Ice Cream at 10am
Embody Faith || Weekly Devotional
Listen carefully to me and eat what is good;
enjoy the richest of feasts.— Isaiah 55:2b
Last night, Gabe woke up coughing at 11pm and refused sleep again until around 1:30 or 2am. I was so tired by the time we got him back down, I forgot to even look at a clock. So this morning, after he went down for his first nap of the day, I grabbed my favorite mug and filled it with Tillamook Cookies & Cream Ice Cream before plopping down on the couch to write this.
Sometimes, we just need to fill our bellies with something delicious.
We hear a lot of scripture quoted around food in religious spaces: verses about how our body is our temple, or eating only vegetables & drinking water (found in the book of Daniel). But the Bible also says, eat, drink, and be merry for life is short! (Ecclesiastes 8:15 and Isaiah 22:13).
One of my favorite memes of all time says, “Jesus did not say I am the broccoli of life. Nor did he say give us this day our daily kale. Jesus is life. Jesus is the bread of life. Bread is life.”
My friend, I hope for today you give yourself permission to eat something delicious. Treat yourself to a donut, or your favorite smoothie. Get yourself some sushi or fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Whatever it is that fills your belly and your soul - dig in. And know that God delights in your delight!
Monthly calendars are back!
I am so excited to be bringing back desktop & phone backgrounds with calendars & scriptures to help ground you in grace whenever you open your computer or phone. You can download them for free here.
What’s Filling My Well
Experiencing God
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to preach at First Congregational Church of Bellingham and it felt so good to connect with God’s spirit in that way again. You can watch the service here. I tell the story of the scripture reading starting around minute 7:55, and the sermon begins at minute 27:55 (in case you want to know before you start watching, the sermon is 13 minutes long almost exactly!).
Spring in the PNW
After a very rainy weekend, the sunshine is finally back out and the skies are blue again. There really is nothing like spring in the Pacific Northwest when all of the trees, tulips, and rhodedendrons are blooming!
Toddler Time
A Presbyterian church near us opens one of their large gathering rooms every Wednesday morning from 8:30am - 10:30am for “toddler play time.” Parents come with their little ones, ages 0-3ish, and the littles get to just run or crawl around and play while their adults drink coffee provided by the church. We go every week and it’s been such an amazing way to connect with other parents, and Gabe feels so at home he barely notices I’m there while he crawls away playing.
My mother always said, "Have you yet to see someone not smile while eating ice cream?"
So good to hear from you! Must be a sight to see all of the flowers blooming. Sounds like Gabe is a handfull and likes to be with other toddlers. Ice cream is a wonderful thing when you are at any stage of stress, it just seems to calm your nerves, or freeze them if you eat it to fast. I had a bad cough on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, so stayed out of church, not to spread any bad things. Was a lot better today after resting. Still working those 11 hour shifts and have little ambition for much else than getting the home chores done and gettting enough sleep to go on another day.
I hope that you continue to find peace in god, family and nature the rest of your life.
God Bless!