Life lessons from Winnie the Pooh.

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. i'll always be with you.”


Some of my favorite stories growing up were the ones I read in Winnie the Pooh. Hidden amongst the cute and cuddly were always some important life lessons. Even as a child, I often felt a sense of faith and hope after reading them. Lets face it...those little guys are awesome. A piglet, a pooh bear, a rabbit and a bouncy tiger. Who wouldn't love the endearing qualities of each one of them? They always knew who they were, and weren't afraid to be themselves. Eeyore in all his pessimism was accepted by Pooh and his friends. Tigger and his excessive amounts of energy, piglet and his fears, Rabbit with all his control issues. And through it all, the one thing I took away from the crew of Pooh is the concept of unconditional acceptance and a sense of togetherness. Sure they had issues with each other sometimes, what community doesn't? They bugged each other, they hurt each others feelings, they could be insecure, jealous, grumpy, impatient, stubborn, irritable....(this is starting to remind me of a certain girl I know, who may or may not be writing this blog.) But all in all they knew how to love each other. They knew they were in it together, and they knew how to ask each other for help. They knew how to support one another.

Ladies....we could learn a lot from this bunch.

Let's always remember just how lovable the women around us are. Just how lovable WE are. And how important it is to accept the quirky, broken and messy parts of ourselves and each other.

After all...

Pooh-bear has an eating disorder,
Piglet has anxiety,
Eeyore has depression,
Rabbit has O.C.D.,
and
Tigger has ADHD

Now there's a group in need of some love and acceptance. So when you feel alone, or buried underneath your struggles, or just flat out tired and run down...think of Pooh and his crew. Pick up the phone and give someone a call. Ask for help, lean on a friend, cry on a shoulder, lend an ear. We're in it together.

Take some time today to tell a special person in your life that you love them. And remind them of what it means to have a friend like them. We need people in our lives (and we need to be the kind of people) who are willing to say "when the whole world's stacked against you, I'll be by your side." This is my lesson learned from Winnie the Pooh. What's yours?

starting the day.

Contemplative reflections and prayer time can be such a beautiful start to a day. One particular prayer that I love is by a man named Frederick Buechner. I encourage you to start your day with this one. Read it once slowly, sit in silence and take it in, and then read it again.Perhaps you want to read it alone, maybe there's a loved one in your life that you can pause with and read together. However you choose to, let it wash over you. May this be a moment for you to open your heart and take in your life. this life. today.

“Lord catch me off guard today.

Surprise me with some moment of beauty or pain.

So that at least for the moment

I may be startled into seeing that you are here

In all your splendor,

Always and everywhere,

Barely hidden,

Beneath,

Beyond,

Within this life I breathe”

Pain.

I met a woman today who touched my heart. She and her family have spent their summer hosting a little girl from Afganistan. A few years ago, this beautiful little girl had a wall of her house fall on top of her. Her skull was fractured, her face was badly scarred. She came to America with a severed optical nerve, loss of hearing, and an ear infection. Thankfully, she is alive and smiling today because of this woman. But this isn’t the whole story…. last summer this woman lost her own flesh and blood. Her daughter died suddenly. She was 6 years old.

I received a prayer request today about another beautiful woman I know that just lost her mother in a house fire. She was in a wheelchair; her father couldn’t get her out of the house in time. A mother, a grandmother, a wife…..lost. I cried this morning as I prayed for them. I wonder how they’re coping.

I talked to a friend today, who told me of her friend who is living with and struggling though a battle with stomach cancer. She has had the majority of her stomach removed. The cancer has spread to most of her lymph nodes. She can’t eat from her mouth, she is fed through a tube. She has a long journey through Chemotherapy before she will be out of the woods.

Women facing tragedy. Women facing loss. Loss of jobs, loss of relationships, loss of health, family, loss of innocence.

Women living through pain.


My heart is hurting. I honestly said out loud today….”I think I’ve heard enough, this is so much tragedy to hear about in one day”. I don’t know what to say. I feel so helpless, I feel so sad, I want to make things better. I will never be able to. I can’t fix this. I can’t even pretend it’s someday going to feel normal again. I can only cry, pray and hope.

I hope for a world someday where there is no pain, I hope in a God who bears our burdens, who is near to the broken-hearted. I hope in a God who knows the pain of the human experience, of losing a son. It’s the only thing I know how to do. I wish I had some profound thoughts on living through pain. I don’t. The only thing I do know that pain hits us all, in one way or another we are all walking through (or at least know someone who is facing) great pain. So I guess the only way to live through it….is to be in it together. I’ve heard it said once that “Joy shared is doubled, and burdens shared are cut in half”. So I will share, I will weep, I will pray, I will hope. I will hope for you. I will hope for me. I will hope for this world. And I will not let go of the promise: The promise that someday there will be no more sorrow. And today, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we have a God who knows us, who is always waiting to comfort us. So I pray today whatever you are facing, that you take the hand of the one who knows you and though darkness surrounds you, that you may have the strength to believe He walks close beside you. And always will.

Beautiful.

A true soul shepherd....think about it.

Jesus...

met them where they were

was compassionate

acted out of explicit moral context but was never condemning

spoke with Authority

invited choice

asked probing questions

affirmed faith responses

was scandalously inclusive

set limits and took care of himself

dealt with each person uniquely and individually

related in a manner that affirmed peoples value

was never coercive or manipulative

spoke in ordinary language

didn't minimize the cost of discipleship

dealt at the level of motivation, not just behavior

preferred dialogue over monologue

never allowed his own needs to get in the way of meeting the needs of others

invited engagement, not passive receptivity

gave HIMSELF, not just advice

accepted the trust people placed in him.

THIS is why I will forever be a student of this wonderful Soul Shepherd