{"id":1467,"date":"2013-01-04T04:11:49","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T09:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=1467"},"modified":"2013-01-04T04:11:49","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T09:11:49","slug":"john-the-baptist-tough-and-sweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2013\/01\/04\/john-the-baptist-tough-and-sweet\/","title":{"rendered":"John the Baptist: Tough and sweet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-920\" title=\"Advent 2012\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2012\/11\/Advent-2012.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"105\" height=\"150\" \/><span style=\"color: #800080\"><strong>Matthew 3:1-12<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080\"><strong>Question for Reflection:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nIn what ways do you have \u201ca tough exterior\u201d which prevents others from knowing your \u201csweet interior\u201d? Are there ways you can balance the two realities more?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080\"><strong>Prayer for the day:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nGod we are simultaneously frustrated and pleased by our dualistic nature. Our tough exteriors protect us, but that protection can lead to isolation. Our sweet interior selves are shy and vulnerable, yet we know great growth can come through examining our \u201csoft spots.\u201d Give us strength to hold these two sides of ourselves in balance, and guide us as we share ourselves with others every day.<\/p>\n<p>~ Becky Ullom Naugle, Director of Youth &amp; Young Adult Ministry<\/p>\n<address style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><em>Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year&#8217;s <span style=\"color: #800080\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brethrenpress.com\/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=8488\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #800080\">Advent Devotional<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>written by Walt Wiltschek, campus pastor of Manchester University. (Available from\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800080\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.brethrenpress.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #800080\">Brethren Press<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in print and E-Book formats) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Walt&#8217;s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on t<\/em><em>his\u00a0<\/em><em>blog.<\/em><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 3:1-12 Question for Reflection: In what ways do you have \u201ca tough exterior\u201d which prevents others from knowing your \u201csweet interior\u201d? Are there ways you can balance the two realities more? Prayer for the day: God we are simultaneously frustrated and pleased by our dualistic nature. Our tough exteriors protect us, but that protection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[54,112,1109],"class_list":["post-1467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","tag-advent","tag-balance","tag-strength"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}