The Most Wonderful Time of Year

It’s that time of year when I begin to feel a little overwhelmed.  School is almost out and graduation party announcements have begun coming to my door and my email; where did this entire year go? Registration for summer events and fall activities all need to be filled out and paid for. Summer Sunday school classes loom with their need for teachers, interns need to be hired, and can there really be just over two months left before Summer Blitz (our church's version of VBS)? Are we ready? These are the times when I stop and ask myself, “What were you thinking? Why would you be on a board, a steering committee, and say that we would take every kid who wants to come to Summer Blitz? Who gave the teachers the summer off, was that really a good idea?”

At times like this I am reminded to stop and think of the one who has called me. The one who said these were all good things. The one who said, He would provide all that was needed.

If you were to come into my office today and snoop around you would find several reminders of God’s faithfulness: a circle drawn on a chalkboard to remind me of missionary Gypsy Smith’s prayer for revival, a verse about confident hope on the sticky note on my computer monitor, and a sign reminding me that “it is easy to be happy”, because happiness comes from God not my circumstances.

I know I am not the only one with teetering piles of responsibility surrounding me on this Monday morning, and so I remind you as God has reminded me, “So know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. He will keep his agreement of love for a thousand lifetimes for people who love him and obey his commands.” Deuteronomy 7:9

Today, rest in the assurance that the God who loves you has called you, He has strengthened you, and He is faithful.

Beauty of Life

I taught preschool for years. One of the things that we covered every year was the life cycle of a butterfly.  Butterflies have a very easy life cycle to follow and clearly illustrate the circle of life: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and at last:  butterfly. 

In preschool you never talk about the fact that the beautiful butterfly that you have loved, possibly named, and set free will also die.  It’s a part of the circle of life that we ignore if we can.  It just isn’t very friendly to say to a group of 4 year olds:  “Well, we have set the butterfly free.  Maybe it is strong enough to survive.  Maybe it will get eaten by a bird. Maybe another little kid will catch it and rip its wings off”.  We say, “Look!  The beautiful butterfly is free!” We focus on the amazing transformation of an ugly caterpillar into a butterfly.  We focus on the beauty of a transformed life.

God’s word has a wonderful life cycle as well: creation, man-kind, failure, restoration, more failure and restoration; then miraculous life, death, atonement, redemption, and eternity. The true beauty of life is presented through the ugliest death and triumphant resurrection, bringing with it the reality of true transformation to all who believe.

Sometimes the weight of the world and the dailiness of life make me feel as if my wings have been ripped off, but I know that in Christ I am truly free. I have been transformed from the ugliness of sin to one that can stand before God blameless because of Jesus Christ’s great love for me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Running With Scissors

There are some great phrases associated with childhood. One of those is, “Don’t run with scissors!”  Can’t you see it? Cute kid, excited about an art project, grabbing the scissors and waving them overhead as he runs without a care in the world to work on his masterpiece! “I’ve got the scissors! I am ready to create!”

The phrase “Don’t run with scissors” could easily be changed to “Be careful how you live”.  It’s not about the running or the scissors, it is about the combination.  Running with scissors implies carelessness and a lack of attention to the things going on around you.  People do this all the time. They do things in their car that make you think that they believe they are in the privacy of their own home.  People talk on cell phones and text everywhere they go, no matter where they are or who they are with, as if the person seated across from them doesn’t exist.  They thoughtlessly wander through life without a single thought for the people walking along next to them. I once saw a video that showed someone so busy texting while walking that she didn’t see a giant fountain and fell right into it! This is an extreme lack of attention to the things around you.  God tells us to be careful how we live, and that doesn’t include running with scissors or walking around without care for the moment we are in. 

Ephesians 5:15& 17 say, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”  This is a follow up to a list of things that are not part of careful living. It is the exhortation to be imitators of God and to live a life led by the power of the Holy Spirit in you. 

How do we understand what the Lord wants us to do? Pay attention to His Word. Pay attention to the way he is working out his plans in you and in the people around you. Not paying attention leads to carelessness in the way we live our lives and in the way we treat others. 

Are you living with reckless abandon waving scissors of apathy as you go?  “…don’t live like fools, don’t act thoughtlessly…” Don’t run with scissors.

Be careful how you live.

Spring

Song of Solomon 2:12 “The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtle doves fills the air.”

I love the springtime.  I love that the birds have returned to my yard and are taking baths in our sprinklers and bird bath. I love that dormant grass is showing signs of greenness. I love that the apparently dead plants in their pots have little green buds bursting out of stems that look incapable of supporting life.  I love that I can plant flowers and they will stretch their faces to the sun, spreading gladness to all who see them! 

I am told that not everyone wants to plant flowers then sit in a chair with iced tea and admire them…It is quite possibly a sickness…many people do not look upon flowers and grass as if they spread gladness. 

I believe that we are supposed to celebrate new life. Who can drive past a field of little lambs and not say “ah”?  Who can look on a new baby and not see how sweet it is?  Who can watch someone understand and respond to the gospel for the first time and not say “Yes!” followed my an invisible fist pump in celebration?

In the Bible God celebrates new beginnings:  the star announcing his Son’s birth, the worship following the rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem, the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb.  As we celebrate Easter I want to encourage you to see the signs of new life around you.  Over and over God reminds us that new life is possible; the greatest reminder of that being what Jesus accomplished through his resurrection. Luke 24:5 & 6 (adapted) “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?   He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!"

Not just a picture of new life, but eternal life; his for the giving, yours for the receiving.

Isaiah 61:11 “Praise Him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring with plants springing up everywhere.”

Bliss

A popular idea is that each of us needs to find our bliss: the thing that makes us perfectly or deliriously happy. Apparently you can find your bliss in chocolate, a spa day, driving a fast car on a curvy road, quiet reflection, or even by watching Oprah!  There are websites dedicated to helping you learn how to find your bliss. Is finding real, actual Bliss attainable? If you are defining bliss as perfect happiness then it is absolutely unattainable. However, if you read further in your dictionary you will find that bliss is also described as “a state of spiritual joy”.  I confess that I have always thought of bliss as being something obtainable through really great dark chocolate, and not obtained through my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Recently I was gathered with other believers and was forcibly struck by the words to the song It is Well With My Soul: “My sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought: My sin, not in part, but the whole. Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, Oh my soul.” 

Jesus has put himself between God and our sin; interceding with God on our behalf by dying on the cross and rising again. Isaiah 53:11 & 12 “My servant will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities….Because He poured out Himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors: yet he himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”  Have you accepted the work that Jesus accomplished on the cross?

For those of us who know Jesus personally, who believe in His name and have accepted his gift of salvation, bliss is already within our grasp. If bliss is a state of spiritual joy, then we have everlasting, eternal bliss. You can’t obtain it through chocolate, shopping or driving fast. No website can tell you how to get it. It is obtained only through the transforming power of Jesus in your life.

“Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  John 1:29

In Control

I like to be in control. Most people do.  It’s a joke in our family.  Once when we were driving to church I told my husband that we should stop and get gas.  He thought it was fine.  I pushed it. His response, “I am in control”.  At that exact moment our car glugged and ran out of gas.  I prefer to think that God looked down and said, “Ha! You think you are in control? I will show you who is in control!”

Many things remind me that I am not in control. My son recently got his drivers permit.  I sit in the passenger seat and he chauffeurs me around.  This is the ultimate example of not being in control. I know that I am a more skilled driver than he: I have more experience, more knowledge, and more everything.  However, I choose to sit in the passenger seat and allow him to take us to our destination.  Once in a while I catch myself braking (my invisible passenger side brake) or wanting to steer. I offer “gentle suggestions” like, “I think you don’t want to be so close to that car”, or “people are going to start braking ahead”. I think he would prefer that I simply ride along without giving any direction.

Learning to drive is a lot like learning to navigate the Christian life.  Without a doubt God has more expertise than I do. He’s been through all of the usual life things himself.  He has guided many people before me and will guide many after me. He certainly could offer some gentle suggestions like, “I think you will regret making that decision”, or “people generally don’t prosper when they live that way”. 

Actually, scripture is full of gentle suggestions and commands regarding the proper way to conduct our lives.  Could the Lord take over and get us to our destination with ease? Absolutely. Would we learn much in the process? Absolutely not. We journey each day with our Father who is constantly beside us, offering guidance along the way.  He is like the ultimate Driver’s Ed teacher: he knows all the roads, he knows the destination and he knows what it will take to get there.

Proverbs 3:5 & 6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.”

Valentine

You’ve read it and you’ve passed it on: the candy conversation heart. It’s like the fortune cookie of love. Pick up a heart, read the saying, and pass it on. What will you tell your Valentine? “Purr fect, call me, cutie pie, new love, my love, UR kind, love bird, smile, lover boy, or be mine.” You wonder who to give a heart to, and ask yourself, who will give one to me?  What will it say? Will you be my Valentine?

The great thing about conversation hearts is that you can choose what saying to give to which person.  The bad thing about a conversation heart is that it is disposable: Temporary promises from a would-be Valentine.

There is someone who loves you, totally and unconditionally; someone whose love has been demonstrated and passed the test of time. Someone who keeps every promise, sees every tear, and knows every hurt. The invitation to be loved by Him is personal. The invitation is just for you. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

Unconditional love, reaching down, saying to you, “Let me be your Valentine”.