THIS NEW THRESHOLD

March 15, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 12 Comments

One of the things I do to “sharpen the teeth” of my leadership saw, is a monthly coaching session designed to help me talk through issues I am concerned about. In these sessions I do almost all the talking. The coach is my “thinking partner”. He helps me by asking questions regarding my take on the subject matter I am discussing.

These last two months the coach has asked few questions during our sessions. I have come ready to talk…a lot…. about…thresholds.

Photo by Ekaterina Astakhova on Pexels.com

I realize that with the imminence of my mother’s passing, I am at one of life’s thresholds, one of those places where life changes from one thing into another.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels.com

From past experience I know threshold experiences can be jarring, even emotionally violent. Going back I can think of four or five threshold experiences: My Conversion

My marriage

My Father’s death, My divorce

Covid…

and now…this.

In the past I was mostly unaware that I was standing at a threshold. I was certainly unaware that with a little forethought I could have turned change into a self directed chance for the life God wanted for me and deeper fulfillment. I just kind of walked through the doors and let life play out in all its glorious confusion.

Don’t get me wrong with most of my thresholds I have ended up mostly where God wanted me to be. I am living the life He desires for me now. I think some of my thresholds were unnecessarily painful… maybe even entirely unnecessary. The past is past and the only thing it is good for is as a lesson. With this threshold I feel like I am Nemo at the edge of the reef getting ready to launch out into open ocean. There are many things I know this time that I have not known before. One of the those things is that as I near this threshold I need to be more intentional than ever before about how I intend to walk on the other side of the door.

WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM YOUR THRESHOLD EXPERIENCES?

STAYING HYDRATED

March 14, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

One of the things I have not talked too much about this year…or ever really I guess… is my weight loss journey. I have been on it for over a year now; so far I am further away from my goal than when I began.

I chalk that up to my current stress situation… Strange sleeping hours and weird eating schedules coupled with not enough water and a lot of emotional eating as well as eating the easiest thing to grab (like McDonald’s or pizza from my fav local pizzeria).

I realize life could stay like this for a while. I am now at the point where my belt doesn’t even fit comfortably.

I bought some suspenders the other day to get me through this TEMPORARY season of life.

I know I have to make some decisions that will get me going in the right decision, even if they are really small ones. in fact from my recent studies, I know the small maintainable decisions are the most helpful types of decisions, when trying to make significant lifestyle changes.

The small change that I am making today is to hydrate everyday. Specifically I am going to drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water everyday.

In order to do this I am going to stack my new water drinking habit with my well established prayer habits. I pray eight times a day…so now I will just add a glass of water to each prayer time.

From previous experience, I know that even small changes take a little while to turn into consistent behaviors…so the journey begins!

HOW DO YOU MAKE LIFESTYLE CHANGES?

QUIET DAYS OF PLANNING

March 13, 2024March 14, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 6 Comments

Mom slept for twenty eight hours, waking only once for the bathroom and a bowl of ice cream, all of which she did with her eyes closed and a great deal of protesting. Even washing her face with her PCA was difficult.

Last night at family prayer we discussed our next steps, what the future might look like. We always have two of us “on shift” now at the house as Mom’s health fails further. We reviewed the hospice protocols with everyone and talked through what Mom’s funeral will look like according to her pre-planning.

Today, Mom woke up at about 8:30 and has been a bit more more wakeful. She has eaten a few bowls of ice cream and an egg with most of a piece of toast. She is also drinking again. The PCA says that the back and forth is to be expected at this stage of the hospice journey. But it does seem with each occurrence she slips a little further away from us. Even her “wakefulness” is different from what it was a week ago.

Amanda and I are on shift today. I have been sitting quietly with Mom as she naps and have begun going through old pictures.

Our family back in the day at a Women’s Club old fashioned fashion show

The time is drawing closer, I think when we will need to be putting these pictures together on memory boards.

It is a bitter sweet time as I rehearse memories, retelling myself and the kids the old stories of our family in this place we call the Vicarage. It is a sad time. It is a sweet time. It is violent with inevitability and quiet with a rhythm that feels so deep…so poignant. I sense this quiet planning time is some of the most consequential time I will ever spend.

MY SABBATH THOUGHTS THIS WEEK

March 12, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

HERE ARE THE THOUGHTS I WILL BE MEDITATING ON THIS WEEK DURING MY SABBATH

Preparing our Homes Pt. 1

March 11, 2024March 11, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Our congregation spent a month in prayer to come up with what we are calling the congregational sentence. It reads…

“Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

During these next weeks these seven prepare statements will be broken down into twenty-one brief devotionals the congregation is praying into.

Today we begin talking about Preparing our facility ( structures, infrastructures and plans)

WHAT ARE WE PREPARING FOR?

This next step of preparation seems to be intensely practical and external. We are being asked by God to prepare our facility…our building(s). We are seeking to prepare our hearts, to make internal changes that will help us to be spiritually and emotionally ready for what is to come. This preparation is different. We are being asked to prepare our church building and our personal homes. For what?

FOR GREATER USE- I don’t know all of what we will be approached for, but I do believe our community is going to need our building for public uses. We need to make sure our building is ready for increased usage
FOR HOSPITALITY- This goes for both our homes and for our church building. The Scripture over and over calls us to show kindness and hospitality toward fellow believers and to strangers. We must prepare to have open doors.
FOR SACRED DUTY- I guess this goes back to more of a mental and spiritual preparation, but we must never forget what God has given us a building and homes for. We have what we have so that we may share the good news, the story of Jesus Christ. We must always look for the God connection as we prepare our facility for use, hospitality and sacred duty.
- What does God really want to use our building and our homes for?

SHARE YOUR WORLD: FROM MARCH 3-9 2024

March 9, 2024March 9, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 6 Comments

This week for my weekly community challenge I am participating in SHARE YOUR WORLD.

This week all of our weekly questions are regarding Spring. Here is what our hostess asked this week:

1. What to you is the first sign of Spring?

The bird calls change. The males start to sing their songs to the ladies.

2. Do you have a favourite flower at this time of year?

I love tulips in the Spring.

3. Does your country exercise the hour change?

Ugghh! Yes! It is this weekend! It makes church an hour earlier for me. Less sleep than usual. I will not be crabby! I will not be crabby! I will not be crabby!

4. Do you spring clean your home throughout, change furniture around or keep to a normal routine?

I don’t change inside furniture around much, but part of the Spring routine is uncovering the lawn furniture and getting it put back in place for the summer.

Gratitude: I am thankful for another week with my mother and my family gathered around her. Here is a picture of Mom and my daughter Melanie taken while Melanie was here taking a turn watching over Mom.

The Watches Of the Night

March 7, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord

who minister by night in the house of the Lord.

2Lift up your hands in the sanctuary

and praise the Lord.

3May the Lord bless you from Zion,

he who is the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 134

Mom’s health is now at a place where someone is with her in her room or the next room 24/7. As I write, Brenda and I are working remotely with our ministries from the table just outside Mom’s room while she watches Jessica Fletcher from her hospital bed. She has just had her morning meds and is slowly falling back to sleep, which she does a lot these days.

I generally have the night watch. I sleep really well in the recliner at the foot of Mom’s bed (an ability no one else in my family shares).

Mom is usually up at least one time in the night if not twice. This has radically changed my sleep schedule and that has blessed me greatly. One of the things I have always wanted to implement in my prayer life was the Benedictine rhythm of prayer: Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.

I have managed to implement the sessions but not in their proper time slots…that is… not until this season of life.

Mom’s nighttime schedule has made it very easy to get up and pray for Matins and Lauds. I have to say, spreading out the hours of prayer into more evenly spaced sessions has made the prayer-life balance so much richer. Life flows out of prayer, then life flows back into prayer. One of my hopes is that I will be able to establish this rhythm permanently and naturally into my life.

GETTING READY…WITH PEACE

March 6, 2024March 5, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Today is my sabbath. I will be spending some time thinking about the subject of inner peace. Here are some of the meditational thoughts I will be dwelling on.

PREPARE TO PRACTICE COMPASSION PT. 3

March 4, 2024March 5, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

THIS YEAR OUR CONGREGATION IS FOCUSING ON DEVELOPING 7 PRACTICES ARRIVED AT THROUGH A SERIES OF CONVERSATIONS WE HAVE BOILED DOWN INTO SOMETHING WE HAVE DUBBED THE CONGREGATIONAL SENTENCE, WHICH SAYS … “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

I HAVE BROKEN THIS SENTENCE DOWN INTO 21 DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS TO SHARE HERE THROUGH THE COURSE OF THE YEAR. HERE IS OUR 6TH DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT. THIS WEEK WE WILL… PREPARE OUR SOULS TO PRACTICE AND FEEL COMPASSION.

WHICH COME FIRST, THE FEELING OR THE PRACTICE?

Is it always necessary to feel compassion before we practice compassion? Is there a place where we practice compassion simply because it’s the right thing to do regardless of how we feel about it?

The answer to that question is….OF COURSE. The book of James teaches us, “¹⁷If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” James 4:17

There are many things we do in our Christian walk that go against our “feelings”. Walking in the Spirit means letting the spirit (that part of us that connects to the Spirit of God) lead rather than our souls (our logic, personal will and emotions). We begin walking in the Spirit by coming to know and obey the commands and principles of the Bible. After a time of such practice we can begin to hear the voice of God directing us in the place of prayer.

What I have discovered is that when I practice walking the way the Spirit leads, my emotions line up with the Word, but if I wait to obey God until I feel like obeying Him my “feelings to want” godliness never grow.

Steadfast Sons

March 3, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Our church is comprised of small groups of people we call Doing Life Together Groups. Each group is encouraged to

STUDY THE BIBLE TOGETHER/ TO PRAY TOGETHER/ TO FELLOWSHIP AND BUILD DEEP RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OTHER/ AND TO MEET NEEDS IN THE CHURCH AND IN THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER.

One of our “DLT” groups is a group of men called The Steadfast Sons. This year they chose to minister to the greater community of men in our church though and event called “BE A GODLY MAN”.

About 40 men from 8 different DLT groups showed up for breakfast lunch and five breakout sessions

Andy Ross and Stephen Sandoval were our co facilitators in Doing Life Together for the day.

Here are some of my take aways from the day.

BOYS CANNOT CONFER MANHOOD ON THEMSELVES. MEN NEED TO CONFER MANHOOD ON THE NEXT GENERATION OF MEN.

WORRY IS ANTI-PRAYER.

JESUS NEVER OFFERED US A COMFORTABLE LIFE. THERE WILL BE CHALLENGE AND PAIN.

YOUR PROBLEMS ARE NOT OTHER PEOPLE. TROUBLE IS ALWAYS CENTERED IN THE SPIRIT REALM FIRST AND FOREMOST.

MEN MUST CONTINUALLY “GOSPEL” THEMSELVES ACCORDING TO EPHESIANS 6.

THERE ARE NO CHUBBY BREASTPLATES IN THE ARMOR OF GOD. THE ARMOR MAKES US FIT AND ENCOURAGES US TO STAND IN THAT FITNESS.

THE ARMOR SHOULD MAKE US FILL THE WORLD AROUND US WITH PEACE.

THE ARMOR OF GOD IS MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN LINKED WITH A BAND OF BROTHERS.

PRAY THE WORD NOT JUST THE NEED.

Our men had a great day of fellowship together. I was greatly blessed by all the relationship building I saw going on.

In our final sessions I got a few more thoughts to think about.

STRONG MEN ARE SABBATH MEN. ADAM RESTED FOR WORK NOT FROM IT. REST IS FOUND IN JESUS NOT IN “REST”.

GOD LONGS FOR US TO BE IN RHYTHM NOT NECESSARILY IN BALANCE.

GOD HAS CALLED US TO PERSEVERE.

GOD HAS CALLED US TO HUMILITY AND SUBMISSION

GOD HAS CALLED US TO SERVE.

It was a great day of worship, spiritual reminders and challenges, fun, and fellowship.

THANK YOU ANDY AND STEPHEN!

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

#notesfromthevicarage