Wildflower Writes

Photo by  Cade Prior  on  Unsplash Two different podcasters today told me I should be more vulnerable. One was a pastor, encouraging people to confess their faults, fears, failures, and feelings in the context of authentic relationships. To be a person of integrity, you have to be real with people. Without taking risks in relationships, you can’t grow as a person. Another was a therapist, counseling a businesswoman how to mitigate a conflict. Part of his advice was to acknowledge what she agreed with, and to take responsibility for her part in the conflict. This requires humility and honesty. Vulnerability is hard. The word itself means susceptible to harm. If you open yourself up to others, you’re more likely to get hurt. You’re also more likely to know that people like you for who you really are. As any adventure enthusiast would tell you, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

With another call out of complacent Christianity, Max Lucado brings to every person, especially the most ordinary of us, the nature of God's call and purpose for life.  He reveals both sides of the coin that all people matter to God:  Every person is called and equipped to make a difference in the world, and every person is worthy of God's touch through the service of His people.  As always, he threads the lives of heroes from the Bible, history and present day to encourage and inspire Christians to reach their potential as Jesus' ambassadors. More than once, this book moved me to tears and prayer.  It had me question my attitude toward the people I meet every day and the ones I only glimpse on the evening news.  It had me question everyday encounters.  As Hebrews 13:2 says, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Don’t read this book unless you are re...

The topic of conversation in Sunday School class was "loyalty."  It was based on a Dick Van Dyke episode: Dick Van Dyke Show: A Man's Teeth Are Not His Own and the question is, "what is loyalty?" We decided loyalty includes the words spoken in front of someone, as well as the words spoken when they aren't around.  Loyalty includes faithfulness in actions also, as anyone who's witnessed a break-up due to an affair can attest to.  Loyalty involves choosing a person or principle to stand by, and not backing down. Sometimes loyalties clash.  If your best friend does something wrong and asks you to cover, do you remain loyal to your friend or your beliefs? Believe it or not, people take note of how loyal you are.  Your employer expects loyalty, and will probably not tolerate negative comments or doing non-work activities on the clock.  Your friends and co-workers secretly worry when you gossip about a third party if you talk abou...

Have you ever wondered what are children good for? They can’t work; they can’t contribute. They tend to be loud, needy, and self-centered. Why did God create us so that we come into the world in the form of an infant, rather than fully mature? Why did He send His Son to earth in the same form? Anyone I’ve ever known who has become a parent has said the experience changes him or her. All of the sudden, you are not living for yourself. As a pregnant woman, everything you eat, drink, or breathe affects your child. After a baby is born, it relies on its parents for everything. The choices the caregivers make will affect whether that child learns to trust them to meet his or her needs. A child teaches you to love in a way that you’ve never loved before. It’s unconditional and fierce. It protects at all costs, yet disciplines without regret. It believes that anything is possible, and teaches how to deal with reality. It is completely patient, and always yearning for more time. Ch...