I'm a theme person. Always have been. Always will be. I just love it when things tie together perfectly. I think I got the bug from my mother who has planned over 100 banquets, retreats, conferences, etc. for her church women-all themed, never a one repeated! (The other bug I got from my mother-doing something no one's ever done!) We have shared many a phone conversation where I have added to her banquet ideas or she has added to my theme unit lessons in teaching. It doesn't seem to matter whose event is being planned, give us a theme and we could go on for hours!
So it thrills my soul that the Lover of My Soul teaches me in themes. This week, the Body.
I'm taking a course for my Masters' Degree, and my required reading this week took me to Church - history of, purpose of, responsibilities of-you get the idea. In the midst of all the reading, an idea I've heard countless times in my churched background seemed to be highlighted-"as parts of the Body, we belong to each other, we need each other and we affect each other."
Then, on Monday morning as I sipped my coffee, I read Sherry's illustration of how that plays out in our own church!
Little did I realize that less than 12 hours later I would be getting stitches and a tetanus shot leaving my left arm and hand immobile. Have you ever tried to wash your hair with one hand? Have you ever tried to type a blog with one hand? I hadn't either until it was necessary this week! I never realized how much I needed my left hand! I'm just thankful it wasn't my right hand!!
Then it hit me...A THEME! Woohoo! Of course, this sent me into a torrential brainstorm of all the possible analogies one could imagine, much like my mother and I have done over banquet themes. And then, of course, it hit me that this lesson had been handcrafted for me (no pun intended). As a great teacher does, my Teacher taught and retaught the lesson using a variety of learning styles. I read about the Body from a theology book, then read Sherry's illustration of how it works in our church body, and then experienced it first hand (or should I say, left hand?)
Are you experiencing a theme in your life? Please share...
~Rebecca Phillips~
By the way, since writing this article, the theme has come up in several different ways through unsuspected venues! I also want to thank my sweet mom-away-from-mother, Linda Smith, for washing my hair for me on Saturday! She represented what we must do when one member is suffering. She became the "hand" I needed!
ReplyDeleteLove it, love it! It's so true that we often "see" things in clusters like this. Carol Woods would say, "We're pattern-seeking beings."
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed this cup of grace :) I am definitely a theme oriented pattern seeking being.
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