming with all the vendors vying for your attention. You need a list, so before you leave the house, make a plan with your homeschooling goals in mind. Then you can shop with purpose.

4. Don’t neglect the workshops. I’ve learned so much gleaning the wisdom from the home school moms (and dads) that have gone before me. There is nothing like listening (with pad and pen for note-taking) to these wise parents. They want you to succeed in your homeschooling journey, listen to them.

5. Pack a lunch and snacks, but bring money to buy a treat. Forget buying lunch at the cafeteria; it’s way too expensive. Bring food from home and just buy a cold drink or candy bar.

6. Leave the credit card at home unless you have good self control. You’re going in with your list, and that should keep you on budget, but the odds are something is going to tempt you. It’s a lot harder to impulse buy when you don’t have that plastic money in your pocket. Get the vendor’s catalog or website, you can always purchase that piece of science equipment or expensive writing program after you have time to think it though carefully.

7. Leave the kids at home. For me, the convention is a holiday. I learn at the workshops, buy wonderful books, chat with like-minded parents, leaving passionate about the journey of homeschooling – and I’m able to do that because I don’t have to look after the kids. Treat yourself, mom. You will come home refreshed, renewed in your commitment to teaching your children.

8. Bring a cart with wheels to lug all your goodies. I bought mine at an office supply store and it’s a must have for the convention. Just carrying all the free catalogs you get is enough to wear you out; trying to carry all the books and curriculum is just too much without these “extra hands.” I’ve seen moms pulling small carry-on suitcases and moms with wagons, so don’t be afraid to be creative!

9. Go with a friend or go alone, it doesn’t matter – just go! I’ve done both and had a blast. I’m a big believer in the benefits of the home school convention, I wouldn’t miss it.

10. This one is up to you; leave a comment for No. 10. What did I forget? How do you survive your homeschool convention? Please share.

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As of 11:05 am

Monica Brand — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:05:25 +0000

I will be forty years old.

Can some one please explain to me how the heck this happened?? Because in my head, I’m still not a day over 35 25.

More later; for now I’m doing minimal house chores, taking the kids to the park where I’m going to chat with another home schooling mom while my kids hunt for snakes and crayfish. I’ll read and write and wish some one else would cook me dinner.

Have a great day, readers. I know I will…

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Walls

Monica Brand — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:35:59 +0000

Spring cleaning today. I wiped clean the walls in the family room, now free from a winter’s worth of wood stove dust. The walls, butter yellow, a color I painstakingly selected years ago. In the hallway, a dime-sized hole in that yellow Sheetrock.

Each time I walk past that blip of an imperfection, my spirit growls. Stupid hole, don’t you dare get bigger.

So what do I do with this?

This is Kolkata, India.

Suddenly a little hole in the wall is not such a big deal.

Who lives there? Is there a mom like me, cleaning, wiping away grime from walls that are nothing like mine?

What does she think of her walls made of cloth and sticks?

Lord, help me…

Proverbs 31:8-9

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Image source

Do something…

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Twitter is the new blog

Monica Brand — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:49:35 +0000

I really believe that; Twitter is now the most popular way for online women to communicate to a large audience.

As you know, I took an extended leave from Twitter and Facebook from late February to April 9. Not clicking over to Facebook was easy; Twitter I missed terribly. A few times I thought of breaking fast and jumping back in. The chatter, the direct messages, seeing that @ reply in the stream is a real kick in the pants.

And I was lonely. Giving up Twitter, it was like I wasn’t part of the blogging community anymore. I was still here blogging, leaving comments and reading other blogs, but I wasn’t part of the larger group, because they were all still giving their attention to Twitter (imagine that!). All my traffic coming from Twitter, dropped to almost nil. I missed that too. It reminded me of being a newbie, trying to find readers and build up traffic.

It wasn’t that long ago when we would visit blogs to meet each other, now we visit Twitter to meet virtually.

Not only that, but when one of us – and I’m talking moms who blog - is hurt, suffering or wronged, Twitter takes up the cause. Remember Motrin Moms? Currently, twitter moms are raising money for the March of Dimes in memory of the daughter of a mom blogger. You can do that with a blog, but with Twitter, and the amazing hash tag, it’s so much easier.

So I’m back on Twitter, but this time with a better approach. For one, I’m not going back to that compulsion to constantly send tweets out regarding little snippets of life. I enjoy the word pictures of what people are doing, that’s why I like to tweet that too, but I feel a need to tip the balance toward helpful information. Links folks can use, learn and grow in knowledge.

If you follow me, you may have noticed I’ve been sending out links about women and children in crisis. The more I read about poverty, it’s connection to human trafficking and the sex trade… sad stuff there. That’s the new purpose to my tweets – getting the message out about these precious lives worth far more than the 140 characters I dedicate to them.

Blogs won’t die. But they are no longer the dominate means of social interaction for women on the web.

What do you think? Am I completely crazy or wicked smart? You have up to 140 characters to explain your opinion. Kidding – Twitter humor, of course.

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A Woman Inspired price discount and (wow!) my video

Monica Brand — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:56:57 +0000

First of all…

My little rambling-thoughts video about my mom and her story has been selected for display at the A Woman Inspired conference website. Go, me!

Seriously, what an honor that goofy me could make a video that speaks into the hearts of women. This is exactly the kind of blogging I want to do. *content, happy sigh* There are other videos posted as well; go check them out and leave a comment.

And… until April 1 (no joke!) the registration fee is only $12.95. I wish the conference was today, I can’t wait to get started. *more sighing*

Update: They are still accepting video submissions, and it looks like ALL will be posted at the AWI website. Don’t be shy, girls! If I can make a video, and not turn out as a dweeb, you can too.

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Lent: Week Two

Monica Brand — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:03:34 +0000

Here it is the second week of Lent and I sense I’m doing it wrong. The guide I downloaded from Christine Sine’s Godspace blog keeps mentioning joint activities and discussions to do together as a group. I have no group. Admitting to that is hard and saddening.

I am a social person by nature. I enjoy parties, get-togethers, time to gather just to talk. It’s obvious to me that’s the way I was created. It’s disheartening to go this alone here physically. As for the sacrifice part of Lent, I’m fine (I’m still off Twitter and Facebook. Every so often, I miss those voices, but I haven’t given in to rejoin that constant chatter. I wonder how many others are using Lent as a time to block out social media?)

Driving in the car the other day, I mentioned to my husband I’d given up Facebook and Twitter until after Easter Sunday, specifically because of Lent . He was surprised. And I was surprised he was surprised. That’s when I felt the most disconnected; sad it’s just me.

But Lent is not a task to force on someone. In my husband’s defense, I didn’t ask him to participate with me, he being the logical one in my life to form a group, even if it’s just us. My kids are still too young and goofy – emphasis on the goofy – to fully understand what it means to sacrifice, examine, repent and pursue Jesus for 40 days.

My Lent will not be their Lent. I won’t force them to do the group activities, yet I long for the day when we can discuss these things together. (I wish I had thought to find another young family to connect with; maybe we could’ve done the lessons together, made it fun, and enjoyable. An idea for next year perhaps…)

I remember in college attending IVCF, loving small group, getting together to talk and share. Pray for each other. Discuss Scripture. Such good times! When our church was small, before we built the building we use now, we met in each others homes for Bible study Wednesday nights. I remember when our turn came to host, the excitement I felt. Everyone coming our little house for study and coffee! Now Wednesdays are in the building, but honestly I miss going into private homes.

I suspect that’s the setting Mrs. Sine imagined when she wrote of the group activities, like nailing sins to a wooden cross to visualize letting them go forever.

This week’s theme in A Journey into Wholeness is regarding hunger and poverty, but I’m learning something else instead: what my heart craves. A small group of intimate friends who gather in my living room for fellowship, Bible study – and dare I say – laughter? Oh, to have such a wonderful circle of friends!