We've Moved!!

 Hi Everyone! We have launched a new website at www.fullfamilyfarms.com and I will be blogging from there from now on. This site will stay active until I have transferred past blog posts to the new site, but please visit https://fullfamilyfarms.com/?page_id=9 to see new blog posts!

Our Father who Gives Abundantly

Ten years ago God set our family on a new path. I think we might have even thought for a while we were making a sacrifice, when instead, it was just the beginning to an abundance of blessing we had no idea was even possible. Ten years ago we were meeting our son Nathaniel for the first time, but he wasn't our son. He had another mom, who loved him greatly. And we were only taking care of him for 6 months until she thought she would be able to care for him herself. 

The decision to do this, on our part, was a letting go of dreams and wishes and plans that we had for our life. The plans we had after we got married to have 10 babies (yes, that was seriously the plan, and even funnier: I hoped and prayed to have twins/triplets/quadruplets so I could "get back to work sooner". It's ok if you want to go back in time and talk some sense in to me, I'd appreciate it.) But my body wasn't cooperating with the plan. One by one, year after year, my babies died after I'd heard their beating hearts but before they ever took a breath of air. I buried them in the ground along with pieces of my heart but I could never bury my plan to have a baby. I held it tightly in my hands, clenching tighter with each loss. Each time I felt it slipping away I tried even harder to hold on. 

"Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life." Jn 12:22

God so gently tried to convince me to just let go of it, to leave my hands open for something different instead. Its a lot easier to let go of something bad we know we shouldn't hold on to. But this was good. Why would God want me to let go of something good like having a baby, being a mom, raising a family? I didn't know why, but I knew that holding tight to something I THOUGHT would bring me joy was actually making me miserable because I had convinced myself I could not be happy if God didn't give me this one thing I wanted. I knew that God was good. I knew that He wanted me to be happy even more than I did. And I knew that many many times before I had thrown my hands open trusting Him to do just that and He always had. So I let go, painfully. I buried my dreams in the dirt. I cried so many tears, I felt I was letting go of everything I had ever wanted. But I also trusted He had something even better for me that I couldn't see. And for the first time in a long time, I was at peace. I was a child who knew she was being taken care of by her father. 

I had no idea at that very moment our 10 year olds heart was already beating below his mothers. I had no idea that the very next day someone would walk into my office, tell me about Nathaniel and God would begin to reveal His greater plan for us. I had no idea I could possibly love a little boy so much or the way he would transform our hearts and lives. I had no idea that the death of my plans to have 10 children would lead to God blessing me with even more than 10 children. But that's exactly what he did. Nathaniel, (born on the feast of St. Joseph, the patron saint of foster parents because God finds it humerus to be blatantly obvious with us) led us to the ministry of foster care, something we "fell into", not something we never set out to do. Foster care, allowed God to drop children in our laps. After years of waiting to get pregnant, waiting 9 months for a baby to be born, now we would get phone calls and babies would be at our doorstep within a few days, hours or even minutes. 

After years of wishing for "twins" or "triplets" we often found ourselves with 2 or 3 children all the same age. For a good 6 years we had 3 kids in diapers at almost all times. (Careful what you pray for!) And not only was God blessing us with children to care for, He was adding their birth families to our family as well. This ministry drew other church members and friends into the circle of our family as God changed what the word family meant to us. This way of blessing us has also come with sacrifice, pain, heartache, but never that which has exceeded the blessing. 

Ten years ago I thought I was asking for something great as I hoped to give birth to 10 children, or even just one child. But now I know, what I was asking for then was so much less than what God wanted to bless me with. And He had to withhold what I was asking for, so that He could give me the greater things already in the works. 

Since Christmas, Nathaniel has been asking for a Nerf bow and arrow. He was disappointed not to get it at Christmas and he's been anticipating it for his birthday. He has asked over and over again. He made me a list of 3 things he wanted, this toy bow and arrow at the top. "Even if you can't get everything else mom, please can you get me the Nerf bow and arrow?" he would plead. 

What he didn't know, was that even back before Christmas we had ordered him a REAL bow and 7 REAL arrows. We had intended to give them to him at Christmas but they were back-ordered so we decided to wait until his birthday. All this time, while he's been begging for the fake, the pretend, the lesser gift, we have set in motion to give him something greater that he himself has not even yet thought to ask for. 

Yesterday, we had party for Nathaniel and his friends. We piled up boxes of pizzas loaded with cheese and toppings, poured glass upon glass of soda, and dished out huge slices of rich chocolate cake. And they would feast, and then run off to play and leave a table filled with leftovers. Half-eaten pieces of cake, pizza slices with just a few bites out of them, cups half full of pop or juice. Lets be honest, if this was a normal day I would have scolded my children for being wasteful. But we were feasting. I had been doling out huge portions of cake and saying, eat more pizza, there is so much left! So I wasn't upset when they couldn't finish it all. Actually, I looked at it and thought of God's goodness. This is the way He loves us. Lavishly. Over-abundantly. He gives us "too much" grace because He can. "Too many" blessings because it's fun for him the way it's fun to give a ten year old the biggest piece of cake they've ever had. He offers us more than we can possibly handle. Does He wish we could take it all in? Absolutely. But is He so generous and good that He keeps dishing out huge portions for us even if we will only take a single bite? Yes. 

This is the cross. This is the Good Friday we will celebrate so very soon. His sacrifice opens for us eternity in paradise and a whole life of blessing and we often take it for granted or walk away from the table all together. He offers us himself each Sunday, and many of us never show up for the feast. He offers to take our burdens upon His own shoulders so we can live free and at peace, and we often cling on and continue to carry those burdens ourselves. But how He loves us. Even though we keep "wasting" it, He keeps dishing it out, hoping this time, we'll drink it up. 

I take them for granted a lot of days, these 5 blessings that live here and the many more who live in other houses now. I forget, I fail, I go through the motions, I walk away from the table hungry when it's set with a feast. But some days, like today, I see the half-eaten cake, see the sparkle in their eyes, feel their soft hand in mine, hear the miraculous word "mom" that they speak to me. Their giggles wash over me like waves and their smiles are medicine to my soul. Has a smile with a missing tooth ever been any more adorable in the history of the world? Have the softly whispered, "I love you, or I'm sorry" ever sounded so much like music? Today I feast on His blessings that are so abundant and I wonder how its possible that eye has not seen anything like the blessings He has in store for us in Heaven. 

It is already set in motion, the way He plans to abundantly bless us. But we will have to open our hand to receive it, and that means we will have to let go of the things we are holding on to so tightly. And that is hard. But not as hard when we remember just how much He wants to bless us. Not when we compare the seed of our sacrifice to the tree of blessings He will grow from it.

Nathaniel kept asking for his fake bow and arrow and I kept saying "do you want that more than the gift Dad has for you?" to which I could see his internal struggle and then he would painfully say "no." But he still had his heart set on it. So on the morning of his birthday as he finally opened his REAL gift, he was thrilled to get it but we could also tell he was disappointed after all the gifts were opened that he did not also get the fake bow he had spent so many hours wishing for. We have to be careful, being so specific about the blessings we ask to receive. We have to be careful if we're asking for things that are counterfeit to real grace. Because then, when the real blessings come, when the GREAT gifts are given, we might not even fully appreciate them if we've had our hearts set on the fake gifts instead. Do we ask for things instead of love? Do we ask for situations to go the way we want instead of asking for what is best for all? Do we remember and trust that if we stick a seed in the ground it will only grow when and how the creator wills it?

What are you asking your Father for today? There is no one on this earth who wants better for you than He does. That is a promise I will stake my life on.  So go ahead and just let go. 

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone, when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him." Mt 7:7-11

We don't need to be so specific. Just ask for blessings. He knows better than we do what is a fish and what is a snake. Often, probably always, what we are asking for is so much less than what He wants to give us. What if we opened our hands to just receive whatever it is He is giving out? What if we came to the table and really feasted on what was put before us? 

My hands are open Lord and my dreams are buried in the dirt and I am at peace.

We're all Bad Guys

Bella and I were out on a rare lunch date after her doctor appointments. When you have 5-sometimes-9 kids, its extra special to have time one-on-one with them, and they soak this up too. Bella wanted "pop" and "pizza" but mostly pop as she was sure to tell me over and over again until we finally pulled in to pizza ranch. Normally I'm chasing two or three littles and trying to make sure no one gets run over in the parking lot, making sure no one disappears in the restaurant, and that a major food fight doesn't break out. When it's just us, I have time to actually be that fun mom I used to be. I loved having the time to be patient with her while she slowly climbs out of the van and takes forever to walk in to the building so she can look at everything on the way. I love being able to let her come along and pick out what she wants from the buffet and hear her stories and sit across the table and soak up her sweet smile. I love that when I ask her if we should pray, she instantly sits up straight, sets down her pizza, makes the sign of the cross, folds her hands and prays along. I soak up every moment of the whole meal and when I go to get her dessert I get her dessert pizza AND a cookie slice just because I can. I'm probably beaming as I set the plate in front of her and watch her eyes grow big.  This is the fun part of being a mom. 

And then a man approaches our table and says "You don't know me from Adam, but I've been watching you and you are so impressive. You would make any Dad proud. When you prayed with your daughter earlier, that was great. You're doing a great job and I just had to tell you, you make a Dad proud."

It was really sweet of him to say. But I couldn't help as I thanked him to be sure to mention I have plenty of not-so-nice moments that he doesn't see. 

Taking compliments has always been hard for me but I've been struggling with this a lot lately. I see my sin everyday. Up close and personal. Every second of it. And it's really ugly. I see all the times I yell at the kids, all the times I am so impatient and selfish and honestly just mean. Those sins run like a movie reel through my head the rest of the day, the week, the month. The worst ones stick the longest, replay over and over and over again. The times I let them down. The times I was too busy to notice. The 100 times I picked up my phone instead of playing with them. The books I didn't read. The list goes on almost forever of things I have failed at and I'm probably adding to it as I write this (like the wrinkled laundry I am avoiding...). 

As we entered into Lent this week its absolutely a season of recognizing our sin. Repent and believe in the Gospel right? It's our yearly wake up call to recognize our sin. Yes. But it's something more than that and it took that outing with Bella combined with Xavier's reaction to Ash Wednesday Mass to get me to really see it this year...let me tell you about it... 

Xavier was crabby and tired and spent the first half of the Ash Wednesday Mass that started 15 minutes after his normal bed time saying (yelling) "I no want to go to church!" But then the priest marked his face with mud and the night started looking up. Those tired 3 year old eyes perked up and started taking it all in. Eyes sparkling when we get back to our pew, he proudly says to me, "I bad guy!" I chuckle and wish he wasn't so excited about this news, and then he says with a huge grin like he just caught me sneaking a cookie, "You bad guy too!" 

'He's not wrong', I'm thinking. That's actually pretty much the point, yes. He starts looking around and pointing out others with ashes on their faces and saying "He bad guy too!" He is thrilled, giddy even. And he is so right. We are all bad guys. We don't think like that often. When we tell the story we usually cast ourselves the good guy and make someone else out to be the bad guy. But we are all here on Ash Wednesday and all here at church on Sundays because we know we are bad. We sin. We fail. At everything. All the time. But I forget it. Sometimes I know I'm the bad guy and I'm sure I'm worse than anyone else in the room. They all seem pretty good and perfect even. Sometimes, I see my own sin but I don't see theirs, and I sometimes forget I am sitting shoulder to shoulder with other "bad guys", with other people who have also failed. Its the beauty of Ash Wednesday, for just one day, we can see it, we stop hiding our failures and we wear them on our face.

I kind of wish we could wear them all the time, just to set the record straight. So that someone might not see me out with my daughter at a restaurant and crown me mom of the year. If I was wearing those ashes then they could see what I see when I look in the mirror. And I was thinking of this as Bella and I walked out of the restaurant and I wished I could actually be that mom that man thinks I am. 

And that's when I realized just what he said. "You don't know me from Adam." You don't get it, God was saying to me. You don't know me like you should because of sin. You don't know me. If you did, you would know I don't see you the way you see yourself. You would know I don't look at your sin. I see you the way that man did. Even though I know your worst, I still see your best. You are impressive and you make a Dad proud.

How long have I been forgetting the way my Father loves me? I see my sin but He sees the best in me. When I am covered in mud he sees beauty underneath. I can stack up my sins and failures for days and think that they cover up anything that might be good in me, and I forget that His blood covers my sins and He makes me new. I forget that it's the voice of the accuser who keeps calling me by my sins and telling me that my worth lies in my ability to overcome them and it's the voice of my father that says "you are good, you make a Dad proud." 

It's the season of Lent and that absolutely means it's time to recognize our sin and return to Jesus. It is absolutely the time to recognize that we are all bad guys. And it is most certainly time to see and remember that we were created, and still are, GOOD. Wanted. Loved. By the King of the Universe. If a hundred other voices are telling you something differently, I hope tonight you recognize they are not the voice of truth. I hope you will hear the Father saying you are good, and I hope you believe it tonight. I hope you make it to the confessional to let go of that sin that is making it hard to block out the lies. I hope you resolve to do what you can to avoid sin in the future knowing that only by handing it over to Jesus will you ever really win that battle, and I hope, I really hope you know... 

you make Him proud. 

The Time America Lost her Luggage

I remember the day a I heard a speaker share this quote from Maya Angelou:  

 “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” 

I've heard a lot of quotes over my life but this one stuck with me. I had never considered it before, that it mattered so much how someone handles something difficult. I suppose it's because I wanted to be judged on my best day and not my worst. I was sure the nice show I put on for the world on a sunny day when everything was going my way was the sum total of who I was and the most important part. But then, I was a young 20-something when I heard this quote with a rose-colored vision of reality. But still, it seemed like good advice, and I remembered it. I'm a pretty optimistic person so I can find the blessing in a rainy day and curl up with a book or a movie or head right out and dance or jump in the puddles. I see tangled Christmas tree lights as good old fashioned puzzle and enjoy the challenge. I sized myself up and thought I must be a pretty good person. I haven't ever lost my luggage but I don't care much for clothes or material things, if I'm already on vacation I'm sure I wouldn't be bothered by that at all. I was quite pleased with my self-assessment of myself. And then... I lost my luggage. A bunch of times.

A week long trip to Texas for work and my boss convinced me to check my luggage, "it's easier" he said. If you've ever lost your luggage you know the feeling, you watch the conveyor belt growing more and more anxious with each passing bag, soon you're sure you're seeing the same ones go by. And then the belt stops and you know. But you search around the area anyway, and then the feeling of despair. My THINGS! I needed those! I have a business conference and I can't go in these sweatpants and tennis shoes I'm wearing! My makeup! My hair products! My swimsuit so I can relax in the hotel pool! My THINGS! 

Until this point I've been my "Minnesota-nice" self and have been allowing others to go first, saying excuse me, smiling at the cute elderly couple or the young family or the stranger who seems like they're having a bad day. Suddenly I care little about anyone else in the entire airport and only about retrieving back my things, my control, my plan for how this week was going to go. I learn the "drill" of making the report of missing luggage, get handed a nice little bag from the airline with a tshirt and a toothbrush and sent on my way. (Side bar: Dear Airline marketing department, don't put your logo on these tshirts next time. It's like a walking billboard that says "I'm wearing this tshirt because this airline lost my luggage. Choose to fly with someone else!" Every time I see it in my house it reminds me of the terrible experience and in case I forgot which airline... oh there, your name is right there on the tshirt so I won't forget.) Back on topic. I head back to the hotel and mope and worry. The airline doesn't even know where our luggage is or when we could, if ever, get it back. Multiple phone calls from the airport over the next two days and I couldn't enjoy or be very present at my trip until we finally got it back. The anxiety over this lost $50 worth of clothes consumed me. 

I have actually lost my luggage quite a few more times after this experience. I'm hardly a world traveler, just have terrible luck to the point that I will do pretty much anything to not have to check my luggage anymore. Pack for 7 days in a carry-on? You bet I can!

Anyway, I wish I could say I responded better the next time this happened but that would be a lie. It might have gotten worse each time because then I start to get the "why me's!?!" and can whine to everyone I meet because things always go wrong for me and the airline always looses my luggage! Waa waa....I mean, I know at least once I just broke down and cried about it. Another time I was so rude to the airline personnel, and at least once I remember sitting under an umbrella on a beach on a tropical island with a Mai Tai in front of me, everyone else is having a great time and I'm just stressed and angry about my lost luggage. 

You can sure tell a lot about me now right? Didn't quite stack up to that great person I thought I was when I was faced with losing my things, plans being changed. Didn't prioritize being kind, caring for others, never even crossed my mind to find the silver lining. So this is me. 

Obviously it wouldn't be fair to judge our whole total self and life on how we react to stressful situations like losing our luggage. You can be a great person 90 percent of the time, none of us our perfect. But I do think it helps us to look at the way we respond to those things to see our sin, the room we have to improve. Turns out I thought material things didn't matter to me because I'm not a shopper but I saw quickly I am too attached to "my" own things and my money as I didn't want to pay to replace them either.  I thought I was compassionate and put others first and I realized when life wasn't going my way I really only thought about myself.  

 Here's the grand point you've read so far to get to. I've been thinking all along that 2020 was the year America lost her luggage. We were cruising along, feeling like a pretty great country, who looked out for others, cared about people, met challenges head on and stood strong through them, and then last March....we lost our luggage. I think what was in the luggage was different for everyone. I think for some it is the fear of losing their own life, and for others its the fear of losing someone they love. I think for some it was the loss of normal living, common sense, life as we know it, truth, security, the list goes on. There are probably a million other things we could insert in here. But you know it, when you look around. Not everyone has responded this way, but as a whole country, I think it's safe to say that pretty much overnight we quit caring about people and we saw just how selfish we are. Ministries that have served people for decades closed their doors. Services for our disabled adults and children disappeared and many still are not being offered. Vulnerable children? No time to think about them when we're trying to protect ourselves. Are there a lot of people out there who did a bunch of super-star things over the last year to reach out to others? Absolutely. There are some people who really shine when luggage is lost. But are there a vast majority of us that have gotten to see just how selfish we are? Yes.

Did you know children in foster care didn't get to have visits with their birth parents for MONTHS during the pandemic last spring? You probably didn't, and you probably do care, but we're all so worried about other things you won't notice that. Did you know every person from my friends' AA/NA class relapsed during the pandemic because of their loss of jobs and support? No one rarely wants to talk about the opiod crisis but we definitely are pretending that's not a thing right now. Did you know that children who are developmentally disabled or delayed under the age of 3 have not received anything other than "zoom" visits from providers since the pandemic started last year? We say they'll be fine, but its just the most important developmental years they never get back. Did you know Unicef estimates "an additional 6.7 million children under the age of five are in danger of starving because of the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic? No, we can't possibly care about or do anything about that when we are unsure what the future holds for our own family now. And then, there are all those severed friendships, relationships of people we love, but the pandemic exposed a deep disagreement and it's caused the relationship to fall apart. 

As a community, when we had a sunny day, when things were going well, we put all these things in place to care for the vulnerable members of our society. All these rules and laws and ministries to look out for people, to help them, to give them what they need so they can have the best chance possible to succeed. When things are going well, we are a good friend, a good person. But then, we lost our luggage. And we didn't care anymore. And no one else cared either. And everyone's still getting paid so doesn't really matter how hard we try right? And people are just going to be mad so we just have to let them go their own way right?

This is negative guys, and I know, trust me I know the world is FULL of amazing people who are doing a great job looking out for others. But some of us, especially me, could do a little examining of our hearts. We are good people here in America, I still believe that. But we aren't handling this well at all and it should tell us something important about ourselves that we need to address. This is why God has brought us to this moment in time, I believe. Why are we so worried about what's in that suitcase? Don't we know we don't really need anything in there? The things we hold so dear, our plans, our goals, our dreams, our reputation, the people we love, our life, the lives of our children even, they will all pass away. None of it is lasting and no amount of holding it close to us will give us any more control over how long we get to keep any of it. But worrying about it will steal away everything from us. Can we stop for a second and look up and see there is a beach and sunshine here? If we could just let go of that baggage we're so obsessed with, maybe we could see the people and blessings He's putting right in front of us. Maybe that airport clerk or that disagreeable person in your office need you to see that they're having a bad day and bring them the hope they cannot find. Maybe that elderly neighbor needs your visit more than they need to be "safe". Maybe our children need to be prioritized again, because a nation that prioritizes her children will have a bright future. Maybe there is beauty here, in the hot, stinky airport even. I mean, now that your hands are empty, you could hold the door for that cute elderly couple or carry a bag for that family with their hands full. Now that you don't have any luggage to worry about you could walk to the hotel and enjoy the sunshine, maybe not even go up to the room, just head straight to the beach, kick off your shoes and go barefoot. Maybe luggage is over-rated. Maybe you don't need that luggage after all. 

Thank you Jesus, for letting us lose our luggage and exposing our great room for improvement. Help us to let it all go, and start doing what's right, not what the world says is right, but what we know in our hearts is right. Help us find the truth. That the joy is not in the luggage. The joy is in the journey. And all that really matters is that the journey leads us to You. 

Sometimes Victory Requires Taking a Knee

 There are times in life when it's incredibly courageous to take a stand when few others will. Right now seems like one of those times and maybe it is. But there are also times in life when the most courageous thing to do is kneel. When everyone else is sitting, when everyone else is standing, when everyone else is fighting....what if we knelt instead? What if there's too much noise to hear the good news above the yelling but if you simply got down on one knee everyone in the room, maybe even everyone in the world, would hear what you had to say?

I think of St. Maximillian Kolbe who took a knee in anothers place in starvation bunker at a concentration camp. They were trying to kill Christianity by killing Catholic Priests. He didn't have social media or even a megaphone, but he took a knee and prisoners told and re-told that story and what God wanted to say that day is still being said around the world today. 

I think of a football player who has 10 members of the opposing team barreling right towards him who decides not to run, not to fight, but to take a knee instead, knowing the rules of the game will get him farther than he could get on his own. 

In fact, when I'm knocked down, I can only get up by first getting on my knee.

If you're looking at the world and wondering how we got here, or what can we possible do now, I think there are three different options. I think you can take a stand for what you believe to be right. I think you can sit and pretend it's all going to be fine and try to create your "new-normal". But I don't think either of those things are going to get you were you want to go. I think, the best thing we can all do, is courageously kneel.

And I don't mean on the football field or even in your own house. I mean coming together, in church at the foot of the cross. 

In a country and even a world that says "pick sides" we have to come together in our churches and say "all are welcome here" and we have to MEAN IT! 

In a world that says "some are better than others", we have to come to church and every single one of us kneel on the same level to the creater of the world, the same Father we share in common.

 In a world that says "only some voices should be heard, and only those who agree with us can belong", our churches must be blaring loud examples that EVERY soul- NO MATTER WHAT- is valued, loved, cherished. 

And here's the best part guys, it's that easy. There are no dramatic speeches to be made, there are no big capital campaigns, fundraisers, committees, protests, fights. Just come, as you are. Come take a knee with the rest of your brothers and sisters and you'll start seeing them again as your brothers and sisters. Come take a knee and be heard without saying a word. Come take a knee and let Him do your fighting for you and see you'll get further than you ever would have on your own. 

I don't have all the answers. I know there are a lot of complicated issues and I have a lot of strong feelings about a lot of them. A LOT is at stake. I'm not asking you to lie down or give up and I'm not saying do nothing. Quite the opposite. To start, I'm asking us to humble ourselves, and kneel along side someone who disagrees with us, maybe even hates us, because we agree on the most important thing: Jesus Christ is the only real true King. Christian churches, must be the places where all of us, no matter how we vote, how we look, what we wear on our face or what we think, ALL OF US can come together and kneel at the foot of the cross. 

If your church isn't this place right now it's time to make it that way and it starts with you. Show up. With a smile. And welcome someone else in. There will be a million reasons not to, some big obstacles and temptations to stay home. There's always going to be something and the devil is going to use every excuse in the book to keep you away because he hates it when we're all together the way God intended us to be. You've got a lot of great reasons to stay away, but come anyway, with a humble heart, take a knee, and see what happens.

"Beloved: Everyone who believes that Jesus is Christ is begotten by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith." 1 Jn 5:1-4

His commandments aren't burdensome. They are life-giving. And that life is waiting for you each Sunday, each day if you choose it. Will you take a knee along side me? There's some of God's beauty you just can't see when you're standing.