Happy Monday!

Happy 7-11-11! It was free Slurpee Day at the 7-11 stores. I think Travis had several!!

Prayer: “Father, thank You for this day and for the unique person You made me to be. Open my eyes in a fresh way to celebrate who I am in You. Help me identify and value the differences in others. Give me an open mind to read Your Word and understand what You want to say to me right now. I look forward to experiencing joy and excitement as I see Your purpose for me and for others today. Amen.”

1 Corinthians 12: 8, 14 “To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit; to another the word of knowledge; through the same Spirit…The body is not one member but many.”

In thirty years of teaching each student in my charge was given the ability to learn in many different ways. All students can learn by listening, by speaking, by being tactile learners or by being readers. But the interesting thing is that even though the children were given all of these abilities each of them had one of these learning styles that would far outshine the others. It was always my job to provide activities throughout my teaching so that each child was able to learn in the way they learned best, but also to experience different learning styles. It would have really been somewhat boring if each child in my classroom learned in the same way. If each child was just a listener then how would they learn to communicate as speakers? If each child was a speaker then how would they ever learn to listen? If each child was a writer then how would they ever be able to use other tools in which to become problem solvers? And if each child learned in isolation how would they ever learn to cooperate with others and learn to depend on each other and thus build a community of learners?

As believers in Christ we are all different. We do not all see things the same way or respond to life situations in the same way. I think sometimes that it bothers us that we are not more alike. But here is the thing… God loves us and celebrates our differences. God’s love and anointed Holy Spirit power is in each of us. The tie that binds each of us together is the love of God given to us through the resurrected Christ. How we express that love is how we are able to meet the needs of others and show Christ’s love. Our family sings, Bruce works in prison ministry, Geni and Travis both sport tattoos saying, “When life is in discord, praise the Lord!” And as for me I am learning to listen. God’s greatest vision for the world cannot be accomplished in just one way. It will take each of us acting in obedience and using our own unique gifts from God to get the message of the love of God to all who need to hear it. We are the body of Christ made up of many different people. Let us pray for God to accomplish his purpose and His will in each of us and through all of us together.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Let us learn to love one another, being slow to judge and remembering that God uses all of us to help others. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.