Grace - Barbara Lynn Seibel

March 12, 2023March 16, 2023

Too Dim to See Part Two

One day near the end of my kindergarten days, my teacher had us write our answers on our own paper to questions that were on a chalkboard.

After reviewing my written answers, she called me to her desk and asked me all the questions verbally.

My written answers were incorrect, but my verbal responses were accurate.

My teacher then called my mother, saying, “I think your daughter has a vision problem.”

Thankfully, having spent several months with me in a classroom, my teacher was right to speculate that my performance with the written answers meant something was amiss.

Her decision to test me with a different sensory mode enabled her to encourage my parents to get my eyes checked.

Yep, except for a brief period in my teens, I have worn glasses ever since.

A few weeks ago, we studied Genesis 27:1-5, where Isaac could no longer see because of his old age.

Today, we will consider what other senses he relied on because of his physical blindness.

February 12, 2023February 11, 2023

Why You Want But Don’t Receive

If I am remembering correctly, my sister was in high school on a morning we quarreled over a magazine.

I am four years younger than her, so I would have been somewhere between the 5th-8th grade at the time of this argument.

Our fight eventually engaged our mother as a referee between us.

Interestingly, when my mother handed me the magazine I had been fighting so hard for, I recall feeling strangely disappointed.

Why did reading James 4:1-6 prompt this memory?

February 5, 2023February 4, 2023

Responding to Another’s Weakness

Recently, my husband and I were leaving a parking lot when another driver caught our attention significantly.

The driver appeared to wave their left hand in a motion that seemed to show they wanted us to hurry past them.

But after we took that action and were waiting to make a left turn from the lane we had chosen, we noticed the same driver appeared in the adjacent lane, still waving their left hand in what we now realized was a display of panic.

As we waited for the traffic light to change to green, we could hear the other driver yelling in an agitated manner. In addition, they kept attempting to go into the intersection to turn left, in front of us, even though the light was red and cars were traveling through.

The driver never looked at us to ask for a courtesy for them to take their obviously intended action. Instead, they were anxiously self-focused.

Aside from the practical tactics of waiting after the light turned green to allow this frantic drive to go ahead of us and maintaining a safe distance from them, how can scripture guide us in responding to this scenario?