Repost: Start The New Year With A One Word Challenge

December 29, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

In the past I had made it a practice to create a list of goals at the beginning of every new year. I found it helpful and focusing. Maybe you have, too. By the end of the year, some of the goals were completed while others were still hanging out there and got transferred to the goal list for the next year. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it helped me to start the year purposefully. Having the goals written down on an index card I used as a bookmark in my journal kept them before me throughout the year and helped me to refocus when necessary. I appreciated being able to review the card at the end of the year and see some progress.

A few years ago I came across a devotion in the YouVersion Bible app that challenged readers to choose one word to focus on rather than create a list of goals.The idea intrigued me, so I downloaded the guide and began the prayerful process of choosing one word to focus on. The objective was to allow God to show me an area I needed to grow in and focus on that through my one word.

As Long As There’s Christmas, There’s Hope

December 22, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

Don’t you think that the Christmas season inspires more creativity than any other season of the year? There are multitudes of songs, stories, poems and plays. There are also a myriad of movies and TV specials. In an attempt to make money off of a movie’s popularity, film companies will often create a special Christmas offering. Notice that I didn’t say that all that creativity is actually “inspired.” Many of these works are admittedly forgettable. But there is one presentation you might not know about that always touches my heart.

One of my favorite movies is the 1991 Disney film, Beauty and the Beast. It was the first full length animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Not only was it popular, it really is an excellent film. Disney made lots of money in spinoff projects, one of which was Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.

The action is set in the middle of the original storyline during the winter while the Beast and Belle are becoming firiends and starting to fall in love before the enchantment is broken. Belle wants to celebrate Christmas which the Beast has forbidden. Her efforts are brought to a halt by the Beast but, of course, in the end he comes around and a joyful Christmas is celebrated on their journey toward an ultimate happy ending.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a musical offering and there is one song that so captures the spiritual essence of the holiday that I find it often in my head. The lyric that says it all is this:

“As long as there’s Christmas I truly believe that hope is the greatest of the gifts we’ll receive.”

Do You Need A Christmas Candle?

December 15, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

A light coating of snow makes everything more beautiful as she drives down colorfully lighted streets. The warmth of the scene contradicts the iciness of her heart. It may be Christmas joy around her, but inside it’s like the day of a loved one’s funeral. Heavy, cold, overwhelming sorrow. How can she even face the joyful smiles of the friends and coworkers who have no idea of her heartache? What can she do just to make it through a season that is supposed to be happy when she is overwhelmed with sadness? What can she do?

Perhaps that describes you or someone you love this season. Often the excitement and celebration of the holidays contrasts with what we really feel. We might feel guilty admitting that our burdens prompt us to avoid the joy and celebration. There is a feeling of “should”:

I should feel happy.

I should be over this.

I should do all the things I normally do, but I am having a hard time being motivated.

I should be rejoicing, but I just want to cry.

What do we do with all those shoulds?

Which Way Is Home?!

December 8, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

What do you do when you don’t know which way to go? Can you really trust GPS? I can tell you from experience, GPS works!

I was caught in my car trying to get home and had no idea how I was going to get there. I had traveled alone to a Pennsylvania destination three hours from home for a baby shower. It was a stormy summer Saturday, but the room was full of happy chatter and no one paid much attention to the weather, even when multiple cellphones vibrated with a weather alert at the same time. I, with at least a dozen other ladies, read that there was a flood warning and put my phone away, directing my attention back to the celebration. After helping to clean up, I decided it was time to get on the road,

The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is not one of my favorite roads. I had tried to avoid it on multiple occasions, but had come to the conclusion that it was still the best route home, so I began the trek and looked forward to when I would be off that stretch of road. My exit from that route came much sooner than expected!

The heavy rain had cause a landslide closing a section of the highway and diverting all traffic off of 476, the NorthEast Extension. Every vehicle was forced off at exit 44. Dozens of cars were deposited on Rt. 663 and, like me, probably began to depend on GPS to get them to their destination. The problem was that GPS didn’t take into account roads that were closed because of flooding. As a result, I found myself in a long line of cars that were inching along back roads lined with cornfields and homes with no clear end in sight.

Confidently Expect the Light

December 1, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

My husband and I recently took a train to New York City. For many years we had traveled the beautiful Hudson Line along its namesake river and the turns, tunnels and stops had become familiar. This was our first time on the Port Jervis Line which originates in our little city of Port Jervis and travels through a totally different landscape than what we had been through before. I always love looking out the window to take in the changing scenery. The views along the Hudson Line had often been breathtaking. I wondered what we would see on our new venture.

When you don’t know what to expect, you don’t know what to look for. We traveled through woods and open fields and stopped at small stations in the middle of nowhere. Occasionally, the view would open into a beautiful vista, but in general there was a great deal of sameness to what I saw surrounding us. I settled into the rhythm of what seemed would be the rest of our trip. All of a sudden we entered total blackness. We continued to move forward. Our speed didn’t change, but there was nothing in view. We seemed to simply be floating in the void. No proof that we would ever come out of the black. It came upon me unexpectedly. I wasn’t prepared for the darkness and as we continued through it I began to feel trapped. It seemed like we had been in this emptiness for so long. Where was the daylight? When would we see it again? I reminded myself that there was a definite point of entrance into this black and there would be a definite exit. We were still continuing on the track, still headed toward our destination and the gray that had turned into black would transition to blue sky again. I began to look with expectation for the glimmer of light that would signal our emergence from the tunnel. The trapped feeling began to lift as I regained my confidence that this tunnel would end and we would re-enter the daylight.

Life is like that, isn’t it? We are traveling along and all of a sudden darkness overtakes us and we wonder when we will ever see light again.

Thankfully Transformed

November 24, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

Are you the same person you were a year ago? Five years ago? Ten years ago? Think back and remember where you have come from. Even if you aren’t as far along as you’d like to be, I will bet that you have made progress. Think about where you have come from! Isn’t that a reason to be grateful?

One of the traps people have always fallen into is forgetting where they have come from. Read the Old Testament and you'll see it over and over again. God's people forgot that they were slaves and God sent Moses to deliver them. They forgot that while they were wandering in the wilderness because of their unbelief, God provided for them. They forgot how He split the Red Sea, or opened a path through the Jordan River, or sent food they didn't have to grow or hunt for in manna and quail. It goes on and on.

The Scriptures bear witness that God's people continually, even habitually, forget what God has done for them in the past, complain about their present, and don't expect God to fulfill His promise for the future. As much as we hate to admit it, you and I are just as prone to such forgetting.

How to Make a Better World

November 17, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

Have you ever let loose some toothpaste words? You know the kind I mean. You say something that you wish you could take back as soon as it”s out of your mouth, but, like the proverbial toothpaste, you can’t put it back in. I am old enough that I could probably fill millions of toothpaste tubes with the words I wish I could take back. Words that hurt someone else. Words that revealed my own pride and insecurity. Foolish words. Harsh words. Words I had no business speaking. I have been in conversations where I was literally biting my tongue to prevent myself from letting out words I would regret. Words are important. They have a short duration, but a long impact. One reason I like writing is that it gives me a chance to refine my words before I send them out. Proofreading what I write keeps me from toothpaste words. What if we took the effort to “proofread” our thoughts before we let them become spoken words?

It’s not a stretch to say that lack of restraint is causing a lot of problems around the world. Much of the chaos in the world we live in is simply the result of people not guarding their own words and behavior. Many people in our current culture don’t really care about their toothpaste words. You see them all over social media. You hear them in songs, on TV, podcasts, the radio. But all these unfiltered words are merely symptoms of a much bigger problem. People dont’t make the effort to control themselves. They don’t control their words or their behavior and the result is a chaotic world filled with damaged people who hurt others because of their own hurt through their lack of restraint. This isn’t the way God intended human relationships to be, but it is universally true and all of us suffer for it. So, what can you and I do? Where can we start? How can we make a dent in the chaos around us?

How’s Your Follow-Through?

November 10, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

Over the years I have had some really creative ideas. I could be so proud of me for having them, but the truth is, many of those idas have never gone anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, there are some things that I am working on and are getting done more slowly than I would like, but there are other things that were just ideas. I never followed through.

I want to be someone whose word is reliable. I want to be known as someone who follows through, but the truth is that I often say that I will do something for my husband and then I forget. I really want to do it. I just get distracted. I know it’s human. We all have weaknesses. True. Very true. But this idea of being someone reliable, a person who follows through, someone who can be depended on, that is a God thing. Follow through is really important to Him.

Do You Have the Power?

November 3, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

I watched as he folded his six-foot frame down to toddler height so that he could look eye to eye with the agitated child. Her eyes lit up as he spoke to her and a huge smile spread across her face, erasing the petulance that had been there when he entered the room. I couldn’t hear the words he spoke and I don’t know what their relationship was, but it didn’t matter. I could see their effect. Such joy radiated from her face that the little girl could have illuminated an auditorium. She reached around his neck, kissing his bearded face as he scooped her up in his arms and resumed his full height. Suddenly, the child had a six-foot perspective on life and she was willing to go wherever he wanted to take her. As the giant man carried the tiny girl lovingly toward the door, I couldn’t help noticing what strength and humility it took for him to lower himself to her height and speak in a way that produced such an obviously joyful effect. He could much more easily have towered over her and used his powerful voice to command her to come with him, but his quietness and restraint were much more effective in reaching the child and gaining her trust and compliance.

We live in a power-hungry society. Power is elevated and paid attention to. Gentleness and humility are ignored. The cycle will continue as long as children are taught through observation that this is the way to assert themselves, unless they are gifted with exemplary mentors like the man I described. A child taught me that..

80 Years of Beauty: Four Things I’ve Learned from Mom

October 27, 2018 Cathleen Zahradnik

There are milestones in life that need to be celebrated. Some of them are expected and hoped for. Others creep up on you and you shake your head, “How did I get here?!” Mom turned 80 last week on October 19. When I spoke with her on that day, it was clear that this is one of those milestones for her. I mean, think about it, Mom was three years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the US entered World War II. Imagine all that has changed in her lifetime! From the telephone to television, to space travel to computers to the Internet and social media. A lot has changed!

So, Mom, how did you get here? You kept going and didn’t give up. You have lived your life one step at a time. You may think of your life as small and unimportant, but I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned from you. You need to know that your life has made a difference. So, here goes!