There’s a really interesting story in the gospel of Mark. After most of Jesus’ ministry with his disciples we find him here, Mark 9:14-29. Jesus has begun telling his disciples who he is and what’s going to happen in the near future, preparing them to lead his ministry. Just before this story in Mark the disciples did hear God’s voice speak directly to them saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!” (Mk. 9:7) Instead of typing the entire text let me summarize what’s going on here.

Jesus is descending from a mountain with Peter, James and John, three of his key people. They come down to find the remaining 9 disciples arguing with a few others who have gathered. Jesus inquires about the commotion and finds out a man came to the disciples with his son who is possessed by a spirit. This father shares how his son is thrown into convulsions, is mute and deaf and foams at the mouth. He asked the disciples to heal his boy, but they could not.

or the last few days I have been thinking about how I could express to people why I write what I do and what my hope is in all of it.  Prayer was the catalyst.  One day I asked the Lord if ever He were to give me some kind of platform to speak for Him, what would He want me to say?  He answered, “Tell them to be with Me.” 

The discipline of solitude is often paired with the discipline of silence because the practice of silence takes solitude a step further. Part of this goes back to understanding ourselves. When we actually think through our motivations for speaking throughout our days I believe we would be surprised to find how unnecessary most of our words are!

I am not an expert on much, if anything, and I am certainly not an expert on the beatitudes. However, all week I have been reading them, found in Matthew 5:1-12, and feel like I can’t just pass up the opportunity to reflect on them.

Matthew is the first gospel in our Bibles and one of my favorites. This particular gospel, believed to be written by the disciple, was intended to be read more directly for the Jewish community. It was written between the years 75-100 ad, after the gospel of Mark. What’s interesting about this is that the Jews know their Scriptures. They know what the Old Testament law says and could probably recite most of it! How powerful it is then, that Matthew includes the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus quotes the law and puts a new spin on the whole thing. To begin, Jesus starts with the beatitudes.

Creation is one of my favorite topics. I love being outside. Trees display wisdom, breeze interrupts thoughts, flowers distract from conversation, and mountains take your breath away. On my 21^st birthday my husband took me to the Grand Canyon. There is nothing like it. I don’t think it’s possible to actually take it all in! Eventually what you’re looking at just turns into a canvas, someone’s painting of their imagination. This is how I feel about a lot of creation, the exception being snakes! Still, I can even admire the beauty and detail of a slithering serpent; it just has to be a good distance away.