Lenten Reflection for March 13th

Nick Vujicic's story is an inspiring one. Nick graduated from Griffith University at the age of 21 with a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce. He is the author of many books, he created a nonprofit ministry, a motivational speaking company, was in a movie, and recently released a music cd and video.  This year he and his wife celebrate their twelfth wedding anniversary and together they have four beautiful children. 

Nick’s life hasn’t been an easy one though. He was born with a rare disorder called tetra-amelia, and was born without limbs. The syndrome is so unique that there have only been seven reported cases in the world. At first his mother refused to see him or hold him when he was born. Eventually, his parents saw it as God's plan and brought him home to raise him as ‘normally’ as possible.

Nick was bullied in school because of his disabilities and over the years contemplated taking his own life several times. But rather than give up, he kept his faith in God and continued his efforts. I read he always kept a pair of shoes in his closet in the hope that one day he would walk and he didn’t succumb to his depression.

Nick’s story is a wonderful example of how the Gift of Courage, or Fortitude, helps us to persevere in the face of adversities. Even if we are knocked down time and time again, through faith and seeking strength from the Lord, we can pick ourselves back up and stand firmly knowing that God is with us.

When we feel discouraged, like we might succumb to fears or anxieties and are tempted to give up, let our prayer be “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14)

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

We may not like to think about it too much, but the truth is there will be moments in our lives when we face some hard times. If it feels like bad things keep happening, we might get very discouraged and even feel like just giving up.

It’s in these times that we need to work even harder to continue forward, learning and growing even when things don’t seem to be going our way. This attitude is called ‘perseverance’ and praying for Courage can help us persevere through hard times. As we persevere, we will find that we grow stronger and can continue to work through many different kinds of hardships in our lives and not feel like giving up.

If you feel like giving up, remember this verse from the Bible for inspiration, “Wait for the Lord’s help. Be strong and brave and wait for the Lord’s help.” (Psalm 27:14 ICB Translation)

God bless you!

Lenten Reflection for March 12th

Part of my experience as an Indigenous First Nations has been becoming a Pow Wow dancer. I dance both Northwest Coast Traditional as well as Fancy Shawl. I remember when I first started dancing at Pow wows, I was horribly nervous! Despite much encouragement and support from my husband, I would still fidget around and wring my hands as I waited for my turn to enter the dance arena, wondering why I was putting myself through this experience if it was so nerve-wracking. 

One of the first Pow Wows I danced at I met a family whose young daughter was just starting out dancing, that day was her first time to dance at a Pow Wow. She was clinging to her mum who gave me a smile and told me how nervous her daughter was about dancing. I crouched down and smiled at the girl, telling her how nervous I was too. Her eyes went wide at the realisation that a grown-up like me might be just as nervous! 

I told her it was alright to be nervous, some kinds of nerves means we’re about to do something that’s important and we want to make sure we do well. We have important roles as dancers, as we dance, we pray for those watching us and we help them see our history and culture.

When they called for dancers to enter the arena, I was honoured to enter the circle beside that young girl, both of us feeling a bit more confident in our role and mission. This was a lesson to me as well, to be attentive to where God needs me to be, to share His Gifts with others.

Sometimes we might think of Courage as being a large display of self-sacrifice, and yes there are times when this might be the case, we certainly see examples of this from many Saints and martyrs. Courage actually is often defined as not the absence of fear, but making the right choice in spite of being afraid. We read this encouragement in Scripture, “Be strong and bold…it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Courage can be the small, everyday actions of choosing what is right and good that will lead us closer to Jesus. We can take heart knowing the Lord is always with us.

Let’s continue to pray for an increase of the Spirit’s Gift of Fortitude this Lenten season!

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

Part of my experience as an Indigenous First Nations has been becoming a Pow Wow dancer and I remember when I first started dancing at Pow wows, I was horribly nervous! I would fidget around and wring my hands as I waited for my turn to enter the dance arena, asking myself why was I doing this if it made me so nervous? 

One of the first Pow Wows I danced at I met a young girl who was dancing for the very first time at a Pow Wow. Her mum smiled and told me how nervous her daughter was about dancing. So I smiled at the girl, telling her how nervous I was too. She was so surprised that a grown-up like me might be just as nervous as she was! 

I told her it was alright to be nervous, some kinds of nerves means we’re about to do something that’s important and we want to try to do our best. We have important roles as dancers, as we dance, we pray for those watching us and we help them see our history and culture.

Having Courage doesn’t always mean doing something ‘big’ and brave. Usually Courage will be shown in the little choices we make each day that will help us to appreciate God’s love for us and the way we share it with others. 

If there are times that you feel you need more Courage, you can try to remember encouraging words from the Bible, one verse says,  Be strong and brave…Don’t be frightened. The Lord your God will go with you. He will not leave you or forget you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Always remember God is with you!

Lenten Reflection for March 11th

What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘gentleness’? For myself, it conjures up an image of a toddler petting, or in more cases, grasping at a cat or puppy and the parent close by urging reminders of “Be gentle! Be gentle!”. Or another memory of hymns at Christmas, singing of the infant Jesus being ‘tender and mild’. Many notions of gentleness seem to be of quietness, softness, shyness or meekness, being tentative and hesitant. Meekness even perhaps imagined as groveling in some cases. This isn’t what I’ve found to be the case with other Fruits of the Spirit, so I wanted to reflect further on what Gentleness looks like when it grows from Right Judgment.

From the Greek translation of Scripture, the word often used for ‘gentle’ is praus. In each of these cases, the word praus is used: Moses is described as ‘meek’ (Numbers 12), “The meek shall inherit the land…” (Psalm 37), Jesus refers to it during his Sermon on the Mount, ‘Blessed are the meek…’ (Matthew 5:5) also later when he says, “Take my yoke upon you…for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

We see many examples in Scripture of Jesus and his gentle care, his compassion, mercy, love for those in need of His grace, but he is never shy, nervous or tentative. In fact, there are times when he is quite the opposite, turning over the tables in the temple marketplace and driving people out with a whip of cords comes to mind. He also is not shy or groveling when He stands before Pilate before his crucifixion. Even then he speaks with confidence and dignity.

Jesus also asks much of his disciples. He knows he is sending them into persecution, to be arrested and beaten, yet he calls them to take their crosses and follow him. Yes, Jesus is gentle, but this gentleness is different from what we might have expected. This gentle meekness comes with high demands.

What we can see is that being ‘gentle’ or meek and humble doesn’t equate to lacking in confidence or dignity.  We can see how, in the right manner and at the appropriate times, we are called to pray for strength through the Spirit and act with gentleness.

When we pray for the Gift of Right Judgement or Counsel, we will have a better understanding of when, where and how to act in right ways which also show the love and care that Christ has modeled for us and calls us to share.

For our younger brothers and sisters in Christ:

When you hear the words ‘gentleness’ or ‘meek’ what comes to mind? Perhaps an image of a toddler grasping at a kitten or puppy and the parent close by urging reminders of “Be gentle! Be gentle!”. Or maybe being meek seems like someone who is trembling, nervous, shy and quiet.

The word for gentle or meek in the Bible is found several times, for example Jesus tells us ‘blessed are the meek’ (Matthew 5:5), and later also says,  “Take my yoke upon you…for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29). 

We see many examples in Scripture of Jesus and his gentle care, his compassion, mercy, love for those in need of His grace, but he is never shy, nervous or tentative. Even when facing people who are angry with him and against him, he speaks with confidence, courage and still shows mercy to them.

Gentleness doesn’t mean being soft or shy, meekness doesn’t mean being nervous. It means being strong and wise in the moment we need to be. The Gift of Right Judgment will help us in understanding how to act with gentle confidence in any circumstance. 

God bless you!