September 2007

Pack Your Purse with GRACE

Feature: "It's In the Bag"
Since the country focus for this month is France, create a little "Café Francais" with checked tablecloths, fresh flowers, and pastries for dessert. French women are known for their beauty and grace...but what kind of beauty is it that God desires?

Fill a small paper bag with beauty supplies, such as a comb, brush, mirror, cotton balls, tweezers, lipstick, makeup brush, etc. Give everyone a piece of paper and a pencil. Pass the bag around and give each woman 5 seconds to feel the items in the bag. After she passes the bag to the next woman in the circle, she can write down everything she remembers feeling. The person who writes down the most items correctly wins the bag of supplies as a prize! After this activity, discuss I Peter 3:3-4, which talks about the kind of inner beauty and grace that God prizes in women.

Outreach Idea:
Kick off the new theme year by giving personal invitations to every woman in your church. For two weeks before your meeting, greet the women as they enter and exit Sunday services and invite them to join you. Give them a reminder to take home with them so they won't forget to come!

Prayer Tip:
Recently I have been reminded of the old chorus:
     I have decided to follow Jesus
     I have decided to follow Jesus
     Though no one join me still I will follow
     No turning back, no turning back.

2 Thessalonians 2:15: "So then brothers, stand firm and hold on to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter."
Servants, pray that we will faithfully live our lives for our Lord Jesus Christ and be faithful in sharing our faith. Remember Paul's legacy!

Discipleship Thought:
A disciple is not what others or we label ourselves, but it is what God calls us to do. We are a voice for Christ: "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'make straight the way for the Lord'" (John 1:23).

Good to Go in France

"Distracted by all the Preparation"

By Marian Keidel
"Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made". (Luke 10:40) "Mary...sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he had to say" (Luke 10:39)

I can envision Mary and Martha in the French setting. The culture is known for many wonderful characteristics, not the least of which is their fantastic cuisine. An evening of entertainment in a friend’s home typically lasts for many hours, well past midnight. Many courses are served: the appetizer, main course, salad, cheese, dessert, and then coffee. The presentation is part of the wonder and beauty of the meal. All of this to say, a meal takes much preparation and effort. I can see Martha in this setting: cleaning the house, shopping in the market (picking out only the freshest food and the best cuts of meat), preparing each course so the taste is delightful and the presentation is beautiful.

Poor Martha has gotten a bad reputation. Really now, she opened her home; hospitality is a good thing. Yet, in rushing around to do all that work, her attitude went sour. I admit, if I'd been Martha, I'd had been very unhappy with my sister who was just sitting around, doing nothing to help!

But Jesus gently put things in perspective for Martha. I don't read that he said "forget the meal", but he went to the heart of Martha's problem. She was so busy doing what had to be done, (that tyranny of the urgent) and not enough time thinking of her Lord and what he wanted do in her life, that her perspective was out of focus. She lost her desire to give with a willing and cheerful heart." Martha became "distracted by all the preparation". You know the feeling: "Oh, company will soon be here and I need to dust the living room, mop the kitchen and sweep the porch. And, oh yes, I can't forget to get out the napkins that go with the decorations...and thinking of decorations...I forgot to pick up flowers." The list goes on and on of things that "must" be done. Until we find we are driven to distractions, and perhaps, beyond that, to desperation, and then, woe to the person who crosses our path. The one who won't take his/her share of the load, or some other irritation, and then comes the whining, accusations and self pity.

If we are going to be "good to go" as we engage our world, the first step is sitting at Jesus' feet, worshiping, learning about Him, and becoming more like Him. It means becoming the women He meant us to be, women who are certain of His love for us and through whom His love flows in willing, cheerful service to others. How easy to let those priorities be pushed aside by the distractions of all that "needs to be done."

Oh, and by the way, I hold in high regard my French sisters, who can whip up a fancy meal, in a tiny kitchen. But my greatest desire for them is to know the Lord, to desire to sit at his feet, and to become more like Him. The challenge is to set the example.