Welcome to Lent 2013!

(…and your burden is light!)

A 40-day Lenten Blog on Taking Ownership of the Purse You've Been Given

Welcome to the 2013 Lenten Blog for All Saints Episcopal Church!


During the next 40 days, we hope you'll ben enriched by the daily readings from Forward Day by Day and a commentary about our bags. Bags? Keep reading sister or brother…Just like Austin Powers in the hilarious movie of the same name, we often deny the contents of our briefcase! Lent is a wonderful time to remember that God fills our supply sack daily with all the resources, tools and strengths we need to bless others. Maybe its our Lenten calling to take ownership of our purse!


It IS our bag, baby!


This Lent, be challenged to read God's word, pray to be a blessing and eagerly await the opportunity to open your bag.

Join in and see what surprises God has given you to help others out.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

March 7


For Today's Forward Day by Day reading, Click Here.

As you may be doing now, I am still contemplating what some of the other tools might be in my bag. This seems like a very self-serving, self-centered, boastful exercise. But hopefully identifying some of these strengths will give you, and me, a better idea about how God has equipped us for our life's mission.

These are a few of the things I feel are my talents, or gifts, things I like or possibly things I might be good at doing, or that come naturally in some way. Again, please don't read this and think how much I must love myself. Just as a matter of exercise, I think writing these qualities down may help me better know what resources are lurking in my bag. I'm sure your list looks a lot different, and hopefully a lot longer!

Things I think I might be good at doing, things I like, or things that are perhaps natural gifts/tendancies:

Empathy/Sympathy
Listening
Learning
Loving on people
Giving gifts
Creativity
Music
Writing (some days)
Processing
Being respectful
Being helpful
Seeing the good in people
Being inspired by others' ideas
Pragmatic
Hard-working
Spur-of-the-moment-grabber
Presence
Team player
Good follower of instructions
Humble
Self-depricating
Tender-hearted
Introspective
People-lover
Feeler

This is a first stab at the list of tools in my bag, potentially. And still, I look into my purse and see a whole lot of other junk floating around. At first glance, these items look to be weaknesses. Perhaps those "negative qualities" skulking in the corners of my bag might include:

Hastiness
Fly-of-the-handleness
Judgementalism
Snarkiness
Scrappiness
Irritation
Impatience
Grrrrr-ness


...and a whole slew of darker descriptives that I dare not even write about for fear they may define me! Makes me wonder though, could our shortcomings or "areas of improvement tools" actually be helpful doo-dads when handled properly and in the right situation?

Not sure. So maybe for now, we leave our weaknesses where they are.

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