W.I.S.E. Bible Study

  Ash Wednesday. A season of hope. Hope, this season of Lent comes with time to renew our faith, take a “deep dive” into our lives to see what God wants us to work on. Fasting from to feast on. “Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment” Joel 2:13 Turning back to God or surrendering more, going further with a relationship with God is what Lent is for. Today, take God’s hand. Put yours in God’s hand, feel the warmth, the love and strength. Let God lead you, guide you and be with you on this Lenten path…..

  Laws. God has given us laws. God’s laws are ways to keep one on a track of helping the world. When we live out the laws, we shine God’s light to others. “To keep the law is a great oblation, and he who observes the commandments, sacrifices a peace offering.” Sirach 35:1 Note that we are to make sacrifices a peace offering. To be obedient, to sacrifice is a peace offering as it gives others hope. It also gives us hope. I find that God has provided ways for a person to stay healthy, and navigate difficulties through the “laws.” If you ever have taken a child bowling, they put forms in the gutter so the bowling ball never goes in the gutter. I feel that is the same way with God’s laws. They keep one out of the gutter as we roll down the lane of life on the path…

Bread. As a person who needs to be gluten-free, I get frustrated with bread's price. One type of loaf was over $10 a loaf. Lucky for me I know how to make bread from scratch. More importantly, I like to make bread. Bread takes patience. You need to know some things. I put sugar in with warm water, then yeast. I wait until the yeast starts bubbling. Dough takes time to rise, it takes time. In scripture Jesus talks about yeast. Jesus talks about bread. Eucharist is about the body (bread) and blood (wine), As a GF person, when I take Eucharist, I take a little bit of wheat, as that is the formula the Catholic Church adheres to. I figure Jesus suffered for me, I can suffer for him. I wanted to talk about bread because it is important to know who our yeast is. Do we have patience with our faith? Are we willing to let it rest? Let it rise? Are we willing to “punch it down” and then let it rise again? How do we punch our faith down? Once we think our faith has risen to the top or we can’t...

  March. “We are marching in the light of God…” I always love when the children’s choir sings this song. It goes on to say: we are living in the love of God; we are moving in the power of God; we are dancing in the joy of God. If you haven’t heard the song: https://youtu.be/yn16ABWn20chttps://youtu.be/yn16ABWn20c   It’s a positive way to start the month of March! How are you approaching March, and Wednesday’s Lent? Happy or dreading? My students have had a chance to reflect on what vice they will be fasting from to replace with a virtue. March can be difficult as winter isn’t over, and spring peeks through every now and then. The in-between. Sometimes we must choose to march, live, move and dance.  I find March the perfect time to plan for camping and fishing trips; planting; and other items that a person would want to get done. I also start to focus on what I want to read to deepen my faith; what directions I need to take to further working for God, and a check in with...

  Be strong. There are times when we think we just can’t do this. Or we might think how much longer. I know I’ve had these times. Yet I try to remember Deut. 31:6: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” ( https://biblehub.com ) God walks with me, and yes I get tired. Sometimes like a little kid I might ask, “How much further?” Life has its difficulties but also its joys. My life is good. No complaints. Yet there are aspects where I know change is coming. Instead of worrying about it, or dwelling on it, I try to remember that God never forsakes me. I don’t know how many times my husband and I have said “God always provides.” Not material things, yes God does that, but direction in life, answer to difficult questions. Being strong means knowing who to rely on. Being strong means surrendering to our weakness and allowing for help to come in. On this Friday, I think about b...

Bird watching. Yes, I am a bird watcher. The finches will soon start getting brighter. Robins are in, and soon other birds that I watch for will be filling my feeders. There are birds I enjoy and birds not so much. I call them bully birds because they are big and pushy. They push out my chickadees from the feeders. I do send Molly out to get them out of there! My grandson announced the other day that he likes to watch birds. He has “noculars” (binoculars) to do so—joy to my heart. In days of old, the sages who taught royalty watched nature. Their wisdom came from watching animals, the seasons, and all that nature shown them. We have sayings from this: the early bird gets the worm. My point today is that nature watching helps to give us joy in God, and know God and God’s wisdom. Today add to your wisdom of God by spending time enjoying nature on the path….    I do have a friend whose art shows her study of nature. If you are ever in the Milwaukee area, you can find her art at...

 This morning, I woke to rain. This time of year one worries about ice, not rain. I know we need water, but with snow melting the earth is saturated. Messiness. Like life, there are days of messiness. One can see rain as tears, or cleansing. How do you see life? Walking with Christ doesn't mean life won't be messy. Life is messy. I know I have said that before, but sometimes ads or slogans can illude to products that make life less messy or no mess at all. Jesus doesn't guarantee a mess-free life. Jesus guarantees he will always walk it with us, help us carry our cross and even pick us up when we are down. Next Wednesday starts the season of Lent. What vice do I have that keeps giving me a messy life? Something I will need to think about so that Jesus and I can work on my messy life on the path....