Newsletter June 2026 - First Presbyterian Ridgewood, NJ

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the people who made an impact on my faith formation. As you might expect, there were the religious professionals: two pastors and a Director of Christian Education in my home church, several authors, as well as the Dean of the Chapel at Grove City College, whose Sunday evening chapel sermons I began listening to while still in high school. No doubt, each of them made an impact.

Yet, the one person who most impacted my faith formation was not a religious professional. No seminary degree. No title. No publishing credits. Rather, it was my mother. Bobbi Ballantine was someone whose faith was on display during the ordinary days of her life, and I had a front-row seat. My mom was someone who lived the double love commandment, loving God and neighbor – even when loving neighbor could, at times, be challenging.

The thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how my mother’s faith was fed, and how the practice of her faith was sustained, through her commitment to the regular reading of scripture and prayer. Her prayers were personal, but sometimes she shared with me what she had been praying. Often she would give thanks for long lists of blessings which she attributed to God and God’s love. Although in my eyes, she didn’t do a whole lot of sinning, when necessary she would pray asking for forgiveness. She would pray for direction when faced with a decision.

But there is one prayer, with which she often began her day: Lord, what would you like me to do for you today? As I recall, my mother’s embrace of this prayer was inspired by a speaker during a Presbyterian Women’s event. And once she began to pray it, exciting things began to happen.

Most notable was a phone call from a special education teacher, who invited my mom to apply for a newly created position as a teacher’s aide in her class. Mom’s first inclination was to run from this opportunity because she didn’t believe she was qualified. But the teacher had seen my mom in action as a lunchroom supervisor and noticed how well she connected with kids – all kids, even special needs kids. But more importantly, my mom had prayed, asking God what she could do for God? And this invitation to serve special needs children seemed to her to be God’s answer. She applied, was hired, and served as a special education aide for 17 years, making a positive impact in the lives of countless children. Well into her retirement, occasionally she would hear from some of them. And invariably, they would thank her for her belief in them and her patience – which helped them on their path to success.

I recently ran across a quote from the writings of Henri Nouwen, which to me accurately describes my mother’s prayer life. Nouwen writes: The faithful discipline of prayer reveals to you that you are the blessed one and gives you the power to bless others. May you and I experience that double blessing through prayer!

Grace and Peace,

Bruce

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