Grab your toolbox! In this special series, we continue to fill our toolboxes with tools that help empower us to build lasting faith. Beyond the weekly message, each week here on our blog we will be sharing additional reflections and resources.
Continuing our series, Pastor Sue introduced us to the useful tool of blessing. You can listen to the whole message here or an abbreviated version in this week’s Morning Drive.
Quotes to Consider:
“Mean and unkind words give us the illusion of superiority and invincibility. None of us wants to relinquish that. But equating meanness with cleverness, rudeness with free speech, and hatred with “just speaking our mind,” will send the world up in smoke and us with it.”
“If Jesus can forgive me, if grace can create in me a clean heart, I trust Christ can work in me and give me clean lips to go with it..”
“We can choose to bless God instead. All that means is to give God a shout out. Thank and praise God for who God is and what God has done and is doing.”
“All of us are longing for words of acceptance, love and blessing. So let’s give them to one another. The words can be as simple as “God bless you. “God loves you.” “You are a child of God.”
Question of the Week:
Pastor Sue challenged us to consider blessing as a tool to help us curb our tongues. We have all heard it said, “If you can’t say somethin’ nice…..don’t say nothin’ at all,” but we can do even better than that. We can choose to use our tongues to bless God and one another. Pause to consider this week’s question. Chat with a friend, spouse, or your children. If you are on social media, share your answer with our community. Together, we can put the tool of blessing to great use!
Resources:
Looking to explore the tool of blessing a little more this week? Check out this resource:
Faith5 Bless - Receiving a blessing is a powerful experience, but the one receiving is not the only one affected. Those blessing also experience the transformational power of blessing. Faith5 includes the tool of blessing and is a wonderful way to incorporate faith into your daily life.
Forums
Another exciting component of our Toolbox of Faith series are our monthly forums. In this month’s forum, Growing Together in Faith, we explored the challenge of how to raise children in faith. There are other parents right there in the trenches with you, as well as others that have walked the path of parenthood and have wisdom to share. In this forum, a panel of parents from Saint Luke shared their practical ideas on faith-filled parenting.
Resources:
Make Faith Fun- There are so many practical ideas to make faith a fun part of your family’s daily life. Try a few out this week.
Learn from other parents- Below are two families sharing about their faith practices. Listen to what they have to say and consider asking another family about the ways they incorporate faith into their daily life.