Kathy Weckwerth

Everyday Encouragement

Encouragement

Waiting for the Monarchs

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butterfly-1551323The wind is warm and muggy and as I am out in the front yard, I notice my friends coming back to the grove.

Yes, you could think I was referring to the wonderful group of women who will be lining up on Wednesday morning at 8:45 a.m., waiting to get in the door of the little church, set their Bibles and purses down, grab their coffee and their roll and head for the table to begin to study God’s word.

I am very excited about Bible study starting up, however, I’m referring to my friends, the monarch butterflies coming back to my grove.

You see, each and every year, Farmer Dean and I do a little welcome dance as we watch hundreds of butterflies migrating south as the winter months approach, and we are in awe at God’s handiwork.

I remember the first time I realized what was happening was about 7 years ago.  I was outside in the gazebo reading when I looked up to see one lone butterfly out by my window.  I thought it was so beautiful.  I headed inside to let our little dog out to play and he ran directly to the grove, began to spin and bark, and out flew a hundred butterflies.  I’m not exaggerating.  They had quietly, purposefully been posed on our trees and bushes in the grove so that we didn’t see them.  But as our dog barked and scared them, they began to flitter about.  Benny, the dog and I danced around, shouting, squealing in delight, while the butterflies flittered and zipped about, all the while resting once again on their branches in the grove.

Each year since then, has been a dutiful wait as we watch for their return.  But something very sad has happened.  Each year has brought our friends back to visit, but each year there are less and less traveling.

Farmer Dean says the sprays, the change in climate, the change in our lifestyle (the bees are going as well!) are creating limited amounts of lovely monarchs.

Today, I opened the door to see a ton of black moths (not so lovely) which Farmer Dean has explained are here to help control the beetles or something, but I’m looking for my friends.

One is flittering about and I exclaim …. “bring them here for a visit.  We’ll pray for their safety, their ability to create more, and their ability to live.”

[callout]And just for today, I sit back in my chair and watch … anticipating the beauty of the earth.

Thank you, God, for you have truly made a delight in the monarch. [/callout]

 

Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

Keeping the Faith

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As I drove away, I found my heart hurting, my mind whirling, and felt the urge to cry.  Not the crying that one feels when you lost someone or something you know, but the crying that comes from feeling the pain of losing something you never knew.  I pulled out of the sleepy little town not too far away and drove down the country roads towards home, but the story really begins with my alarm.

The only thing that could possibly make me want to set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning was a sale … and even more alluring was that it was a sale at a church.

But this sale was different.  This was a “final” sale that was listed at the top of the want ads.  Formerly known as a busy church in the 1940’s, 1960’s and beyond, the church had been sitting empty of worship for the past eight years because it’s congregants joined with a neighboring church.   It meant the end of another era.  I knew it meant another little building was closing its doors to the Life of Church, and its windows and walls would never be the same. It was a final inventory sale and I wanted to take inventory of what was happening.

In today’s society, more and more people are walking away.  They’re not just walking away from attending church, but they’re walking away from their faith.  Recently reported on the ten o’clock news, people age 18-33 were surveyed and said that although they grew up in a “Christian” home, they don’t consider themselves Christians.  What’s happening to us?

Here’s a thought … we’re so busy running our children, grandchildren, and ourselves to get to everything we think is important, that we have put Christ at the bottom of the list.  In a society where our grandparents and parents lived to go to church, made the church their social life, and made God someone who was in school, in church, in the grocery store, and on the radio/tv, we have pleasantly and complacently shrugged our shoulders, been bullied and said, “Oh, okay … whatever.”  Whatever is the word of the day.  Look it up in our dictionary and see all of our faces listed in the description.

But let me get back to the church building itself.  Sweet, hardwood floors, lovely beams on the ceiling, plush carpets, lovely kitchen, offices, and basement were all desperately crying out to my soul as I looked around at the sale items.  Yes, I found things like oak chairs for $3.00 and a fabulous milk can for $6.00, but nothing comforted the deep sadness that overcame me when the sweet owners said someone was moving in to make it their home.

Where were the congregants?  Why was their church home now a literal home?  They died off?  They no longer attend?  No pastor would come out to the middle of nowhere to preach?

The doors are closing because society is shifting.  God is being tagged at a sale and offered up to the needy buyer who wants to shuffle Him to their garage and bring Him out when needed.

[callout]No longer can we find God in our schools, in our conversations, and in our busy weeks as He once was, but He is tucked away neatly in the boxes that say, “Heirlooms.”[/callout]

As I drove away, I wept.  Not for myself, but for every single soul that lined those pews in 1940.  I cried for every single life that was changed, for every prayer spoken and every song sung.  And although I’ll be grateful for the kind owners who kept it immaculate over the past few years, and for the young man who will make it his home, I will remain concerned and confused as to the direction we now take in today’s world.  After all, what will happen to other little churches  next week and the week after that and the week after that?

 

Be Encouraged!

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friends gigglingWhile scanning through some of my emails, I stopped in my tracks as I read one from a large church that said, “Bob Smith, Encouragement Pastor.” I was so excited!  I thought, what a brilliant concept.  Some church finally gets it!  Some staff is leading a team where one person is focused on something that life in 2015 has forgotten … encouragement!

Today’s hustle and bustle keeps us moving.  With our new phones and technology, we can connect with people instantly all over the world.  And yet, while Farmer Dean and I were enjoying a lovely lunch at Granite City this weekend, I looked around to see most of the people setting next to us were on their phones.  No one was talking.  There was no encouragement from watching people sitting glued to their cell phones.

I said to Farmer Dean, “Let’s talk!”  We launched into a two hour conversation about our kids and grandkids, our farm, our church, our future plans, and our lunch became delightfully encouraging.  Great food and good conversation helped  Farmer Dean and I to both feel like we were in a place where although discouragement was trying to settle in, we were fighting back.

The warm sunshine was beating down on our booth, and we laughed, joked, and encouraged one another.  Farmer Dean told me I was a great speaker, a good mom, and fun to be with.  I told him he was strong (that’s why he’s always moving and lifting things for me), he was gentle, and he was a super grandpa!

By the time our day was finished, we were not only ready for another week, but once again, we were propelled onto the path of hope.  The word encouragement  means “support of a kind that inspires confidence and a will to continue or develop.”  What does that mean?  Encouragement produces confidence and a desire to go on.  It’s the fuel in the engine that keeps us going.

Where do we find encouragement?  Sometimes God will meet us in a wide open space and send some friend to deliver gracious words that fill us up.  Once and awhile it comes seeping into our souls when we feel happy about something we made or something we said or heard. Very often, it comes directly from scripture.   I love this verse specifically:

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3.

I’m encouraged just knowing God loves me and cares to draw me in with His kindness.

Encouragement can come from a quiet walk in nature and seeing the deep lush of green grass or the puffy white billowing clouds.  It can come from listening to your daughter talk about school or your grandson’s giggle.  It can come from a long restful nap or a bite of a chocolate brownie with hot steaming coffee.

[callout]Mostly, what I know about encouragement is that we all need it and we can certainly take time in our days and nights to reach out and encourage others/callout] with simple words like:

way to go

I love you

you’re doing great

did you know how good you would be at this

you are so appreciated

you make my life better

Make the most of your days and be encouraged … and in turn, encourage others.

Whether you’re an official encouragement pastor or simply an encouraging mother … just do it!  Encourage one another!

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” I Thessalonians 5:11

Dreaming and Believing

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724Do you ever wonder about dreams? Do you ever ask yourself if you truly believe a dream in your heart can come true? Or maybe you question God and ask Him if He will ever answer that dream. About ten years ago, Pastor Greg invited Dean and me to go to the high school play, South Pacific, showing in Elk River. For years I tried to make myself watch the movie, but I never seemed to get through it. But on that night, with Dean and our friends, I sat through the entire story and embraced a deep love for it. Like many things in life, I put aside the memories of a sweet story and filed it within the filing cabinet of my mind for quieter days of reflection that just never came. Last week when middle daughter, Chandra, came for a visit, she brought a gift for me … the South Pacific album from an antique store. Miraculously, it became a key to unlock the filing cabinet and release a pre-existing love for the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The day she gave me the album was cool and the air felt damp as I watched the drizzling rain from my living room. I poured a cup of hot tea from Grandpa’s old, green teapot and settled in for a few moments of music from the cherished album. As the song, “Happy Talk” began, I listened to the words as they aligned themselves to my own life’s journey. The lyrics of the song danced through the air and I was thrown into my own childhood memories. “You’ve got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true,” the music danced through the air. I remembered at ten years old, holding up Johnson’s Baby Shampoo bottles while singing the commercial, and holding the hairbrush as I belted out the Burger King commercial. I remembered being fourteen and loving the Folgers’ coffee commercial. I also remembered my twenty-something self walking up on a stage. I remembered the commitment to myself in the mirror declaring a dream I had for myself… someday, I would be on the radio. Day after day I memorized the tunes and the words for numerous commercials and continued to carry the dream within my spirit, until one day the dream began to unfold. As I sipped the comforting Darjeeling tea and watched the drizzling rain, the music continued and the words mesmerized me. I heard, “You’ve got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream …” and it made me smile as I vividly remembered one special day. One fall day, the church where I served as worship director held an outdoor service. Hundreds of people, with their blankets sprawled out across the lawn, filled the hillside. I was on stage announcing some upcoming events when I heard the shouting jeer of someone saying, “Kathy, sing the Folgers commercial.” I smiled. It was nothing new. For whatever reason, my staff thought my dream was funny. Several others clamored for the jingle and I belted it out. The crowd cheered me on with clapping and laughter. Deep inside my soul … I held the dream. Someday, somehow, somewhere, I would be on the radio. I tried to shrug off the teasing and made my way off the stage, when a man approached me, pushing his way through the crowd, holding out a business card, and said “Hi, I’m here visiting my brother. I’m a jingle producer. You were great. Call me tomorrow.” I did just that and began a seven-year career of singing commercials and doing voice-over work for the radio. Years have passed since I married and moved to Benson, but the dream stayed alive, like a little cinder in the furnace of my soul. One day, several months ago, I told my friends at Bible study that I loved to write for our town newspaper and appreciated the opportunity to share my stories. I also told them that I would relish an opportunity to serve our community through a radio show. Something inside me expected teasing and fits of laughter, but instead, I was met with enthusiasm and encouragement. I made my way downtown Benson and entered the radio station KSCR for a meeting with John Jennings and Andrew DeVall. For one brief moment, I felt afraid. Not of Radio-Land, but of the same old rejection that shuts down hopes and tells people that having dreams for your life is only for little ten-year-olds who sing into mirrors. But once again, I was met with enthusiasm and encouragement, and I began my journey, once more, into the place where dreams meet reality. On Sunday, June 7, from 6:00-7:00 p.m., I will launch a radio show on KSCR 93.5 FM, called YOUR BEST with Kathy Weckwerth. My Best Life Ministries team and a few good friends will join me and bring encouragement, inspiration, motivation, and creativity to the local airwaves. The show will consist of one half hour of Christian contemporary and Gospel music, while the second half hour is talk radio.The program will also be a podcast to enable people to listen who don’t receive the station. In the encouraging words of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein,”You’ve got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true.” From a ten-year-old girls dream from back then … to the spark of an ember that still burns right now … here’s to all of us in dreaming and believing.

5 Steps to Dealing With People Who Annoy You

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Through the years I served as a Worship Director, and now as an Executive Director of a nonprofit.  I have dealt with the aggravation, the angst, and the disappointment of people who are challenging and really bug me.

In my own personal world, I have had struggles with friends and family members who, at the very least, are the ones I  deem the “drive-me-crazies.” If you’re anything like me, you’ve dealt with the same thing!

This week, I had a strange conversation with someone that went like this:

Greeting/conversation/stupid comments/me feeling annoyed/me left wondering how do I even respond/me feeling more annoyed.

I prayed and opened my Bible seeking the only One who really gets Crazy-Land people and knows how to deal with them … Jesus.

In Matthew 16:1-4, we see the setting … the Pharisees and the Sadducees are doing what they do so well … bugging Jesus.

Step 1. “The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.” (the initial bugging)

Step 2. Jesus … Listening to them.

Step 3. Jesus … Thinking before responding.

Step 4. “He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” (healthy, honest response).

Step 5. “Jesus then left them and went away.” (just walk away).

Jesus listened to the people who bugged Him. But, after remaining calm and dealing with them, he is honest and walks away.

Step 1: Take a deep breath and remain calm
Step 2: Listen … listen … and then listen some more
Step 3: Think before you respond.
Step 4: Don’t fight, but be honest, real, and authentic
Step 5: Forgive and walk away.

[callout]This week, I remained calm, listened, thought about how to respond, and then said my authentic honest piece and walked away.[/callout]

I may not have a friendship out of this relationship, but then again, I guess I really don’t want one. After all, Jesus stuck by 12 friends who were only slightly irritating once and awhile.

He just loved people like crazy,  dealt with them honestly … and gently, ever-so-wisely … walked away.