May 01, 2019

Remembering Stone #1: The Will of God

May 01, 2019/ jan

… may he equip you with all you need for doing his will….
My story begins on the East Coast in the city of Newark, New Jersey. Janet Gale Renner (me) was born to Conrad Charles Renner and Jeanette Agnes Galuszka at St. Michael’s Hospital on June 16th, 1947.

Born just after the end of WWII, this firstborn girl of eventually seven spent the first five and a half years in Newark. There I attended a half -year of kindergarten before our family moved to Tucson, Arizona because of my dad’s health.

April 27, 2019

Remembering Stones: Reflections on a Life Being Lived

April 27, 2019/ jan

Live while you are alive. (Patch Adams)

Each of us has a life … the life we were given. We didn’t choose our life. But I guess the issue is, “Are we living while we are alive?” Or, are we waiting till “things settle down,” or, “we lose ____# pounds,” or, “the kids grow up,” or ????, or ????, or ????.

“Things settling down” was always my trap in my early years of adulthood. But things don’t ever settle down, do they? Not for long anyway. They just change. And then the cycle begins again, and so then we never really embrace the life that is ours. So this is what I eventually realized: I need to …

…live the life I have, not the one I wish I had.

April 17, 2019

Are You Guarding an Empty Tomb?

April 17, 2019/ jan

It is Finished!

There were soldiers that guarded Christ's tomb. And for them this was not just "another day at the office," because this time the death of the "Criminal" presented new problems: would the followers come to steal His body? Would He actually do what He said and come back to life? (I'm not so sure the officials really worried about this last possibility, do you?)

So the stone ... and so the guards! Until...

April 13, 2019

Holy Week: 7 Sayings of Christ with B.C. 2001

April 13, 2019/ jan

A few years ago, I came across an inspiring cartoon in my "Easter" file (See enlarged image below). I think my husband John, who had been the family reader of the Sunday funnies in years gone by, cut it out and gave it to me back in April 2001. So there in my file, this little treasure has been tucked away for all these years.

For those of you who have been following the Lenten Meditations on a branch in the Vine, this piece serves as a fitting climax during Holy Week.

April 09, 2019

Invited to the Dance -- Perichoresis

April 09, 2019/ jan

Prom time is just around the corner. Do you remember those days in your own life? The beauty! The excitement! The “romance” of it all! Rarely does it measure up to all our anticipation, and yet there is something about the dance that draws us in, doesn’t it.

As you may recall from my last blog post, the image of the dance is my favorite metaphor for the life of faith. When I said YES to the LOVER of my Soul, I became one with Him. I accepted His invitation to the dance of all dances … one that will never end and one that is all about Love.

April 04, 2019

The Dance of FAITH: Moving with His Life-giving Flow

April 04, 2019/ jan

A few years ago, my husband and I were at some friends’ house. This couple liked to gather miscellaneous people who knew them but not each other. True to form, they asked a great icebreaker question. The particular question that evening was,

If you could do anything other than what you currently do, what would that be? Your secret ambition?

March 31, 2019

No Joke! He is Alive ... Forever! And So Am I!

March 31, 2019/ jan

Last year, I posted this for April Fool’s Day. Even though Easter is several weeks away this year, this post is no less true. HE IS ALIVE & I am free!

He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.
Matthew 28:6 NLT

Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live.
John 14:19 NLT

March 19, 2019

Starting from Scratch: a Retreat Meditation

March 19, 2019/ jan

This past weekend I had the joyful opportunity to join with a lovely group of ladies from my church with the express purpose of experiencing our God on a deeper level. The group was comprised of women of all ages who were at different stages in their walk with God. Yet despite the differences, an amazing oneness prevailed. How like the Holy Spirit to join us in Christ and allow us to sense Him in and through each other!

On Friday evening, I had the privilege of sharing the opening meditation. If you were at that retreat, you may like to revisit our focus by reviewing the meditation. If you weren’t able to join us for whatever reason, please join us here now as we explore the rest we are called to in Christ, who is our Focus, our Ground Zero, our Foundation, our All!

Actually HE IS the Christian Life! Amen!

March 13, 2019

The Call to Morning Prayer with St Patrick's Breastplate

March 13, 2019/ jan

The indwelling Holy Spirit calls to my soul in the early morn — to turn my thoughts toward Him and away from the anxieties, fears, stresses, and “to do lists” of my weak, broken and “know it all” flesh.

With every morn my life afresh must break
The crust of self, gathered about me fresh;
That thy wind-spirit may rush in and shake
The darkness out of me, and rend the mesh
The spider-devils spin out of the flesh …

March 10, 2019

Lenten Meditation: Forgiveness Revisited

March 10, 2019/ jan

I used to think that the struggle to forgive was itself sinful...as well as the horrible feelings I had in the whole thing. But I've come to realize that the struggle and the feelings are all part of the human condition on this earth. Perhaps they are rather temptations to the sin of unforgiveness.

Here are the five points that Lewis Smedes writes in his bookShame and Grace. I pray these points will be helpful to you as well.

March 08, 2019

Dust to Dust but Glory to Glory!

March 08, 2019/ jan

From dust you have come, and to dust you shall return.

Ash Wednesday has taken on a new meaning for me in recent years, since my 91 year old mom passed away early in November 2015. There was something that arrested me right in my tracks the day of my mom's funeral. I was undone by deep sobs of realization. And the depth of it had been helped along by the incense and the reverence afforded the treatment of my dear mama's frail little body being put to rest (or so they say).

But it wasn't the finality of it all. It had already been final when she had breathed her last, days before.

No! It was the Sacredness that came crashing through!

March 02, 2019

Living the Colorful Life ... even as the winter drags on

March 02, 2019/ jan

Hi friends, no crocuses are pushing through the hardened soil here in Ohio. Usually by now, those hardy “souls” have at least given us a bit of hope of the spring ahead.

So I thought of this post and how it could “color up” our souls while we await what surely is to come. So pause with me as we revisit a post from May 2016.

God lives a colorful life . . . or maybe better said, God lives His life in color!
All we need do is look around. Color is everywhere . . . in nature, in people, even in feelings, ideas, and circumstances.

February 25, 2019

"The Smile that Destroyed my Religion!"

February 25, 2019/ jan

Much of my life I lived under the "frown of God," or so I thought. I wasn't a bad kid; in fact, I was quite religious and moral. But I wasn't perfect for sure. (For one thing, I was a terrible big sister, mean and self-centered toward my siblings.) But I knew God required perfection, so I was always working my way down a spiritual "to do list" of some kind (depending on the Christian group I was with. They each had their own, you know).

February 23, 2019

Returning to Joy...again and again!

February 23, 2019/ jan

Today I would like to share with you what has become my "spiritual survival image."

Why?

Because life can be overwhelming, frustrating (people and circumstances don't always cooperate with our "plans"...amazing!), and stressful to the point of sending us "over the edge."

So here is where the Lord always seems to take me, even in the dark, even in the not-knowing...perhaps especially in the not-knowing.

February 18, 2019

SALT: Who Knew?

February 18, 2019/ jan

You are the salt of the earth.
But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again?…

Salt! What a prolific commodity!

In the past salt was valuable and rare. But now it is cheap, always there, on the table, in the cupboard ... available. And so taken for granted -- by me, at least ... UNTIL a few days ago.

February 14, 2019

It's all about LOVE!

February 14, 2019/ jan

Let all that you do be done in love. Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? But we know it’s often very hard.

In fact, Paul's words in verse 9 nail it on the head, don't they:

...there are many adversaries...

That's right! Enemies, opposition, struggles! All against loving...why?

February 11, 2019

To Write the Love of God Above!

February 11, 2019/ jan

There is a gem of a hymn that really grabs my heart and soul. I almost forgot about it until someone commented on an old post containing the song. The hymn? -- "The Love of God." The metaphor in the third stanza absorbs my mind and imagination:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,…

February 09, 2019

Resting While You Work

February 09, 2019/ jan

I’ve always been a worker-bee. Well, perhaps not as a child. As an adult, though, and especially as a Christian, I’ve been a worker-bee. I found great pleasure in life by accomplishing a goal, but there was a driven-ness in this way of living. I’ve discovered that being a worker-bee is especially dangerous, spiritually. I’ve lived for a long time under the yoke of what I call "to-do list" Christianity. What a bondage. Self-effort doesn't work when it comes to doing what only God can do,which is anything of any spiritual value. That's why I love the Lord's invitation to the weary, burdened folk who followed Him:

February 07, 2019

An Invitation to Rest

February 07, 2019/ jan

Ah! REST...what a glorious word! I inhale and exhale deeply at just the sound of it. And oh, how we humans need deep, glorious rest... Moms especially need it...as do dads. Single folks need it; workers need it; retirees do, too..Even kids need it (although they would protest most loudly...especially in the midst of the frenetic-ness of no-sleep sleepovers!)

I remember as a mom of an infant how I longed for rest, praying my crying-in-the-middle-of-the-night baby would just fall quietly back to dreamland. Or my napping toddler would stay napping so I could lie prostrate for just a few more moments (Please, God!) And now, even as a senior retired adult, that beautiful rest calls my name more often than not in the midst of my afternoons. So I often take to my overstuffed couch and doze as I watch the old westerns from my childhood.

February 01, 2019

Celebrating Total "Cardiac Rehab"--It takes a Village...

February 01, 2019/ jan

February is American Heart Month. How appropriate since February is also the month of Valentine’s Day, celebrating the heart’s favorite emotion — LOVE.

Well, "February, American Heart Month" has taken on new meaning because the “love of my life” had a heart attack more than seven years ago. So this brought lots of changes to both of our lives, but especially his. And cardiac rehab played a big part in those weeks after. As many heart patients know, cardiac rehab takes a village…

A Branch in the Vine