Fleeting

Good day to you all! Please find my second newsletter. There’s a sign up form below if you don’t receive it directly as I will eventually stop posting it to my blog. Peace to you this day! – Michelle

Thoughts from the Labyrinth

It seems that summer has finally arrived in Wisconsin. We spent a week at the lake with my brother’s family the first week of July and the hot weather has continued. We’ve even turned on the air conditioning a few days (a rare event in our house, it has to be really hot for me to close the windows).

I love summer. I love the extra daylight. I love sleeping with the windows open and listening to the birds in the morning. I love how beautiful everything is outside, so green and colorful. I love being able to go for a walk, run, or bike ride and not needing to wear an entire laundry load of clothes to keep warm. I love the feeling of the sun on my skin.

But summer is short in Wisconsin, and we need to make the most of the time we have. Summer never really arrives until mid- to late-June since we are near Lake Michigan. In just one short month from now, the mornings and evenings will begin to cool. The days will be shorter. The leaves will begin to turn; the summer flowers will begin to fade.

Summer is fleeting.

The Psalmist tells us life is fleeting as well. We should know the number of our days so that we can live a wise and righteous life (cf. Ps 39:4; 90:12). This is, of course, good counsel. We want our lives to have meaning and purpose, bringing glory to God. We seek to live a life of purpose even if it is fleeting. Like the summer flowers, we turn our face to the sun soaking up its warmth and goodness, for we know winter will come. But we’re going to give it all we got while we’re here.

We are on this earth for only a season. We have the opportunity to bring beauty into the world even though it does not provide us with immortality. We share what we have with the certainty that though our summer will not come again on this earth, there will be other summers and other flowers that will continue to bring beauty into this world.

In these long days when winter seems so far away let us receive fully what summer has to offer without forgetting that we have much to offer as well.

Peace in the journey,
Michelle

Things I Love

The Optimist Need a little good news each week? I really enjoy this weekly newsletter. It contains interesting, feel good stories that you’ll want to share with others. You don’t need a subscription to The Washington Post to sign up for the newsletter.

Ideal Palace I enjoyed this beautiful movie on our way to Paris in May. Joseph-Ferdinand Cheval builds a “palace” for his daughter one stone at a time. This true story weaves the pain and love in his life amidst his career as a postman in 19th century France.

June was the one-year anniversary of my book Prayers for the People: Scriptural Based Prayers for Worship. To celebrate, if you buy my book in the coming month. Just message me a copy of your receipt, and I will send you a booklet of prayers of adoration and confession. Thanks for checking it out!

A Closing Prayer

God who breathed the world into being, who also breathed life into us: We are amazed by the audacity of your plan of salvation.  Who would think that peace found in the fragility and vulnerability of an infant would be enough to save us all.  But if we needed proof to know that your power and love know no bounds, we need only look to the manger.  For the God who parted the waters for Israel to be free, has parted the heavens and the earth so that we might be free.  God, receive our thanks.

God who became Immanuel, who also dwelled among us: We are amazed by the humility of your plan of salvation.  From the night of your birth, your life was one lived in solidarity with us.  You ate with us even though we were unclean.  You healed us despite our lack of faith.  You taught us regardless of the hardness of our hearts.  You loved us even when we did not love you back.  Through your birth, life, death, and resurrection, grace has overflowed.  Jesus, receive our thanks.

God who encourages, who also correct us: We are amazed by the strength of your communion.  You bring the reality of Immanuel into our lives and bind us together as the Church.  You inspire and equip us to continue Christ’s mission in the world while at the same time, you tend to our souls by praying on our behalf when we have no words.  You are our Advocate and our Comforter.  Your truth is life to us.  Holy Spirit, receive our thanks.

May we never cease to be thankful for your love endures each day. To the one who is both the beginning and the end: Amen.