The Blessing Box

I was reorganizing "stuff" in our basement multi-purpose space...workout room, sewing room, extra-bedroom...when I came across this "Blessing Box" that sat on our dining room table and other prominent places in our home for over a decade of difficult years. These were the years that most of us go through sooner or later...years when life slaps you in the face and dares you to believe in a good God, dares you to think you are blessed, and dares you to think you have "a future and a hope".

While we were living these years I couldn't help but think of the children of Israel wandering and wondering in the desert, disobeying and repenting, and trying to understand their God.

Couldn't help but think of Job in all his grief and misery, standing before God asking to be taught, and saying humbly to God, "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know....But now my eye sees Thee, therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:3, 6)

Couldn't help but think of David fighting his enemies and his sins, yet always able to say, "I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken....In Thy presence is fulness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever." (Ps16:8 and 11).

  
Couldn't help but think of Jesus being tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, laying down his life to purchase ours....promising to never leave us or forsake us....us....the imperfect, yet "His bride."

Trying to wrap my mind around  the "when bad things happen to good people" thoughts when I couldn't afford the book to explain it...

I think I read about The Blessing Box as being an "intentional" way to teach our children to "Rejoice in the Lord always"...and "in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving....present your requests to God..." Phil 4:4-7

So the box would stay around in conspicuous places, so that each of us would be encouraged to "be thankful", especially during our "desert" years.  Occasionally we would draw out the words from our kids, but as they got older, they wrote notes and placed them in the box in private.

I knew in my heart then that I wanted to live out a heart of thankfulness to my children and impart that virtue to them.  I don't think I understood the profound significance it would have on my own heart. Ann Voskamp, in One Thousand Gifts calls it "eucharisteo" and "radical gratitude," "a dare to live fully right where you are," and "what it means to be....deeply human...deeply spiritual...deeply and authentically fulfilled."  I can't say it better than that.

During those years God changed me so much.  It's only in looking back at our failures and victories that we even begin to understand the "soul" surgery God was doing in our lives, the good and the bad years.  And, it's a very special walk in the garden with the Lord when he reminds me of something I did right....like the Blessing Box.....now tattered and torn....kinda like me....but hopefully better for the wear....

The Fragrance of Rain

Photo by Mark Scantling, a few miles from our home in Happy

Mark Scantling Artist and Photographer 

Twice this morning I found myself thinking on rain and the fragrance it leaves behind.  I've learned that when there's a reoccurring theme in my thoughts and devotional time it means something....so here I write it down.

 
It rained this morning....while it was still dark outside.  I was awakened by thunder and then came that gentle pattering on the roof and through the trees.  I thanked the Lord and fell back to sleep, but it was the first thing  I thought of when I woke up after daylight. Where I live in the dry Texas Panhandle rain is an event, so I couldn't wait to look outside.
  

Shining puddles on the driveway, sidewalks, and in the street gutters... that's how I measure the rainfall. But my scientific husband will ask me today how much was in the rain gauge when he arrives home from an out-of-town trip. I'll let him check--it won't be much.

But the clean fresh aroma of the rain still lingered in the air.

Later I read this prayer, from Praying God's Word, by Beth Moore

"I thank You, my God, who always leads me in triumphal procession in Christ and through me desires to spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.  For You have called me to be the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."  (2 Cor. 2:14-15 NIV)

We all know the fragrance of the rain that falls from the sky onto this ground where we live.  But do we recognize the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of the knowledge of Him?
  

Can mere words describe the essence of the fragrance of Christ on our lives...

...the mystery of the miraculous that makes us smell like Jesus? 

As I walk through this life of mine, I wonder how often I leave behind a lingering "fragrance" of the knowledge of Christ...

This heavenly concoction of aromas must only come as we live and begin to look like Jesus...it must rise up from the same holiness and purity of God in the flesh...a son...a man, devoted to His Father's will and purpose as He came down from heaven and humbly walked His way to the Cross to redeem the rest of us, merely "men".  Add to pureness of purpose the "sweet smell of  victory" when we, like He, triumph over our flesh and walk away from the temptations of evil in our world. And let us not forget the fragrance of the fruit of the Spirit that is offered in abundance and empowers us to manifest His gifts of ministry to each other...

"Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God......He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them...." Hebrews 6:7-10

In the Texas Panhandle we don't get rain often.  But the writer of Hebrews lets us know that there is a rain that will fall often on the land--and the land turns out to be His people.  I think this Holy Rain is possibly divine wisdom, knowledge, discernment, revelation of the Word of God or voice of God, inspired and illumined by the Spirit of God.  The Holy Rain produces a useful crop--reminds me of His Word that never returns "void" of its purpose.  And what is "useful" in God's kingdom?  Is it that which meets a need, brings health, vigor, restoration, encouragement, and "new life" to those "for whom it is farmed"?  Crops that don't burn up....but withstand the test of fire...eternal crops meant for specific people? (1 Cor. 3:13, Heb:6:7)

"Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you." Hosea 10:12 (NAS)

I can only imagine the fragrance that will greet us in Heaven....the pure and full aroma of the "Rain of Righteousness" of Christ and His followers......

A Quiet Place...in time

I read an article yesterday....Writer urges Internet junkies to "switch off".... It made me think about how I've been living with the internet, Facebook, and the blogosphere lately.  As you can read in the article,

"Like tens of millions of others, US technology writer Nicholas Carr found the lure of the worldwide web hard to resist -- until he noticed it was getting harder and harder to concentrate"...
  "Carr said it encourages quick shifts in focus -- and discourages sustained attention and the ability to think deeply and creatively about one topic and to challenge conventional wisdom."
"We take in so much information so quickly that we are in a constant state of cognitive overload," Carr argued."
"Multitasking erodes cognitive control. We lose our ability to say that this is important, this is unimportant. All we want is new information."
"In contrast, when readers open a printed book, "there's nothing else going on except words on a page, no distractions. It helps train us to be deep thinkers."

I encourage you to read the entire article.  It does have merits.

Do you find yourself spending hours online flitting from one topic to another, forgetting why you sat down at the computer in the first place?  Being inspired by an idea on one page, but before you really contemplate the idea that would lead to real action on your part, have you found yourself 5 web pages away and can't remember what you got inspired about?  Do you read so many emails, or Facebook comments, that you forget the prayer requests, or those crying out to YOU for help? I've been guilty of all of these.

I've found "information overload" can deplete me, and often keeps me unfocused.

But there is a quiet place....that renews me.  A place where I can "be still" and know God Is, and He wants to not only listen to me, to my heart and mind, but He wants to talk to me and RENEW my heart and mind. We all have things in our lives that pull us away from that "quiet place."  So how do make time for that place?   
Just take time....pause....it's a discipline that you can't live fully without.

And for you that are overwhelmed by thinking of something that requires more of your time...you who have children, demanding jobs, family turmoil, all kinds of difficult circumstances....how can you truly live without that quiet place?  God made us to have a relationship with Him, to need life-giving renewal daily....

He gave us the ability to "focus" on Him;
which brings all of life into "focus" for us.

Close your eyes, and imagine what your "Quiet Place" would look like.

It's great to have a "quiet place" but what it really is,
is a SPACE in your TIME.  

That Quiet Space in time can be found anytime of the day, but it can be stolen without the discipline of trying to have it at a designated time too...just don't ever think that God will only come to you then.  For He will be with you all the time and in His every Word.  He's been with me in the early morning, in the drive to work, in a song, while planting a flower, in the hug and kiss of my husband and children, while pulling weeds, while picking vegetables, in words of encouragement from a friend......while reading His Word....and while giving thanks for all these things....

That quiet place is a space in our time to focus on the Life Giver.

Quiet time resources that have inspired me....

Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow

Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren

The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer 

Seeking the Savior, selections from SpiritLed Woman Magazine

My Husband's Love

 The card reads, 

"Our Love Is a Blessing." 

"Love is patient and kind....Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends." (I Corinthians 13:4, 7-8)

 

The longer I love you,

the more I discover

just how special you really are.

the longer I love you, 

the more I understand

how blessed we are to have chosen each other...

The longer I love you

the more I know

there could never be anything in this world

more precious to me than the love we share.

Happy anniversary

Always yours,

Ken

Thirty five years of marriage.  I met him after my roommate in college told him that I typed term papers to earn money.  It was the end of the spring semester of my sophomore year.  I don't even remember getting his hand-written draft or what it was about.  I do remember thinking I was in a world of trouble when I couldn't even read his handwriting on the title page...couldn't figure out how to spell his name.  So we talked on the phone off and on as I tried to decipher his horrible handwriting.  I finally asked him if he would mind if I made some ad lib changes when I couldn't quite figure out what he had written.

When we returned to this private Christian university in the fall, we were in a government class together, and then joined a biology club where we ran into each other also.  As homecoming approached, my girlfriends from "our" wing of the dorm formed a pact--we would all help each other get dates for homecoming.  It was all a game for us as we talked about who we thought we could get dates with.  Then, low and behold, as we maneuvered ourselves into our "chosen's" view, we all ended up with homecoming plans! We weren't manipulative gals, just friends with a scheme to have some fun.  

My date, of course, was with the guy with the really bad hand writing, the guy in government class that always seemed to meet me at the door at the end of class, the guy that seemed to want to talk to me after biology club meetings. We had a great time that homecoming weekend...and by the next summer he was my fiancee, and then my husband two years after that.  And the rest is history, so to speak....

That history includes three children, three grandsons (so far!), and a love and friendship that has flourished to more than we could have ever dreamed.  It hasn't been perfect--and I still get really angry with him at times--usually over the most silly things. But how do you express to others, especially in today's world, and especially those who may be much younger than you, that true love and romance can endure through decades of marriage.

Our pastor and his wife have a ministry called, "Marriage Today with Jimmy and Karen Evans".  They advertise materials they wrote titled "The Dream Marriage".  I always hesitate to say this because I don't want it to come across as "bragging", but as near as one can have in this life, I feel undeservingly blessed to have a "dream marriage".  It is in no way a perfect marriage--we are imperfect people and can't produce perfection in anything, much less marriage.  But our marriage has been our dream marriage.  

That doesn't mean everyday has been bliss.  We've had our days, and even months, of tension and dissatisfaction.  But, praise be to God, somehow we managed to always come back to each other in forgiveness, grace, and commitment to love, and keep on loving.  And that love has grown and deepened beyond words.  

If you are or ever have been married, do you remember in early love when you thought you would burst with the fullness of loving, when sometimes it was truly physically painful to think of circumstances that would cause you to lose that love?  Can you imagine that after 35 years, or 50 or 60 years, you could have those same feelings?  I hope so.  

That's why I wanted to post this--I want you to know it is possible for love to endure and envelope your being, until you know that this person, your wife or husband, is "one-flesh" with you.  I want you to know that as love "matures" you find you are a better person because of the love and grace that you've received from and extended to your soul mate.  

I don't believe it is possible without First Corinthians 13 LOVE--the kind of love printed above--really quite simple to understand...not so simple to live out.  Only possible if we are being changed into Christ-likeness, walking humbly with our God and with our spouse, desiring to love the way God loves us...the way revealed in these verses.

I challenge you to read them with "eyes to see" and "ears to hear" what Paul says here.  First, realize that the verses express the perfect love of God, and His standard for the way we can love each other.  Keep the standard...no excuses...and when you don't...walk humbly back to the one you love...and stay by his or her side...for the more excellent way of Godly LOVE.  The only LOVE that will go the distance....the only way that will show you the way back when you fail...

One caveat...it does take three to love like this--as Jesus said, "I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be perfected in unity..." (John 17:23).  Each one in this "one-flesh" relationship must be committed to love this agape (Godly) love.  Mutual commitment is what succeeds--He is committed to us--we must be committed to Him.  Don't neglect this.....please don't neglect it....

Love never fails.

The Master Gardener

                                                     

 

I am anticipating a summer of BEAUTY in my backyard…. after the spring work....turning the soil to loosen it and get rid of lava rock put there by a previous owner, rock that I find as deep as I can go in turned up soil; watering the dry ground; conditioning the clay soil (hard, clumpy, poorly drained soil); digging the holes that will receive the roots of plants and bulbs.  Then after planting… more watering, fertilizing and…watching the strong dry Panhandle winds pound the fragile plants…the single digit humidity and lack of rain….High Plains weather that can erupt into powerful storms and hail...temperatures that even in May dropped to below freezing.  I'm anxiously waiting…will the harshness of nature harm the young and tender potential for beauty?  The warmer weather is here now, but the Panhandle winds have been ferocious, and I still want to diligently pour into my plants all that is needed to make them flourish.  I don’t have the foresight to know what may come…will my care be enough?  I am NOT a “Master Gardener”…..

      

But Christ IS.  How our Lord watches over us and and tenderly cares for us!  He diligently works the fallow ground of our hearts—removes the lava rock we allow to form there—pressures, wounds, circumstances, bitterness that changed our heart from something soft and moldable, burning with the heat of passion for life, to cold and broken hard rock with jagged edges that cut and scrape hands that get too close to it, and keep the fertile soil from nourishing the roots of abundant life.

 The MASTER GARDENER is always conditioning the soil of our heart…he provides the humus for us to walk in repentance and humility… that place that agrees with God about our sins, and in forgiveness washes it away to keep it from clumping up into tough clods that reveal a hardness of heart that is no longer a rich environment for new growth. Once we are planted He does not leave us or forsake us…He lovingly keeps us in HIS sight, always watering, nourishing, pruning, even transplanting if necessary.  If we see ourselves as His plantings in this world, wouldn’t we want to stay in that place which has been created and conditioned for our growth?

As I, not a master gardener, looked for annuals and perennials that would flourish in my yard, I had to keep in mind that for plants to thrive there, I must choose those plants that would like the coolness and soft light of shade.  Putting a sun-loving plant in my shady backyard is a fight against nature.  I’ve watched plants wither and die, or struggle along in weakness and malnourishment, stunted because I tried to make them grow in the wrong environment.  Our MASTER GARDENER never makes this mistake when He places us in this world, HIS garden.

He knows the environment, the circumstances, the people, and the storms that will make us BEAUTIFUL in HIS TIME and in HIS WAY.  And as He numbers our days, He makes a way for us to become…what HE intends…..the beauty and likeness of HIS SON….who yielded His life to the darkness and harshness of the world… who was made perfect in His obedience to the MASTER GARDENER…who embraced where he was planted and yielded the FRUIT of THE SPIRIT, an abundance of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness….full of Grace....who gave himself to be the GLORY of God …JESUS, the PERFECT PERENNIAL, yielding NEW LIFE year after year…age after age…producing a beautiful garden of LIVES made in His image.

I anxiously anticipate the beauty of my flowers…how much more THE MASTER GARDENER anticipates the fulfillment and beauty of His completed work in us.

When Almost All is Lost...

Hasn't the news been unsettling....for a while now.  How far do we need to go back?  But considering the tornadoes this week, the fires burning here in Texas and literally within a very few miles of our home (not threatening us though), the flood along the Mississippi, and storms going on even this evening from East Texas to Ohio, ...and that's just in America....do we look at the signs....at the seasons....?

When I see the pictures of devastation, it is hard to even imagine the trauma and heartbreak that families are going through.

As I prayed for our fellow countrymen and women, children, and first responders, my heart so moved by what these people are feeling and seeing, what they've lost....I tried to make sense of it all.  Thoughts came and went...arguing against each other.  

Can we make sense of it?  Should we try to make sense of it?

God is God of the weather. He rules the wind, the waves....the floods.... the tornadoes....

  

BUT HE IS A GOOD GOD....ALL the time, the same yesterday, today, and forever... 

Job asked, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?"..."In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:10......

...and I think of Sarah Palin's account of her conversation with her husband, Todd, after they found out their little son would be born with Down's Syndrome....she asked Todd, 

"Why us?" and he replied, "Why not us?" (italics mine)

I think of yesterday's devotion (May 24) in My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers, based on Revelation 1:17:

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, 

'Do not be afraid...'"  

"...In the midst of the awfulness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ....the right hand of the Everlasting Father....it is ineffable peace and comfort, the sense that 'underneath are the everlasting arms,' full of sustaining and comfort and strength.  When once His touch comes, nothing at all can cast you into fear again.  Do I know Him like that?"....

...."and if I'm ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God."  (italics mine)

At the end of the day...what  really gave me some peace...was this thought....When almost all is lost in this world, what really matters is love....the greatest of the three....faith, hope and love.

The love of God is far greater than the storm and what it has taken. 

I'm no expert on the theology of this kind of loss.  But my family has experienced tragic loss.  A 16 year old niece lost in a 4-wheeler accident with my son, physically intact, but scarred.  A brother-in-law, father of the niece, suddenly gone at age 50, only 5 years after his daughter was buried.  The sister-in-law and her 2 sons, at that time not yet men, left alone, struggling in every way.  The loss of our livelihood and ranching lifestyle after a serious back injury, that except for God's healing power, almost left my husband paralyzed.  Years of adjustment, physically, financially, spiritually....but along the way....LOVE of God and family sustained us...through struggle and victory....grief and healing.... 

because we were raised up... by the hand of God.

One thing I learned in loss, that was monumental for me, was that I had to trust in the sovereignty of God (Faith), the Promises of God (Hope), and the Love of God... to be my All in All.

To you who have lost...may you find His hand lifting you up by His love. 

Waiting......cont'd

In my post "Waiting..." I promised more on that subject but then the next day grandson #3 was born and the week took on a life of its own....so today, I try to bring together those thoughts again....

I finished that post with quotes from Corrie Ten Boom's book, Not I, but Christ..... "When God says, 'No' or 'Wait,' it is because He knows what we do not know,".... and from a letter written while in prison during WWII, she wrote, "I talk much with my Savior. I receive a deeper insight into time and eternity."

And from Ann Voscamp's book, One Thousand Gifts,  "Life is dessert---too brief to hurry........'Wherever you are, be all there,' is only possible in the posture of eucharisteo.  I want to slow down and taste life, give thanks, and see God."(italics hers)

Is not our common human error, when it comes to time, that we live by clocks and calendars....days of the week and months of the year...by birthdays and anniversaries.....by decades and stages of life....by schedules created by mere men and women....by earth time instead of God's kingdom time?

 

Especially when we are waiting, we tend to live by earth time.  As Americans, probably the most "scheduled" people on planet earth, we somehow think we can keep our God on our schedule! How's that workin' out for us?  I can hear you laughing now....

"Yet those who wait for the Lord

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary."

Isaiah 40: 31

If we would only take to heart what God's Word says about time and waiting....I believe our heart would beat slower, our anxiety level would drop, and faith and peace would rise up.....we might "have ears to hear" and "eyes to see"....what God is doing....

in His Time....Kingdom time....Real time....Holy time....

Dear friends....do we have to be in prison to understand God's timing and His kingdom?  No, of course not....but we know from those who have gone to prison or have lived in a prison of their own making, God was there with them....in earth time and kingdom time. And when we wait for the Lord to accomplish what "He knows that we do not know", we actually gain new strength, can mount up with wings, victoriously and gloriously, like eagles....and have strength for the journey of waiting....

Ann Voskamp so perfectly describes this journey, "Life is dessert....too brief to hurry."  And I have to agree that we only begin to truly understand God's kingdom as we offer thanksgiving, eucharisteo....when time stands still and we recognize His majesty and omnipotence, when we "taste life...and see God."

Life is not a checklist.....

Be still and KNOW that He is GOD

HIS timing is PERFECT....

Whatever you are waiting for....LOOK FOR HIM INSTEAD!

grandson #2 with his daddy

 

            Jesus said we must have childlike faith to enter His kingdom....sometimes our Father throws us up in the air...and it seems we just hang there for awhile, with our pants down, so to speak,.....but His arms are within reach and ready to catch us....when we see His face....and His love....and glimpses of His magnificence....no matter how long we're "up in the air."