On Friday, Karen's Korner asked for your responses on what it means for me to constantly misplace one pair of glasses. But once I had two pairs of glasses, I can find both most of the time and toss in a pair of sunglasses, too. Now I can find a pile of glasses!

I asked for you to finish the story of what it might mean to you in God's Kingdom. Could it parallel the "two or three gathered in My midst, there I will be"; or could it be "the loaves and fishes and always having enough or more than enough"? Or?

Several of your responses were from Shirley Southard who said she has one pair of glasses and she always knows where they are:  on her dresser or on her face........

Cindee Schnekloth said:  'I think this story lends itself to God being available wherever and whenever we need him, even in the littlest things. We always seem to think that we only should "bother" Him with the big problems, but I think that God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives, be it big or little.  After all, he knows the number of hairs on our head, so we shouldn't be surprised that he wants us to share every little detail with him on a daily basis.'

Val Neubauer said she sees it as the little boy with the loaves and fishes. "Our church owns a house a couple of doors away.  Several members of our congregation had spent some time renovating it while trying to figure out a good use for it.  We are located in a poor section of our city. Last fall another church was looking for a building for a food pantry as they were having to leave the building they were using.  We joined forces in October. Now we have a purpose.  We are only open on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 5 p.m., but we are serving over  one hundred people in that time period.  The name of our food pantry is Loaves and Fishes."

    She gave an example of some lady buying 100 packages of HyVee weiners for 20 cents a package. It seems they were jalapeno flavored and weren't selling well, but they had no trouble finding takers for the tasty morsels at the pantry.

     "We also have no trouble staffing the pantry, she said. "Everyone is volunteering to take a turn, especially families. It is wonderful seeing God at work as we extend a helping hand in the neighborhood. Not only do we have a Presbyterian church working with an Episcopal church in a joint project, but we have church members growing closer together."

Diana Barron recalled a childhood memory of her own of walking home with her friend Sylvia. It seems Sylvia's mom was older than most of the other moms. Diana recalls the lady as a 'tiny grandmotherly woman who loved to sew'. 

    "Often, we'd arrive at Sylvia's to find her mom scouring the place for her eyeglasses, having taken them off when she left to do do other things," said Diana. "She would say to us, 'Oh, girls, I'ms so glad you're here. Help me find my glasses. I put them down somewhere and lost them again. I've looked everywhere!' Sylvia, a foot taller than her mom, would walk over and kiss her mom's cheek and present the eyeglasses, which had been perched on top of mother's head! We always had a good laugh."

    Diana stated now that she is 50,  she doesn't know how funny she thinks that is! "But thanks for stirring up a very happy memory," she said.

    Thinking farther, Diana said my question "illustrates more about the limits of habit than age and the human quirkiness to keep doing what we are doing. "A wise person once told me," Diana said, "'if at first you don't succeed....try something different!'"                 Diana went on to say the lesson in our spiritual lives might be to avoid becoming bound by habit or rigid in our thinking; automatic in our practice. "In today' jargon, we need to think outside the box," Diana emailed. "Today, when habit would be the more comfortable way to respond, I am going to make a point to do things differently to stretch my faith in new directions. I am going to entertain different ways of thinking about things and put my faith into practice in at least three new ways."