Preacher perks

I wanted to post something about how thankful I am for my children being the beneficiaries of so much generosity. One perk of being a minister (there are many) is that folks within the congregation sometimes give you clothing for your children and even to you. Maybe there's a mixed message of "Hey we think you dress poorly-here put on this pair of slacks instead." But I doubt it.

Maybe it is a more common practice (clothes sharing) than I know. Maybe it happens to anyone who has friends with kids just a bit older than yours. It is sure something for which I am thankful.

The clothes are often second hand, but they always have a good deal of wear in them and at least for now my daughters love it and don't complain. Maybe when they're teens this will change-but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I can count the number of times we've gone to buy clothes other than shoes for our girls on one hand. As I implied a few sentences ago we've been blessed to know some families that have girls just a bit older than ours and they've shared with us. I can't help but think that this practice would not have been as useful had we had two sons. A boy walking around in a pair of jellies and a summer dress would've raised more than a few eyebrows.

Another good thing about clothes sharing is that sometimes you find money hidden in the pockets of the clothes-like this one time we found $10,000 in unmarked bills in a pair of jeans stuffed into the pocket in a neat stack of hundreds. Of course we did the right thing...tithed on it and promptly paid off our car. That never happened-but it COULD right?

Often I take it for granted-and I want to say thank you publicly (if you can call a blog read by on average one person a week public).

There are other perks of being a preacher:

1) Get out of hell free card.

2) People sometimes think you have influence over the weather. Often when we have a sunny day on the day of a church picnic-the people say "Thank you for praying that we would have good weather and thank God for providing it." More often when we have rain or inclement weather they say "Can't you do something about this?" I wish I had power over the weather-I'd make it warmer than -5 outside and it would rain gumdrops and s'mores every third Tuesday.

3)People often feed you-even if you don't want to be fed this can be abused. But people are thoughtful of you in this way and its cool sometimes. Sometimes people send home LOTS of food for you and your family-one just has to be careful not to balloon up too much so you don't float away in the baptismal font.

Of course being a Presbyterian our fonts are about the size of a large salad bowl so if you could float in that you likely have problems bigger than a weight issue-like you've been struck by a nefarious shrink ray or something. Of course that's more rare these days than it used to be-but it certainly happened in a Disney movie from the nineties.

4) People like to tell you how good your sermon was-even if it wasn't they often tell you it was. It's a good self esteem boost to receive compliments even when they're not due. It's too bad my wife hasn't picked up on this trait. (insert rim shot here) My favorite is when you see the person sleep throughout the entire worship service and they brag on you profusely at the door. I can't blame them. Some of the most restful sleep I've ever gotten has been in the library and during church (on days when I was younger and not preaching).

I'm sure there are many more to list-but that's all for now. In short I'm thankful to God and to God's people for demonstrating their love for us in these ways. It's a gift.


Much Grace to you and yours,
Dwight

Love for self

I wonder what Jesus' command to love one's neighbor as one loves themselvese looks like exactly.

I get the whole Love the Lord your God with all of your heart mind and strength. I along with other Christians are asked to put Jesus above all else and base our life and relationships on his love for us-then extending the same type of love to others.

But what does loving oneself involve?

I think it's some of the following.

1) Eat healthy foods-and take time to cook and eat them sitting down with others when possible.
2) Get 7-9 hours a sleep often
3) Exercise often.
4) Hug your children and tell them you love them
5) Hug your spouse or significant other and tell them you love them
6) Believe it when God says we're forgiven. Jesus says that when we confess our sins that God is just and forgives us of our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Don't beat yourself up or degrade who you are in the name of being humble.
7) Be truly humble-seeking first how we may offer a loving word, action, or thought rather than how we might judge or point out the speck in someone else's eye when we have a plank in our own. When we don't spend energy judging other people then we have more energy for loving-this builds us up.
8) Remind yourself every day that you are created in the image of God-and that God dwells within you-Christ is in you the hope of glory.
9) Wear clothes that make you feel good-shallow one-but effective nonetheless. Even if its something you got from the thrift store-if it is comfy and makes you feel good-enjoy it.
10) Seek the enjoyment in every task-even if you hate whatever it is you are doing-like a necessity at work or home-think of what you are doing as giving glory to God-and seek how it can be thought of as fun. This won't always work-but if you re frame the thoughts-then the feelings follow.

11) Think positive thoughts-if you find yourself thinking a negative thought-ask God to help you replace it with a positive thought. It works-re frame the thought-the feelings follow-positive thoughts=positive attitudes=positive action=positive results.

12) Don't waste your time arguing. Stop and ask yourself "What is going on with this person?" Seek first to understand and then to be understood (As in one of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)

Typically if you understand where someone is coming from, their motivation if possible-then you can determine if a response is appropriate. Sometimes people are coming from a place of hate-and sometimes they are coming from a place of love. If hate, then shake the dust off of your sandals and move on from that village is how Jesus worded it. To spend time in the presence of one who will not accept you as the child of God you are takes away from your place as a child of God. The problem then lies with them.

13) Laugh, laugh some more, laugh again, laugh laugh and laugh. There was some statistic that said children on average laugh four or more times in an hour-and they're happier in general for it. Granted they don't have a job, a mortgage, a relationship with a mate, taxes, or responsibilities to weigh them down-but Jesus instructed us to have faith like a child, and to receive the Kingdom of God like a child. This means with happiness, and laughter at the ready-lightness of heart and mind, and freedom to not worry about what other people think about us. Another factor to consider is that children laugh when someone says "You're a dookie head." and comments similar to that. It may take a LITTLE more to amuse us when we're older.

and FINALLY my last morsel of wisdom for us to savor:

14) Go outside and play instead of spending time writing blogs all the time.

Gotta go there's a swing outside with my name on it. I have to find out who's going around writing my name on playground equipment.
Dwight