Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for the June book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
If laundry is taken down to a certain basement, watch your step. Be especially careful because a very large log is in the bowels of this house. This tree trunk, well it’s a marriage counselor.
When visiting a long time friend in Massachusetts, he gave us a tour of Cape Ann. As we drove past landscapes, seascapes and landmarks, our host Chris Larsen, told us tidbits of information about locales and locals.
As we passed one home, Chris said his grandmother and step-grandfather had lived there. Then Chris told us about the earlier marriage advice his granddad gave him. He invited Chris into the basement, and on the way said, “Always let the wife win.”
In the basement, to Chris’ surprise, sat a heavy log with spikes protruding. His granddad said whenever he felt marriage related frustrations, he retreated to pound a heavy-duty piece of metal into the log. “By the time you’re finished hammering in the spike your frustration is gone.”
It doesn’t take too long after wedding vows before irritants surface. For married couples who draw battle lines, things as small as a muddied kitchen floor or an over budget purchase can cause words and worse to be hurled.
A wise wife knows words can wound like arrows, and that “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). An astute man teaches his family forgiveness—he leads in charity.
When both parties yield to God’s love, it doesn’t matter if the couple met in Kindergarten or through a marriage broker. God’s lived-out love always trumps backgrounds and personalities. One man said he’d just like to go to sleep and let God create a wife for him. Yep, he knew it would cost him a rib.
With nearly 41 marriage years under the same roof, I recommend two loving habits to those who long to strengthen marriages: respect and common courtesies. Respect the contributions that each person brings to the relationship. No spousal belittling allowed in private, in public or behind backs.
Also, work common courtesies into every day: Thank you. You’re welcome. May I get you anything? Sure, I’ll scratch your back.
All problems have solutions, as a novice husband learned when he asked his new bride, “Now that we are married, do you think you will be able to live on my small income?"
"Of course, dearest, no trouble," she said. "But what will you live on?"
Maybe a trip to the hardware store is a good idea. Pick up the large bag of spikes.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Appreciate Dads
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for the June book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
My husband, David, told me about a very tired truck driver dad. Twelve at the time, David was with his dad at the Houston port to buy six barrels of molasses for their dairy farm. They were paying for their purchase inside an office where truck drivers came to finish their paperwork.
The trucking office would give each semi-truck driver a cold Coca Cola, in a thick green glass bottle. The cool drink helped offset the blistering summer heat and long waits to get loaded or unloaded. Drivers could drink it in the office or pay the bottle deposit and take the refreshing drink with them.
This particular driver had a wife and child in his truck. In 1959, the 18 wheelers were not what they are today. In 2008, some of the long haul trucks have luxury walk-in sleepers and the berths can transform into a sitting area. Now, trucks have power steering, air-ride seats, air conditioning and room to drive comfortably.
Truck cabs of yesteryear were small and rarely air conditioned. Just steering a truck around town on a humid Houston day might cause the toughest man to long for a different job. The single, cot-size sleep area could only be accessed by climbing through an opening between the cab and sleeper, the entry a bit larger than a welcome mat.
Back to the dad in the freight office, he asked if he could buy an additional Coke and then paid two bottle deposits. My husband, even as young as he was, noticed the driver’s weariness, perspiration, slumping shoulders. He then watched as the dad went to his truck and gave one cold drink to his wife and one to his child.
Too often we forget the hard work that dads do: the long hours, the sleepless nights when bills to grocer, doctor, repairmen and such don't match income. Their health may even be compromised so the wife and kids can live a more comfortable life. And for the most part they aren't whiners. They don't want hero awards. They just want respect and love from the ones they are honor bound to shield.
A Nomadic tribe says that a woman is the tent pole. If they are, then the men are the fabric that protects and holds it all together. They provide security and courage and literally lay down their lives daily for their families.
I have a very soft spot in my heart for labor intensive work that men do, whether they work at computers or at the helm of draglines digging gravel pits.
Give thanks for your dad. Remember most dads just want to be hugged and thanked for what they supply. And give them an additional kiss on the cheek for those extras, the times they handed their icy colas to you.
Many thanks, dads, and Happy Father’s Day.
My husband, David, told me about a very tired truck driver dad. Twelve at the time, David was with his dad at the Houston port to buy six barrels of molasses for their dairy farm. They were paying for their purchase inside an office where truck drivers came to finish their paperwork.
The trucking office would give each semi-truck driver a cold Coca Cola, in a thick green glass bottle. The cool drink helped offset the blistering summer heat and long waits to get loaded or unloaded. Drivers could drink it in the office or pay the bottle deposit and take the refreshing drink with them.
This particular driver had a wife and child in his truck. In 1959, the 18 wheelers were not what they are today. In 2008, some of the long haul trucks have luxury walk-in sleepers and the berths can transform into a sitting area. Now, trucks have power steering, air-ride seats, air conditioning and room to drive comfortably.
Truck cabs of yesteryear were small and rarely air conditioned. Just steering a truck around town on a humid Houston day might cause the toughest man to long for a different job. The single, cot-size sleep area could only be accessed by climbing through an opening between the cab and sleeper, the entry a bit larger than a welcome mat.
Back to the dad in the freight office, he asked if he could buy an additional Coke and then paid two bottle deposits. My husband, even as young as he was, noticed the driver’s weariness, perspiration, slumping shoulders. He then watched as the dad went to his truck and gave one cold drink to his wife and one to his child.
Too often we forget the hard work that dads do: the long hours, the sleepless nights when bills to grocer, doctor, repairmen and such don't match income. Their health may even be compromised so the wife and kids can live a more comfortable life. And for the most part they aren't whiners. They don't want hero awards. They just want respect and love from the ones they are honor bound to shield.
A Nomadic tribe says that a woman is the tent pole. If they are, then the men are the fabric that protects and holds it all together. They provide security and courage and literally lay down their lives daily for their families.
I have a very soft spot in my heart for labor intensive work that men do, whether they work at computers or at the helm of draglines digging gravel pits.
Give thanks for your dad. Remember most dads just want to be hugged and thanked for what they supply. And give them an additional kiss on the cheek for those extras, the times they handed their icy colas to you.
Many thanks, dads, and Happy Father’s Day.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Tomorrow, Tomorrow
May Winner of book drawing: Alta G. from Texas
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for the June book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
Coming in September: A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts
Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify the Holiday by coauthor Cathy Messecar.
Full color hardback gift book. Check out what others are saying about the book
"Fiddle deedee, I'll worry about that tomorrow," said Scarlett O’Hara, the heroine in Gone With the Wind. On that occasion she shoved her worries to the next calendar day, and she has many present day cousin-procrastinators, including me.
Procrastination means putting off a project until a later date, especially habitually doing so. Delaying decisions, avoiding messy activities or putting off confrontations is as common as sunrise for some folk, but strategists have developed helpful solutions.
Hypnotists claim they can de-procrastinate dawdlers. The Japanese developed psychological methods for dealing with the hesitant. Books and CDs offer self-help. But will habitual delayers follow through by buying the products, and then reading or listening? That’ll probably happen tomorrow, too.
Support groups exist for stallers. I imagine attending a meeting and feeling the warm welcome. "Hello, my name is Cathy, and I’m a procrastinator." These groups actually exist and sponsor preventive programs where the got-it-together folks mentor those lacking initiative.
Written centuries ago, wise Solomon’s advice is still relevant today, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might"(Ecclesiastes 9:10). The same verse in The Message is, "Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily!"
God’s system in the natural world is a good pattern to follow. The continual action of spring, summer, fall and winter keeps the earth recycling, aiding it to be more tidy and functional. Nature’s cycle of growth, producing, and rest is worthy of imitation. If any season skipped its timeslot, chaos would reign. Timeliness is important.
Most have experienced sheer joy after confronting a dreaded chore or problem. Cleaning out a garage, un-cluttering a file cabinet or ridding any homestead of debris puts the mind at ease. A more carefree spirit cloaks shoulders when relationships are righted or hard work produces debt reduction.
Tackling slothful habits is commendable. Closet cleaning, e-mail clear-out, house painting, eating healthier foods, exercising — are any of those on tomorrow’s list? Fred Brooks observed, "How does a project get to be a year behind schedule? One day at a time."
Put into practice the advice from Solomon. He said far-sighted folks will tackle tasks at hand. He knew that put-off projects have a built in growth hormone. They loom larger and larger in thought and reality.
Someone said, "At a steady rate, we procrastinate. I’ve only this to say—if tomorrow ever gets here, it’ll be a busy day!" Tomorrow or today? Task accomplished or snowballing frustration? Has anything been shoved to the bottom of the list for way too long? Today is perfect for sticking out your foot and tripping that old enemy Procrastination.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Ageless Light
Book Drawing: Leave a comment at here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an May 31st book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
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As one ages, there are benefits and drawbacks. Of course, one of the minuses is that bodies don’t look or work like they used to. Aging author Patsy Clairmont said younger friend Anita Renfro saw a bumper sticker on an old jalopy. She recommended that Patsy have a T-shirt made up with the same slogan: Honk if any parts fall off.
Art Linkletter, a TV host from yesteryears, said he asked a 100 year old woman the greatest advantage of aging. Her answer, “Not as much peer pressure.”
For me, one of the pluses of aging is longtime relationships with God and friends, folks who have known God a long time. If the ages were added together from the super senior Bible class I attend, there’d be several thousand years of wisdom and rubbing shoulders with God.
Pat S., a longtime friend (take notice, I didn’t say “old” friend) and I chatted about a favorite scripture of hers from Psalm 18. David wrote, “You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great” (35).
This Psalm with 50 verses is full of David’s glimpses of God. A notation about the Psalm tells that David sang the 50 stanza praise to God whenever God rescued him from his enemies. The first words in the song, “I love you, O LORD, my strength.”
Throughout the psalm, David’s timbre reflects God’s protection. God is referred to in metaphorical terms as a shield and stronghold, and he is portrayed as parting the heavens, coming down, and holding his children steady so that “ankles do not turn” (36).
David also depicts God as a designer of spacious places on earth—stretches of life, eases of mind without big stresses. I’ve been there—from oasis moments to days and weeks when peace reigns.
I aged numerically this week. When my dad phoned on my birthday, he reminded me that the hospital and doctor bill to get me into the world was only $90.00. I guess that pretty well dates me. I am antiquish.
Age drove over and left tread marks, and I’ve learned a few things. Crows feet don’t hurt. Spandex is good for saggy parts. Longtime friends are good for sagging spirits. Prune juice isn’t all that bad, and temper tantrums can happen at any age.
In Psalm 18, David also acknowledged God as a personal light source. “You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning.” Even though I don’t feel old, the mirror reflects the truth. The foundation and façade just aren’t what they used to be. I really don’t mind this spacious place of growing older—just as long as God keeps stooping to earth, trimming the wick and shining through.
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As one ages, there are benefits and drawbacks. Of course, one of the minuses is that bodies don’t look or work like they used to. Aging author Patsy Clairmont said younger friend Anita Renfro saw a bumper sticker on an old jalopy. She recommended that Patsy have a T-shirt made up with the same slogan: Honk if any parts fall off.
Art Linkletter, a TV host from yesteryears, said he asked a 100 year old woman the greatest advantage of aging. Her answer, “Not as much peer pressure.”
For me, one of the pluses of aging is longtime relationships with God and friends, folks who have known God a long time. If the ages were added together from the super senior Bible class I attend, there’d be several thousand years of wisdom and rubbing shoulders with God.
Pat S., a longtime friend (take notice, I didn’t say “old” friend) and I chatted about a favorite scripture of hers from Psalm 18. David wrote, “You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great” (35).
This Psalm with 50 verses is full of David’s glimpses of God. A notation about the Psalm tells that David sang the 50 stanza praise to God whenever God rescued him from his enemies. The first words in the song, “I love you, O LORD, my strength.”
Throughout the psalm, David’s timbre reflects God’s protection. God is referred to in metaphorical terms as a shield and stronghold, and he is portrayed as parting the heavens, coming down, and holding his children steady so that “ankles do not turn” (36).
David also depicts God as a designer of spacious places on earth—stretches of life, eases of mind without big stresses. I’ve been there—from oasis moments to days and weeks when peace reigns.
I aged numerically this week. When my dad phoned on my birthday, he reminded me that the hospital and doctor bill to get me into the world was only $90.00. I guess that pretty well dates me. I am antiquish.
Age drove over and left tread marks, and I’ve learned a few things. Crows feet don’t hurt. Spandex is good for saggy parts. Longtime friends are good for sagging spirits. Prune juice isn’t all that bad, and temper tantrums can happen at any age.
In Psalm 18, David also acknowledged God as a personal light source. “You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning.” Even though I don’t feel old, the mirror reflects the truth. The foundation and façade just aren’t what they used to be. I really don’t mind this spacious place of growing older—just as long as God keeps stooping to earth, trimming the wick and shining through.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Song Prayers-May 23
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for a May book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
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Have you ever had one of those weeks when you heard from many friends who had sudden problems in health, circumstances or family? This week was one of those. Through the prayer requests, I learned a different way to pray and remember others.
When aiding another with comfort, I like to pass along a word from the Bible—some truth or faith builder that will give them confidence in God’s care. This week, the two scriptures that came to mind were Numbers 6:24-26 and Zephaniah 3:17.
In the book of Numbers there is a well known blessing given by God to the Hebrew priests, who in turn pronounced the same over the Israelites: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
God said the blessing would net big results, “So, they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them” (vs. 27).
The other blessing was spoken by Prophet Zephaniah, who said to a discouraged people, “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (3:17).
In the past, songwriters adapted both of these scriptures into lyrics and set them to music. Have you experienced hearing a tune and then it stuck in your mind for days? That’s what I found happening with the two songs based on Numbers and Zephaniah scriptures.
When those recurring melodies surfaced while driving or sweeping, they became reminders to pray. While running errands or doing chores, I hummed the blessings or sang them aloud. The frequenting melodies triggered thoughts toward my needy friends, some in dire needs, both physical and spiritual.
Keeping other’s prayer requests in mind is sometimes difficult. Most of us have multiple incoming attention-stealers—cell phones, pagers, email, regular mail, 24 hour news. Or we may have health issues, long work hours, or stresses that drain our outward charitable thoughts. All of these can detract and derail good prayer intentions for others.
This week I still prayed in my usual ways, but some of my prayers were sung, asking God to bless Lynne, Brenda, Roland, Eric, Kristi, Leslie and others. I envision those prayers more like a pitch pipe, a starting note that prompted God, the real healer, the real singer to quiet these folks with his love.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Intervention
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an May book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
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In early April I presented at a women’s renewal for a church in Tennessee. My daughter accompanied me and the hosting women showed Smokey-mountain hospitality the entire weekend. The program included a question and answer session with me fielding the questions.
One of the questions revolved around the work of men in the church and how to inspire more men to be passionate about the cause of Christ, to step up to leadership in homes, community and church. My immediate response was inadequate. Actually it wasn’t much of a response, but more of a deferment.
If you’ve ever presented or taught an adult Bible class, you may have wrangled with afterthoughts of, Oh; I should have said this or that. Later contemplation and study usually reveals better answers.
After some thought, I recalled wise guidance given to me years ago about spiritual growth, whether men or women. As participants in the body of Christ, the church, we can encourage and teach, but true growth in Christ comes from the gardener Jesus, the vine keeper.
After he left earth, he sent the Comforter to the earth, the Holy Sprit. Some of the best advice to families, husbands, wives, or singles is that we cannot be the Holy Spirit to those around us.
No amount of nagging, coercion, whining or bribing will produce a godly person. Beside, it’s not God’s way. God helps us desire a closer relationship to him. As he loves us, and we experience that love, we long to know more about God and become his son or daughter. He sent Jesus to earth as a human so that we could actually “see” God interacting, loving his neighbors.
We all have flaws and worthy qualities. In any relationship where one person longs for the maturity of another, the very best thing that person can do is ask God to become a personal tutor. Someone said it this way, “It is a far better thing to talk to God about a man, than to talk to a man about God.”
James expressed it this way, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed” (5:16, The Message).
Before we pray for the remaking of another, we also confess our shortcomings and ask for guidance, looking for knotty beamed lumber in our lives before we whisk broom sawdust out of someone else’s life.
What kind of relationships would be fostered if James’ words took root and flourished in each life? Families, businesses, schools, governments, each man and each woman could harvest bushel baskets of wholeness and healing.
Want to inspire someone to reach higher? Depend on Jesus and the Holy Spirit to intervene. Confess, share, ask forgiveness, pray for the other person and expect good returns on your prayer-planting.
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In early April I presented at a women’s renewal for a church in Tennessee. My daughter accompanied me and the hosting women showed Smokey-mountain hospitality the entire weekend. The program included a question and answer session with me fielding the questions.
One of the questions revolved around the work of men in the church and how to inspire more men to be passionate about the cause of Christ, to step up to leadership in homes, community and church. My immediate response was inadequate. Actually it wasn’t much of a response, but more of a deferment.
If you’ve ever presented or taught an adult Bible class, you may have wrangled with afterthoughts of, Oh; I should have said this or that. Later contemplation and study usually reveals better answers.
After some thought, I recalled wise guidance given to me years ago about spiritual growth, whether men or women. As participants in the body of Christ, the church, we can encourage and teach, but true growth in Christ comes from the gardener Jesus, the vine keeper.
After he left earth, he sent the Comforter to the earth, the Holy Sprit. Some of the best advice to families, husbands, wives, or singles is that we cannot be the Holy Spirit to those around us.
No amount of nagging, coercion, whining or bribing will produce a godly person. Beside, it’s not God’s way. God helps us desire a closer relationship to him. As he loves us, and we experience that love, we long to know more about God and become his son or daughter. He sent Jesus to earth as a human so that we could actually “see” God interacting, loving his neighbors.
We all have flaws and worthy qualities. In any relationship where one person longs for the maturity of another, the very best thing that person can do is ask God to become a personal tutor. Someone said it this way, “It is a far better thing to talk to God about a man, than to talk to a man about God.”
James expressed it this way, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed” (5:16, The Message).
Before we pray for the remaking of another, we also confess our shortcomings and ask for guidance, looking for knotty beamed lumber in our lives before we whisk broom sawdust out of someone else’s life.
What kind of relationships would be fostered if James’ words took root and flourished in each life? Families, businesses, schools, governments, each man and each woman could harvest bushel baskets of wholeness and healing.
Want to inspire someone to reach higher? Depend on Jesus and the Holy Spirit to intervene. Confess, share, ask forgiveness, pray for the other person and expect good returns on your prayer-planting.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Motherhood
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for a May book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
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One of the bravest women mentioned in the Old Testament is the Hebrew mother of Moses, Jochebed. She lived under cruel taskmasters, her people enslaved for hundreds of years. When the slaves’ numbers grew, Egyptian officials feared that the slaves might join enemy forces and cause an uprising.
On the sly, Pharaoh wanted the Hebrew midwives to kill any male child at delivery. But the women feared God more than the king’s edict and refused. When questioned about their disobedience, they reported the vigorous Hebrew women had delivered by the time they reached the woman in labor.
Those midwives, who feared Jehovah and guided new life into the world, could not smother newly sanctioned breaths. So, the ruling dynasty gave an order to all his people, “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile” (Exodus 1:22).
In those mean circumstances, Jochebed, whose name means “Jehovah-glorified,” delivered a son. Did her heart pound with fear when she delivered a son? Had she plotted to spare this baby? Did she expect the worse?
By the time Moses reached three months old, his mother had finalized her plans. She built a mini ark, made of papyrus reeds, coated inside and out with tar and pitch. By then, she had reached the limits of her protection.
Matthew Henry (1662-1714) says that often when “men are projecting ruin . . . God is preparing . . . salvation.”
The minute a child is born, a mother is born, too. All types of mothers have rocked cradles, the good, the bad, and the worse. But there’s nothing more heartwarming than a wholesome bond between mother and child. Sweetness exists in that relationship like no other.
No doubt Jochebed’s first few months with Moses were bittersweet. And one day, preparations made, Jochebed chose to place her infant son in the reeds near the bank of the Nile, post big sister Miriam as guard, and trust God to have a plan for a river, a floating bassinet and a beloved infant.
Some mothers will be able to embrace their children this Mother’s Day. Other women are separated by miles, while some mothers are separated by rifts. Moms, if you have a good relationship with your children, cherish the blessing.
If your relationship is strained, pray over them and, like Jochebed, place them in God’s hands — it may be time to put them in the boat. Remember, sometimes when we project ruin, God is planning salvation.
Happy Mother’s Day.
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One of the bravest women mentioned in the Old Testament is the Hebrew mother of Moses, Jochebed. She lived under cruel taskmasters, her people enslaved for hundreds of years. When the slaves’ numbers grew, Egyptian officials feared that the slaves might join enemy forces and cause an uprising.
On the sly, Pharaoh wanted the Hebrew midwives to kill any male child at delivery. But the women feared God more than the king’s edict and refused. When questioned about their disobedience, they reported the vigorous Hebrew women had delivered by the time they reached the woman in labor.
Those midwives, who feared Jehovah and guided new life into the world, could not smother newly sanctioned breaths. So, the ruling dynasty gave an order to all his people, “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile” (Exodus 1:22).
In those mean circumstances, Jochebed, whose name means “Jehovah-glorified,” delivered a son. Did her heart pound with fear when she delivered a son? Had she plotted to spare this baby? Did she expect the worse?
By the time Moses reached three months old, his mother had finalized her plans. She built a mini ark, made of papyrus reeds, coated inside and out with tar and pitch. By then, she had reached the limits of her protection.
Matthew Henry (1662-1714) says that often when “men are projecting ruin . . . God is preparing . . . salvation.”
The minute a child is born, a mother is born, too. All types of mothers have rocked cradles, the good, the bad, and the worse. But there’s nothing more heartwarming than a wholesome bond between mother and child. Sweetness exists in that relationship like no other.
No doubt Jochebed’s first few months with Moses were bittersweet. And one day, preparations made, Jochebed chose to place her infant son in the reeds near the bank of the Nile, post big sister Miriam as guard, and trust God to have a plan for a river, a floating bassinet and a beloved infant.
Some mothers will be able to embrace their children this Mother’s Day. Other women are separated by miles, while some mothers are separated by rifts. Moms, if you have a good relationship with your children, cherish the blessing.
If your relationship is strained, pray over them and, like Jochebed, place them in God’s hands — it may be time to put them in the boat. Remember, sometimes when we project ruin, God is planning salvation.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Under the Thorns
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for a May book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup. The April winner is Wanda D/Texas.
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Under the Thorns
If you live in the south and you hurry, you might find enough tasty wild dewberries to make pies or jams. For folk higher above sea level, who read this in other venues, you have a few weeks before the native berries in your areas ripen. I almost filled a two quart pail this morning and plan to berry pick again before the day is over.
My simple equipment is a light bucket, thin cotton gloves and a big stick. The “shoo” stick is just in case I see a snake because I’ve encountered them curled under vines when I poked my hand into their resting places.
I’m fascinated that under dense leaves and prickly thorns – the sweetest, most plump berries are found. Thorns and sweet berries don’t seem to complement each other, but maybe they do.
Job is a classic Bible example of hardship and healing. In domino-falling catastrophes, he lost his children, servants, possessions, position of honor, and his health.
In desperation, his wife asked, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (2:9). I have great sympathy for Mrs. Job because everything Job lost, she lost, too. While enduring the unimaginable pain of all her children passing, she also watched as illness caused her husband to become a living skeleton.
Then their friends pounced, accusing this godly man of committing some grave wrong. They assumed that a fate-gavel had sentenced him justly, but readers of Job’s whole story get to lift the leaves and thorny stems and find the hidden berries.
We know the beginning of the story when God allowed Job’s losses, and that scene somewhat explains “why” all the thorns. Also, we know Job’s epilogue, how God cast extreme kindness on every facet of Job and his wife’s later lives.
The text reveals that Job survived the pain with his faith in tact. Did Job have any idea how his story would traverse time in oral stories and finally in print, encouraging trillions-plus through the biblical narrative?
I certainly don’t long for spiritual growth diploma-ed from the school of trials, but I’ve experienced enough mild suffering to know that a bitter experience can teach lessons that mountains of candy-coated moments cannot.
In chapters 38-41, God asks Job many rhetorical questions, questions that reveal God’s creative hand and sovereignty. I adore Job’s response at the end of God’s recital, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (42:5-6).
After the thorny events of life almost killed him, God came near revealing himself to Job. God didn’t waste Job’s pain. Through Job’s suffering and intimate moments with God, he learned and we learn that God is always the sweetest find of all.
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Under the Thorns
If you live in the south and you hurry, you might find enough tasty wild dewberries to make pies or jams. For folk higher above sea level, who read this in other venues, you have a few weeks before the native berries in your areas ripen. I almost filled a two quart pail this morning and plan to berry pick again before the day is over.
My simple equipment is a light bucket, thin cotton gloves and a big stick. The “shoo” stick is just in case I see a snake because I’ve encountered them curled under vines when I poked my hand into their resting places.
I’m fascinated that under dense leaves and prickly thorns – the sweetest, most plump berries are found. Thorns and sweet berries don’t seem to complement each other, but maybe they do.
Job is a classic Bible example of hardship and healing. In domino-falling catastrophes, he lost his children, servants, possessions, position of honor, and his health.
In desperation, his wife asked, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (2:9). I have great sympathy for Mrs. Job because everything Job lost, she lost, too. While enduring the unimaginable pain of all her children passing, she also watched as illness caused her husband to become a living skeleton.
Then their friends pounced, accusing this godly man of committing some grave wrong. They assumed that a fate-gavel had sentenced him justly, but readers of Job’s whole story get to lift the leaves and thorny stems and find the hidden berries.
We know the beginning of the story when God allowed Job’s losses, and that scene somewhat explains “why” all the thorns. Also, we know Job’s epilogue, how God cast extreme kindness on every facet of Job and his wife’s later lives.
The text reveals that Job survived the pain with his faith in tact. Did Job have any idea how his story would traverse time in oral stories and finally in print, encouraging trillions-plus through the biblical narrative?
I certainly don’t long for spiritual growth diploma-ed from the school of trials, but I’ve experienced enough mild suffering to know that a bitter experience can teach lessons that mountains of candy-coated moments cannot.
In chapters 38-41, God asks Job many rhetorical questions, questions that reveal God’s creative hand and sovereignty. I adore Job’s response at the end of God’s recital, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (42:5-6).
After the thorny events of life almost killed him, God came near revealing himself to Job. God didn’t waste Job’s pain. Through Job’s suffering and intimate moments with God, he learned and we learn that God is always the sweetest find of all.
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Waiting Room
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an April book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
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Do you sit next to someone in a doctor’s waiting room? Probably depends on the visit, whether for a contagious cold or a broken toe. Seating choice may depend upon your personality. While some folk will talk to furniture, others prefer hermit-hood, a magazine and a lone chair in a corner.
Once in a doctor’s waiting room, a woman and I began a conversation. In her seventies and a native Texan, she’d lived in the Montgomery area all her life. I recognized a tender heart when she told how sorry she felt for dairy cows when newborn calves are taken away.
In our roving conversation, she reminisced about Sundays and her mother, who took her many children to church in a horse-drawn wagon. My waiting room companion recalled asking her mother why she always carried a “switch and a Bible” into the church house, but said her mother only “waggled” the switch to control her children’s antics.
When services grew long and children grew squirmy, her mother allowed each little one to traipse to the wagon, alone, for refreshment. When her turn came, she found treats under the springboard seat, a jug of water and home made tea cakes—warm as sunshine.
Another day, another waiting room, my Mom and I listened for her name to be called. On that winter day, it became obvious that the flu bug had made many house calls. As the coughing, sneezing, Kleenex-toting crowd gathered, the newbies scanned the room and chose seats.
Through mannerisms, they posted “No Vacancy” signs in their seating zones. Mom had a cold and I paid attention to her that day and didn’t make any new acquaintances either.
One of the reasons folks are drawn to Jesus, the Son of God, is his willingness to hear our stories—to come along side to commiserate, comfort or guide. He describes himself as a gentle teacher, humble in spirit, who knows how to give rest to burdened souls (Matthew 11:28-30).
Isn’t Jesus appealing? I want to sit next to him. We can take turns talking and listening, but I think listening will be most beneficial. The year 2008 finds our nation in a great big waiting room, running over with blessings and illnesses.
People of prayer can be the link between solutions and the mighty hand of God. National Prayer Day is May 1, next Thursday. Across this nation, communities will host public prayer. In my hometown the gathering is at Cedar Brake Park, Montgomery, TX, from noon until 12:30 p. m., organized by Lakeside Bible Church.
Whether you’re chatty or quiet, join your neighborhood prayer vigil next Thursday. You’ll hear a prayer or story of faithfulness that will refresh your life—like a jug of water and a tin of teacakes, warm as sunshine.
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Do you sit next to someone in a doctor’s waiting room? Probably depends on the visit, whether for a contagious cold or a broken toe. Seating choice may depend upon your personality. While some folk will talk to furniture, others prefer hermit-hood, a magazine and a lone chair in a corner.
Once in a doctor’s waiting room, a woman and I began a conversation. In her seventies and a native Texan, she’d lived in the Montgomery area all her life. I recognized a tender heart when she told how sorry she felt for dairy cows when newborn calves are taken away.
In our roving conversation, she reminisced about Sundays and her mother, who took her many children to church in a horse-drawn wagon. My waiting room companion recalled asking her mother why she always carried a “switch and a Bible” into the church house, but said her mother only “waggled” the switch to control her children’s antics.
When services grew long and children grew squirmy, her mother allowed each little one to traipse to the wagon, alone, for refreshment. When her turn came, she found treats under the springboard seat, a jug of water and home made tea cakes—warm as sunshine.
Another day, another waiting room, my Mom and I listened for her name to be called. On that winter day, it became obvious that the flu bug had made many house calls. As the coughing, sneezing, Kleenex-toting crowd gathered, the newbies scanned the room and chose seats.
Through mannerisms, they posted “No Vacancy” signs in their seating zones. Mom had a cold and I paid attention to her that day and didn’t make any new acquaintances either.
One of the reasons folks are drawn to Jesus, the Son of God, is his willingness to hear our stories—to come along side to commiserate, comfort or guide. He describes himself as a gentle teacher, humble in spirit, who knows how to give rest to burdened souls (Matthew 11:28-30).
Isn’t Jesus appealing? I want to sit next to him. We can take turns talking and listening, but I think listening will be most beneficial. The year 2008 finds our nation in a great big waiting room, running over with blessings and illnesses.
People of prayer can be the link between solutions and the mighty hand of God. National Prayer Day is May 1, next Thursday. Across this nation, communities will host public prayer. In my hometown the gathering is at Cedar Brake Park, Montgomery, TX, from noon until 12:30 p. m., organized by Lakeside Bible Church.
Whether you’re chatty or quiet, join your neighborhood prayer vigil next Thursday. You’ll hear a prayer or story of faithfulness that will refresh your life—like a jug of water and a tin of teacakes, warm as sunshine.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Solitude and Silence
April Book Drawing
Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an April book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
I'm giving away a book each month this year.
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Thomas Merton calls solitude the most basic of the disciplines, saying, "True solitude cleanses the soul."
Do you prefer quiet atmosphere or noise? Does silence bother or soothe you? Most folks favor one or the other—incoming sounds or near-silence. I use the term near-silence because in homes, true silence is rare—electric appliances hum, houses creak, children make noise. Outdoors, crickets and frogs don’t seem to notice when I declare a moratorium on noise.
When my grandchildren come for a visit, I usually leave the TV off and clear the atmosphere for familial voices. Recently on such a day, three-year-old Jolie played with an acoustic youth guitar and requested paper and pen, saying, “I want to write you a song.”
Without intentional noise her imagination hummed. She drew ten sets of horizontal lines on the paper and placed many dots and squiggles on her scores. Her tune never soared off the page, but she played at “song” writing for half an hour.
If cartoons had been on the TV, would she have wanted to “write” her own song? Playtime without incoming rackets is a good thing, spurring thoughts to creativity. Children’s minds can be stimulated by play and parental guidance when other clamor is blocked.
Pediatrician Sherry Vincent suggests buying early childhood “silent” toys. Let kids learn to sing, beep, burp, and make truck engine sounds by observing the world around them. They really don’t need to hear sounds from toy-tutors. Good toys do exist, but many toy makers produce noise gadgets that rob children of thinking time, developing time, figuring things out time.
A “Reader’s Digest” article about robbing children of imagination says that up to 70% of toys point a child to a commercial site such as TV, movies or internet where writers have scripted play and interaction with make believe situations. And as we know, the dialogue and values presented may not revere God.
Orthodox Jewish families spend seven days each year in an outdoor makeshift shelter during the Feast of Booths. In temporary huts, they entertain guests, eat and even sleep. Their religious holiday removes them from home comforts to a temporary dwelling place, reminding them of the time when they wandered in the desert and God supplied their needs.
Quiet and solitude allow God room to work, to tug on the framework of our hearts, from the inside out. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us (Ephesians 3:20 The Message)
Lack of silence and solitude is a growing problem in the adult world, too. Many adults prefer fake characters on a TV show to their own family members. Corded and wireless devices bring too much to our eyes and ears. Do we really need to know the mating habits of fish in the Caribbean Sea when we scarcely know our children’s best friends?
Instead of giving your family updated electronics, why not gift them with a quiet hour in your home—no electronics or incoming noise is allowed. Try it. Allow children and adults the opportunity to read, play quietly or be alone to mull over ideas.
They may resist at first, cause a really loud ruckus, but persist and nail down quiet time for your home. Family solitude and silence allows members to notice each other, and as Merton says—that alone-time may well cause some soul cleansing.
Do you have a quiet place in your home or outdoors where you relax and draw near to God?
Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an April book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
I'm giving away a book each month this year.
*******************************************************************************
Thomas Merton calls solitude the most basic of the disciplines, saying, "True solitude cleanses the soul."
Do you prefer quiet atmosphere or noise? Does silence bother or soothe you? Most folks favor one or the other—incoming sounds or near-silence. I use the term near-silence because in homes, true silence is rare—electric appliances hum, houses creak, children make noise. Outdoors, crickets and frogs don’t seem to notice when I declare a moratorium on noise.
When my grandchildren come for a visit, I usually leave the TV off and clear the atmosphere for familial voices. Recently on such a day, three-year-old Jolie played with an acoustic youth guitar and requested paper and pen, saying, “I want to write you a song.”
Without intentional noise her imagination hummed. She drew ten sets of horizontal lines on the paper and placed many dots and squiggles on her scores. Her tune never soared off the page, but she played at “song” writing for half an hour.
If cartoons had been on the TV, would she have wanted to “write” her own song? Playtime without incoming rackets is a good thing, spurring thoughts to creativity. Children’s minds can be stimulated by play and parental guidance when other clamor is blocked.
Pediatrician Sherry Vincent suggests buying early childhood “silent” toys. Let kids learn to sing, beep, burp, and make truck engine sounds by observing the world around them. They really don’t need to hear sounds from toy-tutors. Good toys do exist, but many toy makers produce noise gadgets that rob children of thinking time, developing time, figuring things out time.
A “Reader’s Digest” article about robbing children of imagination says that up to 70% of toys point a child to a commercial site such as TV, movies or internet where writers have scripted play and interaction with make believe situations. And as we know, the dialogue and values presented may not revere God.
Orthodox Jewish families spend seven days each year in an outdoor makeshift shelter during the Feast of Booths. In temporary huts, they entertain guests, eat and even sleep. Their religious holiday removes them from home comforts to a temporary dwelling place, reminding them of the time when they wandered in the desert and God supplied their needs.
Quiet and solitude allow God room to work, to tug on the framework of our hearts, from the inside out. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us (Ephesians 3:20 The Message)
Lack of silence and solitude is a growing problem in the adult world, too. Many adults prefer fake characters on a TV show to their own family members. Corded and wireless devices bring too much to our eyes and ears. Do we really need to know the mating habits of fish in the Caribbean Sea when we scarcely know our children’s best friends?
Instead of giving your family updated electronics, why not gift them with a quiet hour in your home—no electronics or incoming noise is allowed. Try it. Allow children and adults the opportunity to read, play quietly or be alone to mull over ideas.
They may resist at first, cause a really loud ruckus, but persist and nail down quiet time for your home. Family solitude and silence allows members to notice each other, and as Merton says—that alone-time may well cause some soul cleansing.
Do you have a quiet place in your home or outdoors where you relax and draw near to God?
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The Kinfolk Tree
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an April book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
Jimmy C. won the book last month. It’s in the mail, Jimmy.
If you enjoy the columns, please help me spread the word about them by forwarding them on to friends and family. Thanks, faithful readers!
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Gorgeous lime green color is decorating tree branches this spring as new leaves bud out on dead looking limbs and twigs. Within the year, crape myrtles will sprout pink chiffon frills and pecan trees yield another crop of nutmeats for chocolate chip cookies.
When Montgomery County mulberry trees beckon bluejays and squirrels to a one-course meal, I fondly remember Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918) and his famous poetry line, “Only God can make a tree.”
Trees also furnish “shade” blessings for humans and habitation for the birds and the bees. Although I’ve never actually stood in its shade, there’s another tree that especially fascinates me – the family tree. After the waters settled into the seas and mountains stretched their stony muscles skyward, this tree took root. A portion of dust and a few basic minerals were genetically engineered to begin the family tree.
Today, we humans live in the shadow of eons-old branch ancestors. Statisticians believe all humans are kin by no more than a 50th cousin relationship. All those 50th cousins are surely difficult to keep up with. It’s tough just keeping up with first and second cousins, Sonya in Zimbabwe, Dorothy in California and Jean in Houston.
God blessed humanity with physical families and also with the church family. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he told them how every nationality could be one in Christ saying that Christ “himself is our peace” and that he “destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,” the old law. Paul went on to say that Christ is able to reconcile all to God “through the cross” (Ephesians 2:14-18). Those who come to Christ are “no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (4:19).
The church family is as varied as family trees -- many personalities, many races and many occupations. Family skeletons, yes, the church has some, but its design is to be a place of refuge just like physical families were meant to be. Often the church is referred to as “the body of Christ.”
Just as a physical body responds to commands from the head, the church has one head, Jesus Christ. The church is privileged to have a gentle leader and the genuine love of Jesus.
On a tree at Calvary, Jesus dissolved the relationships of family-tree-distant-cousins. Paul said, “We are God’s children” (Romans 8:16). In the church, discrimination is removed and fiftieth cousin relationships are dissolved. In the body of Christ, one of the best family trees, there are only brothers and sisters.
Jimmy C. won the book last month. It’s in the mail, Jimmy.
If you enjoy the columns, please help me spread the word about them by forwarding them on to friends and family. Thanks, faithful readers!
************************************************
Gorgeous lime green color is decorating tree branches this spring as new leaves bud out on dead looking limbs and twigs. Within the year, crape myrtles will sprout pink chiffon frills and pecan trees yield another crop of nutmeats for chocolate chip cookies.
When Montgomery County mulberry trees beckon bluejays and squirrels to a one-course meal, I fondly remember Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918) and his famous poetry line, “Only God can make a tree.”
Trees also furnish “shade” blessings for humans and habitation for the birds and the bees. Although I’ve never actually stood in its shade, there’s another tree that especially fascinates me – the family tree. After the waters settled into the seas and mountains stretched their stony muscles skyward, this tree took root. A portion of dust and a few basic minerals were genetically engineered to begin the family tree.
Today, we humans live in the shadow of eons-old branch ancestors. Statisticians believe all humans are kin by no more than a 50th cousin relationship. All those 50th cousins are surely difficult to keep up with. It’s tough just keeping up with first and second cousins, Sonya in Zimbabwe, Dorothy in California and Jean in Houston.
God blessed humanity with physical families and also with the church family. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he told them how every nationality could be one in Christ saying that Christ “himself is our peace” and that he “destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,” the old law. Paul went on to say that Christ is able to reconcile all to God “through the cross” (Ephesians 2:14-18). Those who come to Christ are “no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (4:19).
The church family is as varied as family trees -- many personalities, many races and many occupations. Family skeletons, yes, the church has some, but its design is to be a place of refuge just like physical families were meant to be. Often the church is referred to as “the body of Christ.”
Just as a physical body responds to commands from the head, the church has one head, Jesus Christ. The church is privileged to have a gentle leader and the genuine love of Jesus.
On a tree at Calvary, Jesus dissolved the relationships of family-tree-distant-cousins. Paul said, “We are God’s children” (Romans 8:16). In the church, discrimination is removed and fiftieth cousin relationships are dissolved. In the body of Christ, one of the best family trees, there are only brothers and sisters.
Friday, April 04, 2008
The Bread Basket
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an April book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
If you enjoy the columns, please help me spread the word about them by forwarding them on to friends and family. Thanks, faithful readers!
************************************************
She kept coming into her own kitchen offering to help. The women who worked at her sink said, “Go sit down . . . get some rest.” She needed relief. Besides her job and running her household, her family had kept a vigil at bedside of a terminally ill parent.
Now, because of the parent’s death and funeral, her household “runneth over” with out-of-town extended family. She and her husband had little energy to expend. So, women from their church “commandeered” their kitchen and cooked for their large family.
Folks who share food join Christ in ministry. On one occasion in an isolated area, a hungry crowd numbering in the thousands gave Jesus’ disciples an opportunity to wait on tables.
Of course, this became a picnic on the ground not formal dining. Aware of the crowds’ hunger, Jesus said to his disciples, “You give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37). On that day, Jesus’ mission was at least threefold –- teaching the crowd, providing supper, and clothing his disciples with aprons for this no-charge event.
The Lord of Harvest had a storehouse full of fish and bread and his disciples became his middlemen, pantry workers in the food chain blessing.
This spring in the USA, folks who file an income tax return will receive a one time economic stimulus from the government. The government is counting on citizens’ greed or need. Some who receive a check will need to buy food. Others’ avarice will guide their spending.
If refunds aren’t a must have for food or other necessities, why not donate the money to a charity and let them stimulate the economy with their needed purchases. Food banks, orphanages or churches would love to boost the economy through your donations.
One of my pleasures is cooking for others. Whether it’s homemade sourdough bread, chicken and dumplings, lemon meringue pies, or old fashioned tea cakes, giving the gift of food is a really pleasant thing to do, in person or through donations.
In March of this year, the world population reached 6.6 billion. God gave us an abundant earth, a big bread basket, but many go hungry. God calls compassionate people to be the middle link in the food chain, the gap between God’s benevolent hand and the poor. Jesus’ words echo into 2008, “You give them something to eat.”
If you enjoy the columns, please help me spread the word about them by forwarding them on to friends and family. Thanks, faithful readers!
************************************************
She kept coming into her own kitchen offering to help. The women who worked at her sink said, “Go sit down . . . get some rest.” She needed relief. Besides her job and running her household, her family had kept a vigil at bedside of a terminally ill parent.
Now, because of the parent’s death and funeral, her household “runneth over” with out-of-town extended family. She and her husband had little energy to expend. So, women from their church “commandeered” their kitchen and cooked for their large family.
Folks who share food join Christ in ministry. On one occasion in an isolated area, a hungry crowd numbering in the thousands gave Jesus’ disciples an opportunity to wait on tables.
Of course, this became a picnic on the ground not formal dining. Aware of the crowds’ hunger, Jesus said to his disciples, “You give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37). On that day, Jesus’ mission was at least threefold –- teaching the crowd, providing supper, and clothing his disciples with aprons for this no-charge event.
The Lord of Harvest had a storehouse full of fish and bread and his disciples became his middlemen, pantry workers in the food chain blessing.
This spring in the USA, folks who file an income tax return will receive a one time economic stimulus from the government. The government is counting on citizens’ greed or need. Some who receive a check will need to buy food. Others’ avarice will guide their spending.
If refunds aren’t a must have for food or other necessities, why not donate the money to a charity and let them stimulate the economy with their needed purchases. Food banks, orphanages or churches would love to boost the economy through your donations.
One of my pleasures is cooking for others. Whether it’s homemade sourdough bread, chicken and dumplings, lemon meringue pies, or old fashioned tea cakes, giving the gift of food is a really pleasant thing to do, in person or through donations.
In March of this year, the world population reached 6.6 billion. God gave us an abundant earth, a big bread basket, but many go hungry. God calls compassionate people to be the middle link in the food chain, the gap between God’s benevolent hand and the poor. Jesus’ words echo into 2008, “You give them something to eat.”
Friday, March 21, 2008
Grow in the Garden
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for a March book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
January of this year, my husband received three solicitations in the mail. They reminded both of us that life is marching on and leaving its boot tread.
One company wanted to sell him a burial policy. Another urged him to buy a Miracle Ear hearing aid, and the third recommended preordering a tombstone. Those purchases will no doubt be made some day, but for now, I’d rather invest my money and time in people and in personal growth than a chunk of marble with chiseled names.
We’re several years from even drawing social security and reminders are all around us that you’re not what you used to be. Growing older is inevitable, but even though the body declines, a person can be renewed in other ways.
In Susannah Seton’s book, Simple Pleasures of the Garden, she says, “The garden grows us.” As Easter approaches this year, I couldn’t shake her words out of my mind. The earth’s bounty wasn’t meant to only nourish us physically, to keep us “healthy” until we die.
This God-created planet, with food sources, air, water and beauty, is a great big garden where we were God supplies all we need to mature intellectually, morally, and emotionally. God intentionally planted us here creating a perfect environment for good growth. We can thrive here.
This is a lesson the women learned when they visited the garden-tomb of Jesus. While alive, he had given them visuals of a better life. He brought people back to life, to breathe again. He took a 12 year old girl’s hand and urged her back to this garden to grow some more (John 5:24).
On another day, a funeral procession wound toward the city limits. A widowed woman prepared to bury her son, but Jesus halted the makeshift bier and said to her, “Don’t cry” (Luke 7). He had resurrection plans, to give her son back, to give opportunity for growth in this earth-garden.
And Lazarus, who had been gone four whole days, Jesus called him from his tomb. He hobbled out still bound in strips of burial cloths. A stunned crowd saw life reborn, emerging in a cemetery.
The women at Jesus’ garden tomb expected to continue their mourning about decline and loss, but a surprise awaited them. They were greeted by angels not death. These messengers said, “He is risen. He is not here!”
Our spirits, the inner person, does not have to age. In Christ they are renewed every day. And it was near Jesus’ empty garden tomb, God further revealed his perfect plan of immortal life—no retirement, no graves, and no tombstones. And he calls us to grow because of the garden message, “He is risen.”
Happy Easter!
January of this year, my husband received three solicitations in the mail. They reminded both of us that life is marching on and leaving its boot tread.
One company wanted to sell him a burial policy. Another urged him to buy a Miracle Ear hearing aid, and the third recommended preordering a tombstone. Those purchases will no doubt be made some day, but for now, I’d rather invest my money and time in people and in personal growth than a chunk of marble with chiseled names.
We’re several years from even drawing social security and reminders are all around us that you’re not what you used to be. Growing older is inevitable, but even though the body declines, a person can be renewed in other ways.
In Susannah Seton’s book, Simple Pleasures of the Garden, she says, “The garden grows us.” As Easter approaches this year, I couldn’t shake her words out of my mind. The earth’s bounty wasn’t meant to only nourish us physically, to keep us “healthy” until we die.
This God-created planet, with food sources, air, water and beauty, is a great big garden where we were God supplies all we need to mature intellectually, morally, and emotionally. God intentionally planted us here creating a perfect environment for good growth. We can thrive here.
This is a lesson the women learned when they visited the garden-tomb of Jesus. While alive, he had given them visuals of a better life. He brought people back to life, to breathe again. He took a 12 year old girl’s hand and urged her back to this garden to grow some more (John 5:24).
On another day, a funeral procession wound toward the city limits. A widowed woman prepared to bury her son, but Jesus halted the makeshift bier and said to her, “Don’t cry” (Luke 7). He had resurrection plans, to give her son back, to give opportunity for growth in this earth-garden.
And Lazarus, who had been gone four whole days, Jesus called him from his tomb. He hobbled out still bound in strips of burial cloths. A stunned crowd saw life reborn, emerging in a cemetery.
The women at Jesus’ garden tomb expected to continue their mourning about decline and loss, but a surprise awaited them. They were greeted by angels not death. These messengers said, “He is risen. He is not here!”
Our spirits, the inner person, does not have to age. In Christ they are renewed every day. And it was near Jesus’ empty garden tomb, God further revealed his perfect plan of immortal life—no retirement, no graves, and no tombstones. And he calls us to grow because of the garden message, “He is risen.”
Happy Easter!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Light Always Wins
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for a March book drawing of The Stained Glass Pickup.
During the last week of Jesus’ life on earth, there are references in the gospels about darkness, both nighttime and an evil blackness. Historical documents also mention the three hours of unnatural darkness while Christ was on the cross, one even written by Pontius Pilate.
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The elements that came together and brought about the crucifixion of Jesus included folk with dark evil souls. Judas, one of Jesus’ closest companions, showed his true color. When Jesus and the disciples gathered for the last supper, the Master said, “One of you is going to betray me.” Startled by his announcement, the disciples wanted to know which one of them would do so. Jesus identified Judas as the betrayer.
“Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot . . ..As soon as Judas took the bread Satan entered into him” (John 13:26,27). Judas then left the upper room and the Apostle John closes the scene by writing, “And it was night.”
In Gethsemane, Judas assisted in identifying Jesus to the unruly crowd, and the Son of God was arrested under the cover of darkness. That night Jesus said to his captors, “Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53).
The next day throughout a bright morning, Jesus hung on a cross, but then a solemn darkness settled over the earth at noon. Crucified about nine in the morning, Jesus was on the cross for six hours, and during the final three hours, an unnatural “darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining” (Luke 23:44).
Through correspondence, independent witnesses later corroborated that the sun didn’t illuminate the earth for three hours. Tertullian wrote to the Roman senator Proculus: “The light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze . . . you yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives!”
Another account of the withdrawal of sunlight is in a report Pontius Pilate sent to Tiberius, emperor of Rome. “There was a darkness over the whole earth, the sun having been completely hidden, and the heaven appearing dark, so that the stars appeared.”
Pilate further wrote, “I suppose your reverence is not ignorant of, because in all the world they lighted lamps from the sixth hour until evening.” He also wrote “the moon, being like blood, did not shine the whole night, and yet she happened to be at the full.” The unusual darkness must have been unnerving, frightening. Did God clothe the cross in darkness because he couldn’t bear the world gawking any longer upon the suffering perfect Son?
On that long ago Sunday at dawn, when devoted women went to Jesus’ tomb an angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (28:1, 5, 6).
Centuries before Jesus came to earth, Isaiah prophesied: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” The refreshment of a clean start is the promise made at the empty tomb of Jesus.
From the cradle to the cross, read Jesus’ story. His total goodness has a way of shining into dark secrets and dispelling shadows. God draped darkness over the evil deeds of the cross, but Sunday dawned and Jesus rose from the dead, proving his power and giving us hope.
Light always wins. Light always overcomes darkness.
During the last week of Jesus’ life on earth, there are references in the gospels about darkness, both nighttime and an evil blackness. Historical documents also mention the three hours of unnatural darkness while Christ was on the cross, one even written by Pontius Pilate.
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The elements that came together and brought about the crucifixion of Jesus included folk with dark evil souls. Judas, one of Jesus’ closest companions, showed his true color. When Jesus and the disciples gathered for the last supper, the Master said, “One of you is going to betray me.” Startled by his announcement, the disciples wanted to know which one of them would do so. Jesus identified Judas as the betrayer.
“Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot . . ..As soon as Judas took the bread Satan entered into him” (John 13:26,27). Judas then left the upper room and the Apostle John closes the scene by writing, “And it was night.”
In Gethsemane, Judas assisted in identifying Jesus to the unruly crowd, and the Son of God was arrested under the cover of darkness. That night Jesus said to his captors, “Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53).
The next day throughout a bright morning, Jesus hung on a cross, but then a solemn darkness settled over the earth at noon. Crucified about nine in the morning, Jesus was on the cross for six hours, and during the final three hours, an unnatural “darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining” (Luke 23:44).
Through correspondence, independent witnesses later corroborated that the sun didn’t illuminate the earth for three hours. Tertullian wrote to the Roman senator Proculus: “The light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze . . . you yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives!”
Another account of the withdrawal of sunlight is in a report Pontius Pilate sent to Tiberius, emperor of Rome. “There was a darkness over the whole earth, the sun having been completely hidden, and the heaven appearing dark, so that the stars appeared.”
Pilate further wrote, “I suppose your reverence is not ignorant of, because in all the world they lighted lamps from the sixth hour until evening.” He also wrote “the moon, being like blood, did not shine the whole night, and yet she happened to be at the full.” The unusual darkness must have been unnerving, frightening. Did God clothe the cross in darkness because he couldn’t bear the world gawking any longer upon the suffering perfect Son?
On that long ago Sunday at dawn, when devoted women went to Jesus’ tomb an angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said” (28:1, 5, 6).
Centuries before Jesus came to earth, Isaiah prophesied: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” The refreshment of a clean start is the promise made at the empty tomb of Jesus.
From the cradle to the cross, read Jesus’ story. His total goodness has a way of shining into dark secrets and dispelling shadows. God draped darkness over the evil deeds of the cross, but Sunday dawned and Jesus rose from the dead, proving his power and giving us hope.
Light always wins. Light always overcomes darkness.
Friday, March 07, 2008
February-Book Winners
Congratulations! Winners of the February book drawing. A copy of The Stained Glass Pickup went to Jewell P. from Kentucky. Cindi and Kristi from, Oklahoma and Illinois won Multnomah’s donated copies of Rattled, Surviving Your Child’s First Year Without Losing Your Cool.
Book Drawing: Leave a comment at http://stainedglasspickup.blogspot.com/ or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for a March book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup. Later this year, I’ll sponsor another contest to win A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts ~ Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday. A book I co-authored with several other writers.
Book Drawing: Leave a comment at http://stainedglasspickup.blogspot.com/ or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for a March book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup. Later this year, I’ll sponsor another contest to win A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts ~ Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday. A book I co-authored with several other writers.
The Olive Press
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, Sit here while I go over there and pray. Matthew 26:36
Luke wrote that Jesus and his disciples made regular trips to the Mount of Olives, a ridge running north and south of Jerusalem that’s 200 foot higher than the temple mound. The mountain received its name from the abundant olive groves. The word “gethsemane” is associated with the garden where Jesus prayed before his Crucifixion and where Judas betrayed him.
In Hebrew, the word “gethsemane” means olive press. Olive trees were of great importance to Judean economy and everyday life. Not only were olives eaten but the oil was used in lamps, as a preservative, and a lubricant for skin care.
Ray Vander Laan explains the long-ago process for extracting olive oil. “Whole olives were put into a circular stone basin in which a millstone sat.” An animal harnessed to the millstone walked in a circle rolling the stone and breaking the olives. “The cracked olives were scooped into burlap bags,” then the bags were stacked under “a huge stone column—a gethsemane.”
The enormous weight of the stone column pressed on the bags of olives forcing out the precious oil. The oil collected in a pit at the base of the gethsemane. It was near an olive press where Jesus agonized in prayer before his Crucifixion. His burden was great and it pressed down on him in such a manner that even God’s Son asked excuse from his mission.
During that evening, Jesus knelt and prayed several times, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” In great anguish, he prayed. The stress took a toll and weighed down, pressed upon, “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:42, 44). That night, the enormity of the world’s sins bore down on him.
Another fact about aging olive trees is when the trunk thickens the leaves cannot give the nourishment the trunk needs to survive. The tree is then cut back to a stump, and that’s when a new shoot will appear.
God used this gardening example to say, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse . . . . The spirit of the LORD will rest on him” (Isaiah 11:1, 2). The world never encountered anyone like this new green shoot, the Branch Jesus, who could give new life to a sinful world.
Although God often used common sights like olive trees and gardening to express spiritual messages, there was nothing common about his Son. Isaiah further wrote about him, “Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist” (11:5). Wholehearted devotion to God and us characterized the Son of God who prayed near a place we call Gethsemane.
Luke wrote that Jesus and his disciples made regular trips to the Mount of Olives, a ridge running north and south of Jerusalem that’s 200 foot higher than the temple mound. The mountain received its name from the abundant olive groves. The word “gethsemane” is associated with the garden where Jesus prayed before his Crucifixion and where Judas betrayed him.
In Hebrew, the word “gethsemane” means olive press. Olive trees were of great importance to Judean economy and everyday life. Not only were olives eaten but the oil was used in lamps, as a preservative, and a lubricant for skin care.
Ray Vander Laan explains the long-ago process for extracting olive oil. “Whole olives were put into a circular stone basin in which a millstone sat.” An animal harnessed to the millstone walked in a circle rolling the stone and breaking the olives. “The cracked olives were scooped into burlap bags,” then the bags were stacked under “a huge stone column—a gethsemane.”
The enormous weight of the stone column pressed on the bags of olives forcing out the precious oil. The oil collected in a pit at the base of the gethsemane. It was near an olive press where Jesus agonized in prayer before his Crucifixion. His burden was great and it pressed down on him in such a manner that even God’s Son asked excuse from his mission.
During that evening, Jesus knelt and prayed several times, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” In great anguish, he prayed. The stress took a toll and weighed down, pressed upon, “his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:42, 44). That night, the enormity of the world’s sins bore down on him.
Another fact about aging olive trees is when the trunk thickens the leaves cannot give the nourishment the trunk needs to survive. The tree is then cut back to a stump, and that’s when a new shoot will appear.
God used this gardening example to say, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse . . . . The spirit of the LORD will rest on him” (Isaiah 11:1, 2). The world never encountered anyone like this new green shoot, the Branch Jesus, who could give new life to a sinful world.
Although God often used common sights like olive trees and gardening to express spiritual messages, there was nothing common about his Son. Isaiah further wrote about him, “Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist” (11:5). Wholehearted devotion to God and us characterized the Son of God who prayed near a place we call Gethsemane.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Book Drawing on Leap Day
Book Drawing: Leave a comment here or email me writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name on this last day of February for this month's book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
Second book drawing: Multnomah Publishing sent me two copies of Rattled ~ Surviving the First Year of Motherhood Without Losing Your Cool. See the interview with Trish Berg at my blog, leave a comment and sign up for drawing.
I'll post first names and last initials of winners on Monday and contact you.
Second book drawing: Multnomah Publishing sent me two copies of Rattled ~ Surviving the First Year of Motherhood Without Losing Your Cool. See the interview with Trish Berg at my blog, leave a comment and sign up for drawing.
I'll post first names and last initials of winners on Monday and contact you.
Cliff Dwelling
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you (Isaiah 26:3).
Most mornings my husband gets up very early, long before daylight, and I usually prepare a brown bag lunch for him. One morning, I decided to stay awake for an hour and finish leftover chores. Unloading the dishwasher and tidying up the house is not calculus, and my thoughts took a leave of absence from the mundane tasks.
I dwelled on the latest writing project. I toss a lot around in my brain before anything is actually pounded out on keyboard. Faded childhood memories surfaced and took on color and I toyed with words and conjured descriptive phrases.
Even though my brainwaves crashed against a distant shore, my hands were busy as I walked from room to room and tidied up. Floating back to reality, I looked down. I’d completely made up my bed—sheet corners tucked, pillows plumped and comforter in place. I like to consider myself industrious, but I had planned to rest a few more hours.
Often we find our minds drifting during familiar routines. It’s a common problem. That’s when I put the sugar bowl in the refrigerator, the milk in the pantry, the dog in the crib, the kid outside. The most disturbing time my mind walks off is when I’m spending time with God, through Bible study, prayer or meditation.
How can inattention be solved, especially during this important time? Clues can be found in a long ago meeting between Moses and God. Prior to their meeting, Moses made two requests of God: "Teach me your ways so that I may know you," and " . . . show me your glory."
God’s response: “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.”
From that encounter, I see two clues for staying focused: solitude and setting an appointment. Moses wanted to know God better, and God chose a quiet place near himself for the meeting—just God and Moses. The results were magnificent: On a mountain in a cliff, Moses glimpsed God.
Prearranging a quiet time-slot, moments alone with God is one of the best gifts we give ourselves. Our friends and family receive fringe benefits. Thoughtfulness, good character, compassion, kindness are all enhanced after meeting with the master teacher.
Life is busy and sometimes it feels like I-45 has been re-routed through our home. God is totally able to teach me on an interstate, but contemplating God on a freeway or a quiet country lane is as different as tornadoes and tranquility.
Life teases with a bouquet of distractions, but God longs for intimate meetings. Arrange quiet times with God, and watch for cliff blessings. Watch for God’s protective, covering and helping hand in life.
Most mornings my husband gets up very early, long before daylight, and I usually prepare a brown bag lunch for him. One morning, I decided to stay awake for an hour and finish leftover chores. Unloading the dishwasher and tidying up the house is not calculus, and my thoughts took a leave of absence from the mundane tasks.
I dwelled on the latest writing project. I toss a lot around in my brain before anything is actually pounded out on keyboard. Faded childhood memories surfaced and took on color and I toyed with words and conjured descriptive phrases.
Even though my brainwaves crashed against a distant shore, my hands were busy as I walked from room to room and tidied up. Floating back to reality, I looked down. I’d completely made up my bed—sheet corners tucked, pillows plumped and comforter in place. I like to consider myself industrious, but I had planned to rest a few more hours.
Often we find our minds drifting during familiar routines. It’s a common problem. That’s when I put the sugar bowl in the refrigerator, the milk in the pantry, the dog in the crib, the kid outside. The most disturbing time my mind walks off is when I’m spending time with God, through Bible study, prayer or meditation.
How can inattention be solved, especially during this important time? Clues can be found in a long ago meeting between Moses and God. Prior to their meeting, Moses made two requests of God: "Teach me your ways so that I may know you," and " . . . show me your glory."
God’s response: “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.”
From that encounter, I see two clues for staying focused: solitude and setting an appointment. Moses wanted to know God better, and God chose a quiet place near himself for the meeting—just God and Moses. The results were magnificent: On a mountain in a cliff, Moses glimpsed God.
Prearranging a quiet time-slot, moments alone with God is one of the best gifts we give ourselves. Our friends and family receive fringe benefits. Thoughtfulness, good character, compassion, kindness are all enhanced after meeting with the master teacher.
Life is busy and sometimes it feels like I-45 has been re-routed through our home. God is totally able to teach me on an interstate, but contemplating God on a freeway or a quiet country lane is as different as tornadoes and tranquility.
Life teases with a bouquet of distractions, but God longs for intimate meetings. Arrange quiet times with God, and watch for cliff blessings. Watch for God’s protective, covering and helping hand in life.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Book Drawing on Leap Day
Book Drawing: Leave a comment at any post or email me and I’ll enter your name for a February book drawing to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
Second book drawing: Multnomah Publishing sent me two copies of Rattled ~ Surviving the First Year of Motherhood Without Losing Your Cool. See the interview with Trish Berg at my blog, leave a comment and sign up for drawing.
Second book drawing: Multnomah Publishing sent me two copies of Rattled ~ Surviving the First Year of Motherhood Without Losing Your Cool. See the interview with Trish Berg at my blog, leave a comment and sign up for drawing.
Lent Prayers
One day during Lent, I prayed for these countries: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tokelau Islands, Tonga, Tuzalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna Islands. By the time Palm Sunday arrived, I’d prayed for all the nations of the world. The excellent prayer guide Seek God for the City ~ Prayers of Biblical Hope from WayMakers was the impetus for those entreaties.
Whether your Christian fellowship participates or does not in the Lenten season, the setting aside for time of repentance and renewal is biblical. Besides the nations of the world, the prayer guide targeted different groups of people in communities: health care workers, broken families, men, military personnel, the sick, the unemployed, prisoners and their families, the physically disabled, youth, mothers, arts and entertainment, the depressed, those in nursing homes and substance abusers of drugs and alcohol.
After the 40 days, I felt more akin, in tune, yoked to Christ because my pleas and praise were not limited to the minority of people I know, but for this world as a whole and in part.
The guide helped me pray more comprehensive prayers than ever before. And, the very reasonable price of $3.00 sent me back for another guide this year. Even though we are already into the 40 days of Lent, I encourage readers to purchase a prayer guide to pray any 40 days of the year. After you’ve prayed through it, place it by a December 2008 calendar page, a reminder to purchase one for 2009.
WayMakers offers other prayer tools at nominal fees of $2.00 a pamphlet: What Would Jesus Pray, Light from My House, Prompts for Prayerwalkers, Blessings and Open My City. At their Web site find free PDF files of the 2008 Seek God for the City for children and in Spanish.
Each prayer ended with “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” And, one of my favorite lines from a petition welcoming Christ, “And may your mercy amaze us even more than miracles.” I found the Lent prayer guide to be one of the most helpful prayer tools. But overriding any tool is the knowledge that God hears and heeds the sincere—from the simplest to the most organized prayer, poorly worded or eloquently stated.
Through prayers, you can usher God’s help into your community and the world. During the 40 days of prayer it was such a blessing to lay gratitude, needs and burdens at the feet of God who has the power to intervene in global problems. Today, my prayer guide suggests praying for the news media, the poor and those without a shepherd. As I pray, my hope is based on the mercy of his hearing.
Note: Do you plan to do anything special on your "extra" day next week, Leap Day? If so, let me know, please. I'm collecting your suggestions for next Friday's column. Thanks, Cathy.
Whether your Christian fellowship participates or does not in the Lenten season, the setting aside for time of repentance and renewal is biblical. Besides the nations of the world, the prayer guide targeted different groups of people in communities: health care workers, broken families, men, military personnel, the sick, the unemployed, prisoners and their families, the physically disabled, youth, mothers, arts and entertainment, the depressed, those in nursing homes and substance abusers of drugs and alcohol.
After the 40 days, I felt more akin, in tune, yoked to Christ because my pleas and praise were not limited to the minority of people I know, but for this world as a whole and in part.
The guide helped me pray more comprehensive prayers than ever before. And, the very reasonable price of $3.00 sent me back for another guide this year. Even though we are already into the 40 days of Lent, I encourage readers to purchase a prayer guide to pray any 40 days of the year. After you’ve prayed through it, place it by a December 2008 calendar page, a reminder to purchase one for 2009.
WayMakers offers other prayer tools at nominal fees of $2.00 a pamphlet: What Would Jesus Pray, Light from My House, Prompts for Prayerwalkers, Blessings and Open My City. At their Web site find free PDF files of the 2008 Seek God for the City for children and in Spanish.
Each prayer ended with “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” And, one of my favorite lines from a petition welcoming Christ, “And may your mercy amaze us even more than miracles.” I found the Lent prayer guide to be one of the most helpful prayer tools. But overriding any tool is the knowledge that God hears and heeds the sincere—from the simplest to the most organized prayer, poorly worded or eloquently stated.
Through prayers, you can usher God’s help into your community and the world. During the 40 days of prayer it was such a blessing to lay gratitude, needs and burdens at the feet of God who has the power to intervene in global problems. Today, my prayer guide suggests praying for the news media, the poor and those without a shepherd. As I pray, my hope is based on the mercy of his hearing.
Note: Do you plan to do anything special on your "extra" day next week, Leap Day? If so, let me know, please. I'm collecting your suggestions for next Friday's column. Thanks, Cathy.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Book Drawing
Leave a comment at any of my posts, and I'll enter your name into a February drawing for a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup. Leave a comment at my interview with Trish Berg and Multnomah furnished two copies of Rattled ~ Surving Baby's First Year Without Losing Your Cool.
Thanks for stopping by...
Thanks for stopping by...
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Remembering to Forget Marriage Spills
Kristy Dykes tell a story about a husband who wanted to spruce up his cement patio and told his wife, “I'm going to be painting out here, so don't come out." But she forgot.
Later, she shoved the door open and knocked over a gallon of white paint. The husband had choices to make. He could have yelled, or said, “I told you so.”
He could have complained that he’d clearly informed her of his project or even brought up other times she’d forgotten things. The spill could have been incendiary.
However, this long married couple had experienced misfortunes before and had decided that when accidents occurred, they wouldn’t cast blame. They made a choice early in marrige to forgive and forget. Instead of a lecture or grudge, the husband chose to build a memory around the spilled paint and it became a witness to his love, not combustible blame-throwing.
When the husband looked down at the paint, he saw it had spread almost into a heart shape. With a few quick brush strokes he perfected the very large heart and let it dry. He later inscribed it with these words, “The heart of this house is my darling wife Jeanie.”
Instead of a lecture about carelessness, he chose to recognize and honor her role in their home. Some Eastern nomadic tribes refer to their wives as the tent pole. The one that holds it all together. Apparently the painter cherished his wife and her contributions and he forgave and forgot.
“Forgive & Forget” are good inscription words for the inside of wedding bands. I’m reminded of something I read about Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross.
A friend reminded her of a vicious act that someone had committed against her. The friend could see that Ms. Barton didn’t seem to recall the malicious behavior and asked, “Don’t you remember it?”
“No,” Ms. Barton replied, “I distinctly remember forgetting.”
Solomon said, there is a “time to keep and a time to throw away” (Ecclesiastes 3:6). Marriages shouldn’t become throw-aways, but a lot of the day-to-day components should. Upsets and mishaps will happen, but whether we bank them in a grudge vault or set them out with the trash is a persoanl choice.
This week love your spouse with all your heart, and remember to forget.
Later, she shoved the door open and knocked over a gallon of white paint. The husband had choices to make. He could have yelled, or said, “I told you so.”
He could have complained that he’d clearly informed her of his project or even brought up other times she’d forgotten things. The spill could have been incendiary.
However, this long married couple had experienced misfortunes before and had decided that when accidents occurred, they wouldn’t cast blame. They made a choice early in marrige to forgive and forget. Instead of a lecture or grudge, the husband chose to build a memory around the spilled paint and it became a witness to his love, not combustible blame-throwing.
When the husband looked down at the paint, he saw it had spread almost into a heart shape. With a few quick brush strokes he perfected the very large heart and let it dry. He later inscribed it with these words, “The heart of this house is my darling wife Jeanie.”
Instead of a lecture about carelessness, he chose to recognize and honor her role in their home. Some Eastern nomadic tribes refer to their wives as the tent pole. The one that holds it all together. Apparently the painter cherished his wife and her contributions and he forgave and forgot.
“Forgive & Forget” are good inscription words for the inside of wedding bands. I’m reminded of something I read about Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross.
A friend reminded her of a vicious act that someone had committed against her. The friend could see that Ms. Barton didn’t seem to recall the malicious behavior and asked, “Don’t you remember it?”
“No,” Ms. Barton replied, “I distinctly remember forgetting.”
Solomon said, there is a “time to keep and a time to throw away” (Ecclesiastes 3:6). Marriages shouldn’t become throw-aways, but a lot of the day-to-day components should. Upsets and mishaps will happen, but whether we bank them in a grudge vault or set them out with the trash is a persoanl choice.
This week love your spouse with all your heart, and remember to forget.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Free books
Multnomah sent me two free copies of Rattled as give-aways. Leave a comment, and I'll enter your name into a drawing to win a copy. Tell your friends to drop by and read Trish's interview. I'm a grandmother and reading the book to review on Amazon. Good, honest, faith-filled, down-to-earth stuff for Moms of all ages.
My favorite line so far page 89, "Even though your baby doesn't come with an instruction manual, you get something better: God is right beside you, whispering motherhood into your soul."
Oh, and I really like the "Food for Thought" Sidebar (easily spotted on the pages because a baby bottle accompanies the wisdom). It's full of helpful, motivating stats. Did you know the average person received nearly 50,000 pieces of mail in a lifetime? I wonder how many trees that equates to?
My favorite line so far page 89, "Even though your baby doesn't come with an instruction manual, you get something better: God is right beside you, whispering motherhood into your soul."
Oh, and I really like the "Food for Thought" Sidebar (easily spotted on the pages because a baby bottle accompanies the wisdom). It's full of helpful, motivating stats. Did you know the average person received nearly 50,000 pieces of mail in a lifetime? I wonder how many trees that equates to?
Rattled by Trish Berg
BLAST OUT Blog Tour for Trish Berg’s Latest Release… Rattled Surviving Your Baby’s First Year without Losing Your Cool!
Can you change a diaper faster than a rodeo cowboy ropes a calf? Need more sleep,
more laughter, and ten minutes in the bathroom – alone?
You must be a mom….Don’t let the clutter, chaos, exhaustion and Cheerio-dust get you Rattled.
Motherhood is simply draining and exhausting. Hands down the toughest job I have ever had.
But moms are not alone, and I want moms to know that God walks with them through these exhausting years.
What stresses moms out the most?
I think moms put a lot of pressure on themselves to do it all by themselves, and to do it all the right way. They need to simplify, let go of many details, and ask for help, from their husbands, and from neighbors and friends.
Rattled actually begins by looking at the months of pregnancy. How can moms use this time to prepare to survive baby’s first year?
Nine months is not nearly enough time to fully prepare for motherhood. I am not sure there is enough time to fully prepare.
I remember when our first child, Hannah, was born, I felt that my world had been turned upside down. Hannah did not like to sleep, and so we spent many nights walking the floor, bouncing her up and down, trying desperately to settle her down. My husband, Mike, and I took turns walking laps around the house, like the Indy 500 with a lot more bouncing.
So I guess I would have to say enjoying the journey. I live Psalm 118:24 every day of my life.
“This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Life is messy. Things break. Kids get sick. But moms need to remember to enjoy the journey no matter where the journey leads.
Today at the Berg house, our washing machine is broken. Our mini van needs new tires. We are hanging onto Mike’s 1986 Jeep on a wing and a prayer, hoping it makes it another year or so.
There is mud on my kitchen floor, crumbs on my carpet, and I can honestly say that I love my life. Just as it is.
Now, I certainly have moments where I get stressed and discouraged, and can even lose my temper (just ask my kids), but I am also learning to enjoy each moment of every day as a gift from God.
And thorough it all, my simple hope and prayer is that I can be the mom that God wants me to be.
Where can readers learn more about you, Rattled, your other books, and your ministry to moms?
My website at www.TrishBerg.com offers tons of FREE resources, links and downloads for moms, as well as mor information on my books and ministry.
Moms can also purchase their own copy of Rattled by clicking here.
And I will be speaking at all 3 Hearts at Home Conferences in 2008, I would LOVE for you to join me there. The National conference is in March in Illinois, and in the fall there is a conference in Michigan and Minnesota. You can get more information and register at http://www.hearts-at-home.org/
Thanks, Trish, for joining us today. What a joy to meet you and learn more about your new mom book Rattled.
Thanks for having me. Blessings to you.
You can catch up with Trish all week long on her BLAST OUT BLOG TOUR by going to the following sites. There will be FREE book prizes, and great moms to connect with at each blog.
BLAST OUT BLOG TOUR for RATTLED
1/31/08
http://karenrobbins.blogspot.com/
2/11/08
http://stainedglasspickup.blogspot.com/
http://mommymonk.blogspot.com/
http://www.5minutesformom.com
http://pursuingsimplicity.blogspot.com
www.jaxcreations.blogspot.com
2/12/08
www.survivingthechaos.blogspot.com
www.tinaannforkner.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/mommyszablewski
www.xanga.com/mommyeaton
www.Coldnoodlesforbreakfast.blogspot.com
2/13/08
http://godusesbrokenvessels.blogspot.com
http://triciagoyer.blogspot.com
http://genxparents.blogspot.com
http://sprightly-amyanne.blogspot.com
2/14/08
http://spaghettipie.wordpress.com
2/15/08
www.keriwyattkent.blogspot.com
http://ramblinroadstoeverywhere.blogspot.com
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cappuccinosmom
www.mommycomelately.blogspot.com
http://www.cornhuskeracademy.blogspot.com
www.karenehman.com
2/16/08
http://zyphe.blogspot.com/
http://carasmusings.blogspot.com
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/martha
2/17/08
www.marybethwhalen.com
www.bookjunkieconfessions.blogspot.com
2/18/08
http://www.terragarden.blogspot.com
Can you change a diaper faster than a rodeo cowboy ropes a calf? Need more sleep,
more laughter, and ten minutes in the bathroom – alone?
You must be a mom….Don’t let the clutter, chaos, exhaustion and Cheerio-dust get you Rattled.
With practical advice and scriptural reminders, author Trish Berg can help you not only survive the chaos and clutter of motherhood, but get back to the simple joy of being a mom.
I am excited to welcome Trish Berg, joining us today to talk about her new mom book, Rattled, Surviving Your Baby’s First Year without Losing Your Cool!
Trish is a national speaker for Hearts at Home, author of The Great American 
Supper Swap and Rattled. She has been published in Today’s Christian Woman, MOMSense, CBN.com, P31 WOMAN, and numerous regional and national publications.
Trish earned her MBA before leaving the workforce for motherhood, then earned her Doctorate in Diaper Changing in Ohio where she and her husband, Mike, keep busy raising their four children on their family cattle farm.
Trish, welcome. Thanks for taking time to be with us today.
Thanks for having me.
Motherhood is simply draining and exhausting. Hands down the toughest job I have ever had.
But moms are not alone, and I want moms to know that God walks with them through these exhausting years.
What stresses moms out the most?
I think moms put a lot of pressure on themselves to do it all by themselves, and to do it all the right way. They need to simplify, let go of many details, and ask for help, from their husbands, and from neighbors and friends.
Rattled actually begins by looking at the months of pregnancy. How can moms use this time to prepare to survive baby’s first year?
Nine months is not nearly enough time to fully prepare for motherhood. I am not sure there is enough time to fully prepare.
I remember when our first child, Hannah, was born, I felt that my world had been turned upside down. Hannah did not like to sleep, and so we spent many nights walking the floor, bouncing her up and down, trying desperately to settle her down. My husband, Mike, and I took turns walking laps around the house, like the Indy 500 with a lot more bouncing.
I am not sure I could have prepared for that.
But during your pregnancy, you can prepare in other ways. Like arranging for help. Ask your mom or mother-in-law if they can spend one day with you each week during the first few months. Just knowing someone is coming in the morning to help with the baby can make the being up all night not seem so terrible.
You talk about surviving motherhood. How do you help moms do that?
In Rattled, I talk about a mom’s survival kit. If you were thrown out into the wilderness, you would need FOOD, SHELTER, FIRE and WATER to survive.
Well, moms have been thrown out into the wilderness of motherhood, and to survive, they will need:
Water from the word (2 Samuel 22:3a) –To be in God’s Word.
A fire like desire for prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17) – Moms can pray their way through their day.
Nourishment body, mind and spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13) – Love on all levels nourishes us.
Shelter from life’s storms (Proverbs 17:17)-Friends to lean on, trust, and support us.
In Rattled, I spend some time talking about how moms can use that survival kit to get back to the joy of mothering.
You spent a lot of time listening to what other mothers had to say. Share with us your best advice for new moms.
I would tell moms to relax. No one does it right all the time. Let the laundry pile up. Leave the dishes in the sink, and just enjoy holding your baby today.
Don’t worry about doing “it” right, just enjoy the moments you have.
That is sound advice...
But what aboud dads? Give us a few tips into what dad is going through during the first year.
Dads are just as insecure as moms are about parenthood. Even more so in many cases.
Moms do much of the baby feeding, diaper changing, and baby care. So dads can sometimes feel left out, and incapable of caring for their own baby.
One thing moms can do is encourage dad to be involved. But in doing so, moms must let go of “their way” of doing things, and let dad discover his own way.
For example. When Hannah was a baby, every time Mike would change her diaper, I would criticize the way he changed it. I tried to teach him how to put his fingers under the leg elastic and make sure it wasn’t bunched up, preventing a future leak.
But every time I criticized him, he stepped back and became less involved. And you know what? Even when I did the diapers the “right way” they still sometimes leaked.
So I had to learn to let Mike change her diaper his own way. I let him put her to bed his way, bathe her his way, and be the dad God wanted him to be.
That can be difficult for moms who can tend to be slight control freaks when it comes to baby care.
But let me just encourage you that the help you will get from dad if you can let go of those details will bless you in more ways than you can imagine!
In Rattled you’re very open about the loss of your own pregnancy in 2002. How has that loss changed your outlook on motherhood?
I in the 2nd trimester of my fourth pregnancy when I went in for a regular check up. I was not having any problems at all, and went in alone.
My OB/GYN performed an ultrasound just to check for twins, and suddenly my world turned upside down when he could not find a heart beat.
I was completely devastated. Mike and I had two weeks of further testing before we had assurance that our baby had died. And through it all, I prayed for a miracle, my miracle, that my baby would be alive again.
But in the end, God’s miracle was not that my baby survived. God’s miracle was the reassurance that He used me as a vessel to bring a tiny soul to Heaven.
A year later, I lost another child to miscarriage.
Today, I have a greater sense of love and appreciation for my four children here on earth whom I hug with my arms, and a closer tie to Heaven where my two babies are waiting for me, whom I can only hug with my heart for now.
Today you’re the mom of 4 happy and healthy children. What do you see as the greatest blessing about being a mom?
I would say learning patience, but my husband would laugh out loud at that…since I am probably one of the most impatient people there is.So I guess I would have to say enjoying the journey. I live Psalm 118:24 every day of my life.
“This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Life is messy. Things break. Kids get sick. But moms need to remember to enjoy the journey no matter where the journey leads.
Today at the Berg house, our washing machine is broken. Our mini van needs new tires. We are hanging onto Mike’s 1986 Jeep on a wing and a prayer, hoping it makes it another year or so.
There is mud on my kitchen floor, crumbs on my carpet, and I can honestly say that I love my life. Just as it is.
Now, I certainly have moments where I get stressed and discouraged, and can even lose my temper (just ask my kids), but I am also learning to enjoy each moment of every day as a gift from God.
And thorough it all, my simple hope and prayer is that I can be the mom that God wants me to be.
Where can readers learn more about you, Rattled, your other books, and your ministry to moms?
My website at www.TrishBerg.com offers tons of FREE resources, links and downloads for moms, as well as mor information on my books and ministry.
Moms can also purchase their own copy of Rattled by clicking here.
And I will be speaking at all 3 Hearts at Home Conferences in 2008, I would LOVE for you to join me there. The National conference is in March in Illinois, and in the fall there is a conference in Michigan and Minnesota. You can get more information and register at http://www.hearts-at-home.org/
Thanks, Trish, for joining us today. What a joy to meet you and learn more about your new mom book Rattled.
Thanks for having me. Blessings to you.
You can catch up with Trish all week long on her BLAST OUT BLOG TOUR by going to the following sites. There will be FREE book prizes, and great moms to connect with at each blog.
BLAST OUT BLOG TOUR for RATTLED
1/31/08
http://karenrobbins.blogspot.com/
2/11/08
http://stainedglasspickup.blogspot.com/
http://mommymonk.blogspot.com/
http://www.5minutesformom.com
http://pursuingsimplicity.blogspot.com
www.jaxcreations.blogspot.com
2/12/08
www.survivingthechaos.blogspot.com
www.tinaannforkner.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/mommyszablewski
www.xanga.com/mommyeaton
www.Coldnoodlesforbreakfast.blogspot.com
2/13/08
http://godusesbrokenvessels.blogspot.com
http://triciagoyer.blogspot.com
http://genxparents.blogspot.com
http://sprightly-amyanne.blogspot.com
2/14/08
http://spaghettipie.wordpress.com
2/15/08
www.keriwyattkent.blogspot.com
http://ramblinroadstoeverywhere.blogspot.com
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cappuccinosmom
www.mommycomelately.blogspot.com
http://www.cornhuskeracademy.blogspot.com
www.karenehman.com
2/16/08
http://zyphe.blogspot.com/
http://carasmusings.blogspot.com
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/martha
2/17/08
www.marybethwhalen.com
www.bookjunkieconfessions.blogspot.com
2/18/08
http://www.terragarden.blogspot.com
Thursday, February 07, 2008
The Soul's Back Door
To enter the February book drawing for a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup, leave a comment after a blog entry or email me writecat@consolidated.net
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A New Mexico friend, Bill Johnson, is one of 14 children. He told us he overheard his dad say many times, “While I fought to keep the wolf away from the front door, the stork slipped in the back.”
In that context, the back door referenced things happening without much notice. Rick Larsen, presenter of “The Star of Bethlehem” DVD, made a similar statement about the soul having a backdoor. He saw how music moves folks toward God when usual cautions, teachings, and taps on the front door of the soul failed.
Anne Lamott tells how she was drawn to belief through spiritual hymns. She grew up in a family and neighborhood of atheists, however, at least one on her street did believe in God. In the intellectual atmosphere, Christians were deemed ignorant to cast their lots with “God” who could not be seen.
At an early age Ms. Lamott’s life went south, pushed low by personal behavior and drug addictions. Later in adulthood, confused, she walked each Sunday morning, trying to sort out her life.
On those Sundays, she strolled past a church—its doors open. The music spilled out onto the soiled sidewalks and dirty pavement. For weeks, she heard the strains of sweet music, but resisted the melodies.
Finally, she allowed herself to listen, to walk slowly as she passed by the open doors. She even began to linger at the door, not daring to go inside. But soon the words and melodies stroked a chord in her heart like no other, and a friendly hand of a member beckoned her to come on in, have a seat.
She told how God had tapped on her front door in childhood, but as an adult, God first got her attention through music—through the soul backdoor. If you’ve read Ms. Lamott’s works or followed her lectures, her politics and views on some moral issues are controversial. But, her belief in Jesus Christ is obvious, germinated by strains of music drifting from a church house.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus about the discipline of singing and making melodies in their “hearts to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). These past few weeks, I've been singing--a song of praise each day. Sometimes, it’s spontaneous. Sometimes it’s planned with a hymnal, shape notes, and lyrics in hand.
Some of the songs my grandmothers sang, some are new praise music. Which soul door did they enter when I first heard them? I don’t know, but I’ve learned this, when I sing a song, it airs out my soul. A sweet breeze flows through like none other.
Minister Robert Culp says, “Music invites us out of isolation and into the fellowship of the saints. It also draws us from self-centeredness and into God-centeredness.”
In solitude, sing a song to the Lord each day this week, one for his ears alone. And, listen for the creaking of door hinges.
“Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven,” Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864).
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A New Mexico friend, Bill Johnson, is one of 14 children. He told us he overheard his dad say many times, “While I fought to keep the wolf away from the front door, the stork slipped in the back.”
In that context, the back door referenced things happening without much notice. Rick Larsen, presenter of “The Star of Bethlehem” DVD, made a similar statement about the soul having a backdoor. He saw how music moves folks toward God when usual cautions, teachings, and taps on the front door of the soul failed.
Anne Lamott tells how she was drawn to belief through spiritual hymns. She grew up in a family and neighborhood of atheists, however, at least one on her street did believe in God. In the intellectual atmosphere, Christians were deemed ignorant to cast their lots with “God” who could not be seen.
At an early age Ms. Lamott’s life went south, pushed low by personal behavior and drug addictions. Later in adulthood, confused, she walked each Sunday morning, trying to sort out her life.
On those Sundays, she strolled past a church—its doors open. The music spilled out onto the soiled sidewalks and dirty pavement. For weeks, she heard the strains of sweet music, but resisted the melodies.
Finally, she allowed herself to listen, to walk slowly as she passed by the open doors. She even began to linger at the door, not daring to go inside. But soon the words and melodies stroked a chord in her heart like no other, and a friendly hand of a member beckoned her to come on in, have a seat.
She told how God had tapped on her front door in childhood, but as an adult, God first got her attention through music—through the soul backdoor. If you’ve read Ms. Lamott’s works or followed her lectures, her politics and views on some moral issues are controversial. But, her belief in Jesus Christ is obvious, germinated by strains of music drifting from a church house.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus about the discipline of singing and making melodies in their “hearts to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). These past few weeks, I've been singing--a song of praise each day. Sometimes, it’s spontaneous. Sometimes it’s planned with a hymnal, shape notes, and lyrics in hand.
Some of the songs my grandmothers sang, some are new praise music. Which soul door did they enter when I first heard them? I don’t know, but I’ve learned this, when I sing a song, it airs out my soul. A sweet breeze flows through like none other.
Minister Robert Culp says, “Music invites us out of isolation and into the fellowship of the saints. It also draws us from self-centeredness and into God-centeredness.”
In solitude, sing a song to the Lord each day this week, one for his ears alone. And, listen for the creaking of door hinges.
“Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven,” Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864).
Friday, February 01, 2008
And, the winner of the January book drawing is Carolyn E.! Congratulations, Carolyn E. I’ll be in touch to get your mailing address.
Register today for the February book drawing. Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an opportunity to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
Billows
Okay, who really knows what “billows” are? Many have sung words from the count-your-many-blessings song: “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost.” Have you ever been tossed upon a billows? Tempestuously tossed?
The word “billows” isn’t an everyday word, but if used in context, the meaning would be clear: Billows are shoving the cruise ship around. “The billows are frothy—not a good fishing day,” said the salty sailor. The billows splashed into the leaky John boat causing the fisherman to bail with vigor.
So, “billows” means waves, usually big one roiling and rolling. And life-billows must mean huge happenings that could cause drowning. Sea water can cause harm or good. The sea supports its world and inhabitants. But many humans, alien to life in the water, have been lost at sea. Humans can float on the sea, gather food from it or drown in it.
So, now that billows are in mind, what can we do if we get tossed on one? I’ve heard folks say that when bad times assault them, they can’t seem to pray. I’ve experienced that.
Others have told me, whenever pain, loss or devastation comes along, they find reading their Bible difficult. I’ve experienced that, too. When the brain is fogged by bad circumstances, pages can be turned but not comprehended because the mind is mired in despair.
But what do you do when the presence of God seems far away? For Jesus and his disciples, when life got crowded or dangerous, that’s when they fled to be alone for a day or night—alone with God.
When Jesus heard of his cousin John the Baptist’s beheading, he “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place” (Matthew 14: 13).
Oswald Chambers says when “God gets us alone,” that’s when his most effective teaching occurs. When Jesus walked this earth, he and his disciples were constantly surrounded by problems of others, what Robert J. Wicks calls, secondary stress in his book Crossing the Desert.
But after a few intense days, Jesus would say something such as, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31). They’d get away by themselves and over and over the same scenario is presented.
When the disciples were alone with Jesus, who is God, they asked questions. Isn’t that what we do when something puzzling happens? We ask a lot of questions, aloud and in our minds.
So when a toss on the billows happens, the lesson from Jesus and the disciples is to get alone with God. And who said questions to God, aren’t prayers. Questions communicate our sincerest thoughts to God. Then, we can present ourselves to listen for answers.
If you find yourself in the swell of a billows, spend time alone with God, it’s where he does his most significant work. He teaches survival techniques, passes out swim fins, and teaches us to float.
Register today for the February book drawing. Leave a comment here or email me at writecat@consolidated.net and I’ll enter your name for an opportunity to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
Billows
Okay, who really knows what “billows” are? Many have sung words from the count-your-many-blessings song: “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost.” Have you ever been tossed upon a billows? Tempestuously tossed?
The word “billows” isn’t an everyday word, but if used in context, the meaning would be clear: Billows are shoving the cruise ship around. “The billows are frothy—not a good fishing day,” said the salty sailor. The billows splashed into the leaky John boat causing the fisherman to bail with vigor.
So, “billows” means waves, usually big one roiling and rolling. And life-billows must mean huge happenings that could cause drowning. Sea water can cause harm or good. The sea supports its world and inhabitants. But many humans, alien to life in the water, have been lost at sea. Humans can float on the sea, gather food from it or drown in it.
So, now that billows are in mind, what can we do if we get tossed on one? I’ve heard folks say that when bad times assault them, they can’t seem to pray. I’ve experienced that.
Others have told me, whenever pain, loss or devastation comes along, they find reading their Bible difficult. I’ve experienced that, too. When the brain is fogged by bad circumstances, pages can be turned but not comprehended because the mind is mired in despair.
But what do you do when the presence of God seems far away? For Jesus and his disciples, when life got crowded or dangerous, that’s when they fled to be alone for a day or night—alone with God.
When Jesus heard of his cousin John the Baptist’s beheading, he “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place” (Matthew 14: 13).
Oswald Chambers says when “God gets us alone,” that’s when his most effective teaching occurs. When Jesus walked this earth, he and his disciples were constantly surrounded by problems of others, what Robert J. Wicks calls, secondary stress in his book Crossing the Desert.
But after a few intense days, Jesus would say something such as, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31). They’d get away by themselves and over and over the same scenario is presented.
When the disciples were alone with Jesus, who is God, they asked questions. Isn’t that what we do when something puzzling happens? We ask a lot of questions, aloud and in our minds.
So when a toss on the billows happens, the lesson from Jesus and the disciples is to get alone with God. And who said questions to God, aren’t prayers. Questions communicate our sincerest thoughts to God. Then, we can present ourselves to listen for answers.
If you find yourself in the swell of a billows, spend time alone with God, it’s where he does his most significant work. He teaches survival techniques, passes out swim fins, and teaches us to float.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Prayer Mending
Leave a comment or email me and I’ll enter your name into my January book drawing for a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup.
“Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” Psalm 95:6-7
Two wives were mending trousers, each mending her preacher-husband’s pants. One said, “My poor James. He is so discouraged in his work. He’s thinking about resigning and finding a regular job. It seems nothing goes right for him.”
The other wife said, “My husband says just the opposite. He is enthused. It seems like the Lord is closer to him than ever before.” A hushed silence fell as they continued to mend the trousers—one patching the seat and the other repairing the knees.
My parents knelt with my sister and me at bedtime and we said goodnight to God, and we learned bowing by example. My mother often prayed on her knees through the day, too, behind a closed door.
I remember sneaking peeks at her through the keyhole of an old-fashioned doorplate, the kind unlocked by a skeleton key. God provided my mother with rest and re-creation and will also help any praying mother err on the side of sanity and love.
The postures of prayer mentioned in the Bible are numerous—standing, lying facedown on the ground, kneeling, hands lifted toward the heavens, eyes turned heavenward and more. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he mentions his prayer posture, “I kneel before the Father” (3:14).
Our culture is an ocean and several centuries removed from bowing before monarchs. A bow or curtsey indicated that the performer would defer to the person of higher rank, whether they wanted to or not. In private, when knees are bowed to God, there’s more involved than coerced obedience.
A story of a father and son demonstrates forced compliance. Before seatbelt laws, a traveling dad said to his pre-school son who was standing in the seat, “Sit down, son.”
The child didn’t sit down, but after several more verbal commands he did. Finally seated, the boy looked at his dad and said, “But I’m still standing on the inside.”
In private, when knees are bent in prayer, it’s a voluntary act. When I was a teenager, I strayed from kneeling, but later on in life, I began praying on my knees again.
The first few weeks of adopting that prayer pose were difficult. For me, it meant allowing God to look into all the rooms in my heart, including the locked ones that had skeleton keys.
When kneeling, we’re physically closer to the earth, but somehow our hearts can be transported to the courts of heaven. Try prayer-kneeling this year. Of course, you just might have to patch pant-knees, but, meanwhile God will tailor your life from above.
“Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” Psalm 95:6-7
Two wives were mending trousers, each mending her preacher-husband’s pants. One said, “My poor James. He is so discouraged in his work. He’s thinking about resigning and finding a regular job. It seems nothing goes right for him.”
The other wife said, “My husband says just the opposite. He is enthused. It seems like the Lord is closer to him than ever before.” A hushed silence fell as they continued to mend the trousers—one patching the seat and the other repairing the knees.
My parents knelt with my sister and me at bedtime and we said goodnight to God, and we learned bowing by example. My mother often prayed on her knees through the day, too, behind a closed door.
I remember sneaking peeks at her through the keyhole of an old-fashioned doorplate, the kind unlocked by a skeleton key. God provided my mother with rest and re-creation and will also help any praying mother err on the side of sanity and love.
The postures of prayer mentioned in the Bible are numerous—standing, lying facedown on the ground, kneeling, hands lifted toward the heavens, eyes turned heavenward and more. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he mentions his prayer posture, “I kneel before the Father” (3:14).
Our culture is an ocean and several centuries removed from bowing before monarchs. A bow or curtsey indicated that the performer would defer to the person of higher rank, whether they wanted to or not. In private, when knees are bowed to God, there’s more involved than coerced obedience.
A story of a father and son demonstrates forced compliance. Before seatbelt laws, a traveling dad said to his pre-school son who was standing in the seat, “Sit down, son.”
The child didn’t sit down, but after several more verbal commands he did. Finally seated, the boy looked at his dad and said, “But I’m still standing on the inside.”
In private, when knees are bent in prayer, it’s a voluntary act. When I was a teenager, I strayed from kneeling, but later on in life, I began praying on my knees again.
The first few weeks of adopting that prayer pose were difficult. For me, it meant allowing God to look into all the rooms in my heart, including the locked ones that had skeleton keys.
When kneeling, we’re physically closer to the earth, but somehow our hearts can be transported to the courts of heaven. Try prayer-kneeling this year. Of course, you just might have to patch pant-knees, but, meanwhile God will tailor your life from above.
Friday, January 18, 2008
January Book Drawing
Leave a comment or email me and I'll enter your name into the January drawing for a free book--my thanks for stopping by.
The Rain Dance
At a mall, six Girl Scouts, about 10 years old, tumbled out of an SUV. Just as their feet hit the parking lot, raindrops the size of half-dollars, quarters and dimes pelted them.
I watched from the dry-cover of my vehicle while waiting for a friend. The little girl faces showed pure delight because of the water-pelting.
Arms outstretched, they twirled and tilted their faces skyward. Their mouths opened to catch rain-change and rinse down giggles. They didn’t seem to mind that their green vests, stucco-ed with merit badges, grew soggy.
The adult leader emerged from the driver’s seat, but the girls didn’t imitate her hurried walk under an umbrella. They continued their freedom-dance. Skipping, hopping, side-stepping, they ambled toward the mall entrance.
As far as I know, I alone witnessed their pleasure at encountering rain. So, playing off a favorite line from another author, I ask, Could you dance in the rain, if no one saw you but God?
One of my favorite scriptures about Jesus’ joy is in Hebrews, when the writer quotes an Old Testament scripture saying Jesus’ joy was above any who ever lived, “God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy” (1:9).
Bruce Marchiano says that Jesus’ joy is the most “obvious, most overlooked, most disregarded, most neglected, most misunderstood, most undefined . . . reality in all of Christendom.”
I admit that the atrocities of this world come clothed as robbers, joy-consumers. Bad news gobbles up happiness. Even though bouncy joy may be lost for a time, the loss is not forever. Jesus was aware of the horrors of life, but he and believers know that God will eventually right all injustices.
Injustices-righted is one reason for joy. God can and will correct the things we have no power to fix. There’s going to be a happy ending for those whom God acknowledges as sons and daughters.
When I’m reading my Bible and I come across a jubilant passage such as “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10), I draw a little stick figure, its arms raised in praise. It’s my way of taking notice of how many times, praise, joy, handclapping and elation about God’s care is noted in the biblical text.
God is the true source of joy. I know that circumstances often step between us and that knowledge, but the joy is still God’s to give. Ask, seek, and knock for this true joy. Expect to receive it. Thank you, Girl Scouts, for the reminder that it’s possible to dance, even in the rain.
I watched from the dry-cover of my vehicle while waiting for a friend. The little girl faces showed pure delight because of the water-pelting.
Arms outstretched, they twirled and tilted their faces skyward. Their mouths opened to catch rain-change and rinse down giggles. They didn’t seem to mind that their green vests, stucco-ed with merit badges, grew soggy.
The adult leader emerged from the driver’s seat, but the girls didn’t imitate her hurried walk under an umbrella. They continued their freedom-dance. Skipping, hopping, side-stepping, they ambled toward the mall entrance.
As far as I know, I alone witnessed their pleasure at encountering rain. So, playing off a favorite line from another author, I ask, Could you dance in the rain, if no one saw you but God?
One of my favorite scriptures about Jesus’ joy is in Hebrews, when the writer quotes an Old Testament scripture saying Jesus’ joy was above any who ever lived, “God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy” (1:9).
Bruce Marchiano says that Jesus’ joy is the most “obvious, most overlooked, most disregarded, most neglected, most misunderstood, most undefined . . . reality in all of Christendom.”
I admit that the atrocities of this world come clothed as robbers, joy-consumers. Bad news gobbles up happiness. Even though bouncy joy may be lost for a time, the loss is not forever. Jesus was aware of the horrors of life, but he and believers know that God will eventually right all injustices.
Injustices-righted is one reason for joy. God can and will correct the things we have no power to fix. There’s going to be a happy ending for those whom God acknowledges as sons and daughters.
When I’m reading my Bible and I come across a jubilant passage such as “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10), I draw a little stick figure, its arms raised in praise. It’s my way of taking notice of how many times, praise, joy, handclapping and elation about God’s care is noted in the biblical text.
God is the true source of joy. I know that circumstances often step between us and that knowledge, but the joy is still God’s to give. Ask, seek, and knock for this true joy. Expect to receive it. Thank you, Girl Scouts, for the reminder that it’s possible to dance, even in the rain.
Friday, January 11, 2008
A Tax, a Fish, a Coin
Leave a comment or email me, and I’ll enter your name into a January book drawing to win a copy of my devotional book: The Stained Glass Pickup. Sorry, I can only mail them to readers in the continental USA. They are available for purchase at Amazon / Canada and UK for those outside the USA.
A coin, a fish and a tax—all surfaced in a conversation between Jesus and Peter. Scribe Matthew relates the event in chapter 17, verses 24-27. Temple tax collectors asked Simon Peter, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”
The temple tax, “atonement for the soul” offering of Exodus 30:15, was to be paid by every Jewish male over 20 years of age. Apparently, Jesus and Peter had not paid, yet. The collected money, used for temple upkeep and services, came due annually.
When the soul-atonement tax-men came collecting, Peter answered for Jesus and said something like, “Of course, Jesus pays his temple tax.” Then Peter trotted off to verify his story with Jesus.
Let me stop here and remind you what happens to Bible readers: scriptures will impact our lives in different ways at different times. Why? Because we are ever-learning-and-changing creatures. At stages in my life, I read the story of the coin, fish, and tax. Each time it impacted me, but in various ways. This time when I read it, I saw the majesty of God in a new light.
Now, let’s get back to Peter’s verifying that Jesus intended to pay his “soul atonement tax.” Before Peter ever uttered one word, Jesus asked, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?” Peter answered, “From others.”
“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said. Then Jesus said, we'll pay so that “we may not offend them,” and he gave special instructions to Simon Peter, the fisherman:
Go fish. At the lake, throw out your line and the first fish you catch, pry open its mouth and look inside. Inside you’ll find a four drachma coin, the exact amount needed to pay two drachmas each for you and me.
I imagine Peter’s walk to the lake. Some believe the wording indicates he didn’t use any bait. He slings the line out. The cash-fish is swimming somewhere close by and is somehow enticed to swallow the luring line. There’s a tug. The line goes taut, and Peter tugs it in. He can hardly wait, his anticipation had built.
He pries open its mouth, and there near the gills a four drachma coin—just like Jesus had told him. And, possibly the best catch of the day, Peter’s faith must have multiplied.
Freshness swept over me to read in this brief story that Jesus knew Peter’s conversation and thoughts, and also knew that the money-market fish swam in nearby lake waters. Where I worship we sing the song “Majesty,” and this story revealed anew the deity of Jesus.
To me, this is one of those side-step stories. While spectacular, I often wondered why God guided Matthew to include it in the text. Probably for folks like me. For those who need RE-assurance that God knows about all the details of life. Mine. Yours. And even fishes in the deep blue sea.
A coin, a fish and a tax—all surfaced in a conversation between Jesus and Peter. Scribe Matthew relates the event in chapter 17, verses 24-27. Temple tax collectors asked Simon Peter, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”
The temple tax, “atonement for the soul” offering of Exodus 30:15, was to be paid by every Jewish male over 20 years of age. Apparently, Jesus and Peter had not paid, yet. The collected money, used for temple upkeep and services, came due annually.
When the soul-atonement tax-men came collecting, Peter answered for Jesus and said something like, “Of course, Jesus pays his temple tax.” Then Peter trotted off to verify his story with Jesus.
Let me stop here and remind you what happens to Bible readers: scriptures will impact our lives in different ways at different times. Why? Because we are ever-learning-and-changing creatures. At stages in my life, I read the story of the coin, fish, and tax. Each time it impacted me, but in various ways. This time when I read it, I saw the majesty of God in a new light.
Now, let’s get back to Peter’s verifying that Jesus intended to pay his “soul atonement tax.” Before Peter ever uttered one word, Jesus asked, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?” Peter answered, “From others.”
“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said. Then Jesus said, we'll pay so that “we may not offend them,” and he gave special instructions to Simon Peter, the fisherman:
Go fish. At the lake, throw out your line and the first fish you catch, pry open its mouth and look inside. Inside you’ll find a four drachma coin, the exact amount needed to pay two drachmas each for you and me.
I imagine Peter’s walk to the lake. Some believe the wording indicates he didn’t use any bait. He slings the line out. The cash-fish is swimming somewhere close by and is somehow enticed to swallow the luring line. There’s a tug. The line goes taut, and Peter tugs it in. He can hardly wait, his anticipation had built.
He pries open its mouth, and there near the gills a four drachma coin—just like Jesus had told him. And, possibly the best catch of the day, Peter’s faith must have multiplied.
Freshness swept over me to read in this brief story that Jesus knew Peter’s conversation and thoughts, and also knew that the money-market fish swam in nearby lake waters. Where I worship we sing the song “Majesty,” and this story revealed anew the deity of Jesus.
To me, this is one of those side-step stories. While spectacular, I often wondered why God guided Matthew to include it in the text. Probably for folks like me. For those who need RE-assurance that God knows about all the details of life. Mine. Yours. And even fishes in the deep blue sea.
Friday, January 04, 2008
December 2007 winner of The Stained Glass Pickup
And the winner is............Tammy M. Congratulations! Horns are blowing! Bells are ringing! Can you hear them?
Tammy, I'll email you and get your physical address to mail your autographed copy.....Cathy
Tammy, I'll email you and get your physical address to mail your autographed copy.....Cathy
Don't Outfly Your Angels
January contest--Make a comment, leave a post and your name will be entered to win a copy of The Stained Glass Pickup. Drawing at end of January.
Not too long ago, my son, Russell, had an unusual trucking job. He transported about 30 very large “retired” trumpeting angels from a shopping center to storage. The job took about eight trips to cart the celestial beings to out-of-service duty. For several decades that chorus of steel and light bulb angels heralded the holiday season at a nearby shopping center.
Standing about 10 foot tall, the angels perched above the façade of the buildings year round, but their lights only shined over the shopping crowd during the Christmas season. On the way to storage, the route took Russell and angels by our home. Neighbor Linda saw him going down the road with three angels trailing his truck. Delighted by the sight, she phoned to say that Russell should be okay that day because “angels are following him.”
While there is information about angels in the Bible, I think mystery still surrounds their work. From the Bible stories of their interaction with man, they are messengers, protectors, providers of food and comfort, among other things.
I’ve never seen an angel, but I think I’ve seen the results when angels are active. When my children were young, two and six, one night divine intervention spared my family as I drove home in our pickup truck.
That night was before seat belt requirements, so my little ones knelt on the bench seat and watched the large moon shining through the back window of the single-cab truck. All of a sudden, their pensive mood changed and they asked if they could sit on the floorboard. They had never asked before and I had never allowed them to huddle in the small confines. I granted their request.
Just as they hunkered in the small area, the pickup truck slammed into something in our lane. I later learned that trespassers had cut a rancher’s barbed wire fence and four of his horses were out. We hit one. The poor horse didn’t make it and neither did our totaled truck.
The only undamaged areas were the driver’s space and the passenger floorboard where Russell and Sheryle crowded together. Over them, the passenger side of the cab crashed in close to the bench seat.
This weekend, our neighbors, Linda and Donald, had us over for dinner. We talked about the day she saw the angels trailing Russell, and she teased and said, “It’s a good thing not to travel faster than your angels can fly.”
Her words remained with me. I’ve shortened them for my 2008 motto: “Don’t out fly your angels.” The coined angel–phrase is a good prompt for living in this newborn year, both a caution and reminder of God’s multiplied blessings, because “[God] will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways (Psalm 91:11a).
Monday, December 31, 2007
Free Book Drawing
Post a comment at any of the December posts and your name will be entered into a drawing to receive a free, autographed copy of The Stained Glass Pickup. If you win, I'll contact you by email after December 31. Contest starts over and runs each month Jan-Dec 2008.
Thanks readers.....Cathy
Thanks readers.....Cathy
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