January 20 - Seeds, Part 2 (1/20/13)

January 20 - Seeds, Part 2

Seeds, again? Now I know seeds are only interesting to gardeners and botany teachers, right? But, I am struggling with faith…defining it..understanding what it really is and moving on even though I don't grasp it all. But the concept of seeds intrigues me, and I believe they hold the answer to the mystery.

So tomorrow I plan to tackle the seed story, again! I promise I won't give you a botany lesson…get a good night's sleep…I will, too, and dream about seeds… not silly, I promise.

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

Pray: Let us rest, dear Father, in your Word, the knowledge that you will answer us and give us wisdom to understand faith. Amen

January 19 - Market (1/19/13)

Where do you get your stuff? You know, all the things you need to live. Do you shop online? Do you go to the mall? Once a year or twice a week? Who decides what you buy? Do you choose? Really? Well, I know a little secret. Before you go to the store to choose your favorite "stuff," there are some extremely hard-working folks who sift through hundreds of thousands of items to present the best of the best for you to choose. It is a difficult decision for the buyers. They have to answer many questions like what sold well last year? What are the new trends? What do you want for heaven's sake??? Their job is to guess, and the best "guessers" make the most money! So no matter whether you are shopping for screwdrivers, tires, jewelry or chocolate, someone is "super-guessing" your choices.

That brings me to "market." An enormous event held in several large cities in the United States like Atlanta, Las Vegas and Dallas. It is international in scope and brings thousands of buyers from all over the world together to sift through the "stuff." I was privileged to attend the gift market with my cousin this week. She has a fantastic shop in Llano, Texas called "The Market: a Collection of Shops." Stop in there next time you go through Llano after you finish your Cooper's Barbecue dinner. You will not be disappointed. She has a lovely shop filled with thoughtful, beautiful, repurposed and practical gifts for yourself or others. I can't tell you how hard she and her partners work to bring you the best choices from the thousands upon thousands of choices.

I have been thinking about this all week. What choices do we have in how to live? Does someone sift through the choices for us? Do we have a buyer at the market of life helping eliminate the bad, poorly made or unsatisfactory selections? Do we have someone who has our best interests at heart? A someone who can assure us that the choices we make are all good if they come through His filter? You bet we do. Our heavenly Father cares so much about our choices in life that He gave His own Son's life so that we can live with Him in eternity. Wow! And His motives are not monetary. His motive is to spend eternity with us! Our joy for today is enhanced as we make our choices based on His wisdom and His care for us. Just imagine how blessed we are to choose the fellowship here on earth in wise choices filtered through the Eternal Buyer, Jesus Christ.

Everything we have is a gift from God. All good things are gifts from God (1 Timothy 6:17). Food and clothing (Matthew 6:25, 33), rain and fruitful harvests (Leviticus 26:4), faith (Ephesians 2:8), grace (James 4:6), wisdom (Proverbs 2:6, James 1:5), and life itself (Isaiah 42:5) are all gifts from God.

Pray:

Heavenly Father, help us to choose wisely as we pass through this life. Give us Your wisdom, guidance and protection in the path we choose to walk with You. Amen

January 18 - Seeds (1/18/13)

Seeds

Gardeners, (and you know who you are), what is one of the best things about January? Don't say ice storms, down time or frozen weeds, please. Say, seed catalogs! We avid gardeners look forward to this time of the year to relax a bit, and soak up the sun in the seed catalogs. Jackson & Perkins catalog day means a time to investigate the new plant varieties, enjoy green photos when the outside vista of my window is still brown grass. I love to admire new varieties of vegetables and imagine an okra plant that is 5 feet tall! Can my mind take in the notion of zinnias the size of my palm! Then, I dream of a tomato with a bright pinkish red hue and an acidic bite! That tomato variety is called "June Pink." June Pinks are so sought after that true tomato lovers save the seeds and start them in February…timing is everything in the world of seeds! So in cold, frozen, icy January the gardener dreams of June and sees beautiful gardens of the future! And Spring!!!

Now, carry this dream farther. Think of the mustard seed. Here is something I found out: of all the herb seeds in the world, the mustard seed is the smallest. If you are familiar with seeds (I'm sure most of you are bored by now, but humor me a little) you might know that most seeds correlate to the size of the final, grown plant. Radish seeds are tiny and so are the vegetable radishes. Corn seeds look like corn kernels and produce a plant that may have 5-6 ears of corn with hundreds of kernels on each cob. Think about an okra seed…the same size of the seeds you pull out of an okra kernel, yet each seed can produce an okra plant several feet tall, covered with okra pods. Tomato seeds look a little smaller than the seed you see in the tomato fruit. But not mustard seeds…they are itsy, bitsy, like grains of salt. And this is the amazing part: the mustard plant is the largest plant of all the herbs in the garden. It is large enough for birds to land on and to build a nest in! 

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." Matthew 13:31-32

So don't feel sorry for the tiny mustard seed. Not only does it grow to be a huge plant, but the flavor is big, too. You could probably do a blind taste test and recognize its flavor. Mustard enhances everything. And it doesn't carry the down side of being "sugary" or sweet. There has never been a diet known to man that excludes mustard! No fat, no sugar, just flavor!

So how does this compare to our faith? What does the parable Jesus told mean? Our faith does not have to be huge. We do not have to be Moses or Billy Graham, Abraham or Ruth. We can be ourselves and still be listed on the wall of faith. It can be the size of the mustard seed and grow into a large gift to honor God. The seeds of our faith can grow and multiply to fill a field. A tiny faith can fill a room, a palate and a lifetime. 

Why would God present us with this dilemma, parable, mystery? Because our God is one of surprises, oddities, contradictions and miracles! Faith is a miracle! Can we explain it, dissect it, write a poem about it, sing about it, dream about it? Yes and no, it is faith. It defies definition. That is it! That is all we need to know. Believe! Claim the dusting of the mustard seed in your life! Then plant it and wait for the harvest!

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Pray: Father, do not let our struggle to define faith keep us from living it every day. We claim the "mustard seed" of faith given to us to grow the giant plant of joyful living You promised. Amen

January 17 - What? Me, worry? (1/17/13)

The phrase attached to the face of Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman was classic 1960's sarcastic attitude. In the face of nuclear war, the youth of the era thumbed their noses at their parents' fears. If you remember any of this, you are officially "old!" Alfred was the poster boy for the worry-free attitude, freckle face mischief and all.

We live however in a world full of worry. Max Lucado says, "Some of us have a post graduate degrees from the University of Anxiety!" Worry connotes many things but for me it seems like this: it is a sack full of rocks slung over your back, a sky full of hail clouds when you just got a new roof, a car with a "funny" noise as you travel down a dark street far from home, or it is just getting lost. 

Today my cousin encouraged me with her easy-going outlook on getting lost…"we'll just turn around, find another way. No stress, no blame, no worry. We'll get there another way, see something new, change our plans a little and have fun on the way!" I really like that idea. Thank you, Mary, for reminding me that life is not always just the destination but what happens along the way. 

A carefree, not careless, attitude can make all the difference. Keeping your eyes open to the new and the different while traveling along is a blessing, too. Did it really matter that we took a different way? That we were really "lost?" We had a delightful time getting there and the destination turned out to be great, too. It was all in the attitude and refusing to worry.

That's what God wants us to do. Here is what He says:

"Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need." Philippians 4:6

Pray: Thank you, Lord, for the journey and for the delightful encounters we have along the way. Amen

January 15 - A Day for Blessings (1/15/13)

January 15, 2013

A day for blessings! One extra tiny baby blessing! More news to follow from 

the parents. Just to let everyone know that there is no sweeter joy than a 

new life! God is more awesome and good than any human being can 

imagine. Today is all about the blessings from heaven above. 

All is calm, all is bright in this family tonight.

"Grandchildren are the crown 

of the aged,and the glory is their fathers."

Proverbs 17:6

Pray: 

Father, from the depths of my soul I thank you for the gift of a new life. You are the only Creator of life

and I praise You for the joy You give to me. 

Amen

January 14 - Do You Have a Heart? (1/14/13)

Are you "tender hearted?" Not to be confused with "tender headed!" Do you cry at the smash of a butterfly on your windshield? How about a commercial about abused animals? Do your feel compassion for the man on the side of the intersection with a clorox jug (I'm not kidding) to put money into? Do you turn away or pretend you don't see? Are you analytical about the needs around you or so sad you can't function?

Yesterday, our pastor started a sermon on the Wizard of Oz. Now, even if you don't attend Pantego Bible Church you can watch the sermon online. It was extremely interesting to me. The Tin Man was actually interviewed by David (I'm pretty sure it was a staff person), and he gave his point of view, his life story of living without a heart. It was funny, yet it made me squirm a bit. I loved the part about the Tin Man sitting in church every Sunday, "How can you miss me? I am 'silver!'"

So why do I squirm? You see, I used to not have a heart. Well, I had one, but it was not very sensitive. By the time I confess all the truths about me, you may want to cross the street or the mall aisle when you see me coming! Seriously, in "Jesus Calling" today, the author says you can cover up your outward appearance in order to look pretty great, and yet still be "messed up" on the inside and no one need ever know. I was like that.

A description of the old me: I gave to the poor, started food drives at the school, picked up stray animals, even returned lost dogs to their owners (and I am a cat person), adored my family, passionately protected and indulged my friends, taught Vacation Bible School, and did all the right loving and heart-sensitive things. But - the "lost"…I mean the really lost, the ones so lost you don't even have a chance to ignore. The lost living in South America or east Arlington, well, they just didn't hurt my heart. I would say to myself, "The church has missionaries for that." I also used to be very glad God didn't call me to be a missionary because I thought it must be a terrible life. Aren't you sad for the old me? And I was lost, too, but didn't know it. My heart didn't hurt for them. Sort of "out of sight, out of mind" I guess would describe my feelings. I gave to missions, then checked that

off my list. I was a Christian all right, but my heart was very small. Then….

A miracle happened in my life in the form of the worst tragedy in my life. I lost my loved one to an illness I couldn't understand. Something so vital was taken from me, and I slipped into a pit of despair. I was really lost then. At first the only way for me to "be" was to get even "harder hearted." You know, surrounding myself with a shell and not letting anyone in. But that didn't last long because here is the "good news:" My Savior sent praying friends who had huge hearts, some people I did not even know, some who did not know my face either, He sent His Word in words from these friends, some big nuggets of truth and some tiny Words of Truth! The Holy Spirit welled up in me. He filled me with love, with compassion, with all the fruits of the Spirit. And guess what? I now have a heart…a real one. Not that I didn't have the truth of God before, but now it was so big it wouldn't stay inside. I still do the old things like feeding stray animals and passionately loving my family and friends. But I also have a heart to feed people, to pick up others who live far away. I am still not a "cry baby."

But I am a person who sees the depths from where I was pulled, and I know how it happened. I can't imagine my life without Jesus. I don't want anyone else to live without Him either. I see the truly lost, the real strays, the human needs differently. When I give to a missionary family or a worthy cause, I pray for those I give to as I write the check. I mourn the fallen life in addition to the fallen pet on the side of the road. Yes, I am a "bleeding heart" who got a real heart, and I want everyone else to have one, too.

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart!" I Samuel 16:7

"Love one another deeply, from the heart." I Peter 1:22

Prayer:
Father God, please give us a heart like Yours, a heart so full of compassion and love that is spills over into the world. Amen

January 13 - An Adventure (1/13/13)

A recurring theme for me as I look at my life with my Guide, my leader, the One I trust.. (you know Him, right?) is adventure. I think the idea of a life with Christ as an adventure is exciting, not a boring exercise in holiness but a vibrant life with the King of Kings! Every day I wake up excited to see what each day will hold. But today I overslept. That in itself is not unusual, but being late to church is not good, and I have promised to be better about being on time. I grabbed my coffee, my favorite three devotionals, prayed and climbed out of my warm bed into the chilly morning. In my mind, I had already written the post for today…been thinking about adventure again and saw an awesome scripture in "Jesus Calling." I was ready, but church couldn't wait and my writing could. And later is ok…. so off I went…

Church was great! Our pastor started a new sermon series which caught my attention. Worship was fantastic, the sun was coming out, wind dying down… ready to see the grands as we pick them up from their Sunday School (ok, I know Sunday school has a modern name, but that is what I call it). My son-in-law handed me the computer sticker which is the only way I can pick up my middle grandson, Henry, and I happily headed for him. Waiting in the lobby, visiting with Hen, and old friends and new friends, the day just seemed "text book." I mean no big deal, but a very big deal! 

At about 10:30 that all changed. Jill rushed up, handed baby Margaret to me and said, "Andrew is missing!" Mustering up calm, I gathered Henry and Margaret to me, looked up at my new friends and we began to pray. Not a big "Moses" prayer but the kind that comes from your innermost part…."Please, please, please, Father, find Andrew!" A calmness came over us, we adjusted to "sitting tight" and sure enough, in less than five minutes, Andrew was found. How? Well the church staff knew the drills and followed them perfectly, Jill's friends just "happened" to be upstairs where Andrew decided to be, and our merciful God placed His hand on our precious boy. The boy who is only 8 years old and with a curious, autisitc mind was found, even though he didn't know he was lost. A devastating outcome was averted, a little boy who did not know he was in danger was placed back in the hands of those who love him to pieces! Coincidence, good security or God in action? I believe the latter! So the next day that I lazily get up looking for an adventure….well, I might just stay in bed! 

I love the adventure of a God who cares for the least of us, the most helpless of us and saves us every day!

"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalm 118:24

Prayer:

Thank you, dear Father, for your merciful protection of us. As we claim our rights to adventure with You, let us not forget who cares for us, loves us and gives us the blessings of life in You ever day! Thank you, Jesus, for Andrew! Thank you for protecting him today and every day of his life. 

Amen