I have problems with inspiration in the winter. Last year about this time, my husband and I took a trip around the small towns in our area to look for inspiration for my winter writing.

We found this beautiful pair of paintings. You are only seeing the right painting of the pair. I love the flowers and the colors. Every flower in every color is in my garden, but not for 4 more months.

Each winter morning I look at this painting and am inspired. I know that these flowers are waiting beneath the snow. I know in my head and heart that inspiration are all around me in God’s world. Each week I work in a different congregation and the people and their stories are inspiring. But for me it is living plants. Gardening is my metaphor for life long faith.

So “what’s your metaphor?” Is it sports, music, books, art or something different. What is the metaphor that reminds you that God is working in you and through you everyday? What is the metaphor for your lifelong faith?

Metaphor is used in many holy readings. Think about your metaphor. My faith is like…

Icicles amaze me. Although we often only notice that they are dripping down on us, a wise six year old told me that they actually “drip up”. Hmmm… that’s a new outlook. One might call it a reverse outlook. Evidently, this verbal darling told me, the water melts on the roof and comes down the icicle. The ice is so cold that it stops and builds up the icicles. I can see that. Sort of!

Maybe when we are having our slowest day and miss everyone and can’t seem to get a thing finished, we should try a reverse outlook. Rather than emphasizing having a slow day, we should try to have a fast day. Set the kitchen timer and see how long it takes us to do tasks.

Rather than missing grandkids we should write a list of the way the bathroom looks when they visit. Or better yet, move the couch. I guarantee there are toys, pacifiers or books under it –even if you did clean.

Maybe “drip up” is like “look up”. Not a bad idea when you are looking down.

I love the narthex or entrance into the worship space in faith communities. They either sing or shine. They are filled with expectation, healing, hope and despair. They also have something called “murmuring”.

Murmuring happened with the people of God during the Exodus. You might think of it as undercurrent or grumblings. Every narthex has the shadow of murmuring. Just like the shadow on my garage, we can sense it, but we aren’t sure what the content is.

When we hear murmuring, the best thing to do is … ignore it. Yes, I know, we want to fix it. I spent many years in ministry trying to fix it. But in reality when we try to find out what’s it is all about we make the murmuring more important than it is. We are human and we grumble. Today’s grumble is most likely tomorrow’s history.

Are you grumbling about this blog post? Join the movement of God’s people who are murmuring! Then get our your Bible and read Exodus 16 and 17. We are all God’s people!

This is a picture of my front porch today. It has a few more items than the last time we looked at the fall decorations in the pot. Now we have snowshoes. These are truly a necessity right now. I’m not cleared to do snowshoes until Feb. because of knee surgery, but my husband is all over in them.

I tried to feed the birds in the -25 degree temps today and it was impossible without snowshoes. The dogs were in over their shoulders. Minnesota dog was happy. Sacramento dog was appalled. We all had to adapt to survive the cold. I had to go around big drifts. My path was preplanned and the seed was in my hands. About half way there, I sank into my knees. The first thought I had was “gee, maybe I can skip icing my knee today!” Where to go next was a huge decision. It looked like my original plan was not good. So I had to be flexible.

The end result being the birds got only half a feeder of seed. I actually used the handy dandy available shovel and shoveled enough snow off the top of the drifts so I could get to the bird feeder. I guess having a shovel on the front porch is a good idea. Even if my path to the feeder wasn’t well chosen, I had a way out.

When we are a family of faith, we have to adapt and be flexible. Sometimes our goal to do everything the faith community asks and do our faith moments in the home just doesn’t happen. And yet, God is with us as we adapt and try to be flexible.

Think this weekend about some way you need to adapt and be flexible with your faith. Shovel a path and go forward with God

I didn’t take this picture. My daughter took it in Africa. But I have to tell you that it inspires me. Maybe it’s the fact that as a grandma I often feel like this chicken. There are little chicks following me as I go along. Maybe the inspiration comes from being called a little chick by Mom. Whatever the reason, this picture brings up all kinds of thoughts.

Do you think the chicken even remembers the chick is following? I know I sometimes forget the little ones are watching. Forgetting seems to be a symptom of my age. When I am surrounded by the grandkids, I have to keep remembering that they are all following or maybe NOT following which is more worrisome.

One little darling always notices that I seldom get around to eating breakfast while I am preaching that they must eat a good breakfast. Another cutie seems to cue into my sense of humor. He tells me constantly, “You are being silly again.” And then there is myna bird. It seems that 2 year olds repeat everything you say. This includes the good, bad and ugly!

I think it’s good to be reminded that others follow you, even if you do not feel like a faith leader. Ask yourself this question. “Who is following me?” Your answer might surprise you. Each of us is a leader somewhere in our lives. And God is with us as we are models of faith for others.

This is not a picture of snowflakes. I have tried unsuccessfully to take a picture of snowflakes for the past 33 snowfalls-that happens to be the past 33 days. I finally decided that since writing is more important to me than photography, I would use a picture where 1000’s of snowflakes came together to make-a snow cap!

As I work in more and more congregations, I find that each is a unique creation of God. The people and how they interact and the buildings and the community itself are each so different. This is good for me to learn everyday because I often find myself generalizing about “church communities”.

The congregation where I am teaching this month has a wonderful way of caring for one another, the earth and the world. I was on staff here for 7+ years a long time ago and I’m finding that the same strengths are there. Worship that honors God and human differences is important at this church. Mission as it applies to both the local and worldview is important. And most of all: laughing is important. They laugh at themselves and at situations that can only be faced with laughter. God truly laughs with us if there is not hurt involved.

While competing with a 7th grade boy named, Gabe (not a good thing to do when you are a lot over 50!) I kicked an entire tray of scissors off a table. In some settings, panic would ensue. But at this church we all laughed and went on with prayer. After the prayer, more than one person came to pick up scissors.

How does your congregation react to sudden disasters? Do they stick together, move on and help one another? It’s an interesting question. Hmmmm….

Sometimes our path is unseen. Or maybe our path is seen by others, but ignored by us. My oldest daughter gave me a book on blogging for Christmas. Even a year ago, I never thought I’d be a blogger. The reality is that although I am a writer, blogging didn’t seem like writing. Then I figured out that I love to journal and blogging is just journaling what others see. The result is that I journal as I have ideas and then I post articles as I feel they fit into the season. I found my path.

The book on blogging language also gave me some indicators on how to blog. One thing it suggested was blogging 3-4 times a week. I’ve been doing 6 times basically because when I have written in a journal previously, it is daily. This little bit of a change in my path, has brought me peace of mind. So in the future, I will do 3-4 posts each week. Others lit my path with their knowledge.

Isn’t that just how faith is in our lives. Our path is often lit by the knowledge of others. We have to watch for the path and be willing to follow the lead of another. At the same time, when we understand our path, stick to it, we need to be open to change. These characteristics bring us closer to God.

May you find your path and feel closer to God.

I seem to blog lots about colors. I am a visual person and so the colors of God’s world hit me with great inspiration. I wouldn’t say that blue is my favorite color like grandson number two, but blue that only God can provide is inspiring.

In the winter, this is the blue of the sky where I live. It contrasts the new snow and the evergreen trees. It is the contrast that makes the winter blue sky so inspirational for me. Just like when I work with families, it is the contrast between the beauty and depth of each family that is so beautiful. Much like the winter blue sky, God can only create the contrast of diversity in families.

Think about your family today. How is its diversity in the neighborhood or faith community a beautiful sight? Why are the contrasting colors and shapes of your family, a gift from God?

Blessings on your family of faith that contrasts other families and shows us all that all family is created by God.

So I have a question for you, “What is Holiday Inn?” It’s not a hotel chain. It’s not the stable. It’s not a movie. It’s not even this cool snow fort. Holiday IN happens when you spend lots of time at home during a holiday. You spend your holiday IN with family and friends.

It often feels when you work that holidays are spent out. We are at parties, special services at church, recitals, at least 2 white elephant gift exchanges and we forget that the holiday spent in can be a treasure.

Learning to discern between the need to be out in the world and being “in” with your family is sometimes hard. God gives us some great role models. In the Jewish texts or Old Testament, Moses said, “sure I’ll go God but only if I can take my brother.” And in the New Testament what about all those families that followed Jesus around? They took their families in to hear Jesus together.

My grandsons built this snow fort with the help of their Auntie Brenda and Auntie Susan. It has great memories. Their Mother provided mini marshmallow guns to play with in the fort. Who won seems to be in discussion. Once they left the fort and turned the wrong way and ended up somewhere a lot farther from warmth and cocoa than they expected.

So I hope you spent some holiday “in” your family. In the northern world, the merry month of January is a great time to be in with family. God will be there with you.

Wednesday is Sr. Citizen Day in the retail world where I live. Last week someone asked me if I qualified for the Sr. Citizen discount. I was shocked. I know I’m a grandma but surely not a Sr. Citizen. In the silence of the checkout lane, I had to confront aging.

In the silence of a winter night, this broken pine had to confront it’s aging, too. One moment you are holding up the world and one moment you are broken. That is the natural condition of the world. And there is true shock in the sudden feeling of being broken.

Resiliency in aging is one of the most important things to recognize. That is what being human is all about. I truly did get over my shock of recognized aging. Although as soon as the grand kids left, I went and had my hair cut!

As we slowly edge our way into the last third of our life, we need to remember that this too is the plan of God. We have wisdom, but it may need to be given from a chair. We have compassion but it may need to be passed on through advocacy. We have much to give and maybe just need to readjust our thoughts as to how we interact with the world.

And when in doubt-go get a new hair cut!