I began underlining and highlighting and writing in the margins. 

Facebook has a feature that will show me my “memories” from each day over the past years. This week I saw a picture I had posted of scripture my Dad had copied down.  What a joy for me to see his distinct left handed script. And what a treasure to know that he also liked verses in Romans 8. 

​Now, I use the Bible Gateway app. I can enter a verse and select a variety of translations to read. Sometimes I like to make the “Heather Translation” by blending some together. This version of Romans 8:38-39 is a mix of the Amplified Bible and the Living Bible:

I am so grateful that my salvation is secure through faith alone. And that there is nothing I can ever do to add to that or take away from it. It is impossible to get beyond God’s loving reach. 

In His Name, Heather

years. Physical appearance is culturally something we pay attention to, though most of those alterations are out of our hands in spite of how we try to manage them — hair, wrinkles, and weight, just to name a few.

The dictionary would define change as: “To be, or cause to be different”. Historically change is inevitable. No matter how we want things “to stay the same”, they don’t. The highway we travel, called life, has many side roads that allow us to consider change; graduation, marriage, parenthood, loss of loved ones, and retirement to name just a few. Through each of these changes we become “Changed” or different with one great exception. God’s Word.

The videos I watched were of grown men receiving glasses for their birthday. They were fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and husbands. Their loved ones scattered colorful balloons around, and they all wore bright colored clothes. The men were handed a box and everyone watched as they unwrapped it and it seemed like everyone held their breath while their loved one tried on the glasses. The men would try them on and look around, and in all of the videos you could see their brain trying to decipher what they were seeing. The glasses would come off for a few seconds and go back on and suddenly you would notice the moment their brain registered something was different. One man put on the glasses and did not notice anything at first and began eating his lunch. Prompted to take them off and try again he was suddenly still and silent as a world of color flooded his brain. The reaction was universally the same, awe and silence, wide eyed wonder, and then tears.

It was beyond heartwarming to see these men, from various ages and walks of life seeing color for the first time. Some of the men were stoic souls who did not seem like the type to cry easily. However, when they cried so did their loved ones. One gentleman had been wearing his glasses for over a year and was well accustomed to his new world of colors. He was standing on a beach waiting to see his first sunrise in color. He had his glasses on his head as he narrated his next steps, he closed his eyes and pulled his glasses down, he said, “I’m going to open my….” He was so struck with wonder he could not finish his sentence. He stood there for a moment in awe and silence. Even after a year of seeing the world in color he was once again in tears at the new beauty before him.
​
These stories brought to mind a passage in 1 Corinthians 13. This chapter is often known as the love chapter and the last verses of this chapter can be easily overlooked.
​

Paul is describing to the early church the power of love in the life of a believer. Paul also recognizes that as a human on earth we often do not see things clearly. He is seeking to encourage the believers that even though we cannot see clearly all that God is doing right now, someday we will. What will it be like to have all of eternity visible to our new eyes, what will the face of God look like? Will our soul even be able to register the beauty of it at first, or will we need a moment to adjust to what we are finally able to see clearly for the first time?

The Bible describes heaven a few times, and the Bible is even so bold to say some things are too wonderful for us to understand. I have a feeling the families with a color-blind loved one knows what this is like. How do you describe color to someone who only sees one color or a muddy world? Especially since a colorless world does not necessarily deprive someone of life and happiness. How can God fully explain heaven and what it is like to be in His presence if we only have human eyes to see with? Thankfully someday we will see God face to face. I imagine our response will be just like those seeing color for the first time, awe and silence, wide-eyed wonder followed by tears of joy.

​In His Name, Bonnie

my jam! Jam-a-la-ram!” instead of offering a tentatively tilted: “Change is for certain, ok… (inhale, exhale) pull back the curtain.”. Though I’ve actively spent the last three decades pursuing a parallel course to that bold, ‘jam-a-la ram’ attitude towards change, I still experience a ‘hitch in my giddy-up’ when a change opportunity reveals itself. So, with this continuing reaction gap between ‘fearful’ to ‘hopeful’, I’ve been focusing on an intermediate step: transforming feelings of anxiety about change into expectations of hope for the possibilities within change.

Today it is my intention to share a few sources of wisdom I have come to appreciate in my attempts to span this gap. I’m excited to share readings that I find delightful and which speak to change in a simple, clear way. I hope they might also offer you a moment of inspiration to see ‘change’ from a more anticipatory viewpoint.

Big Panda and Tiny Dragon by James Norbury (Mandala Publishing 2021)
​
Spring p.14 Big Panda and Tiny Dragon are together under the cherry tree. Tiny Dragon is busily writing (probably a draft for an e-blog). Big Panda is contemplating the cherry blossoms.

Autumn p. 97 Tiny Dragon and Big Panda are sharing tea under the cherry tree.
​

Winter p.136 Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, under the bare the cherry tree, during a beautiful snow fall.

Spring p.150 & 151 Big Panda sits below a bamboo from which hangs a quivering chrysalis. Tiny Dragon is perched on a rock nearby, staring. (He looks mesmerized.) The caption reads: ‘Butterflies struggle most just before they emerge.’
​​

The TAO of POOH and the TE of PIGLET  The Principles of Taoism demonstrated by Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet, inspired by the original works by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard (Methuen & Co. Ltd 1994) pp. 24-26
​
Intelligence can get in the way of wisdom and the power of solving a logical problem that requires a changed sense of logic. The excerpt that follows shows how a Bear of Little Brain manages simple wisdom to effect a desired change.
​

instead.  I think the word promise is easier and gentler for a human to commit to, and yet a promise is defined strikingly like a resolution. “A declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.” God gave us promises, over 7000 promises are in the bible concerning success, confidence, health, prosperity, strength, and wisdom. Longing for something positive to start the new year off, I did some research and discovered an easy project called “The Blessing Jar.” 

​The Blessing Jar project works as follows:​

The first time I did the blessing jar was in 2020.  We had only lived in Idaho for a few months, and I was at an all-time low.  My optimism had been nearly drained completely.  There were a lot of changes going on in our household.  I was trying to adjust to a new state, find a new job, and get my family settled in Coeur d’Alene.  I had 3 little kids and no local friends, and I was emotional about everything.  Then to make matters worse, COVID-19 kicked in and what little of a new life we had established was completely turned upside down.  Throughout all those trials and tribulations, I kept pursuing my ‘blessing.’ Every week I would reflect and write one down.  Some weeks, it was easy to see some event that had blessed it; other weeks I had to think harder about it.  Sometimes, more than one blessing would happen in a week so I would write all the blessings on one piece of paper.  When New Year’s Eve in 2020 struck I truly enjoyed looking back on all the positive events that happened despite all the craziness of 2020.  Our ‘blessings’ that seemed so small and minute taking place each week added up to something big by the end of 2020.  My family and I read all the blessings of 2020 together on New Year’s Eve.  They also enjoyed reflecting on the past events of the year.  My family asked if we would have another blessing jar for 2021.  How could I say no?

The Blessing Jar is a project that every person in your family can participate in, either as an entire family or make everyone in their family have a private jar.  The first year, I participated in The Blessing Jar project I did privately.  If you know me, you know I’m a “the glass is half full” kind of girl.  I love sunshine, glitter, happiness, rainbows, etc. I will always find something to be optimistic about.  My husband likes to refer to my forever optimism as one of my best qualities.

Last year, in 2022, I had one of the most depressing years of my adult life.  In 2022, I mailed out 10 sympathy cards to 10 families who I was personally connected with.  All the deaths were completely unexpected.  One of those sympathy cards was to my parents as we buried my twin sister.  During the year 2022, I cried more tears than I could have ever imagined.  I checked myself into therapy. I stood in disbelief every time I got a phone call that someone, I really cared about was having to suddenly plan a funeral.  What I thought was a hard year in 2020, was a mere fraction of the depression and sadness I battled in 2022.  Despite everything, I kept my personal promise and wrote a ‘blessing’ down every single week during 2022.  Last New Year’s Eve, I was able to reflect on not only the sadness that occurred but also the many blessings that had still happened.  My jar of blessings saved me from further heartache.

With 2023 ending and 2024 almost here you may have been considering making a New Year’s resolution.  I would like to take the time to encourage anyone at First Pres to host a Blessing Jar in their home this year.  Your blessings can always stay privately between you and God.  He already knows the plans He has made for you.  Remember, sharing your blessings with someone may help to brighten their day.  However, you chose to welcome 2024, I hope it is a wonderful year.  May God bless you and your family with love, prosperity, good health, and happiness in the new year.
​
Grace & peace,
Tracee