my wings are made of faith

Thy Face

When you said, seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Psalm 27:8

When my children were little, scarcely a day went by that I didn’t say a dozen times: “Look at me.”  It was difficult to get them to focus on what I was saying to them, unless I could get them to look at me.  Every mother must go through a period of seeing their child discover how to ignore Mom’s instruction, and act as if they don’t hear her reprimands and direction.  When this happens, Mom’s go through a period of repeating themselves, over and over, unless they get smart and outwit the child.  With 3 toddlers, I finally learned that it was important to get them to at least look at me. In order to not just be talking to the air, I learned very quickly that I had to get down face to face with them, and insist they look at me. 

Well they resisted, and when they resented my forcing them to look at me, I learned that there must be some distance between us, but they needed a reason to look my way.  Without that reason,  they simply found lots of reasons to ignore me until I was frustrated with them.  I really can’t remember how I came upon the solution, but it was the best answer to my exasperation, and I really don’t know why it works.  I decided that I would not give my children unlimited opportunities to listen and respond to my voice.  They didn’t realize that their lives might depend on it one day, especially if I already had two of the three of them by the hand.  Since I didn’t have 3 hands, my voice would simply have to be the thing that held them back from harm, or sent them in a direction that was functional to us all.

So, I began to make them look at me, but I instructed them to look first at my face to see what I was saying, and then at my hands to see how long they had to get busy doing what they were told.  It was a hand signal of “one, two, three.”  Initially, my instructions were that they look at me, and if they didn’t obey quickly, I would say, “one.”  If they didn’t respond, I would say, “two.”  If I got to “three,” they knew they were going to be punished, or disciplined in some way.  I made sure there was enough time between the numbers to give them response time.  Just like stopping your car, it takes a bit to make the decision to just move your body.   But, eventually, I could tell by the attitude of their bodies, if they heard me or not, and if they intended to obey right away.  I could see them quicken their movements to complete what they were doing, and they would look at my hands to see if I had said one or two, to know how much of a hurry they needed to be in.  The time came that I almost never got to “three.”  In fact, the time came that I could have my back to them, and have my hands behind my back, using only my fingers to designate the numbers.  I held up one finger, then two, and usually by three, they were either standing by my side, or had quieted themselves and were busy doing what I had asked them to do. This was especially good when I was talking to someone, but needed them to be quieter, or get ready to leave.

Eventually, my children would look at me often just to see if I was simply waiting on them to look my way so I could quietly instruct them to do something.  Or to see if they missed something and I was already holding up fingers to count down their time.  By this time, the decision was now theirs. I believe this worked because they needed the limits on the time it took them to look at me and obey.   When I was able, I also sometimes used the "Come to me," instruction to give them a reward for paying attention and looking at me.  If I had to go back, I would have spanked them far less, and would have given far more rewards for having them respond appropriately. 

The “Look At Me” Principle is very Biblical.  Learning to practice it as mindful children, looking to a loving heavenly Father, helps us focus and obey the voice of God as much as it helped my children. He too, needs not to have to repeat over and over his will for us, nor should we tarry 'til he gets to "3."

Let us decide today to look to the face of our heavenly father, several times during the day.  May we not miss his guidance and give him opportunity to need to place discipline in our path to redirect us toward looking to his face and listening for his voice.

Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord: for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.  Psalm 25:15

Lord, I desire to be like David and be an obedient Child, focusing often on you, to know your will and recognize your voice.  If there is a frustrated mother or teacher, needing a way to have their children listen, help them apply the principle, and find the joy getting their children to choose to respond will bring. Bless their efforts and ours as we look to thee. Amen.

Where's Your Heart at Christmas?

It seems like this Christmas season I have seen numerous distractions from the real meaning of Christmas.  This week in the news there have been reports of Skyping with Santa, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, cards with “Warmest Winter Wishes,” and, my personal favorite, a Miami woman arrested for stealing her neighbor’s inflatable Christmas decorations. (Where was she going to put it?)

As we move toward Jesus’s birthday, our challenge is to break away from all of the nonsense and dive into the river of peace that comes with the season of Christmas.  A few ways to accomplish this include: making bead candy canes with a Bible verse on them to hand to neighbors or cashiers at stores where you shop, research the Advent and discuss it at dinner with your family, make a birthday cake for Jesus, watch the movie, “The Nativity,” and ask a waiter or waitress how you can pray for them and then leave them a substantial tip.

As Christians, let’s decide to exude the peace that derives from a relationship with Christ during this time of busyness and exhaustion.

My prayer:  Lord, thank you for the peace that comes from knowing you!  We continue to remember the miracle of Jesus during this holiday season.  Enlighten us to traditions that will make Jesus’s birthday memorable to our families.  Holy Spirit, we are grateful that you remain as our Comforter and Helper.  We confess the times that we get wrapped up in the hype and choose to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.  In Jesus name!

"For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
   will accomplish this."

                                        ~Isaiah 9:6-7

Love and God's Family

Relationship.  It is what God wants from us. In many of Christ’s teachings, he spoke of God as his heavenly father.  He was deliberate in this because he was describing the way he wanted us to see God.  He didn’t use the terms of his forefathers which emulated God’s magnificence. He used a family term. Then he said, “ye must be born again.”  Teaching children about salvation is made simpler when we help them understand that concept of being born into God’s family.  The birth of the soul into the spiritual newness of life with God as our father is a simple form of the complex new union with God.  But the other element of family is about the intimacy of a couple, the pairing of two people and the deepness of love that should be unique to two people. Using that picture as a guide, Jesus also referred to the relationship of his Church family as a love similar to the union between husband and wife. He called himself the bridegroom, his followers, the Church, therefore referenced as his bride.

Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. Matthew 9:15(TNIV)

 In this example of relationship, the result would be the new birth generated in the form of new Christians born into the church family.  Our intimacy with God should produce new births into his family.  The family union as compared to the husband/wife relationship is complicated but full of the deeper things about our intimacy with God. The father/child relationship is more about our relationship one on one with God; while the husband/wife relationship type is more about our response and expectations as a member of the family, the church.  For Jesus the whole of the church was precious to him, singularly the most intimate union element of the God/people relationship.  For any who don’t believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it would be helpful to consider the union between men and women as a reference for God’s relational expectations of his actual experience with us as members of the church.  The old adage of two become one, is often forgotten in our modern world, where it is often forgotten that once that union occurs, this is what God considers marriage.  This union was meant to bring increase to the family.  My intent here is not to discuss the implications of that, but to help us notice that Jesus effectively introduced us to the 3 members of the God-head and helped us see how they interacted with us by referencing the family as a familiar place of love. 

God the Father, Jesus his son and by proxy his father becomes our Heavenly Father as well, and the one who indwells us –the Holy Spirit.  As in any family, we are at once, the child of someone, and the parent of someone when the union is able to produce children. And just as in all the families of the world, not every union or every individual marriage is called to have children, not every individual Christian is called to a ministry of leading people to Christ, or has the gift of ministry.  Scripture clearly tells us that different individuals are given different talents and abilities.  However, at the same time, it was never intended that only the pastors, preachers, teachers or missionaries were the only ones able to lead the lost to Christ.  Our personalities come in to play in the gathering of people, thus the variety of Christian congregations. And the many different ways we reach out to the world to tell them about Christ.  But the objective and the result are the same - children being born into the family, because of an intimate relationship between the “church” and their God. 

Jesus furthers this image by expanding his own position in this image. He says he is also the best man at the wedding.

He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. John 3:29 (NKJV)

 He is also the minister that oversees the legal issues of the union.  He in effect, leads the couple through the wedding process, and signs the documents when it is done > by his finished work on the cross.  He paves the way, doing all he can to be the grooms advocate, then he is present as all the legal items are dealt with.  He sees to it that the commitment is signed, sealed, and delivered.

What is significant, that once the covenant has been signed, the relationship in a real marriage between husband and wife is not sealed in public. Only the spirit of God is present in that intimate moment. Although many make their commitment to Christ in the presence of the Church family, what should always happen is that a very private, intimate decision and acceptance of the indwelling of the Spirit must also occur.  It is a simple moment, when we permit our God to become one with us, make the decision to become his child.  Often when individuals ask God to save them, they really don’t know that they are opening their hearts to the Spiritual intimacy.  But they know that a change has occurred.  There is some kind of process that leads to that moment, that decision to be united with the God who is as big as the universe.  But it doesn’t have to be a long one. I can in fact happen the moment we believe.

 I had a friend many years ago who told me she was married after knowing her husband only two weeks. I was appalled. All I could think of was, “How could you possibly know if you want to marry someone in two weeks? Her answer was, “You know Mark, wouldn’t you know he was the right person if it were you?” She was right.  Mark had a noticeable uniqueness.  My husband said that if we could have, he would have married me as soon as he met me. To him, knowing immediately that I was who he wanted to marry just happened.  When Jimmy was sent to Vietnam, I wished we had married sooner, when I knew he was the one, why wait so long?  I struggled with the possibility of instant love being true until I met my friend, and until I thought about my experience with salvation.  I spent almost a year of struggling with how to be saved, and then later wished I had understood all I learned earlier, so I could have been saved sooner. In fact, I knew I wanted Christ to be my savior, but it never happened until I fell in love with him. It would have been so much simpler to allow him to be my savoir so much sooner, and gain the understanding later.  I could have lived in the glow of his love, rather than where I was - in “the fear of his damnation,” if I didn’t figure it out. I, like so many, thought he was there to send me to hell, until I knew the truth that he was there to save me from it, and draw me into the security of his family.

 I am a great advocate for teaching children early in life the “understanding” part, so that when they choose to make that decision it is easier for them. Jesus said to allow the little children to come unto him. Do you think he believed that little children could or should understand the intimacy of the act. Of course not. (Yet teens would be wise to heed how God feels about intimacy.)  He wanted the focus to be on Love.  The binding agent of every family that functions as it should.  Last week, I spoke of Joy. This week God wanted me to share his view on LOVE. And in this case it is a choice we make. A choice to enter into the family of God focusing on LOVE. 

What is the Christmas story more than a story of love and family and new birth.  Jesus was born into this realm from the very start to tell us about becoming family.  The common man in the form of the shepherds, the wealthy man in the form of the Magi, and the angels from the realms we can only imagine, all rejoiced in the birth of a child who was born to emulate the one desire of God. That we would  be brought into a family style relationship with Him. It is the desire of his heart, and the purpose of being born as a babe.  His first advent was not as an angelic being, but as a babe.  Could he have come from the skies? Sure, and he will.  But Christ came first as a babe, that we might know the intentions of God, that he might call him Father, and then present him as Spirit. Desiring to open for us a way to a relationship and become a member of God's family.

“ All God has ever wanted is to make it clear that we are made in his image.  We are sentient beings, who love, feel, hurt, long for fellowship...etc. And so is God.  What God wants from each individual is relationship.  Jesus, God's Son came to earth, to try to make this understandable in human terms.  He called God his heavenly Father, in order to make it clear that God wants us to become a member of his Family. Not by filling out a card and joining a church. Jesus said: "Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again." St. John 3:7 (King James Version, New Testament) He is simply saying that it is not some list of works (honoring laws or philanthropies) that will take care of the sin issue. It is a life experience, a giving of life, by God, in a new way. You were born one time as a flesh and blood human; now you must be born, as a spiritual being, into a family relationship, with a real God as your Heavenly Father. Why does this sound child-like? Because it must be easy enough for a child to understand.” CW

 Father, make this real to someone who begins to wonder if the story of Christ is just a fairy tale.  And to some who never considered the real meaning and intent of relationships as God sees them.  Then help us all to choose love.  May the consequences of that choice lead us to an appreciation of how unique and amazing a relationship with someone who will not desert us actually is.  There is only one relationship that we are assured will not fail.  Even we fall out of relationship with you. So thank you Lord, that your relationship with us is never broken. Then help us celebrate Christmas in the spirit of that truth and in the spirit of Love. For all, who are lacking the family relationships, who have difficulty referencing family love, or who lost what they once had, or who long for and have never had, fill the void.  Help us see the birth of a child in the Christmas story, for what it is – a demonstration that you became a babe that we might know the desire of your heart is a relationship with us.Be the family some have never known, and help us pass that kind of Love to our own. AMEN

Another Ugly Word

Last week, I felt the Lord press on my heart a message about the need for confession of sins both with God and with others.  This week, I continue to broaden our horizons about another taboo word in many churches-repentance.  

As I began researching the word “repentance,” I quickly found it in Jesus’s first message which is found in Matthew 4:12,

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

The footnote in my Bible says, “Jesus started his ministry with the very word people had heard John the Baptist say: Repent.  The message is the same today as when Jesus and John gave it.  Becoming a follower of Christ means turning away from our self-centeredness and self control and turning our lives over to Christ’s direction and control.”

It’s just as easy as that: seeing your sin and confessing it as sin, and then turning away from it to choose God’s way.  As in the discussion about confession, no ceremonies or formalities needed- just a heart to chase God’s righteousness.

Billy Graham said, “What does repentance mean?  It means to change-to change your mind, change the way you’re living-and to determine that with God’s help you will live for Christ.”

I am concerned when we skip over the two basic building blocks of Christianity: confession and repentance.  As a mother, I always have a feeling when my kids are doing something they shouldn’t be doing.  I often speak with them using examples from Scripture to show them their sin.  But when they don’t turn from a poor path, I allow the natural consequences to occur as long as they don’t involve safety issues.  Then I simply wait.  Most frequently in the above situation, their sin finds them out as the Bible promises and I am there with open arms ready to love and restore them into fellowship again although I am unwilling and unable to take away the ill effects.

I’m far from a perfect mom, but God is our perfect Father.  He knows that we are all sinners and has provided a Savior.  His character is love- not to strike us with a lightning bolt.  The Lord desires to have fellowship with us in spite of our sin, but wants us to have a heart that chooses His ways.

My Prayer:  God, thank you for being a perfect, loving Father.  Holy Spirit, please remind me when I need to confess my sins and turn from them.  I thank you, Jesus, for the cross that allowed me to be forgiven even though I sin every day.  Lord, keep the task of fellowship in front of us and may our eyes not turn to the right or left of the foot of the cross.  In Jesus name!

Scripture to memorize:  "God's kindness leads you toward repentance."

                                                                                            ~Romans 2:4b

Looking Through God Glasses

What is your image of the disciples of Christ?  Do you see them all as fishermen?  Well they weren’t all fishermen.  Do you visualize them as all dressed in flowing robes of colorful cloths? Well they weren’t.  Have you ever envisioned even one of them with a sword hanging by his side?  Think about it….

In St. John 18:11 Jesus said to one of his disciples: “Put up thy sword into the sheath.”  You know this story well.  To whom was he speaking?  It was Peter of course.  Peter the bold, the strong, carried a sword which he used to cut off the ear of a temple servant in the Garden of Gethsemane, when they came to take Jesus away.  Now visualize the disciples again.  Can you visualize them with at least one carrying a sword? Have you ever?  I can’t think of a single painting that I have seen, which has disciples who look obviously different from one another, much less with one of them carrying a sword.

We do that when we visualize what a Christian should look like too.  One of my greatest pet peeves about the Christian faith, is that it frequently falls into a pattern of dictating what the followers of Christ should look, act, and behave like.  We have all known of whole churches that fell pray to “doctrines” of a bad leader, whom they trusted to their deaths. It is a lie of Satan that all Christians should fit some sort of mold. Or to follow one who claims to be called of God to an ever-tightening tiny image of who we ought to be. As a child, this little box image of what a Christian oughta be made me think I could never be good enough. In fact, my father once told me he decided not to be a Christian because he knew he could never be good enough.

Jesus consistently went to the person whom society had rejected and said: “ follow me.” How often was he rebuked for being somewhere the Scribes and Pharisees said men ought not to go? How many times was he eating with people in whose home pious Jews would never set foot?  He talked to women, of other than Jewish descent.  He talked to prostitutes. In fact, he talked to women, period. In some perversions of religion, it is and was forbidden to even talk to women. He let the children climb on his lap and rebuked any who tried to pull them away.  He fit no one’s mold, but His Father’s.

Now, as Paul said, all things may be permissible, but all things are not wise. I get that. But, Jesus had a definite reason for going to the unwanted of society in his day, because as he called them, they were “the lost.”  Any lost person you might encounter, will probably be seeking for direction, hoping to get to a place of knowing where they are in the world. Jesus had a short time to reach them.  He started off teaching in the conventional way, at age 12, in the temple. But in order to reach the lost he had to go where they were.  Jesus had nothing to fear of the people in the streets as it turned out.  It was the people in the temple who sought to kill him.  I can’t say as much for the situation today.  It is mostly out of fear that I would not approach just anyone on the streets today.  But equally, I would not trust just anyone in a pulpit.  So the question becomes how to reach individuals who are not accepted by the main stream, while we continue to portray the holiness of God. Jesus made it perfectly clear.  It is with our words - using His Word and rightly dividing the Word of truth, and by not creating molds that we ask others to fit into. 

One of my favorite ways to teach my 5 to 7 year old Children’s Church students in years gone by, was to tell them something I wanted them to challenge me on.  Now I had to teach them to dispute me, because society spends a lot of time teaching children to not rebuke their elders.  But that is actually dangerous if we don’t give them permission to use the brain God gave them as well.  My bright little students were willing to believe anything I told them. So I would say something, ridiculous and see how quickly they would call me on it.  For instance, I might say: “Today I am going to tell you the story of how Jesus told everyone that it was OK to beat people up.”  At first they were too shy to speak against me. But once they learned that I was expecting them to catch me lying, and I wanted them to say: “No that’s not right,” - they were quick and loud with their response.  I would say,  “I was just seeing if you were listening.”  So it became a game for them listen well enough to catch me telling them something that wasn’t true.

Three Things:

1.  We always made sure that we clarified when I had told them a deliberate lie, and that I wanted them to catch me in it and say with boldness, “Miss Cynthia, that isn’t true.” I told them not to believe everything they were told.  To find out for themselves what was true. I told them it was wise to listen and decide for themselves what they believed. I told them not to get in the habit of correcting their parents and other teachers, but to think about what people said, and if it didn’t seem right to ask questions.  I also told them if it didn’t seem right, to not believe it until they were sure whether it was right or wrong.  And sometimes, it would be OK to boldly say: “That isn’t right, I know it isn’t.” Or be firm when they say: “Don’t do that ‘cause it isn’t right!”
2. I made it clear that I wanted them to use their own brains. I told them they were never too young to know what they believed.  Jesus asked people to think about what they were being taught. To challenge it if necessary. To seek the truth.  To alter their vision, and break the mold of what they commonly believed to be truth. He asked them to challenge conventional truth, and test it with God’s truth. People argue at length about what that truth is, but they often do it like the Pharisees did. Satan can argue a good argument, by manipulating the truth. What is true in the whole scripture is what is true.  And sometimes the deepest truths are hidden in pictures and types, not out in the open, so we have to dig. They are jewels to be found, by exploring how God packages truth.
3. I challenged the children to boldly respond to me with “no, that is not right,” if I was wrong.  It was my intention to help them begin to make up their own minds what was right, and what was wrong, rather than depending on an adult for their morality.  Many adults have never done that for themselves. It amazes me sometimes how often leadership, especially in the church, directs its constituents to blindly follow their lead.  Wise leadership should be fashioned after Jesus’ example.  He challenged the acceptable, and sought the heart of the people, not as servants to a master, but as friends. (St.John 15: 14-15.)  He asked them to think, reason within themselves, and to make the subtle differences.

I could cite any of several scriptures, but I believe this one says it best:

(Jesus said:) Woe unto you lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in, ye hindered. St. Luke 11:52

Dear Jesus, you challenge us to take a second look at our mental image of who and what we expect a Christian to be. To think for ourselves, and question authority, and hold our leaders accountable. Help us Lord, to teach our children balance, not blind obedience. Knowing we can obey You without question gives great peace of mind, and it is marvelous to be able to teach this to our children.  Let us begin with them, teaching them to open their minds to seek to see things from God’s perspective. Not as skeptics, but as seeing all things through “God Glasses”.  In your precious name, AMEN.

 

On The Edge

 
After years of hearing preachers use the Old Testament example of being on the mountain top as being in a place where we are close to God, the Spirit reminds me that those men were honoring God the only way they knew how, by adhering to the law. They knew nothing of being able to spiritually leave that mountaintop and fly, to have freedom in Christ thru salvation. I am sure they wished they could. What happens when you get to the mountaintop, and like those men, have to go back down again? Returning to the spiritual Valley of Hardship every time was a frightening way to look at being a Christian to me. 

 The picture was one of going up to the mountain, to find God who just gave you a lot of laws about how to live, that you couldn’t live up to. Then with that burden, you return to all the pain and suffering in the valley, to try to do what you couldn’t before. No help from God on that trip.  Some of the greatest pastors I know have spoken of being on the edge with God. Yet never once did they admonish me to fly.  It was only when I discovered that, when I get to the mountain, and commune with God, what He really wants is to take me to the edge and become the “wind beneath my wings.”  It is often in our deepest darkest hours that the Spirit himself teaches us how he lifts us from the depths. Spread your wings, and mount up upon what you cannot see. Use the tool of FAITH . Make the decision to fly and do it. 

Ever felt like God had dragged you kicking and screaming to “the edge” where you knew you couldn’t face another step? You were certain that if you didn’t back away, God would push you over the edge? Next time, say: “OK God, teach me to fly.”  Fledgling birds start from up high and are drawn or pushed from the safety of the nest, sometimes off the edge of a cliff.  I have seen them tumble and hit rocks or other hard surfaces if they haven’t spread their wings properly.  Once I saw a falcon bounce his way down ‘til we were afraid it might have been fatally bruised and feared it would die. But three days later, he leapt from the perch where he had remained while he healed, possibly until hungry enough to try again. This time with wings spread WIDE it soared out over water, dropping all the while until with a tilt of one wing his angle changed and up he went back toward the safety of the ledge, where the father falcon dropped him food. He made fledgling flights for several days before it became difficult to find him, because he learned to fly and land anywhere he pleased.  Learning to fly with the Spirit is a dangerous act. You have to face your darkest fears, and you will often have experienced the greatest spiritual falls of your life just previous to and while going off the edge.  The sooner you spread your wings the better.

While the falcon was at lower heights one day, I was positioning my camera to film his activities, and became so amused that he was exchanging glances with pigeons sitting on the same perch, that I forgot to press the button to start filming.  A pigeon actually looked back over his shoulder at the falcon, sitting beside him, and did a double take before putting some space between himself and the predator. The falcon appeared to be more curious than hungry, and I fully believe he was unaware that he was sitting beside the very bird species that would soon become his regular source for dinner.  This one pigeon on the other hand was very aware what he was.  It was only when I reached to review my footage that I realized I hadn’t caught it on tape.  But it stays in my mind as a reminder, that when you can’t fly you are in a place where you find food and gain strength for the journey.  And possibly learn more about what your spiritual food source actually is. If we are sitting “smack dab” in the middle of our food and don’t know to eat it, we will remain spiritually hungry. LOL 

 Our Loving Father pushes us off the edge to depend on the Spirit, which gives freedom from the earthly bonds, and if we wait upon the Lord, we are renewed in our faith. We better be ready to spread our wings out flat and catch that wind. Then, we are able to mount up with wings as Eagles and by learning to trust in it, to walk and not faint…. 

I know I recently posted about flying like the eagle, but I think it is a two-part message. We so concentrate on the soaring part that we my not realize that it is from the edge that we learn to fly.  But while learning, there may be a tumble and a time for food and healing before we actually get to the heights. Or - that we must go to this place between flights.

I do so wish I had the video of that pigeon looking over his shoulder at that falcon ---looking back in my direction---- and then jerking his head back so fast to look at the falcon. He wanted to see if he really saw what he thought he saw, sitting right behind him!!!! You would soooo laugh.  Why there’s a whole story of how the devourer can show up and just sit on our perch, without us knowing, until he is ready to eat us up, in that story.  Well, maybe another day.  LOL

Why would God push us off the edge?  Why does He allow these excruciating experiences in our life that leave us feeling alone and isolated, bruised and afraid to attempt to ride on faith again? It is because when we learn to fly, we escape the bonds of earthly things, and learn that being free is to be a little closer to His world.  In His world, you have no attachments to this world. One day when we are totally free from this world we will "fly" to where He is. But it is about the ease of living in spiritual freedom. Not a world of being bound to things we have to do to please God. 

Lori recently reminded us that Christ said to take his yoke because it was easy and light.  That verse grounds the concept. There is a yoke, but not a bondage. There’s a difference. We are linked to and dependant upon God. Yes we can fly anywhere, but it is not in our best interest to go sit among the pigeons, nor is it wise to dive into the water if you are a falcon and not an eagle, nor should we think we can stay aloft with the clouds forever without coming closer to earth for food and shelter.  We must not fly in the storm. Freedom has its boundaries. Flying must be learned in tandem to God.

 Eagles gather when possible at night, to find shelter close to one another. They fly from the roosts at about 7:00 am to go hunting breakfast, but they usually fly off the roost one to three at a time and go separate directions. Raptors generally don’t fly to heights until well after dawn when the atmosphere warms and the thermals rise. If we fly where the Lord does not offer the support and guidance, without food, rest, fellowship, and support, we will just be flapping our wings.  We go it alone with His help every day, if we are well equipped for the journey. But, if I am acting like a vulture, smelling like a vulture, eating like a vulture, I can’t gather with the Eagles at night.  

“When I said: My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.”           Psalms 94:18

 Read carefully the full context of this verse in three versions.  Vss 11 – 22. Vs. 13 says God gives rest from adversity; vs. 22 says God is our rock of refuge.  These allude to being at a place of learning…a place where God is drawing the writer to the edge where he has not yet “learned to fly.” Or a place to which he returns for the wisdom and strength the Lord has waiting. Vs. 21 is a foreshadowing of Christ in his darkest hour. Can you see the writer of this Psalm longing for something, for escape from the vulture life?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms%2094:12%20-%2022&version=NKJV;NLT;TNIV 

Thank you, O' Lord for your merciful freedom, that once it is learned, one never wants to go back and live only under the law.  Yet thank you for the instruction and definition the law gives, to help me remember what kind of bird I am.  Thank you for the rock, the perch to which I return, never again afraid of my darkest hours, knowing that when the morning comes, I can fly. Thank you for its place of refuge, food and fellowship, from which to view the big picture. And thank you for always being my tandem partner. Give this blessing to someone who needs it Lord. Teach someone to fly. AMEN

 

That Verse

 
 When the tiles started to come off the wall, and water was dripping on my clothes in the laundry room, I finally was able to convince my husband that we had a problem in the bathroom. No, I remember.  I believe it was when he stepped into a cold-water puddle in the laundry room carpet donwstairs, in sock feet, that he finally noticed.  And of course, it had only just happened, according to him. Several weeks of my seeing the signs were all in my imagination. Alas, it meant that finally something might get done with fixing the leaking bathroom.

            My son who can fix anything he puts his mind to, came to our rescue, and discovered the glib truth. It was a total redo.  Several days for him, once again fixing something Mom and Dad could not. Tub, toilette, cabinet - everything had to come out to take up the floor and replace it, level it, and add vapor barrier. Then it was the domino effect. Once we fixed the floor, and the wall, the old tub wouldn’t work anymore; so we got a new tub enclosure, which was smaller than the old tub. Therefore, the wall had to be moved in about an inch or so. I wanted a counter that wasn’t child high, and a sink that could actually look clean when I was finished cleaning it. Had to have the drawers underneath for all the stuff lying around. My husband hated the child height toilette. So we replaced it all.  After going all out with a 3 layer faux finish on the walls, and buying new fixtures and towels…we were finished. How refreshing. 

 I cleaned up the laundry room for the last time, and while down on the floor I saw the box - the one with a few home décor items stored, which I had forgotten - shoved into the cabinet down there. I pulled it out, and gasped. These were some of my favorite pieces.  If there had been a lot of water they might have been ruined.  What had possessed me to put them in the laundry room? This, and a need to find something to hang on the wall where the old clock had hung - above the light switch by the toothpaste drawer - led me to find another treasure. I can’t remember if it was in that box or I actually found it elsewhere. I also discovered that, somehow, a lot of my favorite things weren’t actually out where I could enjoy them.  When we moved, I had gathered them into a couple of boxes and only now discovered they had not been unpacked. 

            How do your favorite things get forgotten for so long? Why is “out of sight, out of mind” such a true phrase sometimes? Had I put these things in the same category in my mind where my husband put things he’d rather not have to fix? Hmmm. Well, like finding hidden treasure, I relished every piece, and over the course of a few days I found a special spot for each one.  And while looking and placing things I ran across a framed bible verse: “Rejoice in the Lord, always, and again I say Rejoice.”  One of my favorite verses.  Hurray! It fit exactly in the spot by the light switch near the toothbrush drawer. The gold tone frame was exactly the shade of one of the layers of faux finish paint. It was meant to be. It felt like a chapter of my life had just been written and I was ready to move on.

            Over the next few months I looked fondly at the picture and was delighted that it looked so good there while I brushed my teeth. “How nice,” I thought, “that I could be reminded to rejoice at the start and close of the day” - when I normally brush my teeth.

            About that time my grandson lived in the basement part of our house, and he came up mornings for me to help get him to school, since his mother often went to work about 4 a.m.  We loved preparing breakfast together, and we followed our little ritual every morning to stay on time.  He ate, gathered his things, put them by the front door and brushed his teeth before we scurried out to get him off to school.            

            One day, when we weren’t in such a hurry to get out the door, he came into the computer room where I was sitting, and he said, “Nana, you need to get a new verse to go on that wall in the bathroom. I already learned that one.”  “You memorized it?” I asked.  “Yeah, I need a new one. You know I see it everyday when I go to the bathroom and when I brush my teeth.”

            I was floored. God hadn’t helped me dig up that piece of art to fit my décor. It was a Bible verse after all. It was supposed to be read and remembered.  It was then that I realized I was missing opportunities to help all of us, not just my grandson, be exposed on a daily basis to God’s word, repeatedly enough to remember it.  So simple that you just hang it somewhere to be seen, at a place where you pause long enough to have to look at it.  Soon after, my little basement family found their own apartment, and  I still have regrets that I had missed the chance to change up that verse.  How many more might his young mind have stored?  The fact that he wanted me to change it spoke to the boredom of reading it over and over, but the fact that he wanted me to change it to another verse, spoke to the fact that he wanted more.

             There are hidden opportunities to witness with the Word, without saying a word. We should use them.

             Lord, open my eyes to the opportunities of sharing your Word, everywhere I can. AMEN 

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice. KJV

 

OMGG GGG

 
 
Our Current expression which borders on profanity in some peoples minds, “OMG” - meaning “Oh MY God,” has always been a saying that in my mind turned me to God when the situations that make you exclaim such a thing occur. Always, if I said, “OH MY GOD”, I was really including Him in the situation.  Sometimes a call for help, sometimes an exclamation of “I am over my head in this one now... Lord Help me.”  Or “only God could bless us this much!” Sometimes a joyous explosion of relief…  Whatever the use, I just didn’t think of it as being vain with using my Lord’s name.  I figured who else should be the first name I think of?  But I got my son in real trouble, and almost got him thrown off the school bus, when he used the phrase to a bus driver, one day, years ago.

  To the bus driver, and apparently the school rulebook, it was profane. Actually, it was a phrase “By God” that they considered illegal, and the driver told me he thought that is what my son said. Now that one gets me more confused. I had never heard that phrase before the driver said my son said it.  No, I take that back. I had heard my sister in law say it.  But she is a hilarious person, and it never struck me as being profane.  Maybe it was and I just didn’t know it.  Maybe it is to many people. But I didn’t know it as a bad thing, and I had never told my son it was a bad thing. My son promised he didn’t say that, and I believed him, ‘cause around our house that just wasn’t a phrase we used. Naïve Mom, maybe. So even if he said it, I am not sure he knew it was a bad thing.  --Anyway, it was one time in my son’s discipline, that I couldn’t get serious about being as upset as the bus driver. However, in respect to him, and because of knowing my son’s occasional attitude when he was angry about something, I gave the bus driver his due. I insisted that I didn’t care if the bus driver didn’t want him to say “stink” (whatever word I said back then,) on the bus, my son should not ever say it again. But in my mind, it was incredulous that it went on his permanent record.

Now everybody knows…the secret’s out of the closet, the skeleton has been released!

Sin is like that.  There are all different degrees of what mankind thinks sin is. That’s what makes “religion” such a drag.  I did say religion.  You see, I don’t fit into that mold either, and I am proud of it! I am not religious. I am so glad that God the Father, saw how perverted that men could make the greatness of God, and He decided to send his Son to put a stop to it, (at least from His point of view.) You see, there isn’t a sin on the books, anyone’s books, that wasn’t covered on that cross, and in that tomb, or because of the resurrection.  Not one.

Religion is what the Scribes and Pharisees had. It is what man in general has tried to limit the relationship of God with man to, for all of History. What makes believing in Jesus different than all the religions in this world and all of history is this: His whole purpose on earth was to convey to us that God didn’t want a bunch of people trying to remedy the sin question.  That’s a God issue. He is the only one big enough to handle it. I can’t. Never will be able to, never had one itty-bitty chance of it.

Instead, God wanted a family relationship. He wants a “let’s sit down and talk about it” kind of relationship. God is a god of judgment. But I am so glad that he fixed it so my judgment is strictly seen through Jesus’ blood. 

~ Freedom with a capital F. ~

 That’s how I face each day, and how I face the hour I will stand before him in Judgment.  If the cross was of none effect, then I have nothing to stand on.

My precious pastor, when I was a teen, used the phrase “justified” frequently.  He even had little pins made for us to wear with the word on it. “Justified,” he would say, “just as if I’d never sinned! And don’t you forget it!” (Dr W. Jack Hudson) As a Bible technical term, justification is hard to explain.  But if you get down to the nitty-gritty, all it means is that my judgment as a born again believer is 100% “just as if I’d NEVER sinned,” because He paid the atonement price.  The fines.

Whew! Is that a relief to me!  I can’t believe how many people toss that truth to the wind and say, well for me, I think I will try to do the no sin thing.  Yeah, right!!!!  Good luck with that, as they say. And who’s your judge? “Cause the one who will be judging me will use the Blood Criteria. All he will want to know is AM I UNDER IT?  If so, check, she’s justified.  And yes, it is as simple as that. The whole Bible from cover to cover is about showing us how impossible it is to try to live as if the judgment was going to catch us with our pants down.  There won’t be enough scurrying we can do to dress ourselves before God on that day. Or any day from now ‘til then.  I can’t be good enough!  Hooray!!!!!!

 All I can say is - THANK YOU JESUS! AMEN

 Acts 13:39  KJV And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses.  

 IS THAT CLEAR?

 PS. Did I get enough slang in? LOL 

Say “OMGG-GGG” once a day this week and be sure to follow it up by thinking: Oh My Great Glorious - Gracious Giving God!  Make a constant habit of practicing it, and see where your mind goes next time you almost think, “Oh My God!”      

-(By the renewing of your mind – it’s biblical.)-

For your children’s sake, say it out loud every now and then, just so they know. LOL

If you would like a copy of the Graphics at the top of the page, just Click here:

 View this photo 
to down load a 10 x 8 copy. Print it on smooth matte report paper or a high gloss photo paper. Frame it with a cream to barley colored matte, and a brushed silver frame, for a clean modern look. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Daily Miracles

I believe in the prayers of a child and people who are seeking God.  Once when one of my children prayed for rain, when everyone thought we wouldn’t get any, a storm came up suddenly in the afternoon, and it rained for 4 days.  Once when I was witnessing to a teen, who was full of questions and amazement at every thing the Bible had to say, a huge double rainbow fell across the road in front of us, - while we were telling him the story of Noah and the Ark, -because he asked us to share another Bible story.  Once when my sister saw me in terrible misery from a chronic condition I had which sometimes took weeks to heal, she prayed that God would heal me. By morning the only sign that an extreme episode had been there was a little redness.  What was the key to those miraculous answered prayers? Those praying were either children, or seeking to know God.  Jesus himself said we should have the faith of children. He promised that if we ask, it will be given, seek and we shall find, knock and it shall be opened to us.*

 I remember specific days when I could believe in magical, miraculous things. Everything on God’s earth was a miracle to me - amazing that it even existed. Even the blue of the sky, and the playfulness of the clouds called my heart to believe. I have often seen an individual who stood in church to ask Christian friends to pray, standing in weariness of having prayed themselves until they were slipping into desperation. I have been there, wishing someone would help me pray because I felt desperation. It is usually when our mind and body are not able to focus long enough to pray, much less seek what God is about in your life, that we are hit by our greatest need. Then we need friends to help our faith in God's miracles.

To have the faith that God can answer our prayer in a positive way is a struggle sometimes.  I am probably the worst, because I can believe easily for everyone else but myself.  Don’t know why that is, except that the prayer I prayed the hardest, as a child, was never answered with a “yes.” After years of hoping, I know that the person for whom I prayed was at fault, not God. God does not force himself on anyone. Nor does he reject anyone. And sometimes his answer is “NO” or “Not yet.”  That’s an answer we don’t like to hear.

Sometimes, the answer to our prayer should be no, and we may not know why for many years, if in fact ever. We used to teach a true missionary story to children, about a lady who prayed as a child to have blue eyes, because she did not like her brown ones.  That lady grew up to be a missionary saving little girls sold into slavery, in a land where everyone had brown eyes. 

There are prayers we should not pray, carelessly. Once my sister prayed that her car would not die until she could pull into her own driveway, from a destination over a hundred miles away.  When she pulled into the station for gas, her car would not cut off.  But it dramatically died when she pulled into her driveway. She did however praise God for getting her safely home. Sometimes, God gets our attention by answering our prayers literally. And perhaps He has a little laugh with us as well. LOL

  Sometimes I don’t have the energy to be a seeker before I pray, I need the faith of a child. Believing that, simply because God is in it, miracles do happen. Children can believe that imagining can alter the truth.  So their faith comes more easily. When God alters my absolute truth in an instant, when I least expect it, I call these incidents “daily miracles”. And I love when they occur. I feel God’s presence, His closeness.  Often, I have not asked for His intervention, when these little miracles occur.  Every prayer God answers is not meant to be a miracle (a stand alone EVENT.)  But sometimes, a tiny daily miracle can strengthen our ability to believe, and instead of seeking God, see Him clearly. Instead of being on the seeking side of the fence, we find ourselves on the found side of the fence. My faith is bolstered.

As a praying adult, I most love the times when God tells me the same things he tells someone else. Then, when that person and I come seeking, and find one another, God has already prepared our hearts. When the two of us share our prayer, it is as good as done. When the prayer is prayed, then faith should spring forth. If you didn’t have it before you asked God, then follow your prayer by telling yourself and God.  “In this moment Lord, I can believe. Please count it as if I were planting my mustard seed, for in the next moment I may be struggling with faith again.”

 When all of us come together - my friend(s), myself, and God - cool miracle. How long since you noticed one of God’s daily miracles.  Let us open our spiritual eyes so that we may see God’s hand in our life, today, and everyday.

My Prayer for you today is:

Lord, bolster our faith each day with a tiny daily miracle.  Just to keep us focused on you, to remind us you are active in our life every minute, and to give us something to look back on and say: "This is what God did on that day, that let me know without doubt that He Is and He cares about my faith."

 In the comments box today I wish those reading this would feel free to finish the sentence: “Once when…(God did something unexpected in your life)…”

Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened.   * Luke 11:9-10  KJV updated

 also: James 4:2-3 (caution - lest you ask amiss)

You might enjoy this video:

 

by Mercy Me, uploaded by OkiOdOkie

 

 

 

The Plaque - with value way beyond gold

There was a small molded resin/plaster plaque that hung on the wall in my mother’s house since I was around 8 years old. My mother’s house was not dusty like mine always is, so after all these years it still looks like the day she hung it. The first place she hung it was near my bed. I particularly noticed it when I made my bed. It seemed comforting, for it said,

“By Grace are ye saved through Faith” Eph.2:8.  

The shape of it was of a scroll, with all four corners trying to roll in. It was painted to look old and as if the scroll were cracking across the papyrus emulated paper. It was about ¾” thick, very dimensional. The letters were old script calligraphy, molded to stand out dramatically from the scroll. Wrapped around the outside letters, but inside the boundaries of the scroll itself, were roses and realistic looking leaves.  It was very much befitting my mother’s Victorian tastes, but was in the molded art form of the 40’s decorating style.  It’s size was only 6 ½  inches by 5 ½ inches. 

The plaque had been a gift to Mama from a neighbor. They were Jews who had accepted Jesus as their Messiah, and Mr. Fleisher, then, had become a pastor and missionary to his fellow Jews. In his home were stored several boxes of printed materials, which when he left to follow the Lord’s calling, were stored in his attic.  They however, gave certain things away, and the plaque was the thing they lovingly left for my Mother.  I am not sure it meant much to her other than it was a memory of them for her.  I barely remember them coming and sitting on the couch in our living room, and seeming sad to be leaving. As a child, I didn’t quite understand the parting of friends kind of sad, between them and my mother.  The tears seemed awkward to me, and I had never heard of “Jews” before.  Notice the dates. Late 50’s was not too far from late 40’s, when the world was in turmoil over what an awful man, calling himself Christian, had done to an incredible number of Jews. I couldn’t at my age have any concept of what my mother may have felt for her friends.  They didn’t know that God had selected that plaque specifically to be used in my family for His greater purpose, but I will forever be thankful to them for it. 

When my mother, became disoriented, due to the onset of Alzheimer’s, she began to want to talk about who should take what from her house when she died.  I really didn’t want to start taking her things away, and probably hurt her feelings a bit when I didn’t really want much of her stuff. (As I have discovered is true of my family about my things as well.) But the one thing I knew I wanted was the plaque.  I asked her might I have it, if no one else really wanted it.  She approved and said I should take it on before the thieves took it away. The thieves were in Mama’s imagination, for the most part. 

There is some basis I found out later in the ramblings of an Alzheimer’s patient’s fears about people stealing things. But, taking Mama out of her home, as it progressed actually helped her to not fear those things were being stolen - because she had forgotten them.  Yet I wouldn’t take the plaque then, because I was sure it would be just one more thing that she would forget she gave someone, and later think it had been stolen.  I wanted her to have normalcy for as long as possible. 

When we finally had to clean out her house, I made it clear to everyone, that I was taking that plaque.  It was the only thing I really wanted very much that had belonged to her. None of the others remembered Mr. and Mrs. Fleisher.  To them, it was just a plaque. But to me, it was soooo much more – mother’s friends’ gift led me to my gift. 

After looking at it for some time, on my bedroom wall, when I was almost 9, I became curious about what that verse meant. I looked up Grace in the dictionary. Then Faith.  I looked up the verse in my Bible. I read the whole text. Verses 9 said, “it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” What was “it” I wondered. I pondered the verse and learned it.  I understood that Grace is undeserved, a kind act by God. I understood that faith is believing something, without undeniable facts. I could think of a number of things I had faith in, and one was definitely God.  But, as I often say, that word, “saved,” threw me.  It took me almost a year to sort through the full implications of “saved by grace through faith.”  The plaque started me on a journey toward receiving the Gift, which the full verse offered. I wore out the zipper on my white Bible, which my Grandmother gave me when I was 5, trying to understand. Over and over I read the same verse….“It is the Gift of God.” 

After searching, seeking, and finally understanding about Grace and Faith and Being Saved, I finally understood how I should ask to receive my Gift. Now that was odd, I thought. Asking for your gift?  But, somewhere along the path I was made aware that it was like knowing what you wanted for your birthday, and asking a parent for it.  It is still a birthday GIFT. Or on Christmas morning, when the very thing you so hoped to get was there underneath the tree. Scripture says a good father would not give a stone to a child asking for bread or a snake when the child asks for fish (Luke 11:11). Parents give good gifts to their children, because they love them. I was so glad to find out we should view God as our Heavenly Father who wishes to give us good gifts.  As with the Birthday and Christmas gifts, God only gave it when I really knew that it was the one thing I most wanted, when I asked for it in expectation and with a hope of receiving it. What a relief to discover God had not brought me to the cross to punish and condemn me. Rather He wished to give me a gift of freedom from the fear of all that. For the first time in my life I understood God was about forgiveness of sins. 

Ever get a list from kids at Christmas, that by the time Christmas neared it had changed 3 or 4 times?  Knowing what we want is a process for humans.  And God is aware of that.  At the age of nearly 10, I was already losing my childlike faith. In stead, I agonized over understanding what I was asking for when I asked to be “Saved.” As most adults will. God patiently waited, until I knew enough for him to give me His Gift. The reason God called it a gift was because he wanted us to receive salvation like any gift.  Just allow Him to give it to us. A Gift!!!! Salvation is a Gift!! His Spirit said – “just take it.” At first I thought it couldn’t be that simple. By the time I was ready to ask, the interesting thing that happened as I prayed, was He chose to give it to me in an almost visual way. 

Children at play have an ability to imagine in detail what is in their imaginary story.  But this was not so much my making up a story, as it was allowing God to let me see what He was doing in my life - His giving me a memory.   I was lying on my bed pleading to be saved, for I could think of nothing else those days. I prayed for forgiveness for now and forever.  I imagined a box, beautifully wrapped in golden paper, with a gold ribbon pulled up around it and tied into a bow on top as I thought about the “gift.” It glowed - sort of - and was moving toward me. The still small voice called my name, and said take it. So I actually reached out feeling sheepish, but found myself in a moment of knowing God himself was in my room, in a way I had never known Him before. As if a window to His world had opened to me, and my gift was coming straight from Heaven. I drew it near to me and as I hugged it, it vanished into my body. Even at 9 years old, I fully understood my gift was far more than a toy, not a game we were playing. What was happening was not lost on me. God was giving me his Spirit, in a way that I would never forget, - in a way that it actually was a very special gift, unique to my salvation story. And the immediate change that accepting it made in me was beyond amazing. The Gift was His Spirit coming to live inside me! The tremendous burden of fear and all that sin entails was destroyed. Oh to walk every minute as if it were that instant when God gave me the gift of His salvation! Such a weight was lifted from a little girl’s life. 

Lord, help me to walk, not by sight, but by Grace through Faith in You, by the Power of your being IN ME. And thank you so much for Mr. and Mrs. Fleisher and the gift of that little plaque. And thank you for your Gift so sweetly given to anyone, in whatever way that it may be given, which was or will be most meaningful, and memorable to any who will receive it.  Help people to share how they received your gift, so that any who don’t have your gift will want it to pursue it. AMEN  

(Many will not have an impactful memory of their salvation.  It is far better to have knowledge of salvation, and not have memories of fears of death and sin in getting there.  I believe that is why Christ said allow the little children to come.  They are so full of faith, they just accept without question.  It is also why we must be good stewards of what we teach them. However, sometimes when older they can only remember that they prayed to be saved and the memory fades.  So it is OK to revisit being born again to understand it’s full implications.) 

 -For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the Gift of God.   -Not of works, lest any man should boast.   -For through him (Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.. - Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.  Ephesians 2: 8, 9, 18, 19  KJV (King James Version)   

 

Sheep Have A Voice

This past Easter, my daughter invited me to join them at my new grandson’s first “Egg Hunt.” It was prepared on the grounds of their church for the families and friends who wished to come.  There was a tremendous turn out, and lots of additional activities were prepared.  There were breakfast goodies and eggs to dye while we waited.

Since my grandson was 6 months old, my daughter skipped waiting in the lines and looked for the interactive things to engage him. He reached for and petted the baby ponies, llama, & bunny near by. Then his daddy kneeled by the pen where the lambs were contained. The lambs came over to my grandson and stuck their little heads through the fence. They were nose-to-nose as he reached to run his little fingers through their soft closely shorn fuzzy coat. They were so small and cuddly looking. Content and amazed, he looked up at us happily, until both lambs decided to bleat in his face. “Baaaaahhh!!!” they blurted, within inches of his little ears. In an instant, the baby was climbing his daddy’s shirt in terror.

            He screamed and cried and buried his face. Every time they bleated again, for the rest of the excursion, he clung for shear terror. Then he began to cry when the cow mooed.  The cartoon–like look on his face almost made me laugh, and I had to turn away. His mother was, of course, the first one to gain her composure. Normally, he loves being in Daddy’s strong arms, but now he didn’t like Daddy one bit, ‘cause he was still too close. So when Mom’s assuring, “Ahhh, we’re so sorry, its OK,” voice could be heard above those awful bleating things, he begged with his eyes to get him farther away. He looked over his little shoulder, not satisfied ‘til daddy was where lambs could no longer be seen!  Ever been there, so afraid of what was about to happen, you just wanted to run? Sometimes, I guess we should run. Sometimes, we have to resist the urge to run and just stay in our situation.

I have always thought of the little “baaah” of a lamb, as a sweet, baby-comforting sound. Those little lambs only wanted to play, like a puppy barking in excitement. Yet to the baby, it seemed like an admonition in loud uncertain terms to “get away!” Literature has often portrayed the meek little lamb as being powerless, contrasting being strong like a lion or weak like a lamb.  It brings to mind a discussion that was held in mockery in one of my Bible Classes in high school. Yes, I said high school.

 In those days, LOL…

 the Bible Class was taken by any number of people seeking what they thought would be an “easy A.”  We spent the first 6 weeks learning about every other world religion except the ones in the Bible. Then finally, the teacher began to teach from it, with utmost attention to treating the book as a piece of literature. She began in the book of Matthew, with parables first, then settled into the Beatitudes and the word “blessed.” At first, I thought this lady didn’t believe a word of it. But eventually, I could see that she was playing the “devil’s advocate.” She fully expected the Bible to speak for itself. She allowed the students to discuss what they were reading, and slowly, it began to affect people. One of those discussions was about the Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek”.

My classmates, generally concluded that meek people were weak, and a majority of the class left that day making fun of people they knew who were usually quiet or weak. Several students found it necessary to think of someone by name.  On the following day, the discussion continued, and I made a remark that “meek” did not mean weak or scared, but rather it was “gentle power that actually had a voice.” I felt the meek were perfectly capable of speaking in defense of and standing up for their beliefs, but often chose not too.  I thought of this teacher, who was reserving her personal opinion, and allowing the Bible to speak for itself.  At this point, a lot of the class didn’t get the value of being one of God’s sheep, “being led around stupidly following whatever a stupid book said.”

            As the class went on, I tried to choose my words very carefully, although ridiculed strongly by the handsome male student who sat in front of me. Initially, his comments seemed directed at rejecting the Bible altogether. Then he began confronting me when other students weren’t around. It became clear that the Lord was tugging at his heart. He had become a seeker.  I thought of Saul who initially went so far as to kill Christians, before making an about face, and took heart.  I hoped to say something that would stick with him, following my teacher’s example to let the Word speak for itself.  At the end of the year, my male friend graduated and was bent on going into an officer’s training school, hoping to become a “MAN”.  None of that meek stuff for him! I was afraid our discussions had fallen on an unreceptive heart. I prayed for him that he would be successful, and that God would keep him safe. I never expected to see or hear from him again.

Not the following year, but the fall after that, early in the school year, someone came running down the hall toward me. They stopped me and said, “B.. said give you a message; said you would understand.” It was only a few words, which I can’t even remember, but the message was absolutely clear to me.  I was so thankful that I had been the weak bleating sheep in his face.  My handsome friend was in the military now, going to war.  His message made it clear that he now knew what it meant to be meek. He said that I was not to worry about him any more! I never told him I was praying for him. The Spirit in him told him I would be praying. Evidently, he was now a man inside and out. I cried.

What?  Don’t make fun. Jesus wept. So I’m a bleating crybaby who definitely wants to run scared most of the time. Meek, not weak. 

It is times like this that I am made aware that the Holy Spirit is at work.  Planting the seed is sometimes our only duty when witnessing.  It is, however, God who must speak to a man’s heart. A meek word, which comes from God, is powerful! Even the mildest mannered Word spoken in love, has strength to do God’s will. Meek not Weak. 

Father, thank you for being the power in what I do for you.  I often feel like I have failed, only to find out later, that You, Lord, certainly didn’t.  It is assuring that no matter how mild mannered I may appear in someone else’s eyes, you approve of my bleating in someone’s face. Lest I forget, help me hold to the promise that with meekness we inherit the earth.  It may be a while before I know how you took my words and used them in someone else’s life. Maybe I will never know. Just help me continue to be the “Baaahhhh!!” that someone does not forget, no matter how badly they want to get away from hearing me bleat in their face.  Amen.

 Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

 Also: Ecclesiastes 11:1

Cast your bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.

Bleat A Little ~ Pray A Lot