Ever Hopeful

When I boot up my laptop, my iGoogle page pops up.  I have one gadget called Google news that has “world,” “U.S.” and “Entertainment” tabs.  (I got rid of the animal gadgets.  I kept forgetting to feed them.)  I keep it open to the U.S. tab.  

It’s been a rough couple of weeks newswise.  And we could go back to the never-settled argument about whether things really are worse or whether we just know more because of technology and social media.  

But I’m still feeling hopeful this morning.  Here’s why:

Psalm 33:8-22
Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.  Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance. The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth;  He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works. No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength.  A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.  Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name.  Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.

Treasure

I dropped my ring today.  No, it didn’t go down a drain or into the toilet.  It hit my tile floor in the closet.  I didn’t lose it; but it did something that surprised me.

I got this ring about 9 years ago.  Steve replaced my gold wedding band with a diamond wedding band.  It’s precious to me because of the years of commitment it represents; it’s valuable monetarily as well as sentimentally.  

I’m a practical, reasonable person.  But somehow when I dropped my beautiful ring, in the back of my mind I expected a little tinkling sound, maybe even a little tune!  It simply sounded like a piece of tin, metal hitting the floor.  Just stuff.

How many times have I absolutely had to have something?  Maybe I was able to just go out and buy it or, more likely, order it off the internet.  Maybe I had to save for months for it.  But, without fail, unless some precious family memories were associated with it, that item found its way to the storage shed, the back of the closet or the thrift shop.  Just stuff.

We’ve all heard the sermon about laying up treasure on earth where moth and rust corrupts.  Some lessons we’ve heard so much that we begin to tune them out.  But twice Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  What is my treasure?  

I know what it is supposed to be.  But at times, it’s been my husband or my kids.  Once it was my house.  It’s been my job, my new car, my books.  And while it is anything other than Jesus, my heart is in the wrong place.

If Jesus is my treasure, He has my heart.  And if He has my heart, I’m building up treasure that will last forever.  No more stuff that will wear out!

Luke 12:33-34; Matthew 6:19-21
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Control ... less

I stood in the checkout line and my eyes fell on the headline in People Magazine:  “Kate’s Baby Plan – A Princess Guide to Pregnancy.”  And I had to smile because we all want to feel like we have some sort of control, right?  I’m guessing she is already pregnant.  But if anyone could control this sort of thing, it would be royalty, wouldn’t it?

 

I was reminded of Genesis when Abraham declared Sarah to be his sister (Genesis 20:1-21:1).  No, not the first time when they went down into Egypt.  This was a second time!  Think of this – at this point Sarah was about ninety years old.  And still so beautiful that Abraham feared for his life if he went into Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur, and claimed to be married to her.  And sure enough Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took her.  But God came to him in a dream and called him a dead man, said that she was a man’s wife.  Abimelech had not come near her and declared his innocence to God, saying that he had been lied to.

 

God told him this was why He had not allowed Abimelech to touch her.  He told him that, if he would restore her to Abraham and Abraham prayed for him, he would live.  But that was not all that was going on.  Verses 17 and 18 tell us that, after Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his wife and servants, the women bore children again.  God had closed their wombs because of Sarah.  That in itself is pretty amazing.  But here’s the stop-you-in-your-tracks detail.  The very next verse, 18:1, tells us that then Sarah, 90-year-old Sarah, conceived Isaac!

 

Control?  I don’t have it; I don’t want it.  As believers, we know that we have a sovereign God who controls every detail of our lives.  We know that He works all things for good because we love Him and have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).   There is an old book called “God Is My Co-Pilot” that was made into a movie.  I don’t want God as a co-pilot; I want Him to be flying the plane!

 

He knows me better than I know myself and He sees the big picture.  And I make a mess of things, every time.  His love is higher than the heavens and everything that touches me has been ordained or allowed by Him.  So the bottom line is do I trust His love and faithfulness?

 

Psalms 103:15-19 and 108:3-5

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD'S love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.  The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all…I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.

The Morning After

Holiday eves excite me.  So much preparation, anticipation, even frustration.  It’s all part of the package of getting ready for the big day tomorrow.  My biggest eve was always Christmas Eve.  That strange mixture of excitement and stress that finally moved out of the house around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon.  At that point, everything was done – except when the kids were small and I was usually still “doing” the next morning as they came into the room where the tree was.  On that particular eve, mid-afternoon brings a sense of great peace and anticipation mixed with love.

 

Now that we are older, the eves are less of everything they were.  Not necessarily a bad thing as long as I mix the memories of perfection with the very real work that was a part.  But there is still some preparation and always the looking forward.

 

This Easter has been, I believe, the most “spiritual” one that I have experienced.  My eve experience actually started on Thursday night.  I carried a real weight that night and all day Friday.  Having the benefit of hindsight and the gospels, I know the outcome!  But God’s grace gave me a very real sense this year of the heaviness of those days.  And Saturday I spent a great deal of time thinking of the hopelessness, the frustration, even the anger of Christ’s disciples and followers.  They probably thought it was wrong to lose hope; but they couldn’t even express their misgivings aloud because it would no doubt cause a serious argument!  Added to that the tears of death and grief, and Saturday was a very dark day.

 

But Sunday!  Oh, the joy that Sunday brings.  Christ is risen!  Our pastor pointed out from Matthew 28:10 that the Savior, the risen King, who had been deserted by his followers and had every right to be angry-to distrust them-sent the message by the women for his “brothers” to meet Him in Galilee.  He reached out to them in love.  His followers met Sunday with the same joy that we do.

 

So now it is Monday, the morning after.  I always dealt with more serious dejection the morning after Christmas.  That week between the 25^th and New Year’s is still a celebrating time.  But for me, the excitement, the fun is over.  It’s like having cold weather only in January and February, but none in November and December.  I spend the morning wondering if I have the energy to face a house that looks shot out of a cannon, musing over whether the neighbors truly will talk if I leave the tree up until April.

 

I felt a little tinge of sadness this morning.  So much celebration and so many good times yesterday.  But almost immediately my spirit lifted.  Because I will spend eternity with my Lord, with King Jesus!  And He reigns today, this minute.  So much to be excited about.  And we will never have any more mornings after!

 

Revelation 21:1-5a

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them.  They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.   He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

Making Sense

Two small pots sit on my kitchen window sill.  One of them is a basil plant that keeps us supplied for our favorite appetizer, caprese salad, or as Steve and I call it, tomatoes and mozz.   As I put it up in the window this morning, I noticed that one of the leaves was getting brown; so I pulled it from the stem.  And the air was instantly filled with that beautiful basil smell.

I was hit with the fact that the Father provided so many small treasures for us to enjoy through our senses.  So today’s blog is an ode to my favorite sense-satisfiers.

Sight:  My sweet man snoozing in his leather recliner way too early in the evening after a hard day battling wind on the golf course.  The Spanish moss in my live oak whipping back and forth from that same wind.  My Claire bent over a jigsaw puzzle.  Jake’s eyes lighting up when we surprise him with a visit.  Snowflakes floating.  The easy glide of an egret across the lake.  An owl sharing a long, intimate stare with me.  Sunset streaks of pink and purple.

Sound:  The soft snuffle of Chloe’s snore.  The delight of one of Maggie’s songs coming on Pandora.  Waves rolling in.  The precision of a Bach invention.  The soft patter of rain on the patio.  Laughter.  The lonesome sound of a single Canadian goose.  The mockingbird that wakes me up and somehow I don’t mind.

Touch:  The softness of my down comforter as I pull it up under my chin.  The feel of puzzle pieces that fit just so.  The breeze that floats in through the open window.  The slight sting of a hot shower on a cold day.  The soft down on a newborn baby’s head.  The feel of a brisk, cold wind on my cheeks when the rest of me is wrapped in warmth.

Smell:  Homey goodness seeping from Steve’s breadmaker.  My gardenia bush outside the front door.  Citrus housecleaning supplies.  Fresh-mown grass.  Rain coming and the freshness after.  Roses, lilac, wisteria.  Cinnamon cider simmering on the stove on a fall day.  Freshly laundered sheets.

Taste:  The first juicy peach of the season.  Chocolate – milk, dark, with nuts, with nuts and fruit, without nuts, I could go on and on.  Warm cookies straight from the oven.  A tall glass of cold milk with those cookies.  Fried chicken.  Red velvet cake.  Lemonade, slightly tart.  Cheese and grapes.  Steve’s fresh-baked bread.  Sweet peach tea.

Open your eyes!  Taste and touch.  Go out and listen for the details of this amazing world and have a blessed, a truly blessed day.

1Chronicles 16:32, 33; Psalm 13:61; 66:5
Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!  Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth…I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me…Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!

On Looking Up

This blog finds me where I would prefer it not, doing what only a great love for my dogs keeps from being a dreaded chore.  I was picking my way across the side yard and entered the back, methodically walking in wide lanes picking up my dogs’ “surprises.”  My mind was in neutral – no thoughts one way or the other – when I looked up just in time for a great blue heron to go sweeping by a few feet away at eye level.  I turned and watched as he flew across the lake and disappeared behind a house.

I was able to enjoy his flight for a few sweet seconds and he was gone.  I immediately realized that if I had been looking up the whole time, I would have seen him approaching and how exciting that would have been!  (Understanding that “eyes up” in this instance would have been a risky way to go and that my shoes might not have appreciated the lesson.)

But the example stands.  How many times I have advised a friend, “Keep your eyes up!  Don’t look at your circumstances.”  And how many more times have I ignored that same advice myself and gotten mired down in the details of my life.  Sometimes I’m walking through by rote, one foot in front of the other, doing chores, running errands, not thinking – just doing.  Occasionally I remember to carry on my day-to-day without arguing or complaining (Phil. 2:14), but mulling over some little details that nag at my mind and bring me down.  In short, letting my normal circumstances or life’s trials rob me of the joy that waits whenever I encounter Jesus.  

Whenever I imagine Him standing there, smiling and eager to visit just because He loves me so, my spirit lifts, the circumstances fade away, and somehow He has once again taken my burdens up to carry Himself.  Eyes up!  Don’t miss the blue herons that God sends your way.

Psalm 34:8-10
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.  The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Giving My Strength

Temperatures have plunged – well, in South Carolina they more take a little jump off the back step – but they are at the coldest they will probably be this year.  We hole up in our houses and sleep like bears when we can.  Time doesn’t slow down the way it does in the summer.  Where does it go?  It seems to slip through my fingers more during the winter.

Is my time my own?  Deuteronomy 6:5 says I am to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  Jesus repeated that in Matthew 22:37-38, calling it the first and greatest commandment.  The first of the Ten Commandments is “You shall have no other Gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)  So this is fairly clear – no other gods, no idols, complete devotion to God.

“Devotion” sounds more like a feeling kind of thing.   Some days I do better at that than others.  And I know it’s not how well I move under my own steam but how much I rely on God to get me through.  But some days I think of Him, love Him, pour my heart and soul into Him.  I’m trying to develop that mindset more and more.

It’s that whole strength thing that hangs me up.  Because I’m pretty sure that one is going to involve my body.  So when I’m sitting comfortably in my rocker on the porch and I see my neighbor in the yard, I really can’t ignore that impulse to go and chat for a minute or two.  When I’m putting off cleaning that closet, knowing I need to do it, my whole strength is not involved in obedience.  ALL my strength.  That involves every single thing I do – housework, fun stuff, reading, studying, praying and cooking.

If I’m loving God, I’m obeying Him by serving and by spending time wisely.  And yeah, I know.  I’m retired and the hours just stretch ahead in blissful plenty.  But here’s the deal:  to the person given much, much will be required (Luke 12:48).  It’s not a problem of my knowing what it is He wants me to do on a minute by minute basis.  I just flat out sometimes don’t want to do it! 

Loving Him with all my strength?  Not as often as I should.  Can I get an exemption from physical exercise?  Not so much.  It seems pretty clear.  Now I just have to figure out how to do it without “grumbling or complaining.”