Month / May 2020

by Karen Twinem

With Jesus on the National Day of Prayer

Today on the National Day of Prayer, let’s meditate on Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee. This great idea came from an online retreat I attended last week with Jan Johnson through Renovare.

Jesus is the passenger with a beard and some light around his head sitting to the right side of the painting. Who are you in this picture? Are you the disciples working the sails to try to keep the ship afloat? The disciple getting sick over the side? The disciple in brown crouched low at Jesus’ feet? Or the ones talking to him about the situation?

And what do you want to say to Jesus about the storm today?

by Karen Twinem

Mr. Rogers: A Portrait of Christian Mindfulness

While watching “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” I realized that Fred Rogers is a wonderful portrait of Christian mindfulness, whether he realized it or not.

Mr. Rogers walked with Jesus moment by moment. He focused all his energy on the most important thing: what was happening in the present moment. He was very intentional about how he spent his time.

By all accounts, he was a Christian who began each day with prayer and Bible study. Then he further centered by swimming laps. He worked to walk with Jesus, welcoming children into both of their presences because “of such is the kingdom of God.” Mr. Rogers listened to His Lord, loving his neighbor unconditionally.

I scanned various interviews and stories to see if Fred Rogers ever talked about Christian mindfulness specifically. He and those writing about him described it in his life, but not by name.

Nonetheless, I am certain that this ordained Presbyterian minister embodies the practice. He helped the imprisoned by working to create child-friendly spaces for visitation. He visited the sick by working alongside medical professionals to minimize trauma among child patients. He cared for those who were right in front of him, even if they were actually sitting in front of a television miles away.

Both the movie and the documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” provide a vivid portrait of Christian mindfulness, practicing the presence of God moment to moment with full attention. I highly recommend both.

by Karen Twinem

Christian Mindfulness & COVID-19

We may live with COVID-19 for months or years. Attempts to protect the health care systems seem to have worked in the United States, except my beloved New York City. Hospitals there have been overwhelmed.

How do we walk in Christian mindfulness as the world begins to slowly reopen? The virus will still be with us, and we must learn to walk with Jesus in a new kind of reality.

The first step is to stay in the day. For most of us, God has provided all we need for today.

The second step is to listen. If we do, we will find that God expects us to feed the hungry. Here’s what Feeding America has to say about this.

Those of us who have not been seriously impacted need to prayfully consider God’s call on us to help. Today, let’s take some time to look around our homeland’s situation and find a new way to help.

by Karen Twinem

Make Friends With Neighborhood Birds

God talks about birds more than a dozen times in the Bible. He encourages us to study birds to learn more about our relationship with Him. And he even compares us to birds. Isaiah 40:31 says: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.”

This is a very good time to hope in the Lord. Get acquainted with the neighborhood birds by putting up bird houses or taking up bird watching in the front yard. Another option is to find a bird app. In my time, the Merlin Bird ID app identified the birds around us by sound or appearance. It also helped Cornell University to collect data on the birds’ numbers and whereabouts during global warming.

While watching, consider meditating on these verses:

Luke 12:24: Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn. Yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

Matthew 10:16: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Matthew 10:29: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.

Psalm 50:11: I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

Job 12:7-10: But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you. Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

Psalm 84: 3: Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young – a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God.

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Jeremiah 8:7: Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the times of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.