So be it.

I am no longer my own, O God, but Yours.
Put me to what you will; place me among who you will.
Put me to serving, put me to suffering.
Employ me for your sake, or set me aside for your sake;
Set me n high places or bring me to the depths.
Let me be filled or let me be emptied.
Let me have all things, or let me have nothing.
I freely and with all my heart hand over my life to you to do with as you please.
Now, Glorious and Blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am yours.
So be it.

Thank you all for loving me and supporting me.
Reverend Melody Lynn Kraus, Ordained Full Deacon, Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Recognizing Vs. Knowing

I am so amazed and proud of my 4 1/2 year old Claire! Claire can officially read! We followed the normal progression of learning the letters of the alphabet, then learning the sounds each one makes, then learning the blends that the can make when placed together. Claire has 'recognized' words for some time, but recognizing a word or name is not the same as reading it. Last week, we sat down and read two simple books. Claire can sound out the letters, and read the words. One of the books even has short sentences (ex: See Tip run.), and Claire can knock it out with ease.
It is the best feeling in the world as a parent to see your child get it - really get something and understand it on their own!
In rejoicing with Claire this week, I can't help but think about this idea of recognizing versus knowing something. Claire recognized her name because other people showed her the letters, and told her it was her name. Before she could read, Claire knew her name because other people knew her name. As Children of God, we first come to recognize God because other people have a relationship with God, and point him out for us. We know God, because other people know God. The goal is that eventually, with enough practice, we'll be able to know God for ourselves. Who taught you to know God? Who are you teaching to recognize God? Never underestimate the gift you have to share with the people around you, by recognizing God's love and life in the world around us and sharing it with others!

What's in a name?

Our names are such sacred, and deeply personal things. The first word most babies recognize is their name. As an adult, we can hear our name through the midst of noise with no difficulty. Names have power. If someone knows your name, they have the power to command your attention, if only for a moment. Our first names are chosen for us, and bestowed upon us by our parents. A first name is a name that lasts a lifetime. Our last names are a product of our family of origin, and have the opportunity to change or be added to as we become parts of other families in our lives. In the United Methodist Church, when we preform a baptism, we name the baptismal candidate by their first name, or first and middle name only. We do not use their last name. The idea is that through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, we are all initiated into Christ's holy Church, and become part of the family of Jesus Christ. In essence, as baptized Christians, all of us share the same last name: Child of God. This is where the Christian tradition of referring to one another as brother and sister developed.

Today, I pray for you, my brothers and sisters in Christ. May you find honor and joy in being a part of the family of God!

Don't wake the grumpy pastor!

Wednesday mornings are my day to sleep in. Every other morning, I wake up early, and get dressed and ready before the girls wake up to try and cut down on the obligatory morning craziness. On Wednesdays, I don't go in to the church until late, so I get to sleep late. Okay, maybe 45 more minutes, but it is glorious non the less. Today, my phone rang at 7:15 a.m. I jumped up, and stumbled over to answer assuming that someone must have died, because why would any rational person call anyone at 7:15 in the morning. The beloved child of God on the other end of my phone was Nick. God bless Nick, because blessings were not what I was sending him on my one day to catch a little extra zzz's. Nick had gotten my number from a neighbor, and wanted to let me know about a wonderful opportunity he knew of that involved working with kids. Nick is a Jesus telemarketer. I'm sure he represented a lovely ministry that did God's work in an outstanding way, but at 7:15 in the morning I'm just not real interested. Hearing the obvious slurring in my speech, Nick was perceptive enough to ask, "Is this a convenient time?"
"Well no, Nick, this is not a convenient time. It is 7:15 in the morning, and to be honest, you woke me up." I did my best not to scream, rant or growl.
"Oh," he said, sounding surprised, "I assumed that because you're a Pastor, you'd be awake."
It has become clear to me that I apparently need to set the record straight. I love God and I love God's people, and I have ordered my life's work in these endeavors. However, none of this means that I am awake and happy and excited to buy a little Jesus from a telemarketer at the crest of the morning!!!
My prayer for today is for peace! Peace for the Jesus sellers, peace for the Jesus buyers, and peace for the pooped out pastors!

Wade in the Water

Elyse, my 10 month old is getting baptized this Sunday. She is such a joy in my life, and I am so very excited to make this commitment to raise her within the church, and to introduce her to a life in Christ. Baptism is a beginning; A statement that says, "I want to know God." As Ely is an infant, Drew and I are making this statement for her, and I don't take it lightly. I will do everything in my power to encourage both of my girls to develop a personal, deep relationship with our loving Savior. Claire was 18 months old when she was baptized, and screamed like a banshee! (You can see this for yourself in the above picture!) Here's hoping that Ely's initiation into a life in Christ is a little quieter!

Biting off more than I can chew

I firmly believe that God doesn't give us more than we can handle. But unfortunately, I am not so courteous to myself. I have managed to cram 6 months worth of celebrations and parties into the next seven days. Don't get me wrong, I am excited for each one of them separately, and so longing to see Claire have fun enjoying her birthday, and Elyse be baptized, and of course my long awaited Ordination. The community wide party at our house and the t-ball celebration should be interesting. Each one of these things on their own is nice and fun. But when you cram them all into a four day time period - I get a little crazy. My prayer for today (and every day for the rest of my life!) is that I would follow God's example, and NOT GIVE MYSELF MORE THAN WHAT I CAN HANDLE!!!

You think?

Last night, I was up late assembling a meal for Randy's birthday celebration today. (Happy Birthday Randy - 62 years old, twice as old as me! :) As I was cutting up the veggies for the salad, I was absentmindedly reading the nutrition information on the back of the bag of baby carrots. It had the standard list of vitamins and nutrients, calories and serving size, and underneath the nutrition information it said:

Ingredients: Carrots

Really, you think? Do you mean that inside my bag of carrots there are...carrots? I couldn't help but laugh aloud at this obvious, simplistic statement. Today, my prayer is that God's presence in the world around me would be as obvious as listing carrots as the ingredient in a bag of carrots!

I am a genius...in hindsight!

My faithful Monday morning Disciple group has conquered Disciple 1,2,3&4, and this year moved on to the Jesus in the Gospels study. Monday's lesson was entitled Destiny Disclosed, and had an interesting insight on destiny that has had me thinking over the last few days. "Destiny sees a person's present from the standpoint of the future." In other words, we are to understand our current situation in life from where we will be in the days to come. Or - it is only by looking back at our journey in life that we can understand why we are living this life today. I wish I could look back on today and understand why in the world things need to be so crazy!

NO NAPS!!!

So, why is it that children will refuse to nap, doing everything possible in their little power to remain awake when the exhaustion is overwhelming? I would like nothing more than to be given a bottle, rocked gently, cuddled up with a soft blankie and lullabied off to sleep. (Heck - you had me at bottle!) Rest is such an essential need. Without it (or enough of it) we cannot be the people God has created us to be! God tells the prophet Elijah to climb up onto Mount Horeb, and there God will meet with him. Elijah climbs the mountain, and retreats into a cave. First, there is terrible wind, then a great earthquake, and then fire - but God is not in any of these awesome earthly occurrences. After all the ruckus has passed, there is the sound of sheer silence, and it is here that God appears.
My prayer today is that I will find this illusive silence, and may finally settle into a place where I can hear the voice of God.

Don't think about the red faced monkey...

Does anyone else suffer from internal commentary? It seems that no matter what I am doing or where I am, I have an internal commentary running inside my head that is judging me. I don't question whose voice this is - I'm clear that it is mine - but I question why I have to hear it constantly. Why am I so hard on myself? My heart knows that God loves me without question, and without end, but that little voice in my head is apparently a little less sure. Hmmm...I guess my prayer for today is that the little God voice in my heart will bust out, and beat up the little me voice in my head!

Still Pretty New...

On our drive home last night, Claire (my 4 1/2 year old) was monologuing on her age, and her upcoming birthday. "I'm going to be 5 mommy, and then one day - I'll be 10!"
"I know honey - and when you're 10, will you be old?" I asked.
"No - when you're ten, you're still a kid. " Claire said. "But daddy - he's already old...really old!"
Amused by this, I decided to press further. "And what about your sister, is Ely old?"
Claire rolled her eyes and sighed saying, "No mommy - Ely is a baby, babies are new!" (duh!)
"And what about me," I asked, "am I old?" I have to say that I was sweating it out waiting on her answer!
"Well..." she pondered, "you're not a baby, but your not old either. I guess you're still pretty new."

Regardless of the age we say we are, or the age that our drivers license says we are, or the age our kids think we are - we will always remain children of God. Entering into a relationship with Christ starts the clock over - it resets us back to a time of innocence and trust. I might not be that new anymore in my child's eyes (and certainly not in mine), but in God's eyes I am loved and perfect.

Made in God's image

In Genesis, we hear the story of the creation of our world; from the separation of light and darkness, to the land rising from the water, the birth of flora and fauna, birds of the air and fish of the sea, to animals that roam the earth and then finally, the creation of humanity. Chapter 1, verse 26-27, "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Each of us is created in the image of God. Our challenge each and every day is to love and commune with our neighbors, and to see the face of God in those whose faces are so very different from our own.

May the face of God shine on you in this day!