All Saints Lutheran Church

Balancing Act
by Tina Breede

Balance is something very few people I know have and yet so many want it.  I strive for it every day and desire it consistently, but there are pockets of time that I clearly don’t have it.  It’s something I want to teach my children to strive for and desire too.  If you’re raising a family, you’re quick to recognize that balance is a difficult thing to achieve.  There are so many opportunities and experiences we can expose our children to and yet we continue to have the same amount of time in each day.  There just clearly isn’t enough time!  Or maybe there is and I just need to learn to prioritize and rationalize better.  Boy does that sound easier said than done.

My Women’s Bible Study read, “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” by Joanna Weaver recently and there was a great story about what God asks of us and how we interpret and respond to Him.   To make a long story short, God asks a man to carry one rock to the top of a very large hill.  Along the way, he encounters many friends and neighbors in need of their rocks to be carried up the same hill.  Being an obedient servant, the man willingly and lovingly accepts each person’s rock to carry along with his own.  Half way up the hill, the man was exhausted, frustrated, and bitter by all that God had asked him to do.   He cries out to God in anger and desperation.   God simply answers that He only asked him to carry one rock to the top of the hill.  As the man unloads his wagon full of other people’s rocks, he finds that his burden really isn’t quite so bad and easily makes it to the top of that hill.

Accepting God’s love and returning it through a relationship with Him has been an exciting and fulfilling balancing act for me.  It has led me to discover my spiritual gifts and has given me courage that I never realized I had.  It’s opened up this amazing supply of passion and energy for many different causes inside and outside of our church.   The hard thing for me is figuring out which rock(s) God is asking me to carry up that hill and which ones He’s asking others to carry.  Discerning when to step up and when to back off is tough.

Because of my husband’s work, our family took advantage of a great opportunity to travel to our childhood state for a month.  It came at a time when I was feeling really homesick and disconnected from a lot of the friends and family we had left.  The trip was full of laughter, adventures, and conversations that filled me with peace.  And with the exception of only a couple of times, I really didn’t dwell on my to-do list waiting at home.  What I did dwell on was finding a way to regain balance when I got home.

As our trip came to a close, I was melancholy to leave but really missing the home we have created in Florida.  And sure enough, as soon as I got home, I found myself thinking about the upcoming several months and the many things that need to get done.  I forced myself to take a deep breath, sit down and stop thinking about it!  It’s exciting and overwhelming to be reminded of the many opportunities we have to love God by serving those around us.  There will always be a lot to do.  I honestly don’t know anyone who claims to be bored these days.

I’m starting to think having balance has everything to do with asking and accepting help, really considering our gifts and talents, putting ourselves on the list of priorities, and seeking guidance through prayer and relationships with those around us.  All this thinking has me looking at the people in my life and wondering about their spiritual gifts and passions and how we can ask God to help us make some amazing things happen.

I’m sure several of you reading this may get nervous about me “picking your brain” or asking you to “give it some thought”, but don’t be.  I understand busy, and I understand not having that feeling of passion for something.  When I approach things because I feel guilty or because I have to do something, it tends to feel like a chore.  The beauty happens when the opposite is true.

My plan is to be open and honest to what I feel passion for, recognize and accept what I’m gifted at, and approach those opportunities with a loving heart.  I’ll also try to be kind to myself when plans change and life gets in the way.  It’s a process.  It’s a balancing act.

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Did you get the memo?
By TinaBreede

Have you ever shown up to church Sunday morning and realize you clearly missed the memo on wearing a certain color that day? That’s me EVERY Pentecost Sunday. And I always brush it off by thinking, it’s just a color and maybe next year I’ll figure out the significance of wearing red on Pentecost and by the way, what the heck is Pentecost anyway? And then life happens…again.
Now that I’ve confessed my lack of prior knowledge on Pentecost, I wanted to help you find a way to explain to your kids (and maybe you) the importance of this significant day. After learning about Pentecost, I’m feeling a tad guilty for not decorating the house or doing a special project with the kids to properly celebrate it. In my humble opinion, it’s just as, if not more, important than Christmas and Easter .
Pentecost is the 7th Sunday after Easter to celebrate how the disciples received the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit entered the disciples, it came to them like a violent rush of wind and it looked like each of them had a tongue of fire above their heads. The disciples were empowered to proclaim the risen Christ and preach His forgiveness to crowds of people gathered outside attracted by the loud noise they heard from the rush of wind. The Holy Spirit also, and miraculously, enabled them to speak and understand many foreign languages giving them a much greater ability to spread the message of Jesus. Because the message could now be spread far and wide, it is considered the birthday of the Christian Church. We wear red to represent the tongues of fire that came upon the disciples.
Of course we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas, meditate and consider the journey to His death during Lent, and finally celebrate the great victory of His resurrection at Easter. But Pentecost gives us the opportunity to celebrate the Holy Spirit entering the disciples and giving them the compelling desire and ability to go forth and do the work Jesus inspired them to do. For us and for our children, it can be a day we celebrate and consider how the Holy Spirit is working through us to promote action and good works in the name of Jesus Christ.
As one of many, many wives that have a husband that travels for work a lot and the mother of two young kids, I can safely say I know what it means to be busy. But there’s this funny thing that happens every time I invite God to work through me so that others might see His good work…I find the courage, time, and energy to do His work and it fuels me with the courage, time, and energy to do more.
So when you’re at church on Sunday and you see everyone looking spiffy in red, let your kids know it’s an outward sign in celebration of God’s beautiful gift of His spirit in action within us and through us. Talk to them about their baptisms and tell them ways you see the Holy Spirit working through them.
And by the way, there’s STILL a good chance the kids and I won’t be wearing red on Sunday. I’m still a wife with a husband that travels, and two small kids. Things happen, the laundry doesn’t always get done in time to pull out something red. But this time I’ll have the knowledge in my mind and peace in my heart that Pentecost is a holiday worth celebrating. It’s a celebration that can carry on through my actions all year. From my family to yours, Happy Pentecost!

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