Queen Jen's Gems

 2020. A year that took us out of what we considered to be "normal." What we thought was going to be one or two weeks of working from home turned into a year (or more for many!) of working at home. What we thought was going to be a few weeks away from gathering inside the church building turned into over a year of connecting on Zoom, conference calls, social media, and drive in services. Schools have changed the way instruction takes place with either virtual, in person or both. For those of us who work in education, we had no idea that day in March  would be the last day we would see students in person for months to a year. Businesses changed hours and shut down temporarily and had to adjust the way they reached their clients and customers. Time spent with family and friends looked different (and still does!). The way we connect with people in general has changed. We have had to meet new people in different and creative ways by virtual or safely and social distancing in pers...

 But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 In reading the verse above, there are two words I want to examine more closely. Those words are soar and eagles. To soar means to fly and rise above. Eagles are powerful birds that can be spotted flying in the sky as well as sitting high on the tree branch. We'll talk a little later about different characteristics of eagles. Eagles do soar, but so can we as humans. When we soar, it means we go above and beyond to help others or complete a task at hand. We can soar above whatever challenging situation comes our way. Soaring requires us to be different and usually do something we've never done before. Soaring will require us to step out of the box. Doing something new and different can be scary, but the only way we can begin to soar is to step out and try. Think about the first time you rode your bike, spoke ...

 We've all done it. We're all supposed to do it. We should do it every single day. We should do it before and after exercise. You may be wondering what it is I'm talking about. I'm talking about stretching! Stretching is good to do when you've been sitting down for a long time. You can wake up those muscles so they don't get stiff. Stretching is also good before and after exercise because it warms up the muscles and prevents injury from happening. In today's Bible story found in Matthew 12:9-13, we see stretching had to take place. At the time, Jesus was at the church. While at the church, He saw a man with a shriveled hand (v.9-10). The word shriveled means to shrink. In other words, the man's hand was small in size. But I love how Jesus handled the situation! He didn't ask the man questions or judge him because of his abnormalities. Instead, He showed compassion to him and wanted him to be healed. Now at the time this was going on, there were churc...