There is no better way to add the snuggle factor to a blustery, cold, fall, windy day, than to go for the slippers.

Just seeing them in the closet, I begin to relax.

Slippers aren’t restrictive and their expectations are minimal.

Slippers are generally devoid of shoestrings, buckles, heavy heels, and metal.

They have a gentle design.

I have friends like that.  They have a gentle design. And by their mere presence, I feel warm, comfortable, free of expectation, and nurtured.

My friend Sheila is like that…….she is generous and gentle.  She offers a hand, an encouraging word, clicks a photo, celebrates the good fortune of others, and prays for needs. She decorated for Baby Girl’s wedding and she’s taken our first Team Reilly Family photos.  She was the gentle one who was the first to pull me out of my house in fellowship after my Daddy passed away.  In her presence, I am in the company of a nurturing soul with a delightful voice.

These gentle friends enter our lives like a welcome breeze and leave without slamming the door.

I pray you have a gentle friend.  I pray there are times when YOU are the gentle friend.

Ephesians 4:1-3I, therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

I have had the worst time with my back lately.  I don’t know if I picked up something I shouldn’t have or if I slept on it wrong…for a month.   This has been a huge distraction as I’m in the midst of workshop and training season which means long car rides and standing for extended periods of time.

It has really affected my choice of shoes.

Hoping folks look at my face and not my shoes as I speak, I’ve long discarded the thought of wearing high-heeled shoes that make my legs look longer and would make Stacey and Clinton proud. Regardless, I know that the LORD is aware and He will bring me comfort from my aches and my pains.

He who is high and lifted up is faithful….to each of His own.  He has sent me friends who have offered suggestions, helped me carry all my stuff to and from my car, and even lent me a TENS unit.  I’ve already replaced the 9volt battery in the TENS unit and gone through 2 packs of IcyHot Medicated patches.

In the midst of our struggles, we feel as if the pain will be eternal, but in truth most situations are fleeting.

When I Googled “lower back pain” it tells me to keep moving and it should pass within a couple of months.  And take Advil along with all the other things I have already been doing.  Now that the season is slowing down, I should be able to address the pain and distraction more diligently, more faithfully. 

He is faithful to lift me out of my misery.

Again and again the LORD lifts my sagging spirit with lanterns of truth and sets me on solid ground.

Psalm 40:2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.

Shoes in bible times were never worn indoors.  So putting on sandals, a piece of leather tied onto the foot, was a sign of readiness for activity.  Acts of kindness…planned and random.

There have some beautiful sandals of kindness seen this summer…

1.  When homegrown tomatoes were dropped off at the church for anyone who wants them

2.  When a fellow KidMin servant brings the gift of drama and her own students to our church to share with our kids how bible stories were meant to come to life

3.  When a Mom who could be sitting by her neighborhood pool chooses instead to spend 3 weeks (yep, 3 weeks!) to share summer camp fun with our kids and the kids of other churches even AT the other churches

4.  When two Dads rush from work every day for 4 days just so they could carpool a small group of energetic and eager tweeners to a Marketplace VBS

5.  When a friend who likes to take pictures comes to our VBS after working all day to take closeups of active kids so we can cover our walls with professional photos of faith in action

6.  When a college student has a faith so great she rearranges her schedule so she can spend a week helping at a  VBS where she only knows me.  Now she knows all our kids and most of our youth!

7.  When a pastor takes a moment out of a busy day to be the voice of God and say, “Noah, Noah, build an ark” in a Bible Drama

8.  When a small group of women cut 300 kites with tails, for VBS decorations to be shared

9.  When a another pastor comes to remind us that we serve a creative God who has placed the gift of creativity within us all with glue, paint, crayons, and stuff

10.  When a ministry mentor comes to teach little people that even face painting can open the door to sharing the gospel and brings an entourage to play

11.  When a precious friend meets me at the car to carry my junk and offers to cover me when I am running late

The sandals of servants, just being kind.

Seen your share of sandals of kindness this summer?

Colossians 3:12 Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering.

Patsy Clairmont wrote, “A flip-flop is a slipper with the top down, and what’s more fun than a convertible on a summer’s day.”  Yep, after a season of wearing closed-in shoes, my feet scream “I’m free!” when I bring up the laundry basket of flip flops from their basement winter home.

Floral clothing, loose house dresses, and flip flops reflect a kick-back pace when we can count our blessings and agree with God when He made the world by saying, “It is good.”

Flip flops  encourage the cry from the bottom of our very soul that, “God is good, all the time.” “All the time, God is good.”

Adam Hamilton in “Why?” tells us that God bends bad to fit His will.  I know this to be true for all the blue ink in my bible.  The black words are God’s words to His people.  If it’s red, Jesus said it.  But the blue is His personal history with me.

When He resurrected dead places in my heart by His words of, “He told her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.'”  When He turned a foggy-head into a Claritin morning by His story with the woman at the well.  He made me laugh out loud when I turned from page 1903 to 1904 in my NIV Life Application Bible and read in red, “‘Leave her alone,” Jesus replied (John 12:7).

Good doesn’t emerge out of bad unless God’s redeeming hand is involved.  I have a magnet on my fridge that reads, “Life is hard, but God is good.”  Because He is.  This I know, because we have history.  And it is this personal history that makes me smile at His goodness.

A precious friend gave me a new pair of flip flops to wear when I became a Mimi.  They are black with shimmer straps and big, purple flowers.  That’s what the goodness of God looks like for me today.  A visual reflection of the bigness, shininess, and love of God in a season of goodness.

Psalm 116:12  “How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me?”

I LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do and my man is thrilled I can do it and get paid.  I would much prefer spending time in God’s Word and time in DeDe’s Calendar World planning for the next season than even sleep.  And even though we are in the midst of Vacation Bible School and Summer Mini Camps, I can’t wait to begin setting fall plans on the church calendar in ink.

Yet, in the midst of all life’s flurry hurry, I need to put on the brakes and put on some house shoes.  I used to think it was my age, but have learned through experience that it is healthy to follow each season of jet-plane activity with a transition season of shuffling through the house in some house shoes.

Time to rest, time to sabbath, time to be still.

I typically mark these times to be patient on my handy-dandy calendar for August and January.  Time to be patient with myself and others.  Not my in-the-zone, over-caffeinated, can’t sleep right now, frantically searching for that blue post-it-note that had the exact thing I am looking for to finish the details on the next thing.  Time to patiently wait for God’s direction for the next season.

I used to take a DAWG Day every 6  weeks.  A DAWG Day is a Day Alone With God.  A day with no electronics, no tv, no movie, no music, no sound except nature, no housework and time in the Word.    On one DAWG Day, a precious friend took me on a 7-mile hike around Red Top Mountain:  she walked in one direction and I in another holding a scripture scrawled on a scrap piece of paper.  Sometimes I’d take an 8-week bible study and take two DAWG days to go through it.  I have Cynthia Heald’s “Becoming a Woman Who Loves” on the shelf right now calling my name.

For some reason, when I had little ones running through the house, I wore my house shoes of patience more often.  Maybe I took greater advantage of every no-school day, holiday week, and snow day to put on my house shoes and just share life with the ones most important to me.  I knew that time was fleeting and the time would come when the house would be quiet for longer stretches.  Let me confess here and now that in the furry of trying to prove myself to a new congregation I have not been as faithful to taking my DAWG Days over the last year and a half.

So as I purchase that new school year calendar from Staples and put on my house shoes in August, I will intentionally schedule DAWG Days just like I do everything else.  We were made for community, yet we require rest to practice patience with ourselves and with others.  My house shoes of patience are a pair of gray TOMS purchased at last fall’s Catalyst Conference.  Printed in white all over the fabric?  “Carpe Diem”

Psalm 23:2  He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul.

Boots are our attempt at expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

I became a fan of boots during our stint in New England, but I think it was because I could find a pair that fit.  From my father’s side of the family, I inherited some fabulous traits and one not-so-good one:  My calves begin at my heels.  No ankles and thick calves make for a very uncomfortable season when snow is on the ground and ice is likely beneath it, thus requiring a good pair of boots with some serious traction.

Frankly, under that beautiful white stuff, I really didn’t know what was beneath it.  But I trusted a great pair of boots would keep me upright and steady.  I recall one time in particular when I chose not to wear my boots to retrieve something from the car.  The memory/photo in my mind resembles a cartoon character with her feet and dress up over her head as she moves in slow motion up and then down…well, you get the picture.

Trust is an open invitation for peace.  Peace gives us the courage to face life with sanity and dignity.

Over the last couple of years, I have put on my boots of peace expecting the worse, but hoping for the best.  As I watch my Mother-in-Law struggle through multiple knee and hip replacements, when will my parts begin wearing out?  Will #1 Son marry someone who will be nice to me when she has to take me to the multiple doctor appointments and will she want to do lunch, too?  Where will the Lord call #2 Son and Baby Girl to be in ministry after they finish their schooling?  Will Mr. Yummy only know me as Mimi in a box through Skype?  Will my man find contentment in his vocation no matter where it takes us?  Will all those years of Dave-Ramsey-financial-planning sustain us as the economy takes it toll on so many?  I only have a handful of kids pre-registered for an event…is the event a God-thing or a me-thing?

What are the questions that bring you to the Word of God that provides peace? The peace that fit like a good pair of boots giving you the courage and traction to face life with sanity and dignity?

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

When #1 Son graduated from high school and embarked on a summer of discovery among a challenging drum and bugle corps, our home got very quiet very quick. As a percussionist, our home was always filled with noise, music, and the sounds of youth. I felt such joy for my children as they began to dance to their own beat. But the empty nest became too quiet for this Mama to bear.

I never cried so much in my life. But wasn’t this a joyous time? It was supposed to be. But somewhere in the midst of my celebrating their remarkable seasons and dancing before the LORD with them, I had forgotten how to dance before the Lord without them.

I had always wanted to learn how to tap dance. I even looked into it that lonely summer. But the thought of my size 11 wides sounding more like a car backfiring caused me to think otherwise.

I wanted so badly to keep dancing for joy, but couldn’t muster the courage to dance on my own. How do you keep dancing when your regular dancing partners have changed studios?

I decided to step out and embrace life with other courageous women doing the very same thing.  And I got a Stephen Minister.  This beautiful woman of faith challenged me to read Psalm 119 three times a day.  And we shared a season of Dolly Parton’s famous words from Steel Magnolias, “Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.”  I was also part of a small group of women who met at a fellow empty-nester’s home as we shared stories, laughed our heads off, and shared life among the chips and dip.

Women in the midst of crisis and tragedy have taught me that life’s dance of joy can be done in the shadows as well as the sunshine. Dancing with tears is OK, as long as I keep on dancing before the Lord…in gratitude, in hope, in honor, in worship.

Have the strength and interest to press past the loneliness, past the disease, past the crisis, past the tragedy, and past the loss to fellowship with others.  The scriptures record joy and tears in tandem.

When I spent a season painfully transitioning in ministry, I remembered my need to dance before the LORD.  And I remembered the strength I gained from the fellowship of other women.  When I would have rather stayed in bed, I planned something to do with someone who loved me and who I loved every single day.  I gleaned from their dancing until I could dance on my own again.  And I danced through the psalms.

Psalm 30:5b  “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

When was the last time you had to keep on dancing?

I was invited to speak at the ladies gathering this month at the church where I serve. I am always honored to get a chance to spend time with these saints of the church. Whenever I am in their presence, I pray that some of their holiness rubs off on me just by breathing their air.

I was inspired by Patsy Clairmont’s little book on how the Fruit of the Spirit can be related to the shoes we wear. Being a woman who wears a size 11 wide, I don’t have the closet full of shoes that my more moderate and normal footed friends have. My shoes don’t fit on a traditional shoe tree, and I typically shop not by “That’s shoe’s cute,” but rather “What are my size 11 wide options?”

On 9/15/87 I gave my life to Jesus when Baby Girl was born. I accepted Jesus as my Savior on 3/18/71, but didn’t choose to make Him Lord of my life until the moment I held her in my arms and thought, “Oh My! He gave this up for me.”

On Good Friday, I became a Mimi and my Baby Girl became a mother. During one of those first late nights, she would tell me, “He (Mr. Yummy) filled a hole I didn’t even know was there. He changed my body and changed my heart.”

We have embarked on a SEASON OF NEW LOVE: a new child, a new honey, Jesus newly presented, a new neighbor, a new friend-in-the-Lord, a new job, a new ministry, a new experience of Jesus’ presence, a new bible verse that seems written especially for you, a new season of VBS, a new summer of wonder.

Babies born in the South do not wear shoes unless it’s winter.  Bare baby feet are out and open.  Bare baby feet remind me of new love. When we get to plan for “do overs” and “restarts” and “new beginnings.”

When was the last time you experienced “new love?”

June & July are truly Kingdom-Building months as churches reach into their local communities to sing a song, make a messy snack, share a bible adventure and a fresh word in a pair of flip flops and a baseball cap, all for the cause of Christ.

Just some thoughts . . . some I have shared before, but there’s more:

SHARE – one of the first things we teach little people is that Jesus likes it when we share. If you are a smaller church, call a larger church and ask what you can do to help. If you are a larger church, call a smaller church and ask what you can do to help. The children’s director at my home church does this exceptionally well. She invites smaller churches to coffee/tea gatherings in the Spring to begin encouraging smaller church directors with all the tips she has learned over the years. She also invites these folks to take a small part in the decorating at her church (150 paper kites with colorful tails) only to be blessed beyond measure with sets and props and extra resources to be picked up on the last day of her VBS. “Blessed to be a blessing.” What church can really store all this stuff year after year anyway?

SERVE – another one of those things we encourage of our own congregations. Ever consider serving in someone else’s VBS? It is a guarantee of getting fresh ideas and learning more about how to provide an excellent VBS in your own house when you serve in someone else’s. AND it blesses the socks off of a Director to have a section leader or crew leader who comes with experience and an enthusiasm he/she doesn’t have to provide. AND it let’s a director “PLAY,” which few get to do anymore because we are too busy being responsible for everything.

NETWORK – Use facebook/social media to find out when and where other churches are having their Vacation Bible Schools.  Then begin making phone calls to find out what you can share, where you can visit, even where to go when you are blessed with 10 more kids than you had planned for and need memory buddies or tshirts or whatever. Then, be willing to make the drive to make it easier.

PASS IT ON – Last year we helped a church who just moved into a permanent building, presenting their first VBS to their community. They were blessed with leftover resources from a larger church, who will be passing their leftover resources (and those they didn’t use from the larger church) onto to us. After our week of VBS at the end of June, another church will pick up our goodies (and the leftover goodies from the other 2 churches) from our church to bring to their church to present their VBS 2 weeks later. Blessed to be a blessing.

INVITE – Invite the community to get involved. If you go to Stevi B’s or have a willing local pizza shoppe, they’ll give you certificates for your VBS attendees AND your helpers/leaders/teachers. Our local Steve B’s actually came to a church we are helping last year and asked if they could drop off some certificates. If you fill out a “donation request form” at your local Chik-Fil-A 2 weeks before your VBS, they will graciously give you these huge paper “VBS Graduation Certificates” for a free 6-piece nugget for your students. When we were talking with the manager, he told us that he was helping at his church’s VBS this week during the day and working at night: “I offered to serve in the snack area since I work in the food business.”

TRAIN HOW TO GIVE THE GOSPEL MESSAGE – This is the goal of VBS.  We can have a great time and sing every song with motions, but if our goal isn’t to present the gospel to our little people, we just had summer camp and nothing else.  There are lots of ways to equip your volunteers:  wordless book, salvation candy, gospel bead bracelet, kids bible.  If we do nothing else, we’d better get this down.  We don’t save people, the Holy Spirit does, but if we don’t tell, they won’t know.  Our faith is based on an historical event and kids don’t “just know” history.  Any VBS worth it’s weight in the can will share the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the basis of our faith, on the 4th day/night and again on the 5th day/night.  We must be intentional about equipping our volunteers and fellow believers in how to counsel and pray with a child, or we have missed the greatest opportunity to save a child from sin instead of out of it.  Most people accept the gospel and Jesus before they turn 14.  This is a window of opportunity we can not miss.  Then be ready to follow it up with a letter to the parents of the kids who made decisions letting them know what they can do to continue helping their kid become a wholehearted, sold-out, devoted follower of Jesus – beginning discipleship.

Then celebrate!  On the last night be sure to treat yourself to a small Banana Pudding milkshake because that’s how we roll for VBS in the south.  And don’t go through the drive-through….wear your garb, sing the songs, and invite some of your VBS leaders…it’s better than a survey to evaluate “did we nail it?”

Many years ago I picked up a small paperback from the bookstore entitled, “Spiritual Parenting,” thinking I was getting some keen insight on how to raise my 2 tweeners into godly adults. The book had nothing to do with leading the kids you gave birth to, and everything about being an effective Sunday School teacher, small group leader, influencer of the next generation. Probably one of the most important books I ever randomly picked up.

This week the mailbox has been filled with wonderful graduation announcements. As I open each one, memories flood my mind. Several were in my first preschool classroom. Most shared a beautiful season of attending the “Princess of the King” Sunday School class when they were in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. All have become strong young women of faith and are actively serving the church and the community using their gifts and graces.

In anticipation of the future mothers they will become, I want to honor the Spiritual Mothers who got them and so many where they are today…

First, their Mamas….without the visual and active examples of servant-hood of their own mothers in worship, in leading Vacation Bible School, in making small group mandatory they saw the practice of faithfulness in service to their own children and the children of their community.

Second, their Confirmation Mentors…the investment of a minimum of 3 one-on-one meetings showed these girls that the journey to faithfulness is not always smooth, but blessed when shared with others. Most of these mentors were not spiritual giants in the faith (I’m talking about me here), but they were fully present and had their own Jesus stories to tell.

Third, their Sunday School teachers…those who chose to minister to children Every.Single.Week. Coloring sheet, children’s bible, and box of Goldfish in hand. They fed both mind, body, and spirit of little people and began the foundations of their faith.

Fourth, their Small Group Leaders…These are Spiritual Mothers who opened their homes, opened their lives, opened their hearts to share seasons of uncertainty and celebration Every. Single. Week.

Fifth, Mrs. Kate….for whose far-reaching vision was placed by God to empower these young women to serve, to be fearless, to be forgiven, to try, and to be offered the chance to love on and encourage the next generation coming up behind them.

May we all be found as faithful, as fruitful, and as fulfilled as the Spiritual Mothers who have gone before us all AND may we raise the banner high until the day He call us home.

Happy Mother’s Day to each and every one.

“Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me.”  Isaiah 8:18