{"id":6496,"date":"2026-06-02T16:41:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T21:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/?p=6496"},"modified":"2026-06-02T16:41:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T21:41:42","slug":"ponderings-from-pastor-patti-june-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/2026\/06\/02\/ponderings-from-pastor-patti-june-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Ponderings from Pastor Patti – June 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May was a busy month with graduations and weddings and finalizing the school year.\u00a0 But it always feels like these summer months are as crazy busy as well.\u00a0 And so, I would really like to focus on the following scripture this summer in our worship and in our daily lives.<\/p>\n

Acts 17:27<\/strong> \u2013 [His purpose in all this] is that they should seek after God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him\u2014though he is not far from any one of us. <\/em>(NLT)<\/p>\n

There are many things I have learned over this past year in my Spiritual Direction class about the longing I have always experienced to be closer to God, but this verse in Acts speaks directly to that.\u00a0 God is not far from any one of us.\u00a0 We just have to be willing to be open enough and ready to recognize God in our midst.\u00a0 So much of my life I have longed for a closer relationship, but have kept myself busy trying to find that connection instead of quieting my inner being to receive God (or to recognize God) present in my life already.<\/p>\n

I have learned a lot of practices and participated in many exercises as I have learned more about becoming aware of God in me, and learning to quiet my mind and spirit.\u00a0 This past month those practices came in very handy when life became almost overwhelmingly busy.\u00a0 The breathing exercise\u2026[take in a deep breath for four counts, hold it for four counts, and then slowly exhale for four counts all the way out] (repeat three times)\u2026this exercise helped me when my nerves were creeping up; and it helped me when I needed to clear my mind and switch gears.\u00a0 I feel more connected when I practice breathing in God and breathing out all the gunk of life.\u00a0 It helps to connect me with God, and I talk with God more often.\u00a0 I feel like I pray all the time now, but that\u2019s not a bad thing according to Paul in his letter to the Philippians, \u201cDo not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.\u00a0 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

(Philippians 4:6-7).<\/p>\n

I hope we can talk more about this over the summer and engage in some additional practices to help us learn more about this journey to connect deeper with God.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Blessings in your summer journey,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pastor Patti<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May was a busy month with graduations and weddings and finalizing the school year.\u00a0 But it always feels like these summer months are as crazy busy as well.\u00a0 And so, I would really like to focus on the following scripture this summer in our worship and in our daily lives. Acts 17:27 \u2013 [His purpose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8agoY-1GM","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6497,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496\/revisions\/6497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}