UNDER MY FEET

December 18, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Today’s quote from The Wisdom of Alpacas is from James Oppenheim, “THE FOOLISH MAN SEEKS HAPPINESS IN THE DISTANCE, THE WISE GROWS IT UNDER HIS FEET.”

One of my personal core values is contentment. For me contentment is about learning to both accept what is and to transform even that which is not good into something useful and blessed. As a Christian I believe even the most difficult things can be redeemed. That doesn’t mean I think that everything can be fixed. Lord knows I have experienced things in my own life which could not be fixed no matter how much I wished they could be.

For me accepting the brokenness of things is the first step in contentment. The second is figuring out whether the thing can be or maybe even should be fixed.

I THINK THAT SOME THINGS SHOULDN’T BE FIXED. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

The third step in contentment is discovering what good can come from the broken things of life when they are mixed with the whole things of life.

I think of contentment like baking a cake. It is taking all of life’s ingredients and making something good out of them. It is not as some people think giving up or settling for the status quo.

Paul the apostle said “godliness with contentment is great gain.” I think that is the biblical idea behind Oppenheim’s comment. I can choose to keep looking into the distance for some bit of happiness forever out of my reach or I can make my own life the source of my happiness. Contentment is one of the ways I make my own life my main source of joy.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OPPENHEIM’S COMMENT?

WHAT WOULD YOU ADD TO A CONVERSATION ON CONTENTMENT?

THOSE OPEN DOORS

December 14, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Rose Lane said, “HAPPINESS IS SOMETHING THAT COMES INTO OUR LIVES THROUGH DOORS WE DON’T EVEN REMEMBER LEAVING OPEN.”

THIS QUOTE MALES ME THINK ABOUT LIFE’S SURPRISE MOMENTS.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Surprises….I have to admit I usually think of them as a crap shoot. You never know what you’re going to get when a surprise comes along. Usually I view surprises as holding potential problems. I am trying to change the way I think in that regard.

I am trying to ask….

WHAT’S THE POTENTIAL HERE?

WHAT IS GOD DOING IN THIS SURPRISE?

HOW DOES THIS SURPRISE ADVANCE GOD’S PURPOSE?

Maybe some day Rose Lane’s thoughts will be my first thoughts. In the meantime I am trying to recognize open doors before they surprise me with what comes through them.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH SURPRISES.

So Much Fun

December 11, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

We just marched through the second weekend of Advent, The weekend of Peace. It was so much fun. Last week our church was honored to host our local high school for three days while the school was repaired from a malfunction with one of its hot water heaters.

This weekend we had a team come in to clean up and get ready for church on Sunday. But the church staff and school staff did such a great job of putting the church back together that the congregation was able to do a few extra jobs which have been waiting in the wings.

I had thought we would have the students with us for two weeks, so I rented this huge dumpster which the school hardly used. We used it instead to get rid of a shed full of rotten lumber we have been sitting on for a looooong time. Meanwhile a group of ladies went through out kitchen and indoor storage rooms to get rid of old and broken kitchen and ministry items.

I love cleaning out!

Another group of congregants worked in the sanctuary reattaching the chairs which had been disconnected and because it is the fourth season of the church year they also vacuumed. You know the four seasons of the church year don’t you? Spring, Summer, Fall and Glitter.

Vacuuming is not really effective against glitter but at least it gets up the sand and the salt that people carry in from the parking lot.

After the clean out Amanda and I headed over to our sister church, Bread of Life, which was hosting the Special Touch Ministry Christmas party.

It was ten years ago that Amanda and I joined twelve other people led by Mike and Kim Ferguson to start the first New England Chapter of Special Touch Ministry to the Disabled.

It is amazing to see what God has done over this last decade through this ministry!

It was even more amazing to see Mike playing King Herod for the Christmas story wearing a tiara.

While we were partying, Kristine was hard at work at home reorganizing the Vicarage kitchen.

Amanda, Melanie, Daniella and Abigail, finished off the night by attending Cornerstone’s leadership Christmas party.

It was a busy day filled with true peace.

WHAT DID YOU DO LAST WEEKEND?

NOTHING IS FREEDOM?

December 8, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 8 Comments

I am working my way through this book of quotes I got from our local library’s used book sale. The book is entitled THE WISDOM OF ALPACAS.

The theme of the book is individuality as expressed by celebrated thinkers across time. I’m not sure I celebrate this thought from AYN RAND.

“FREEDOM:TO ASK NOTHING. TO EXPECT NOTHING. TO DEPEND ON NOTHING.”

Is freedom really nothing? Is freedom even achievable? If this is freedom do I want it?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

“I Am No Bird…”

December 7, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

“I am no bird and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” Charlotte Bronte.

Last week I stopped by the local library to see what they had on offer at their used book sale.

I found several books, one of them was THE WISDOM OF ALPACAS. It’s a book of quotes about individuality. I thought the daily quotes would be useful as writing prompts for my blog here at “Notes”.

So here I sit at my dining room table on a cloudy Thursday afternoon, as the Vicarage naps (well at least Sevy and Mom are napping). I have my cup of afternoon Ginger and Yuja tea. I am sitting down to write from this first quote from the book.

Honestly sometimes I feel more like a caged bird than I do a human being with free will. My bars are not made of metal or plastic. My bars made of the flow of life and of the mindset that life is a rushing river that I can do little about.

Lately my prayers have been refocusing me around my own personal responsibility. Life may be a rushing river, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing I can do about the rushing. There are things I can choose to do each day to make my dreams come true in the midst of the rushing.

I can plan for the rushing.

I can say “no” to the rushing especially when it is someone else’s rush.

I can break my dreams down into bite sized pieces and plan to work on them a little everyday.

I find that working my plan around the prayer cycle makes the work easier somehow. I also find that if I do not make prayer the center and springboard of my plan then the plan falls apart. For me I would say prayer is the key to exercising free will in a healthy productive way so I don’t revert to my caged bird form.

WHAT IN YOUR LIFE HELPS YOU TO EXERCISE YOUR FREE WILL?

First Weekend Of Advent: A Weekend Of Cookie Conversations

December 5, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 3 Comments

It is the first weekend of Advent! That is the season where we celebrate the arrival of Messiah, and for those of us in the Pentecostal church it is a special time of reminding ourselves that Christ will come again.

The hi-light of this weekend for me was the first ever Winchendon Christmas Cookie Crawl held on the day of the Winchendon Wonderland Celebration.

The purpose of the Cookie Crawl was to promote town awareness of different micro communities and businesses.

It started at the Old Murdock Senior Center. The Senior Center hosted a huge craft fair in their auditorium. My first step was to pick up my Crawl card at the Parks and Rec table, and then to buy a few stocking stuffers for the fam!

My first stop after the Senior Center was Fidelity Bank. Andrew the branch manager was the cookie warden for that location. I chose a soft chocolate chip cookie for my first try. Andrew and I had a great conversation around prayer.

My next stop was the Historical Society’s Old Centre Church.

Peggy was the Cookie Lady there. Our conversation was built around Christmas wreaths (which she makes) and singing (which I have been known to do). I also got to meet her Yorkie Chester.

Megan was the cookie lady at Ruschioni’s Flower &Gifts on Rte. 140. We talked about how and when she started the business and about the fact that we are neighbors. Our church is right up the road a-piece.

Pattie’s Jewelry was next. I didn’t have time to chat with Sherry, the owner. She was super busy; So I just got my cookie (another chocolate chip) and went on my way.

I had a great time catching up with Michelle, a school mate of mine, and the owner of T Each His Own Design. I also got to chat with her about how I had met her pastor Father Henry at the last council of churches meeting.

At Not Just produced, I talked for a bit with the owner Beth Hunt and we shared stories about care giving for people with chronic and terminal illness.

At 108 Ipswich I got to talk with a few of our local farmers about their products and how they were made.

At the library I had a ginger snap while I caught up with one of the library trustees. She was the nurse for my previous PCP.

After a stop home I met up with my daughter Melanie and granddaughter Abigail at the Winchendon Community park which was hosting Santa and the Grinch for “Winter Wonderland.

The Grinch had put Santa in Christmas jail. People could pay towards getting the key to set Santa free before the town tree lighting. What a great idea for a fundraiser.

My day ended listening to Santa’s elf telling the kids a story.

HOW DID YOU SPEND THE FIRST WEEKEND OF ADVENT?

Silent Sunday At the Vicarage

November 26, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 8 Comments

WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE PT. 2

November 25, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I started this series last week as we were looking forward to Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving! I would go so far as to say it is my favorite holiday.

I love everything about this holiday. I love the meal prep. I love the gathering of family. I love the parade, and I love the low key nature of the day. So often I feel like I have to work hard to keep myself in the rhythm of slow, constant, intentionality, my chosen rhythm. Normal life seems to work against it, but at Thanksgiving the world slows down and living slowly, constantly and intentionally becomes easy.

It was such a good day. We all gathered at the table. We prayed. We ate. Then we napped. Then everyone went home with leftovers. It was awesome. I did not however spend time pushing myself to write, and I think that was correct. Even our healthiest rhythms must be rested from at some point.

That is the next thing I will say about how I want life to be different three years from now. THREE YEARS FROM NOW I WANT TO BE LIVING THIS LIFE RHYTHM WITH MORE PLANNED VARIATION AND WITH FAR LESS GUILT WHEN I DO VARY THE RHYTHM

One of the things I am thinking of is the idea of building seasons of rest from my chosen life rhythm into my weekly and yearly calendar. Consistency is one thing. Monotony is another.

I am coming to understand Sabbath in a new way. SABBATH IS NOT JUST ABOUT REST. IT IS ALSO ABOUT A DEPARTURE FROM THE RHYTHM OF THE REST OF THE WEEK.

Holiday is also about a departure or maybe a differentiation from the normal rhythm of life. I have realized that giving myself a break sometimes makes me feel guilty. When I change the things I do on a day, when I don’t accomplish everything on my daily list I face the temptation of feeling like I have failed somehow. I am going to change that.

DO YOU EVER FEEL GUILTY ABOUT HOLIDAYS AND WHAT YOU ARE NOT DOING IN THEM?

WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE? PT. 1

November 20, 2023November 20, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

I started writing this post on Saturday morning before leadership training. I only had about 10 minutes which proved to be not enough time to get even the beginning of my thoughts down. I think this is going to require even more brain space than I have time to give it now, but I think I can at least start here and carry on later.

The daily writing prompt from WordPress this week is, WHAT WILL YOUR LIFE BE LIKE THREE YEARS FROM NOW?

So Thanksgiving 2026.

I will probably be eating turkey dinner which I might or might not cook myself. I certainly hope it is well brined. I do love a brined turkey! My turkey for 2023 is brining even now as I write.

I will have just celebrated my 59th birthday the day before. Usually birthdays around here are pretty low key and it will be one year before the big 6-0 so….I imagine I will probably have cake or pie or something with my kids

I THINK I WILL STILL BE IN MINISTRY AT CORNERSTONE CHURCH. At this point I have dedicated 27 years of my ministry life to the church. I cannot see it changing this far into the game. It is hard to think that the majority of my professional work as a pastor has been in this one church. All of my professional work as a minister has been in my hometown of Winchendon MA. It amazes me to think I have been working as a pastor for 32 years!

Within three years I hope to have lost the 80 pounds I am working on. If that is so then I will definitely celebrate with a piece of cake and a good Thanksgiving meal. Of course it will probably be done in a more healthy context than my current eating is done in.