This week’s experience with wine was brought to us by Jason and Lisa, our two volunteers took us through their own wine tasting experience. Jason featured a Camus wine that was said to be a Big Cab, but could be enjoyed without a need to decant. His wine did not display too much in the way of big flavors as advertised and in the end he would not purchase this wine again. He did a nice job going through the 4 steps with clarity and intention. Lisa tried a chardonnay that had the alcohol removed after the wine making process was complete. She found this libation to be too sweet, and upon swirling no legs were ever observed, which makes sense since there was no alcohol. She too provided us with a nice example of observation, smelling the aromas from the wine as well as picking up on its subtle flavors, like green apple. Unfortunately for Lisa, this is not a wine to purchase again in the future. Each step taken on its own is not the determining factor for choosing to purchase a second bottle of the wine, but it is the combination of all the wine steps together that causes us to think and wonder about the goodness of the wine we are tasting.
Just like we go through the steps of determining what makes a good wine from our own experience, we are transformed by Hope through a series of steps that leads us to an ability to interact with the world and those around us in a meaningful manner. Being transformed by the Hope of knowing the confidence that God will come through causes each of us to develop in helpfulness. It starts with a Helpful Attitude ~ learning to reframe these difficult times and situations that God is Good, He is here in the midst of whatever we find hard in life. We remember all He has accomplished for us in the past, Knowing this leads us to that all encompassing life changing Hope.
The helpful attitude leads to Helpful Words ~ words spoken gently and respectfully, acknowledging we have listened to those near us before we actually speak anything to each one. Our discussion for the evening featured the need to really, really listen and the need to be patient with this process of kindness. We discover that speaking how Jesus speaks actually helps people ‘like what we may have to say’. Suddenly, and quietly our words become the wooing of God, flowing from our own hearts transformed by Hope.
We can not stop with just Helpful Words, but are compelled to move on with Helpful Actions! A lot of people can talk, but not everyone walks the walk. Helpful actions are all about walking the walk. Doing something to help someone else out in this time of Covid. Ultimately this is where Hope leads us…. We see with Jesus' eyes, (framed perspective), we talk with Jesus' words, ( gentle and respectful way, with the attitude of humility) and we actually Do Helpful Actions.
Our next step as a group is to participate in projects that will help others. For some this will mean being on line, for others it may mean delivering a surprise box to someone. Next week we will have a link to all the different Helpful Actions we can choose to participate.
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