(from John Pavlovitz)

You will never regret waiting to send an angry communication. The added time always brings wisdom.

Loving all people can get you killed. (See: Jesus, MLK, Oscar Romero)

When you’re younger, you just tell your body what to do and it does it. The older you get the more it becomes a protracted negotiation involving promises of snacks and sweets.

When someone is grieving, the best words usually are silent presence.

The most ordinary moments are the ones that become the greatest treasures when you lose someone you love. Turns out nothing is really ordinary.

Parenting is not a cause and effect endeavor. Sometimes your kids will fail despite your best efforts, and succeed despite your most regrettable mistakes.

When you grieve the loss of someone, you never “get on with your life”, You just live fundamentally altered.

Parenting isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence. Show up and keep showing up. That is success.

Thank you, John, for those words of wisdom.

This next section may sound “churchy”, and it may be the case that some of you dear blog readers do not have a church affiliation. It comes from Carey Nieuwhof, a Canadian pastor, podcaster, and author with a vibrant, passionate love for the Church.

“Agreement and consensus almost always come on the other side of change.” This still comes with a posture of deep humility. The Joyous burden of church leadership is being a change agent, even if it makes someone angry. Prayer before, during, and after has never steered me wrong.

We are God’s beloved children, and He loves us unconditionally. His children in congregations will sometimes disappoint one another, make one another angry. I imagine our Lord shaking his head, rolling his eyes, even weeping over our behavior. But he will always carry his cross to ensure that nothing will separate us from the Father’s love. We live for His kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.

Pastor Art