Crispy on the Edges

This morning while making sure that Buzz, the best dog in the world, had fresh water, I realized that I had not watered the flower pots in about 4 days. Let me interject here that I should get points for remembering the dog…but am apparently neglecting the garden.  My garden is definitely looking a little parched. The flowers in the pots are looking a little faded and weary, and the roses are (gasp) even a little crispy around the edges.  Let me justify my neglect: I have been busy. There was a lot going on a work, a lot to keep track of at home, and frankly, I felt that what I deserved to do was sit on the couch.

This morning while checking on the garden I was reminded of what that kind of neglect will cost me. While I can salvage the plants in the pots, they will not produce the kind of flowers I will be hoping for. The crispiness of the roses will mean a lack of new growth. All of the energy of the plants will be put into sustaining life, not into the production of something beautiful.

So it is with my relationship with God. When I neglect to water and feed it, my soul becomes a little faded and dreary, and dare I say it, a little crispy around the edges. My soul needs and longs to be fed: daily, hourly, upon the word of God. Life is sustained by Him, but souls are fed, grow and bear fruit from the daily watering, feeding, and abiding in Him and His word.

Psalm 1:2-3 “…He enjoys reading the law of the Lord, and studying it day and night. He is like a tree that grows beside a stream; it gives fruit at the right time, and its leaves do not dry up. He succeeds in everything he does.”

Whatever

What is the state of your closet?  Yes, THAT closet: The one that is big and roomy and seems to fill up with all of the unmatched, unwanted, and forgotten stuff in your life. 

I actually like to clean closets. I love to pull everything out and sort it into three piles: the keepers, the give-away pile, and the stuff I don’t really want but am not yet willing to part with.  The keepers and give-away piles are easy.  We pull close what we love and dispose of what is bad or unnecessary. It is the stuff that I don’t really want but am not willing to part with that is difficult. 

 My heart is the same way. It is easy to keep the good stuff close to my heart, and it’s pretty easy to let go of what is glaringly bad in my life.  It is difficult to part with the stuff that I don’t really want but have an emotional attachment to.   Sometimes I am emotionally attached to my feeling of anger toward someone.  It could be that I have unrealistic expectations for my spouse.  Maybe I am attached to a need to control everything and everyone around me.  We can become emotionally attached to our feelings, sins, desires or entitlements and these are the very things that God wants us to dispose of.

I think of a closet as a place where things are stored and forgotten. The closet space in my heart, however, works differently.  What I store in my heart may seem put away and out of sight, but it will inevitably affect my life through my attitude and actions,

What should I be storing in the personal closet space of my heart?  Philippians 4:8 tells us to dwell on the whatever’s:  "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”  If  what I am storing  in my closet is not part of God’s list of whatever’s, it is probably something I should dispose of.  This week I plan on examining the closet space in my heart and see what I'm storing there.  I plan to embrace the keepers, and add at least one of the things I am holding tightly to, to the give-away pile.

Abundance

 

John 1:16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 

As a child of God I am the recipient of His blessing.  I am full, even overflowing with all God has graciously bestowed upon me. What is His abundance in my life?  Today I decided to think of as many examples of His abundance in my life that I could (I am sure there are more). I invite you to do the same.

I am His. I belong to Him. I have family and friends who love me. I have purpose. I have health and happiness. There is plenty of chocolate and coffee in the world. I have creativity and know joy. My flowers are blooming, My dog is not too old to walk with me. My husband and son put up with my crazy. I enjoy sunshine, wind and storms in my life. I see beauty and feel sorrow. My Hope is in Him. 

“God will overflow your cup, so grab the biggest one you can find.” Rob Liano

Kicked out of the Garden

I’ve been kicked out of my garden. The roses have just finished their first big bloom of the season, the snapdragons are ready to pop open and the birds are welcoming the day with some loud hallelujahs.  I would like nothing more than to take the floral tour of my own garden to see how things are doing. There may be aphids waiting to be eliminated. There may be flowers to dead-head. There is certainly a wicker chair waiting for me, my book and a glass of iced tea. 

It is not to be.  There is evil afoot in my garden. The large, awful, ugly tree with the treacherous little white “flowers” is blooming in full splendor.  Along with its splendor comes my misery. Watery eyes, runny nose and itchy face accompany the blooming of the tree. How can something that seems so harmless chase me away from the garden? How can it separate me from the thing that I love?

 

Each of us has something that we harbor within us that chases us away from spending time in the garden.  My secret sins, my lack of discipline, my laziness chase me out of the garden. Seemingly harmless things build up until I barely realize that I am harboring such sins in my heart. These things separate me from the One I love.

As a child of the Master Gardener I am loved, forgiven, and always welcomed, but I am still able to stray from the garden. How easy it is to glance over the fence without entering. So often I say “later” to the garden and the Master Gardener. I can choose to not pull up the wicker chair and sit for a while. I can choose not to tend to my emotions and responsibilities. I can choose to not tend to the spiritual disciplines that will cause me to want to spend time with the Master Gardner.

I hope you are finding time to be in the garden. If not, what is keeping you away?  What are you allowing to come between you and the One who loves you?  Allow yourself to sink deeper into relationship with Him. Spend time in the garden. The Master Gardner is there, tending the garden, waiting for you to pull up the wicker chair and sit a while with Him.

 

Psalm 37:3 “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” 

Garments of Forgiveness

This morning I was reading in Genesis when Eve is tested by Satan and falls to the temptation of wanting more than God has already given her. She is convinced by Satan’s lies that God is withholding something good from her, and falls prey to his scheme. It is so easy to believe that there is something good and necessary to our lives that God has not given us. It is easy to accept the false narrative Satan or the world might have us believe.

Adam and Eve realize they are naked. They are exposed not just bodily, but their hearts and longings are exposed to God as well. “You gave us everything and we grasped for more,” they say, and we say every day.   They cover the evidence of their sin with physical garments, but for true forgiveness, a sacrifice must be made. Our sin, covered by a cloak of Christ’s own blood, shed to restore us to a relationship with God; if we choose to accept it. This garment of forgiveness has been crafted specifically for you and me; covering our nakedness and depravity with the compassion, mercy, love, and forgiveness of the Father.  Even in the midst of our disobedience God provides.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Awake O My Soul

“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; My whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land…Your unfailing love is better than life itself, How I praise You...I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer…I lie awake thinking of you meditating on you through the night…Because you are my helper I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. “  Psalms 63

Of all the things that keep me up at night, I don’t usually think of God as being one of them.  Bills, busyness, family, and many other things have kept me awake in the middle of the night, only to fade to a more realistic focus by the light of day. The concerns of life always seem to have a magnified importance in the middle of the night.

Lately I have been considering the possibility that God himself is the source of my sleepless night. What if my sleepless night is really a call to spend time with Him-exclusively and completely focused on the Lord; searching for His heart in my awakened soul? I’ve often used a sleepless night as time to pray: for family and friends, for nagging concerns and for many other people and things. Since praying in the middle of the night usually puts me to sleep, I have to believe that those few times when I have actually gotten out of bed and pursued time with God, have been appointed by Him.  Like an invitation to coffee with a friend, comes the invitation from my Father to spend time together. 

What if my awakened soul is a divine appointment with Him, and an opportunity for me to not just put my wants and concerns before him, but a time for me to go deeper with Him? Time spent with God in the wee hours of the morning, for me, are often a more sharpened time of intimacy and closeness to my Father.  It is a midnight meeting with an opportunity for intimacy and relationship, and a never to be reclaimed moment if missed. “I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night”. 

Awaken to hear the invitation. Awake O my soul.

Soul Guardian

Movies are made and books are written that reflect the fact that as humans, we have a yearning to be cared for and protected. For hope to prevail within our hearts and in society, we need heroes. We believe that we are self-sufficient, but deep inside we want to know that there is someone bigger and stronger than us to rescue us.  We can deny it, but popular culture is full of heroes who rush in to save the day, and we rush in to watch or read all about it. 

I heard a story about a young man whose mom was so messed up that she wanted him to fail. The better he did the worse she felt about herself, so the worse she wanted to make him feel.  Fortunately, someone came along who recognized that this young man needed help. Someone who could be responsible for his care: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Someone who said, I"t is my pleasure to see you do well, to see you succeed, to see you grow".  He needed a hero.  He needed a guardian.

 A guardian is an overseer or a watcher. They protect and guide. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the ultimate in guardians. He is in fact, the guardian of your soul.

1 Peter 2:25 “Once you were like sheep who wandered away, but now you have turned to your shepherd, the guardian of your souls.”

It is interesting that the guardian in this scripture is not presented to us in the form of a super hero complete with cape, mask and tights flying in to save the day.  The guardian of our souls is a shepherd. While many of us may not be aware of all of a shepherd’s duties, we can all agree that they care for sheep. They have an entire flock of folks to be watching out for. However, sheep are known for wandering away. We like sheep, also tend to wander. We are looking for the next adventure or the next cool thing, and wander toward the newest bright and shiny light.

In 1 Peter, it says, once we were like these wandering sheep, then we turned to our shepherd, the one who is our protector and overseer. Superman looks pretty spiffy, and Batman is super cool, but our protector doesn’t just watch over our outer shell, he guards our soul…the very essence of who I am, protected by the very one who made me. My soul guardian:  Imagine the cape for that!