Kathy Weckwerth

Everyday Encouragement

In the Grove

Becoming a Person of Authenticity

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This topic takes me back to 6th grade.  A girl who had been in my same classes year after year, just didn’t like me.  walked home with her from school and said, “I’m so sorry we haven’t gotten along very well.  I’d really like to try to be friends.”

If that wasn’t real and authentic, I don’t know what was.  I remember feeling like I’d poured everything from my heart right out onto the sidewalk.

Without missing a beat she looked straight at me and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Boom.  That was it.  I recoiled inside myself and thought I’m never pouring my heart out again.  Oh, but I did.  So much so, that Dad told me one day, Kathleen if you have any character flaws it’s this one for sure … you wear your heart on your sleeve.

Open and honest.  That’s how I like to be.  Vulnerable …. well that’s scary.  But genuine, that’s more my speed.  What about you?  When we’re thinking about being authentic and not being fake but really truly being real in our everyday life … what people see is what they get, how are you doing?

That’s authenticity to the core.  Real … believable.  No shame.  No hiding.  No embarrassment.  Just real.

And what about that vulnerability factor?  Well, if you’re anything like me and you’ve had the trust kicked right out of you, vulnerable isn’t something you want to be.  But in order to truly reach people at a deep level, you have to allow yourself to display these things: authenticity, realness and vulnerability.

The down side … people can hurt us.  They can look you smack in the eyes and say “Huh?  I don’t get it.”  Because guess what … they’re not being real.  Or you can risk being vulnerable and have people make fun of you, laugh at you, or be unkind to you.  That’s painful.  I know.

I think about some serious times in my life when I was really hurt, but sometimes it’s the funny ones that stick in the forefront of your brain.

I remember getting up in front of 400 people at one of my church services and saying my usual, “Good morning, and welcome.”  I’d start out with something emotional or funny, or something to connect them to the sermon topic.  Mostly, it would be about scripture, sometimes about Farmer Dean.

One day I told the congregation about how I mistook the back field of soybeans for corn.  I was new to the farm, saw the short crop and thought something was terribly wrong with the corn.  Until Farmer Dean told me, “those are soybeans.”

The crowd roared.  In my vulnerability, I was proving a point.  That I made mistakes just like the next guy.  And you know what the vulnerability did?  It made me closer to everyone of those people.  We laughed together at my silliness and I let them in to my soul.  They didn’t ransack.  They didn’t ridicule.  They just embraced me for my authenticity.  I told them the truth.  I make silly mistakes.

Here’s what I know about Being Authentic and Real …

  1. It takes maturity to do this.
  2. You have to be comfortable with who you are.
  3. You have to trust others
  4. It makes you stronger
  5. It opens you up to criticism, jealousy, and the pickers … people who are going to pick you apart because your heart is open and on the table.
  6. It can make people mad (because they’re not real)
  7. It can get you in trouble because sometimes closed people resent authenticity.
  8. It’s the best choice to be your best.

Scripture tells us in Proverbs 12:22 “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

Are we dealing truthfully with one another?  With ourselves? Just try it this week.  Try being your real self.  Just real.

Who knows, maybe people will laugh right alongside of you, and become even closer to you because you were truly authentic and real.  Maybe you’ll think that corn is soybeans, and life will still continue … just maybe.

 

Keeping Your Foothold On Shaky Ground

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I remember four years ago when our little 1900’s church was moved to the south grove at our farm.  It was a time of great excitement, deep joy, and happy anticipation.

As a few trees were cleared, grounds were measured, cement blocks were put into place and we awaited the arrival of the beautiful old building.

The land was flat and empty towards the main road, and nothing seemed to grow there.  Farmer Dean planted trees, shrubs, plants, and flowers to no avail.  Nothing worked for him.  Nothing would grow.

I often wondered why it was this way.  Dean explained to me that in the late 1800s  early 1900s, a family owned a big old house there.  (Where in the world did it go because I think I would have loved it!).  Apparently farmers push down buildings, barns, and outbuildings when they don’t have a need for them, or when they would rather have land for crops, or when the buildings are in disrepair.

Because of the old rubble everywhere, Dean didn’t think anything was taking root in the ground. He told me, “Where nothing would grow, we’ll plant a church.”  And so we did.

The trek from rural Murdock, MN took approximately 6.5 hours and was filled with a few mild scares, but nothing detrimental.  We followed along in our van behind the church for awhile, and then set out for home to prepare for the arrival.

Once the church arrived and was placed on its new foundation, we had a couple of months to wait until we could get the ground pushed back around the building and get some steps in at the front of the building.  Everything moved pretty slowly for me.

During this time, HGTV’s show, “Massive Moves” out of Canada had been following us (along with Jason Davis On the Road and PBS’ Postcards).  Two kind gents from England, full of life, laughter, and awesome accents were by our side for approximately three weeks straight.  We lived, ate, and breathed the preparation for the move, the going away service, and then the actual move.

These young camera men and producers returned from England six weeks later to film again.  Dean always fretted because we didn’t have much time to work on any of our restoration process, but nevertheless, they arrived and needed to finish their show.

As Dean and the crew climbed up an old rickety ladder into the back door of the church, I found out something about myself I didn’t know.  I was scared.  They kept saying, “Come on, let’s go.”  Impatient as the three of them were, it did nothing to encourage me along.

After a few steps up on the ladder rungs, I felt the ladder shimmying back and forth.  I was on shaky ground.  Not on ground at all, and I felt unsafe.

They kept shouting to hurry up.  I kept looking down, then up, and then I stopped.  I couldn’t be in the middle.  I had to have a safe foothold somewhere and it wasn’t on the ladder.

With each step, I shook … literally.

When I finally pressed on and made it into the church, I determined to live there until the steps arrived.  I could sleep in the pews, right?

But, alas, I had to return back down to the ground and on the shaky ladder I climbed and made it back down with the pressuring and cheering of the men.

This story reminds me of life lately.  The pressures of our peers.  The statements of the press.  The thrashing of the political arena.  None have felt safe.  No mere words that men or women spout off make me feel like I’ve landed on steady ground.

And just like being on the wobbly ladder, I remembered something:  I cannot trust the world, just as I couldn’t trust an old rickety ladder.  I cannot trust the words of mere mortals, their feelings and emotions, or their bending of truth.

“Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” Jeremiah 17:5

Instead, there is only One Source for solid ground.  God the Father.  God the Son.  God the Holy Spirit.

I will declare they are my firm foundation.  And right now, I’m tired of standing on a ladder and feeling wobbly.

[callout]Thank you, God, for being a solid foundation.  I’ll stand before you thanking and praising.[/callout]

“My feet stand on level ground; in the great congregation I will praise the Lord.”  Psalm 26:12

When Life is Out of Control

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By:  Kathy A. Weckwerth

I’ll never forget that afternoon I was driving home.  The road was slippery, the snow had been coming down steadily, and I was on my way home from running errands.  A few miles from a neighboring town, I answered my phone to hear my mother’s voice asking if I was home yet.  “Not yet, Mom,” I answered.  And then it happened!

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The next thing I knew, my radio shut off and my dash board lights went dim.  I told my mother I needed to go and quickly called Farmer Dean.  “What’s happening to me?” I asked.

Farmer Dean asked for a description of everything that had just occurred and said, “Mam, it’s your battery.  It’s shutting down and pretty soon you will have no power at all!  You need to pull over.”

I was getting closer to the small town that was 15 miles from home, and prayed to get there so I wouldn’t be stranded on the side of the road.  Where I live in the middle of nowhere, it’s a normal day when there are huge farm rigs blocking the roads and I didn’t want to hit anyone or create any extra trouble for myself or others.

By the time I got to the small town, all power was out on my car and I was coasting.  My heart racing, I begged God, “Please dear Lord, help me!  I have no control.”  I could feel the steering wheel fighting my every effort to control it, and I pressed hard on the brakes to turn the wheel and come to a full stop on the side road next to the bank.

I took a deep breath and felt my heart pounding deep inside my chest.  I could barely breathe.  I was sure I was going to hit someone or not be able to stop!  That was so scary, I thought!

After another quick call to Farmer Dean for a much-needed rescue, I realized what had just happened … my car was completely and utterly out of my control … there was nothing I could do but pray, trust God, and try to get my car to the side of the road.  I had no power.

Life is like this, isn’t it?  [callout] So often we are traveling along with a battery that is drained and suddenly we are stranded on the side of the road.  We think we can go on, but we’ve run ourselves to the end of our energy supply, and we are completely dead.[/callout] I know what this is like, do you?

Most recently, I experienced this feeling after babysitting my granddaughter every day for weeks, traveling 18 hours away to take care of my elderly mother, writing books, blogs, speaking at events, and orchestrating details for conferences.  I remember waking up and thinking I can’t even muster one ounce of energy.  And then I remembered my car and how scary it felt to lose control that day.  I knew it was time to plug in the old battery of my soul.

In his new book, Soul Keeping:  Caring for the Most Important Part of You, John Ortberg states, “For the soul to be well, it needs to be with God.”  What a great reminder!  If we are to remained plugged in and energized, we must stay close to God.  He is the ultimate POWER SOURCE for our souls.

So what did I do exactly, to get out of my weakened condition?  I took the following steps:

  1. I made myself go to bed early and slept for 8 hours.
  2. I ate healthy foods and gave up sugar.
  3. I began to read snippets of my Bible in the morning and at night (additional to devotional time).
  4. I said “No.” And then … I said “No” some more.
  5. I cleaned and organized my office and felt incredible relief (when I found things I had lost!).
  6. I began to say more prayers that began with “Thank you, God,” … instead of “God help me!”
  7. I took a break from speaking/blogging/writing.

It is making a daily difference.  When I begin to feel overwhelmed and out of control, I remind myself that this is not my life … it is the one created by God and I have committed to giving it to him.  He is the Ultimate Life Source and I power up with a renewed energy each and every day.  So now, when I feel the lights of my soul dimming and the sound shutting off, when the steering wheel seems to be pulling its own direction, I pull to the side of the road immediately and pray to that Ultimate Battery of Life … God, I’m Yours … I need a recharge!

Psalm 62:11 “God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you …”

 

Good Friday

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The story is a familiar one mixed with sadness and joy. My heart never grows weary of reading it and I often place myself in the setting, allowing myself to walk through the last days with the Savior, before His death.  There was no other way that it could go … in order for us to have freedom from our sins.  It was the only way. 

Campaign Photos 025We watch as He agonizes in the garden praying, all the while His friends are asleep. He faces Judas and the betrayal “kiss” while the disciples stand watching.  He goes before Pilate and endures a decree that He will be put to death. And He is crucified.  Alone  …  alone  …  alone. 

On the night of the crucifixion, all hope seemed lost. Darkness abounded. An innocent Savior was given up to selfish, sinful mankind, and pain and suffering was His, as He hung on a cross, deserted by His disciples and by His Heavenly Father.  It had to be that way.  For the sins of men to be covered, for God to have a bridge between us and Him,  Jesus had to pay the cost.

Luke 23:43 tells us it was 6:00 and darkness came over the whole land until 9:00, and the “sun stopped shining.” Perhaps you’re like many of us who are living in Minnesota’s dreadful winters. Days go by and the sun does not shine. Night passes its baton to the morning.   But without sun, and with snow, it seems dismal as weeks pass into months. During those hours, because a dark veil of blackness signifying death, sin, sorrow, torment and persecution, all hung heavy in the air, in the dark bleakness of something so far more dreary than winter.

Watching His Son die for us, God does not come to His Son’s rescue, for it must be done for us to have eternal life. But God does something wonderful by speaking to us through His beautiful actions regarding the veil in the Holy Temple.

The large blue, purple and scarlet curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, an inner room in the temple that symbolized God’s presence, was the barrier between God and man, and now God tore it from top to bottom (Mk. 15:38). Historians think that this veil was 60-80 feet high.

No man could say that a human had done this. This curtain separated man from God. Only once a year the High Priest was allowed to enter into God’s presence to make atonement for the sins of Israel.

[callout]God has unveiled Himself to allow His Son, Jesus Christ, to stand between us. No more curtains are needed.  Just a Lamb offered up on a cross to atone for our sins. [/callout]

For whatever reason, the words of Christ, before His crucifixion, didn’t seem to be retained in the memory banks of His followers. When He was still with them in Galilee, He told them He would be given up to sinful men to be crucified, and on the third day He would be raised up. They didn’t remember His words, and so they succumbed to the horrific grief of how death holds one captive. Darkness falls to night, and the darkness and nighttime continue for them. There is no hope … or so they believe.

But three days later, just after sunrise, Mary (the mother of Jesus), and Mary Magdalene take spices to anoint Jesus’  body, only to find an angel who tells them “He has risen!” 

Darkness is over. Death has been defeated. Hope is restored.

A vertical curtain has been torn and replaced with a horizontal bridge of

Jesus Christ the Risen Lord.

What amazing hope … what glorious victory … what wonderful encouragement that things may look bleak at night … but joy comes with the morning!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!