Living in Joy

I was like a child by His side, I was delighted every day, enjoying His presence all the time … (Proverbs 8:30)

 

 

I woke up with some anxious thoughts this morning. Getting a cancer diagnosis, no matter how small, can do that to a person. I started worrying about the details of the procedure. What all needs to get done prior to surgery. Will there be pain? Will the numbness wear off too soon? Will there be delays? Good grief! But then a very calming thought crossed my mind: I KNOW EVERYTHING THAT NEEDS TO BE KNOWN. IN ADVANCE, I KNOW WHAT TO DO. ALL IS SAFE AND SECURE WITH ME. I, THE LORD, HAVE GUIDED ALL INVOLVED THROUGH THIS VERY THING TOO MANY TIMES TO COUNT. DO NOT FEAR. I, THE LORD, WILL INSTRUCT THE OTHERS ON ALL THERE IS TO DO.

 

We have all had plenty of opportunities in our lives to trust the Lord to see us through. And we are alive today to remember and recall His goodness in the past. Surely, most assuredly, He is the Help we need again and again. Remember the sweetness of trusting in the Lord …

 

Thank You, dear Lord, for getting us through the bad weather; that everyone was good and kind and gentle and informative at the cancer clinic; that things are getting scheduled and arranged quickly. Help is at my fingertips. All kinds of love, prayer and support. And a good husband too.  You have been abundant, Lord, in every way. Thanks and praise, my dear Lord. My Rock. My everything.

 

Hopefully I see You as more than Comforter, more than Fixer. You are Lord of my life, my Master Whom I serve. You give me purpose, kingdom purpose and direction. And I am Your maidservant. But there should also be great joy in our relationship. More than just seeing me through every speed bump in life. We should be so much more to each other. Humbled by Your glory yet as intimate and close as a Brother and Friend. Enjoying life together. Its beauty, its tastes, its sounds and thinking of Your Presence in those happy moments. Sharing those moments with You right then and there. Do I include You in the simple joys of my daily living or do I just seek You when a need arises? When I need an anxiety-fire put out … Do I share the joys of life with You as quickly as I would – say with a grandchild? More than a Comforter in my hour of need, more than the answer to every worry, problem or fear. You are my Joy and Delight in this present day. May I relish and treasure Your intimate friendship. For we have a strong bond that nothing can ever separate. (Romans 8:38-39)

It all takes time

Then God led Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky. There are so many stars you cannot count them. Your descendants also will be too many to count.”

 

Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith, and that faith made him right with God. (Genesis 15: 5-6)

 

It takes time. Anyone who has ever handcrafted a big project like this – knows. It takes time and perseverance. And the beauty of hope. The wait for completion may seem long. But then the, “It is finished!” moment arrives and everyone glories in amazement. The seemingly impossible has happened.

 

I didn’t really think I was capable of such a huge undertaking. But row by row, day by day, I stuck to the instruction sheet … I learned new things. I became stronger in confidence and belief. With the support of others, I met the challenges of not understanding and of doubt. Journeyed on to the next step.

 

And then one day as I neared the end – I put it away. For months it layed in a bag in the corner of the room. The job of sewing it all together was beyond my skill level – I was sure. Disappointment in myself, my lack of faith, my own impatience …my faltering in hope of actual completion. Did the great Abram have similar feelings? I’m thinking he did.

 

It’s interesting to note that the stitch used in this afghan is called the “star stitch”. Interesting because of how perfectly it ties in with God’s promise to Abram. Look at the picture closely. Can you even begin to count the number of star stitches? Yet the seemingly impossible has happened and all the stars needed to make the complete afghan are there. It just took time. And despite my lapse in time, it made it to completion.

 

God makes promises to us as well. Stars can remind us of His faithfulness to bring all things to completion (Philippians 1:6)

 

Some things are worth the wait. The time. Certainly God is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Trustworthy Friend

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

 

 

 

When I tell people some of the things I survived while in Navy boot camp, they can hardly believe their ears. What stress and strain compared to how I live now days. Getting up at 4:00am to run as a group; standing for hours in the hot sun; experiencing the gas chamber, a building on fire, and attention to detail to the nth degree. But I am speaking of my own personal experience. I was there.

It may be a little harder for them to fathom a recollection I tell concerning my grandparents. How they came across the ocean in a small boat and sharks circled them and there wasn’t enough food. But my grandma wrote it all down. So people who know me, trust me, and are simply amazed over such a story.

If I go farther back in my genealogy, I can probably pull up more stories, and by modern technology even dig up some documents for support. But at some point, what I hear has happened in my family needs to be taken at face value. I may need to believe without seeing. I may need to believe the ancestor who believed the ancestor who told the story of the one who experienced it. Faith and trust play a bigger role because I have no real eye-witness evidence. Nor do I have a tangible relationship to rely on.

As adults, we would like to think that with enough evidence and plausible factual support, we’re capable of understanding anything. And especially when it comes to God-questions.  Why do people suffer? Why do people die when they do? But the truth is, there is plenty of stuff I don’t understand even after being taught. One example: I can’t get my head around math in its various forms. But I believe the teacher understands it. What’s Greek to me the teacher fully understands. Must we experience / eye witness in order to fully accept its existence as truth?

 

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My way,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

God is all-wise and all-knowing, meaning there is some stuff He knows that we will never get our head around. Are you okay with that? Can we trust that the Loving God we trust with other things has His hand on all things, including the inconceivable? Yes. Yes! When we have a relationship with Him, we can trust the Lord in all things. He is bigger, better, greater beyond our wildest imagination. We can stand in faith and live secure and at peace in that knowledge. Turn our eyes and our heart to the God Who is great in knowledge and great in love – even in the things we do not understand. We can believe, have faith and good, certain hope in that which we do not see. For He is our trustworthy Friend.

 

Jesus and me and the bumblebee

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:11-12)

 

 

I can’t wait for the warmer weather to arrive! I long for the sight of a field of flowers; big, tall trees of green; blue skies; white puffy clouds and bright sunshine. My eyes are like a wide angle lens on a camera – taking it all in. Then zooming in on the leaves, even the bark! And the flowers! Each and every pretty little flower. Zooming in to the very texture of the velvety petals … and the seemingly giant bumblebee! Whaa …? Bees sting! Bees hurt! And close up they have an ugly face! Focusing on that – all sense of joy and peace are gone. Zoomed in so that its ugly face is all I see … no beauty in my narrowed vision. But when I zoom back out again, the ugly face gets lost in the beauty again. Still there I’m sure. The bumblebee is still very much there but amidst all the other natural beauty, its weight, its magnitude is greatly diminished.

 

Me. How often do I zero in on my mistakes, failures and sin? How often do I zoom in until it’s all I can see of me? But because of Christ living in me, there is more to me than my sins. Are my sins still “there”? Well, yes. They happened. But as a single teardrop can get lost in the ocean, as the bumblebee’s ugly face is lost in the midst of flowers and trees and sky – so our sins do not totally define us.

 

Jesus. As far as the east is from the west. The ultimate zoom out. For you.

 

Do as Jesus does. For yourself. And for the others you meet. Seek the beauty of the whole. Realize we are whole persons made up of a lot of things. Sin is one thing. Broaden your view and see the Christ in you and your neighbor. Take it all in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second and third chances

As a prisoner of the Lord, I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own.  Always be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each other and love each other.  Try your best to let God’s Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3 CEV)

 

I can’t imagine being a school teacher these days with 20+ students in the room. All needing to know what I already know. And needing to know how to break it down in its simplest form; yet not knowing how to express in a myriad of ways because unfortunately, we don’t all learn the same way. Alone with a book for some; hands-on examples for others. But I really want to talk about adults and learning.

 

Adults learning new things, whether its knitting a sock or new responsibilities of a volunteer position, we know that not everyone masters the skills needed in the same way, in the same amount of time, with the same background experiences. Take for example the knitting of a sock. Type “A” maybe able to read a how-to book and work it out just fine on their own. But type “B” may prefer to go to an online video source. And still for others, type “C”, they need one-on-one, sit by my side help before becoming confident in their abilities. Now if you’re a type “A” person, I imagine it takes quite a bit of patience to work alongside, much less train, a type “C” – what some may refer to as a slow learner. It may be they were slow because you tried to teach in the “A” or “B” way. And how equally frustrating for the “C” type learner. Thinking they can’t “get it” fast enough. Doubts rise and confidences falls. Will I ever … or should I just give up now? Me? I don’t see myself as extraordinary in knowledge or skill in any particular field. So if I’m able to pick up on something, surely the rest of the world can do it! You all must be smarter than me. Have you ever caught yourself thinking this way? But the truth is, for children and adults alike, we are capable if the teacher is gentle in spirit and can adapt to the way a person learns. We certainly expect it of our school teachers. Do we need to have the same kind of patience and awareness of other ways to learn in our work places, our churches, and our volunteer organizations? I’m thinking so. Mistakes made need gentle direction, explained or shown in the different way - and fewer adamant demands. Learning is a process. Yet so is patient teaching - a process. Let’s keep each other hopeful for future success and in becoming useful tools. We are all needed. Every one of us. That’s the way God planned it.