My husband watched my “Morning WOLK with God” episode while I sat next to him. When it finished, I remarked that I’d come a long way from my days as a miserably inept lobbyist. Remembering my disastrous time as an Olympia influencer, I regaled him with my story of woe when I was working for our state teachers’ association. I’d been assigned the charter school initiative, a very hot topic at the time. I was asked to prepare testimony for the House and Senate education committees and then to follow the proposal through the legislative process. I spent morning, noon, and night preparing comments, honing my arguments.

The idea of testifying terrified me and I wanted to be ready, to say something meaningful, to be ready for any and all rebuttals, to represent the state’s teachers in an articulate, thought-provoking manner. Really—I just didn’t want to screw up. I was on a short-term assignment with the organization and if I dazzled them, I was hoping I might be considered for long-term employment. I screwed up.

I was so focused on my own testimony, what I was going to say and how I was going to say it, my own agenda, that I missed the fact that the bill had been pulled from consideration—the legislative agenda—days earlier. Watching me continue to prep and waiting to see how long it would take me to figure it out, my boss finally pulled me aside after three days and gave me the good news.  

That story’s especially noteworthy remembering that it occurred not long after my illustrious term as president of our local teachers’ association. I’d been elected not because of any great leadership skills, not because my three years of teaching had made me particularly wise, but because no one else wanted the position.

Too young and naïve to know what I didn’t know, I stumbled into some intense salary negotiations. At one point I had an offer from the school district that needed to be shared with the teachers. During our general membership meeting I began with a rousing stump speech on the importance of class size and release time, neither mentioned in the district’s offer.

But before getting to the “rousing” portion of my message, I was interrupted by a well-organized smaller group of teachers who just wanted to take the district’s raise and get back to their classrooms. A motion was made and seconded before my eyes were off my notes. A short discussion followed. Someone called for the question and a vote was taken before I fully understood what had just happened.

Not appreciating the concerns of the teachers, not knowing parliamentary procedure, too focused on my own agenda, I’d lost control of the meeting to seven people in the back of the room who’d never even taken the time to sit down, teachers who’d done their homework and knew what their colleagues wanted, who had their own agenda.

It’s so easy for me to get focused on my own agenda. At times it’s easy to miss the bigger picture.  Has that ever happened to you?

“Our Morning WOLK with God” is about words of loving kindness. When we share words (and deeds!) of loving kindness, we’re sharing God’s loving kindness that became our saving grace. That’s from the third chapter of Titus, a wonderful letter that Paul wrote to his co-worker in the faith about how to engage with the community, how to be a compelling example of Christian life.

But the mere thought of engaging with the community may exhaust us. Yes, it’s a new year, but we’ve still got major issues from last year. Yes, the elections are behind us, but we’ve still got major decisions, harder discussions before us. Yes, the vaccine is here, but we’ve still got major logistical issues to figure out.

In his letter, Paul was not only encouraging Titus, but he was encouraging all of us to be compelling examples of Christian life. And knowing we’re all a little exhausted, a little overwhelmed, a little cynical at times, how do we do that? Where do we even begin?

Personally, I need to start by talking less and listening more. Too often I’m replaying that miserably inept moment as a lobbyist, as a union president, when I was too focused on my own agenda—what I was going to do, what I was going to say, what I thought best—that I missed what was really going on, what others were really saying and feeling.

Too often I’m still putting my own agenda first. And if one of my non-negotiables is gratitude, then I want to value those around me—what they’re saying, what they’re feeling, what they’re experiencing. I want to learn from them. I want to grow with them. I want to find solutions together, but I can’t do that if I don’t understand them, if I don’t appreciate their perspective, if I don’t stop and listen.

Alfred Brendel is an Austrian pianist, poet, author, and lecturer. He reminds us that the word LISTEN has the same letters as the word SILENT.” I want to listen, not just long enough for me to reply, but long enough for me to revere and respect and reflect.

How do we have the bigger conversations, the harder discussions? I have to start by talking less and listening more. I know! That’s an amazing statement for someone who’s talking at you every Friday morning.

Does this mean we remain silent? No, God’s words of loving kindness need to be heard every day in every way in every place. It just means we watch for those times when we need to listen first. The bigger conversations and the harder discussions can happen after we’ve heard.

I love the book of Proverbs which so often gets right to the point: “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” I learned that the hard way.

We walk together, ladies! I treasure the uniqueness that is each one of us, our unique perspectives, unique ideas, unique thoughts and concerns. And together we can spread God’s love, joy, peace, and hope in wonderfully unique ways. Together.

Let There Be Peace on Earth

Heavenly Father, let there be peace on earth and let it begin with us.

Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.

God, You are our creator, and family all are we.

Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony.

Amen.

Deanna Nowadnick is the author of Fruit of My Spirit and Signs in Life.

Deanna is also the host of “Morning WOLK with God” here at Fave Lifestyles.

about

Deanna Nowadnick

Before my father died, he reminded me that Mom had asked me to write a book. At the time the boys were in college, and the notion of writing was unfathomable. Writers write books. By the time my boys were adults, I’d run out of excuses. I was also at that age when I could pause and reflect.

Fruit of My Spirit: Reframing Life in God’s Grace was my first publishing endeavor. My second was Signs in Life: Finding Direction in Our Travels with God. Both are collections of stories that tell of God’s love and faithfulness. Both tell of His remarkable grace and mercy.

When not writing, I serve as the Client Service Coordinator for The Planner’s Edge, an investment advisory firm in Washington state. I’m active in my church, serving on the Leadership Team and gathering with a wonderful group of ladies to study and giggle over lattes and chocolate. On my desk is a rock with the words “Choose Joy!” etched in it. It’s my inspiration for each day. As an author, it is my hope that my own words might share that joy we find together as children of God.

With Him, it can be so.

Earlier this year Jeff Bezos shared what some have called a brutal truth in his last letter to shareholders. According to Inc. Magazine, they are five short words that many never learn. The words? Create more than you consume.

Bezos goes on to say that our goal should be to create value for everyone we interact with, that value proposition we often hear about.

Thinking about the past year, I wondered if his comments had any application to our lives as people of faith. I wondered about lessons God has shared with us that He’d want us to carry forward as part of our walk with Him and His people. I wondered if there was a value proposition for us women of faith.

Throughout social media are pandemic take-aways, experiences and insights that have highlighted deeper truths, reinforced life’s transcendent joys, and answered the question, What’s really important?

I thought back on my own year. I still remember the morning I fell apart learning that nail salons were closing, knowing my nails have not been without polish since 1973. Yep!

Then there was that panic buying moment that resulted in a case of industrial strength, commercial grade toilet paper that’s thinner than tissue paper with the consistency of waxed paper. Yep, consumption at its finest, thanks to Mr. Bezos and his fine team at Amazon.

As we lurched through pandemic protocols, I was not at my most creative. I was not focused on what I might give up, how I might give back, where I might give more. As life slowed, I became more and more focused on what I wanted when I wanted it. I wanted to consume. I wanted my nails done!

And then I started riding my bike and walking. Coming back from a week away, from a week of waaaayyyy too much fine dining, I woke up Monday morning and said, I’ve got to ride my bike. That day I decided I would get outside every day. Every day I rode my bike to the coffee shop and home again. When the weather started to turn and my bike added its own windchill factor, I continued to get outside, now walking. And in the quiet of a half hour walk, thirty short minutes, God turned my heart.

You’ll hear me talk about being a passionate advocate for words of loving kindness. Walk the WOLK, I like to say. Walk the words of loving kindness. That’s easy to do when the sun’s shining, not so easy in the middle of a torrential downpour, in the throes of our new normal.

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he says we are His workmanship (God’s workmanship). Some translations of the Bible, use the word handiwork. “We are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

As God’s people, we have been wired up to create. That’s part of what it means to be created in God’s image. Still, some of us may have moments of consumption that are not very attractive, a little self-centered, a little too inwardly focused, speaking from experience.

We will also have moments for wonderfully good works as part of God’s great creation, His creation in which we’re a part, His creation which is us. We are God’s value proposition.

Some Bible translations also read “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them.” That we should walk in them. My daily walks have become daily time with God. With my phone in my pocket on mute, away from computer notifications and reminders, I have time with God, not just to talk with Him, but also to listen.

When my boys were small, there were times I needed them to listen. That parenting thing, you know? I would tell them to turn down the TV, the game, the music, so they could hear me. God needs me to listen also, so I can know what he’s prepared in advance for me to do.

During this past year, how did God help you do good works? What plans did God have for you, plans you may not have been aware of at the time, but looking back you go, “Ah, yes, that was God.”

I don’t want to belittle the challenges of these past many months. The brokenness of our world has been shocking, the din about us has been harsh, the challenges seemingly insurmountable some days. My own self-centeredness has been difficult to fathom at times. And then God gives us a gentle nudge, a moment of quiet, an unexpected opportunity in which we can step in with His love and His light. It might be the PPP loan that kept people working, that supported local businesses. It might be a moment in which to share a sincere thanks with a nail tech, a stylist, a therapist, those people in our life who support us in so many ways. It might be the extra time and money we were able to share with our community, our church, our family, another family dealing with especially hard times.

You are God’s beautiful creation, created to create. And He has big plans for you, for all of us, plans designed just for you, plans designed just for me. We create, not because we’re part of some grand mathematical equation, but because we’re God’s people created to do His good work.

In their “Defined” bible study, Stephen and Alex Kendrick talk about God’s workmanship. They said the Greek word is poiema, similar to our English word poem. They ask us to imagine being a God’s poem, His beautiful and thoughtful self-expression, His masterpiece, made from an overflow of His creative joy as His workmanship. That’s waaaayyy more than some mathematical equation!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

Deanna Nowadnick is the author of Fruit of My Spirit and Signs in Life.

Deanna is also the host of “Morning WOLK with God” here at Fave Lifestyles.

about

Deanna Nowadnick

Before my father died, he reminded me that Mom had asked me to write a book. At the time the boys were in college, and the notion of writing was unfathomable. Writers write books. By the time my boys were adults, I’d run out of excuses. I was also at that age when I could pause and reflect.

Fruit of My Spirit: Reframing Life in God’s Grace was my first publishing endeavor. My second was Signs in Life: Finding Direction in Our Travels with God. Both are collections of stories that tell of God’s love and faithfulness. Both tell of His remarkable grace and mercy.

When not writing, I serve as the Client Service Coordinator for The Planner’s Edge, an investment advisory firm in Washington state. I’m active in my church, serving on the Leadership Team and gathering with a wonderful group of ladies to study and giggle over lattes and chocolate. On my desk is a rock with the words “Choose Joy!” etched in it. It’s my inspiration for each day. As an author, it is my hope that my own words might share that joy we find together as children of God.

With Him, it can be so.