“…you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being and with all your strength, …and love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27 (CEB)

Dear Friends:

How do you choose to spend your time? Statistics tell us that we choose to sleep 26 years of our life span; 11 years watching television; 8 years shopping (women and men). Women spend 17 years trying to lose weight. And, if we work forty hours a week between the ages of twenty and sixty-five, we choose to spend ’round the clock, non-stop the equivalent of 11 years working. Sounds like for many of us, we need to manage our time better. Because, we all know, if we choose to play with as much deliberation as we work, we’re so much healthier! So, on Monday, my day of Sabbath rest, I chose to spend some time baking.

I love to bake. It’s therapy for me. There’s something about the reward of a passing around to family, friends and neighbors sweet tasting treats at the end of a very pleasant endeavor that is so fulfilling. My day of Sabbath rest was a baking fiasco. In baking five loaves of zucchini blueberry bread most of it ended up down the disposal. Then, Freddie mentioned he really likes thin, crispy chocolate chip cookies. Sounds like a good choice, right?! In an attempt to redeem my baking fiasco, I was happy to add a couple dozen cookies onto my baking list for the day. Freddie is a loving husband. He graciously chomped away at the non-crispy, rubbery cookies without a single complaint. I love him for choosing the side of grace. My day of baking was not a good choice.

All night I pondered why I made so many mistakes in my choice to bake. I beat myself up for wasting all that time, expense and ingredients only to produce a disaster. Tuesday morning I awoke wondering what God wanted me to learn in the process. At the same time, after some prayerful time reading the gospel for Sunday, the story of the Good Samaritan, I wondered if God was calling me to consider how I make my choices. 

In the very familiar story of the Good Samaritan, we remember the story is about folks who make choices. A lawyer is trying to get his priorities in order, searching for ways to make better choices. He puts Jesus to the test and asks Jesus, “what must I do…?” Jesus chooses to give the answer through the telling of the story of folks who make revealing choices. The choices result in a lone man jumped and beaten by robbers and left for dead along the road; a priest and a church musician walking by, disregarding the suffering man choosing to attend to their own agenda. Finally, an enemy comes along the hurting soul and choosing to risk and putting aside whatever concerns he may have, he stops to help. Jesus asks who chooses well? The lawyer humbly confesses it is the one who chooses to follow the Law: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Hhhhhmmmm….

Steve Jobs is to have said, “Deciding what notto do is as important as deciding what to do.” The greatest thinkers are to have said that true happiness comes from serving others. As faithful followers of Christ, we all want to help. We all want to serve. At the same time, we’re reminded that Jesus teaches we must first love God and love ourselves as we turn to love our neighbors. Freddie and I are going to try. Wednesday (today) through Friday, we’re off to Charlottesville to visit with Kyle, our son, as we choose to spend a little time caring for ourselves so that we may be better at loving God and loving our neighbor. Thank you for keeping the ship steady. Feel free to send messages should you need anything. Of course, I’ll be checking because I love you all too much to not keep an eye out!

On Sunday we’re blessed once again to hear from Gwynn as she preaches the good news. Gwynn will be leading another “Finding Your Fit” from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 with lunch! This is a fabulous opportunity to learn how God calls us to make choices that draw us deeper into his great love and steer us in a direction of a lifetime of good choices. I encourage you to take the workshop; it is eye-opening! Let Gywnn know you’re coming so she’s sure to have enough supplies:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fvOZhTtE1Pf5O2va_WvevKuu2P-PXtRfPAjNBCYFCnw/edit or gcrichton@vts.edu

May the rest of your week fill you with good choices that fill you with God’s love as you love yourself and your neighbor.

See you Sunday dear friends.

Blessings,

Hillary