The culture of the church

 

While listening to a Podcast on my afternoon walk yesterday, I heard the phrase “The culture of the church.” The woman continued on to talk about how the culture of the church has a tendency to be very black and white. As I thought on her comments, I started to focus my walk on the colors I saw, and I couldn’t help but take pictures.

Too often the culture of the church is very short sighted. They tend to see right and wrong, good and bad, virtue or vice, worthy and unworthy. The beauty of the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ is that it is full of beautiful color! Christ can take all people who choose to come unto him, wherever they are, and make so much more of them.

He adds the color. He washes away the darkness and the mistakes and turns us into a beautiful colorful garden. He can make good of any difficult situation. I’ve seen him do it in my life as well as others.

People in the church or the culture of the church will always get it wrong because they are imperfect. They can’t see the world and its people as clearly as Christ in his perfect love and understanding sees it.

When you see things that bother you or hurt because of the culture please don’t think that is the gospel. Redirect your focus on Christ and his doctrine for it is he, not the church, who is mighty to save! As we focus on Christ, he can open our eyes to the beautiful color in the world around us!

 

This thistle plant found a way to thrive against all odds, and so can we! The 2023 youth theme for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:13

This plant I saw yesterday reminds me of that truth! With faith and good works God will perform miracles!!!

#persistence #seethegood

The Gift to Hear

My husband and oldest child and I love watching the tv show NCIS. On the show one of the main characters, Gibbs, talks about his famous gut. His gut tells him all kinds of things. A person’s innocence or guilt, whether or not someone is being truthful, or lying, etc. NCIS calls it Gibbs gut, another may call it intuition. It may be many things too many people, but to me it is the still small voice or the gift of the Holy Ghost. This was a gift I received at the age of eight when I was baptized. It is a gift that I cherish! 

Some may doubt or question this gift or play it off as my own thoughts, but I know that I have been blessed to hear the spirit speak to me. What has the spirit said? Well, many things over the last 35 years. Too many things to count them all. I'd like to share some of those prominent thoughts that the spirit has shared with me. 

The spirit has protected me. It directed me to cancel an appointment with a tv repair man. I wasn’t sure about that decision until I scheduled with another repair man and told him about the previous appointment. When I told him the name of the company his expression led me to believe I’d made the correct decision. Another time around 2:00 am the spirit told me to get up and lock my front door. I was religious about locking my door, but sure enough the door was unlocked, and someone was sitting in a running car in front of my apartment. They were gone the following morning, but it was evident to me that this random wake up was not a coincidence. 

My physical health has been cared for by this gift. For years the spirit spoke to me of my gluten intolerance, and I ignored it. No lie! I kept reasoning with those impressions as to why they couldn’t be, but sure enough my gut health was out of balance and cutting out gluten for many years was the answer to my problem. Now that my gut is healthier, I can process gluten on my own. Another time when I was having an irregular menstrual cycle and the spirit told me to take a pregnancy test. I thought I was going crazy. Why would I suspect pregnancy especially when I was on birth control? When I decided to listen and found a positive pregnancy test, I sought medical advice. I learned that I was pregnant with an ectopic pregnancy and because the fetus was not in a viable position and a risk to my own health, I was sent for surgery the very next day to have my fallopian tube removed.

The spirit has helped with others. It was there to guide me when one of my dear friends was brave enough to come out to me. It was as if I knew all the right things to say to let her know that no matter what I would love and accept her! The spirit spoke to me just recently as I was headed to bed. It let me know I needed to check on a son. Because of the spirit I was able to be there for my child to provide for his needs. 

I share these things to a few reasons. Sometimes we forget to listen to our Loving Father in Heaven who truly wants to speak to us. Another reason is that I never want to forget or have my boys wonder if the spirit ever speaks to me. Why do I share this with you? Because at times the spirit speaks to me and asks me to share messages of hope and encouragement. This is one of those times. I feel I’ve been called to speak truth for my Father in Heaven. This page is partly an answer to that call I feel he has for me. I hope that in following the spirit that the Lord is able to reach the individual He needs to teach. If that soul happens to be you, please know that God loves you and desires to speak to you as well. I hope you will take the time to listen!

Abundance

At the beginning of 2022 I decided abundance was going to be the word that I would focus on improving for the year. Life happened and I forgot to focus on abundance. When inflation started to pinch out that feeling of abundance this fall, I saw my reminder and started to wonder how I was going to find any abundance in my life. Christmas was coming. Challenges and trials were closing in, and abundance, felt like something others were blessed with. I felt like the more I tried to find abundance the less abundant my life was. I was trying to find it, but like many things we chase, I felt abundance was fleeting.

Weeks went by and with a tiny glimmer of hope it seemed that Christmas might just turn out okay. It wasn't that we were poor, or that our kids would go without, but it certainly didn't feel like the abundant Christmases we had experienced in the past. I just felt that finances were tight and we were stuck. After weeks of searching for abundance the Lord taught me a lesson in trusting him.

The last day of school, before Christmas break, my high schooler was going to drive to school so that if he wanted to come home early he could. The students were given the option to buy their way out of class in order to raise funds for charity so we wanted to give him the option to buy his way out of class. Being my introverted child, he was NOT interested in attending the high school assembly at the end of the day. With a potential snow storm coming that afternoon we decided he would just take the bus to school that day. As I finished up work I got a text from him. He was telling me he might need a ride home from school. I thought it was odd, but figured it wouldn't be a big deal to swing by the high school on the way home. As I pulled up, here he came with this giant 50" tv box.

What in the world is he doing with that? Did he win that? How? I opened the van and he slid the tv in and hopped in. I started asking my questions and he told me of how his teacher had bought raffle tickets for the students in his class so he had one raffle ticket in the drawing. They pulled a name for the drawing and the student wasn't there so he would forfeit the tv. They pulled another name and when he heard his name he thought, "wait was that my last name?" He ran down the stairs to claim his prize and sure enough it was his raffle ticket they had pulled. 

Hundreds of other names and some kids had many entries and yet, my son, with his one and only ticket. The son who was only there because of a pending snow storm, came home with the free tv. After I got home, I had to head across town to make a purchase. As I was driving I was thinking about all of the improbability around him winning. Then the thought came into my mind. 'Marlies, if I can do all of this to help your son win a free tv do you really think that I won't help you get through this rough time?'

 

Tears came to my eyes, and suddenly all of that abundance I had been seeking was right in front me. I may not have won the lottery, but in my mind it was close enough. I don't know what the Lord has in store for me, but what I do know is that he gave my son a tv. Maybe just maybe the whole point of him winning was just so the Lord could tell this worried mother that he loves me and that everything will be all right. The truth is, I think it will be, because God loves me enough to give my kid a free tv. 

 

 

Can a ROCK Make You Feel God's Love?

 As my son and I were walking along the trail and back to Bloomington Lake I noticed a variation in the coloring of the rock. I love to find life lessons around me and most especially in the natural world. I decided to start photographing the rocks. Some might think taking picutures of rocks is very odd. For me I found a lesson in these rocks.

I asked my son what these rocks were made of and he replied, "minerals." I then asked him how big those minerals were. He answered that they were "very tiny." He even remarked that he could see some evidence of iron and copper in the rocks. I then asked him if the tiny minerals in those rocks mattered. Do those minerals make a difference? He agreed that they did. If those tiny minerals can make a difference in the way that rock looks to us just imagine the difference we, as tiny and insignificant as we may feel we are, make in the lives around us.

It is so easy to think that what we do or stay doesn't matter. It's so easy to be calloused or cruel to those around us without even thinking about it. It's easy to become lazy and indifferent in our actions. It's easy to believe the negative voices that tell us that we don't matter or make a difference. Oh, how much difference we can make when we show up as our best selves. Giving all that we can. Sometimes that effort and ability isn't as strong as other times, but we still can make a remarkable impact when we bring our gifts and talents to life and help others. We can still be a light in the darkness.

Never forget that you matter to this world. Never forget that you matter to others and NEVER forget that you matter a great deal to GOD! He loves you! I hope the next time to see a rock (especially a colorful one) that you remember that God placed all those perfect minerals together to remind you that he loves you more than you can imagine! 

See the Dirt

Learning from Family History

See the Dirt

 I love how family history stories can help you when you need them. I've been wondering how to help my boys get better at being more thorough in cleaning the house. Then the other day I thought of my 3X Great Grandmother, Lydia Pilch Thrower. Her granddaughter, who lived with her, said, "She taught me to see dirt, for she said, 'If you see dirt, you will clean it up."

As I thought of this lesson I decided to try it out on my boys. I went through the house and showed them the dirty spots that they weren't seeing. I reasurred them that they were still doing a good job and told them it's easy not to see all the dirt all the time. This last week my youngest was so excited to show me that he had cleaned the soap dish. You can see that they both needed a good cleaning. 😉 He was so happy to have gone the extra mile and cleaned the extra dirt without being told to. 

I'm so thankful for the knowledge we can gain as we learn from those who came before us. What a blessing that I have some many histories and wonderful people who I can learn from!

Storm Clouds Make Beautiful Rainbow Skies!

 

When I walked out of work today I looked up and saw the cloud on the top left of this collage. It was such an amazing cloud that I had to stop and take a photo. In fact the sky was so beautiful I swung by the soccer fields near my work so I could take more photos of the beautiful sky. I always wonder if people think I am crazy pointing my phone at the sky. Ha ha

As the day rolled on, I saw the beautiful storm clouds move in. I didn't use to think of them as beautiful. In fact the loss of sunlight used to make me gloomy and grumpy. Thankfully events in my life a few years back taught me to look for the joy and the magic in all things. Including storm clouds. Over the last 4 years or so I have come to LOVE storm clouds. They are so fascinating and have the most beautiful shapes and textures.

The best part of my day came when I realized that those beautiful clouds, turned storm clouds, became that most beautiful sunset. I was driving home and I was dying to get there and capture the constantly changing and evolving sky. I was thankful to catch the end of it. These beautiful clouds reminded me of the blessings that can come from the storm clouds in our life. Without those clouds the sunset would not have been so beautiful! Yesterday those literal storm clouds brought about answers to a prayer in my life. No! Not a prayer for rain like you might think. 

I had been praying for the last few weeks for help to find my sunglasses. I had looked everywhere I could think of and they were nowhere to be found. They aren't special or expensive sunglasses, but I liked them and when I gave up and went to purchase another pair I was sad to see that I didn't like any of those. I decided to put the task on hold and take a look another day.

Last night the ladies at our church had a garden party in one of the church member's backyard. When I was about to get ready and go, it started to rain and I kept waiting for them to cancel the garden party. They didn't. I went, and as I walked out the door I decided to grab my rain jacket just to be safe. When I got there and I folded my arms as they said the blessing on the food, I noticed and odd shape in my chest pocket. The very rain that I had been cursing because I was worried it would ruin the party was the answer to my prayer to find my sunglasses. Without that rain I never would have thought to check that pocket for those glasses. Without an event with a prayer on the food I still might have missed that the sunglasses were there. My prayer was answered and the garden party had just a little rain right at the beginning. The rest of the evening was lovely.

I'm so grateful that the Lord 

knows what he's doing 

when he sends me rain clouds!