Devotional

Red Skies

/ JJS / Leave a comment

sunset-214576_1280

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 36; 147:12-20, Nehemiah 6:1-19, Revelation 19:1-10, Matthew 16:1-12

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”

There’s some truth behind this ancient maritime folklore. The red appearance of the sky – really the underside of clouds – has to do with several factors including the wavelengths of light, the amount of condensation and particles in the air, and weather patterns generally moving from west to east. However, long before we knew the scientific reasons, people spent centuries observing this pattern and using those observations to fairly reliably make predictions about their world.

This observation goes back thousands of years, predating Christ. He mentions it to the Pharisees and Sadducees when they ask him for a sign: “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”

The only sign he is willing to offer them is the sign of Jonah (another famous seafaring reference), who after three days in the darkness of the belly of a great fish emerged to call the people of Nineveh to repentance. This is a bit of role reversal however. Jonah vigorously resisted God’s call to be a prophet while Jesus was obedient unto death, and the Ninevites were quick to repent while the Pharisees and Sadducees looked for ways to betray Jesus.

Do we ever ask for signs because we don’t want to face what’s obviously before us? As a species we are less swayed by truth than we are by emotion, and we can become very emotionally invested in a sign (or lack thereof). As a matter of fact, when faced with facts we don’t like we are more likely to dig in our heels than change our minds, and grasp at any straw supporting our position. Is it ever more obvious than when debate about political and social issues rapidly abandons facts for emotional and tribal attacks? And what gets really tricky is we’re all convinced we’re the ones being reasonable. The Pharisees and Sadducees thought they were protecting their fellow Jews by squashing what appeared to them a seditious movement.

When presented with new information, let’s try to be more repentant Ninevite and less inflexible Pharisee. If we spend too much effort searching the sky for those rare signs, we may just miss all the evidence right in front of us.

Comfort: The world is full of the wonder of God’s glory.

Challenge: Let’s look for it where it is, instead of trying to force it to be where we are looking.

Prayer: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)

Discussion: Are there any subjects that make you defensive?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Following The Recipe

/ JJS / Leave a comment

pork-roast-761943_1920

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 15; 147:1-11, Nehemiah 7:73b-8:3, 5-18, Revelation 18:21-24, Matthew 15:29-39

There’s an old joke about a new bride who wants to make her husband happy by learning to prepare a roast – his favorite meal – just the way his mother did. She spends time with her mother-in-law and memorizes every step of the recipe. One night she surprises her husband with a beautifully prepared roast. He enjoys it immensely but asks why she cut the ends of the roast. “That’s what your mother does,” she replies. “That,” he says, “is because she can’t find the bigger pan.”

We’ve gotten mileage out of this joke before, but this time let’s consider it in the context of today’s passage from Nehemiah.

After the people of Israel returned to Jerusalem after decades in Babylonian exile, they rededicated themselves to their Lord and their Law. The priests wanted to help the people understand the law, so while all the people were gathered “they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”

They didn’t just read verbatim, they provided context. Part of God’s previous displeasure with the people, which had culminated in the exile they had just concluded, was their tendency to follow the letter of the law without valuing or considering the principles of mercy and justice behind it. Nobody wanted to that to happen again.

Yet a little less than five hundred years later when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem many people had forgotten the lesson and repeated the mistakes of the past. It seems we are much better at following and enforcing rules, even misunderstood or twisted versions of them, than looking at what’s behind them.

Christians seem to be caught in the tension between following a savior who fulfilled and freed us from the law and defining Christianity through a whole new set of rules grown from tradition and interpretation. We should not abandon our principles and values simply because they fall out of fashion, but we also benefit from regular examination of what principles determine why we do what we do – in everything from the arrangement of the sanctuary, to decisions about which sins to condemn most loudly, to daily personal practices – and from asking whether what we do and proclaim actually conforms to the Spirit rather than the letter. Biblical literacy is about more than knowing what the Bible says; we should always strive to deepen our understanding of why it says what it does. A faith that doesn’t stand up to examination and challenges isn’t a faith; it’s a tissue of superstitions.

Before you cut the ends off the roast, think about who that means you won’t be feeding.

Comfort: Our faith has rich history and tradition.

Challenge: Some of them have outlived their usefulness.

Prayer: I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety. (Psalm 4:9)

Discussion: Have you ever realized something you did regularly was pointless or counterproductive?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Feeling Crumby?

/ JJS / Leave a comment

plate-1365542_1920

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 123; 146, Nehemiah 9:26-38, Revelation 18:9-20, Matthew 15:21-28

Have you ever felt like God just wasn’t paying any attention to you? Not a malicious or deliberate snub; more a disinterested neglect. A whole lot of people around you seem to be having mountaintop moments, a clear line of sight to their calling, or an unwavering awareness of the divine presence … while your heart harbors unanswered questions, serious doubts, and perhaps a little resentment. Maybe you’ve previously experienced the joy everyone else seems to be finding in the Lord, but over time that joy of that relationship has faded into a bit of a “meh.” If God is saying anything, it seems to be “maybe we should see other people.”

A Canaanite woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon might have felt that way when Jesus ignored her and her request to heal her daughter, who was tormented by a demon. He told his disciples he “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” When she knelt before him and asked “Lord, help me” he told her “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” When she reminded him even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table, he rewarded her great faith by healing her daughter.

Our story can be similar. We shout. We beg. We fall on our knees before the Lord. And we are rewarded with silence. Except our silence is drawn out over days, months, or years instead of the time it takes to walk down the road. Or maybe the road we’re on is longer.

It doesn’t seem like Jesus was simply holding out as a test of the Canaanite woman’s faith, but that her stubborn faith in the face of what seemed like rejection brought her to the place where she needed to be. That distinction may make little difference to how we feel in the moment, but it is an important one which may help us endure that “long dark night.”

When it seems like other people have more blessings thrown at them than they can catch, it’s not that their faith is greater than ours. We each have our own path to travel, and sometimes it’s through territory that other people may not even recognize as faith. And let’s remember that dogs and crumbs analogy is blessedly flawed: there’s only so much food to go on (and fall off) the table, but there’s enough grace for everyone to fill up on it.

Comfort: God hears you…

Challenge: … but you may still be figuring out what to say.

Prayer: To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! (Psalm 123:1)

Discussion: What’s the longest you’ve waited for something?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Propagandist or Prophet?

/ JJS / Leave a comment

lenin-1724576_1920

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 135; 145, Nehemiah 9:1-15 (16-25), Revelation 18:1-8, Matthew 15:1-20

After the Israelites returned to Jerusalem from exile and purged themselves of foreign influences, the Levites (priestly class) offered a long prayer to the Lord. This prayer recounted the history of the Jewish people from creation to their current situation, and ended with a plea for help. This history included both the triumphs and failings of the Jewish people. It didn’t attempt to explain or excuse past transgressions; to do so would have been an affront to the Lord. The people’s current condition – better than exile yet not so good as complete freedom – was the culmination of all they had done, and asking for it to be better required a humbling honesty with themselves and the Lord about how they got there.

Nobody claimed, “I was born in exile, so I can’t be held responsible for exploiting those widows and orphans back then.” Nobody pointed a finger at the Ammonites and said, “It’s their women’s fault for agreeing to marry us.” No one interrupted the prayer with an unrelated diatribe about Hittite-on-Hittite crime.

Whether it’s today or 2600 years ago, a nation which truly wishes to embrace justice must come to terms with its past as a nation. The currently downtrodden and marginalized didn’t spring up overnight; they suffer and others prosper because of the violence, oppression, greed, and inhumanity of the past. It doesn’t matter how long ago something happened if people are still suffering the consequences today because it’s more comfortable to forget about how terrible we were and focus on how great we are.

If your palace is built on sand, it’s inevitably doomed until you dig deep to pour a solid foundation.

None of us is excused from corporate accountability for the past simply because we don’t feel individually guilty in the present. No one is asking us to feel guilty anyway; guilt is useless, maybe even detrimental, to national healing because it nudges us away from empathy and toward defensiveness. When we can’t admit (or worse yet try to excuse) what we as a people have done wrong, who was hurt by it, and why we did it, we’re all but destined to repeat it, much like Israel’s cycle of faithfulness, blasphemy, and devastation. To break the cycle, we must abandon the spin.

A nation is rarely short of propaganda, but prophets are in short supply. The former may make us feel good about being on the team, but the latter will tell us how to be a team worth belonging to.

Further reading: for thoughts on today’s passage from Matthew, see Lip Service.

Comfort: The truth sets you free … from a lot of things.

Challenge: Support the communities you belong to by holding them accountable.

Prayer: O Lord, I will be true to you above all others. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever been surprised to learn something new or different about history? Did you research to find out if it was true?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

No YOLO Is Solo

/ JJS / 2 Comments

yolo-1758212_1920

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 19; 150, Ezra 10:1-17, Acts 24:10-21, Luke 14:12-24

Do you find today’s passage from Ezra at all unsettling?

After the Israelites had returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, they confessed to Ezra that they had not observed the Mosaic law’s prohibition against marrying outside their faith. Many of the men of Israel, including the priestly class, had taken wives – and by association their foreign gods – from the various cultures surrounding them. Ezra organized a meeting of these men, and they decided all the foreign wives and their children would have to return to their own lands.

Much commentary on this passage assumes the men of Israel would have continued to support these women and children or that God somehow provided for them, but there is no scriptural evidence for this wishful thinking. We don’t really know what happened to them. Maybe they were watched over, or maybe they grew destitute. God is not answerable to us, but framing this event in divine justice doesn’t erase the potential toll of human suffering.

So what are we to do with this story, besides dispassionately shrugging it off as something which had to be done?

Perhaps this cautionary tale drives home the message that we can’t expect God to clean up our messes for us, and that cleaning them up ourselves can have devastating repercussions for real people. Will they be repercussions we can live with? Surely the men of Israel, even the ones who never saw those wives and children again, never forgot about them.

Coming clean with a spouse after an affair, confessing to a family member we’ve been stealing from them, and turning ourselves in after a hit-and-run are examples of doing the right thing after we’ve already done the irreversible wrong thing. The bitter consequences for us and the people we’ve involved or betrayed may be severe and lifelong, no matter how sorry we are. That’s on us, not God.

It’s sometimes tempting to dodge responsibility with a YOLO attitude. There’s even a Christian version, where we pursue a pharisaical, self-satisfied righteousness that is blind to the harm it causes others.

Doing the right thing may seem difficult at the time, but atonement will be worse, and not necessarily just for you.  Let’s think beyond “right now” to “Right. Now.”

Comfort: You are capable of making good decisions.

Challenge: God forgives us, but when other people don’t it’s our job to respond with grace and love.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14).

Discussion: When are you prone to make bad decisions? What can you do to change that?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Lake of Doubt

/ JJS / Leave a comment

lake-2063957_1920

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 104; 149, Ezra 9:1-15, Revelation 17:1-14, Matthew 14:22-36

Employers tend to base their decisions about promotions around two criteria: qualifications and seniority. How they balance these criteria depends largely on what kind of business environment they have. In a unionized factory, for instance, seniority plays a larger role than it would in a tech start-up where youth may provide more advantage. Just because someone has been around the longest doesn’t mean they’re the best at their job or the most qualified to lead, manage, or train others and neither does being the best at hottest new skill set. In both cases, and most others, failing to balance these criteria properly poses a danger of setting someone up to fail.

When the boatful of disciples were startled to see Jesus walking toward them across the lake, Peter cried, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” As Peter crossed the water the wind picked up and he panicked and began to sink. Of course Jesus didn’t let him drown, but pulled him from the water and said “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

After the boat landed at Gennesaret, word spread quickly among the people. They brought many sick people to Jesus and sought “to touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.”

Peter, who had been with Jesus since the beginning, thought he had the faith to follow Jesus anywhere and folded in the crunch, but among the people of Gennesaret who had little experience but lots of faith many were healed . It’s probably no accident these stories appear back-to-back in Matthew’s Gospel. In earlier chapters, the author stresses that what Jesus is able to accomplish through us depends a great deal on the degree of faith we exhibit.

The less susceptible we are to worldly distractions, and the more we rely on Christ than ourselves, the more confidently we can stride across that lake of doubt. Some of that comes from experience, and some from the childlike faith which is too fervent to be discouraged. It is a balance we must learn to recognize within ourselves. Jesus doesn’t set us up to fail, so let’s not do it to ourselves by second guessing him or imposing our own will. Whether we’re Peter or a hopeful stranger, let us be humble enough to trust Christ will do what he says he will. It is through humility he promotes the first to be last.

Comfort: Christ is invested in your spiritual success.

Challenge: Try to be honest objective when understanding your own strengths and weaknesses.

Prayer: Lord I believe. Help my unbelief. Amen.

Discussion: How does doubt hold you back?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Multiplied

/ JJS / Leave a comment

chef-s-exposition-1325027

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 51; 148, Ezra 7:27-28, 8:21-36, Revelation 15:1-8, Matthew 14:13-21

When we think about the origin of Holy Communion, we generally reflect on the Last Supper, or the Words of Institution from the Gospels or 1 Corinthians. These passages recollect Jesus comparing the bread and wine to his body and blood, and asking his disciples to remember him by doing the same.

Yet the association between Jesus and bread doesn’t begin with the Last Supper. In John’s Gospel, Jesus refers to himself as the Bread of Life. And in all four Gospels, we read the story of feeding the multitudes with loaves and fishes. In two of them, it happens a second time.

In Matthew’s telling of the first feeding, the disciples were ready to dismiss the crowd because it was late and everyone was hungry. Instead Jesus told the disciples to feed them. The disciples, having only five loaves and two fish, were naturally skeptical but did as he ordered. As the familiar story goes there were a dozen baskets of food left over after five thousand men plus women and children ate their fill.

Isn’t this the essence of the church in action? We don’t dismiss people in need to return after they’ve fended for themselves, but greet them with inclusive hospitality. Even more, we meet those needs trusting not in numbers and naysayers but in the power of Christ to multiply our efforts beyond what we can imagine on our own. And through all of it, we share the message of the Kingdom of Heaven in both word and deed. As the disciples didn’t simply keep what they had to split among themselves, we know our resources do not exist for our own benefit, but to enable us to serve others.

The time we spend remembering Christ while receiving communion is only half the way we honor him. The other half is in trusting him to use us to turn that morsel of bread into a feast for the world. The love and mercy we receive are meant for more than hoarding and sharing only among those who already know Christ. Let us trust they are resources that won’t be depleted but multiplied as we share them.

Comfort: When what we have is blessed by Christ, it will be more than enough.

Challenge: Trust that Christ has a vision greater than yours.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for welcoming me to your table, and for the opportunity to welcome others. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever been able to do more with your resources than you would have thought possible?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Cowards Pass the Mustard

/ JJS / Leave a comment

blossom-1785901_1920

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 97; 147:12-20, Ezra 7:(1-10) 11-26, Revelation 14:1-13, Matthew 14:1-12

Batman famously characterizes criminals as a “superstitious and cowardly lot.” After reading Matthew’s account of the execution of John the Baptist, we may be inclined to agree.

When Herod Antipas heard about Jesus, he was convinced John the Baptist had been raised from the dead with terrifying new powers. Was he superstitious? Definitely. But the unjust circumstances of John’s death had Herod looking over his shoulder out of guilt as much as superstition. Cowardly? Yes again. Herod condemned John to death because he was afraid to break an unwise oath to Salome (the daughter of Herodias who was Herod’s sister-in-law, niece and lover) in front of his guests. Herodias had Salome request John’s head on a platter, because John protested her incestuous relationship with Herod. Herod himself had no taste for John’s particularly gruesome execution, but he valued social standing and power above justice. Herod shows us dictators and their ilk are paranoid for a reason: the evil deeds required to secure power will come back to haunt you. Jesus may not have been John the Super-Zombie Baptist, but he was everything Herod feared.

In the previous chapter of Matthew, Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed. In his day, wild mustard was a weed farmers tried to keep off their lands, but it always came back. Keeping it in check required constant vigilance, or it became a great nuisance that choked out the crops. That is what the inhabitants of the Kingdom of God are to the unjust: a constant threat that keeps popping up in unexpected places. When unjust dictators rise to power, they nearly always kill, imprison or otherwise silence those who cry for justice, but doesn’t there always seem to be a new mustard crop springing up?

Great evil is rarely born fully formed, but is built from an accumulation of casually unjust acts; at any point Herod could have stopped the chain of events that led from his relationship with Herodias to John’s execution. Similarly, the Kingdom of God sprouts from tiny, persistent seeds. Let love and justice grow wildly in our hearts until they choke out evil.

Comfort: If we don’t cut love back, it just keeps growing.

Challenge: Pay attention to your small acts; they build the larger you.

Prayer: Teach me, Lord, to act justly, even when it’s not convenient.

Discussion: What small acts of kindness have kept you from despair?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Scripture and Life’s Seasons

/ JJS / Leave a comment

20171102_093453.jpg

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 89:1-18; 147:1-11, Nehemiah 13:4-22, Revelation 12:1-12, Matthew 13:53-58

As the end of our two-year devotional cycle draws near, we return to Psalm 1, containing the words: “[H]is delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.”

We might like the idea of spending more time exploring scripture, but the reality of dwelling on it day and night may seem daunting, maybe even unnecessary. After we’ve read through the Bible (or the parts we consider important) once or twice, we may begin to feel we “get it” and become satisfied with our understanding. While we may learn some favorite passages to rely on in times of stress or joy, we may also feel the readings at church or bible have grown redundant, and start mentally composing a grocery list when “that scripture” comes up in the rotation. Does this sound like the delight promised in the Psalm?

If our study of scripture is to yield fruit we must return to it with the regularity and reliability of the seasons. Consider your own story for a moment. As you have matured, what new insights have you gained into the narrative of your life? How often does your understanding of the characters in your story evolve? What about your opinion of yourself and your actions? How do you view once beloved books, movies, and television programs from childhood? Though our core personalities are unlikely to change, what we knew firmly at fifteen may be a different story at fifty. And there is a certain delight in realizing we have better insight than we used to.

The same is true of our study of scripture. Each time we meditate on a passage, the experiences we’ve gained influence our understanding of the text. Sometimes the experience was intentional, such as reading a Bible commentary offering historical context. Other times the experience was more organic: hearing “love is patient, love is kind”  on a wedding day is very different than hearing it after twenty years of living within a marriage. Life helps us understand scripture in new ways, and regular scripture reading helps us understand new things about life.

Comfort: Scripture is always waiting for us with new depths of truth.

Challenge: Commit to daily scripture reading through the end of the year.

Prayer: Gracious and merciful God, may your Word be ever on my heart.

Discussion: Has your understanding of any particular piece of scripture evolved over time?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

The Field

/ JJS / Leave a comment

real-estate-1739189_1920

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 42; 146, Nehemiah 12:27-31a, 42b-47, Revelation 11:1-19, Matthew 13:44-52

Imagine you’re in the city on a gray, windy day. The first hesitant drops of rain have started to fall and of course you don’t have an umbrella with you. There are nine blocks between you and home, but if you cut across that big, overgrown lot which has been empty for so long the “For Sale” sign has faded to a whisper of a suggestion, you can cut a few of those off.  The downside is the tall buildings to the north and south of it creating a wind tunnel, so you pull up your collar and pull down your hat as you step into the tall grass.

When you’re about two thirds of the way across the wind parts the grass around what looks like – but surely could not be – a gold bar peeking out of the ground. It surely could not be, but you veer off course to see what it is. And it is indeed a gold bar. And while you’re crouched down to dig it out, you notice another one buried a little deeper. And another.  You wander the field and realize it is literally littered with gold which can’t be seen from the street or the buildings – only by someone crouched in the dirt and tall weeds.

What to do?

If you’re like the man Jesus describes in today’s analogy about the Kingdom of Heaven, you kick dirt over all the gold you can see, empty your bank account, pawn your guitar collection, and sell some plasma until you can make a cash offer on the lot as is. No thank you, you tell the realtor, cleaning it up won’t be necessary.

That’s where the Kingdom of Heaven is. Hidden in a run-down lot in the declining part of town where no one expects to find it. Except it’s not gold, it’s an opportunity to be loved and to love. And while it can still be hard to find it’s not hidden in the dirt; it’s buried in the hearts of people who can’t believe they have treasure inside them. And it’s not your bank account you have to empty (though maybe you will), but yourself – of pride, anger, fear, hate, and selfishness. That’s the price of admission to the Kingdom.

When you find this treasure, what will you do with it?

Further reading:
For thoughts on Psalm 42, see God Will Wait and Deep Calls to Deep.

Comfort: The Kingdom is available to everyone.

Challenge: When you find it, seize it – regardless of the cost.

Prayer: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. (Psalm 42:1)

Discussion: What’s the most precious thing you’ve sacrificed to attain?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!