Sometimes you have to dig...

If you have known me for any length of time, you know that some of my favorite verses are about controlling my tongue.  My father was a sailor and had the mouth to match.  I grew up on naval military bases, which translates to a lot of sailor's children.  I can remember being in 5th grade on the playground with some of my friends who endeavored to "teach" me the proper way to swear.  Having come to know Jesus much later in life, overcoming my mouth has been an ongoing task. 

Recently I was studying Psalm 19.  Last year, Psalm 19:14 was my verse: Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  I said a prayer before studying for the Spirit to speak to me as I read and I totally expected another message on my mouth.  But God is good and gives us what we need.

But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. ~Psalm 19:12-13

 You see, life has been throwing some pretty big curve balls at me.  And some of those curve balls revealed some long buried forgiveness issues.  Issues that I thought had been dealt with and that I had moved on from.  The Spirit, however, made sure to show me that I was mistaken, which caused me to examine myself and start addressing my heart condition....again.

Now I am not saying that every one of you reading this has some hidden sin buried way down deep.  But I do want you to ask yourself, when is the last time you asked God to reveal any hidden faults to you?  Honestly, it isn't something that I often do.  It hurts.  It reveals an ugliness that I would rather not see.  It reminds me that I still have a lot of areas that God needs to reform in my life.  But if we don't take the time to examine ourselves, we miss the blessing of blamelessness.

Noah was blameless (Genesis 6:9) in the midst of a world that had turned against God.  That doesn't mean he lived a perfect life, only that he made every effort to follow God.  David, who wrote this particular Psalm, was a favorite of God.  That is astonishing when you remember that he committed adultery and murder.  God isn't asking for perfection.  Instead, He requires us to be honest, both with ourselves and with Him, so that we can be shaped, molded and perfected.  This is why we must address our hidden faults, and doing so leads to living a blameless life innocent of great transgressions.  And that is what I want, even if it means facing the buried ugliness in my heart.   Sometimes, you just have to dig....

Are you living the Dollar Store life?

I ran in a dollar store to pick up a few items for my daughter's scout troop meeting, my 7-year-old in tow.  I don't know if you have ever taken a child who has money in her pocket into the Dollar Tree before, but just let me tell you THAT it is an experience! 

The toy aisle was unavoidable.  It might as well have had bright, flashing neon arrows above it with the Pied Piper playing his tune within it.  My children have always been drawn by the lure of inexpensive play things that they could purchase for themselves.  I, however, despise that aisle.  All I could see was what lay ahead - broken toys, pieces that didn't quite go together correctly, and ultimately tears and disappointment.  I try to avoid bringing my children to that tempting aisle of dismay.

And yet, how often do we choose the metaphorical dollar store toy?   Our world is full of these tempting opportunities to satisfy ourselves with the quick thing that appears to bring pleasure and costs us the least amount of effort.  But the truth is, things that last - things of value - are rarely the things that cost us little. 

Think about it, Satan offered Jesus the world, literally.  (Matthew 4:8-9) And in a sense, that is what Jesus came for.  Accepting the offer meant He didn't have to face the cross and the excruciating pain it would entail.  Not only physical pain, but the pain of separation from His Father as well.  And it was Satan's to give.  (2 Corinthians 4:4)  But Jesus declines, choosing the hard path, the one that led to His ultimate victory, and ours.  Jesus turned down the dollar store toy.

And like a good parent, God's desire is that we avoid those tempting, inexpensive choices as well.  The choice to tell a little white lie rather than face the consequences of our actions.  The choice to sacrifice time with our family in order to have a larger bank account than we truly need.  The choice to turn a blind eye to our neighbor in need rather than give of ourselves to help him or her.  The choice to sleep in on Sunday morning because we are tired rather than join with our brothers and sisters to worship our Creator.  And so many more choices that appear to do little harm, that cost us (seemingly) nothing. That appear to do no harm, while bringing immediate pleasure or relief.

And like many dollar store toys, our choice is pleasurable...for a time.  Inevitably, though, what we thought was going to be an inexpensive joy becomes a lackluster, disappointing or even painful experience.  Trust that your Father knows what is best, (Jeremiah 29:11)  listen to His counsel, (Psalm 32:8) and let Him lead. (Proverbs 3:5-6)  I promise His reward is better than you can imagine!

Are You Anchored?

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard,

so that we do not drift away.  ~Hebrews 2:1

 Some day it is easier than others to have faith.  Some days everything is coming up roses, you get all the green lights, and you get an unexpected check in the mail.  Others, it's a little harder.  You find out that doctors still haven't found an answer to a medical problem, discover that you need to replace a porch due to rotting support beams and the money isn't in the budget, and due to circumstances beyond your control your grand-daughter is coming to live with you while her mother deals with an addiction.  Those days it can be hard to hold on to faith and trust God is in control.

And then God prompts you to resume your chronological Bible study and you just happen to read Hebrews 2:1.  I love that we serve such a personal God; one that reaches out and reminds you that you are not alone.  You see, the Hebrews were wavering in their faith, wondering if their choice to follow Jesus was the right one.  And then God crafted a letter to them to encourage them, to strengthen them.

The author of Hebrews (possibly Paul) spent all of chapter 1 remind us who Jesus is - the heir of all things, the creator of the world, the radience of God's glory, the exact imprint of God's nature, the upholder of the universe, superior to angels, God's Son, God's firstborn who sits at His right hand.  What a mighty God we serve!  Yet we still forget.  

We let the drudgery of this life overshadow the Truth.  We let our momentary hardships rule our thoughts rather than the knowledge that the battle has already been won.  We forget the love Jesus has for us, the sacrifice He made for us.  And instead we focus on the lie of the world - we are unloved, we are unwanted, we are alone.

When we forget the truth of Jesus it causes us to drift away, we are in effect cutting our anchor, setting ourselves adrift to be tossed about by the world.  This leads to wavering, a loss of faith, and a divided loyalty.  That leads to destruction.  

And this, my friends, is why we are called to encourage each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11), to gather together with fellow believers (Hebrews 10:24-25), to spend time with Jesus (Matthew 12:30) and to renew our mind daily (Romans 12:2).  Doing these things cause us to pay careful attention to the works of, and our relationship with, Jesus.  And when we are focused on Him, we can't drift away into confusion and despair.

What verse(s) brings you the most comfort when you find yourself wavering?

Abba, I thank you for the wisdom and forethought of including encouragement for every aspect of our lives in Your word.  I ask that you forgive me for my waverings, for weakening my bond to You, my anchor.  Help me to pay careful attention to Your word in the future so that I may stand strong.  Amen.

*originally published on Coffee with Christ

Quiet Time

Photographer: Katie Tegtmeyer,  Creative Commons 2.0 license

It is ironic that at this moment while I am attempting to write about the importance of quiet time with God, my 18-month-old granddaughter is having a fit because she can not exercise her newly acquired skill of climbing on chairs all by herself to reach the dining room table.  At the same time, my 7-year-old is serenading the entire house at the top of her lungs from her room.  While my teenager calmly slips her headphones over her ears and sinks into a music-induced coma.....sigh.  Some days quiet time is a bit hard to come by.

We all have "noise" in our lives.  Some may have children underfoot, while others have the chatter of co-workers.  You may encounter days where you are frazzled and hang from a string rather than a rope, but it is those days, especially, that it is all the more necessary to find some quiet time with God.

You see, quiet time equips us to face those moments of stress that life seems to throw at us.  It allows us to reconnect with our Creator, to renew our minds (Ephesians 4:23) and ensures that our will lines up with His (Psalm 143:10).  Quiet time is the sip of thirst quenching water given to a parched soul. (Revelation 21:6)  And yet so many of us (yep, me too at times!)are content to squeeze time with God into our lives, rather than make quiet time a priority. 

Today I challenge you to change this.  Stop trying to fit Him in, and instead, put Him at the center and fit everything else in.  We have a limited lifespan and every moment counts.  It may mean that you lose an hour of sleep as you get up earlier to start your day with God rather than rushing out the door.  It could mean that you schedule an appointment with Him on your calendar daily and don't break it.  Perhaps it means you set aside a place in your home just to meet with Him.  However, you chose to make time with God a priority the important thing is that you just do it.  And when you do, the rest will fall into place. 

For those of you that benefit from visual demonstrations, here is a short object lesson that illustrates the point:

How do you find quiet time with God?


* originally published on Coffee with Christ

Life lessons from a bulb of garlic

A few years ago my father gave me several cloves of garlic from his garden to plant in mine.  I am not one of those people that are able to plant a lush vegetable garden with success.  Honestly, I am pleased when I can gather a few heads of oddly formed broccoli, my tomato plants produce enough to make a few pots of spaghetti sauce, and my lettuce is in good enough shape to make it to my salad bowl.  I am sure my little garden looks pitiful to the experienced gardener.

That being said I was excited at the prospect of growing some garlic.  It is one of my favorite seasonings and I add it to almost everything I cook.  I placed those little bulbs in the garden and watched as they sent up their green stalks.  I came across some green onions and planted those as well.  Before long I was happily clipping shoots of both and adding them to my cooking.  My garlic sent up a thick stalk (which I later found out is called a scape) and eventually flowered.

Autumn arrived and I eagerly began digging in search of the perfect garlic bulbs that had grown and matured underground.  Only they weren't there.  I had roots, but not tasty bulbs.  So I hit the internet and made an interesting discovery. 

When left to its own devices, a garlic plant will put much of its energy into the production of the flower.  While this yields a beautiful flower to look at, it causes the bulb to be stunted.  And I wondered, how many of us are focused on the flower when we should be focused on the bulb.

Admittedly we (or, at least, I) long to feel beautiful, to be "seen" by others around us, to stand out.  We want to be THE flower in the garden.  As a result, we may spend our energy on the things that get us noticed:  organizing the church picnic, singing in the choir, teaching children's church, proclaiming our love for Jesus everywhere we go LOUDLY.  We long to serve.....and be recognized for that service.  And honestly, if done for the right reasons there is nothing wrong with serving in those highly visible positions.  There is nothing wrong with declaring our love for our Savior. But sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself if you are diverting energy that should be spent growing those parts that are unseen. 

You may be the very best Sunday School teacher the church has ever had, but if you are devoting everything to creating the perfect lesson and neglecting your own studies and relationship with God then perhaps you need to reevaluate.  You might have a long list of people that have chosen to give their life to God as a result of your actions in public.  But if your actions behind closed doors are less desirable or holy, maybe you need to reconsider what you focus on. 

I am not saying that you can't, or shouldn't, make the effort to be a beautiful flower.  What I am saying is that, perhaps, we need to be watchful that those efforts aren't costing us a huge price.  We are called to grow. (1 Peter 2:2, 2 Peter 3:18)  A flower blooms and is appreciated for a short time, but the part that remains unseen matures and is the true harvest.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation (of Jesus) with gold, silver, 

precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become 

manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be 

revealed by fire, and the fire will test what 

sort of work each one has done.  

~1 Corinthians 3:12-13

*originally published on Coffee with Christ

Rise

Alyssa Miller, photographer.  Some rights reserved

I had had it!  I was done being mom.  I didn't want to be the one that was the grown up anymore.  I was tired of saying the same thing over and over and over again, of feeling like no one was listening.  I lost it - and rather than respond as I would want to be responded to when my 7 year old came up to ask a question that I had just answered.  Yes, the 18 month old was screaming at the top of her lungs at the same time, and yes, my teenager had his headphones on so he was completely oblivious to everything as I tried to balance the phone on my shoulder as I pulled dinner out of the oven.  And yes, I was exhausted.  But that doesn't excuse the tone or volume that I chose to use when I responded to my daughter, and I knew that I had crushed her when her normally cheerful face fell and the tears began to form in her eyes.  In that moment I knew that I had failed.

We all have moments like this.  Yours may have occurred with a co-worker who just doesn't seem to have the same work ethic you do.  Or it may have been with your spouse who can't seem to get their dirty clothes IN the laundry hamper.  Or the neighbor that insists on turning the music up too loud, again.  Face it, we live in a world that is full of people that don't always recognize how their actions affect others.    A world that doesn't stop because we are having a bad day. And we make the wrong choice....

It isn't something unique to us.  Jesus was facing the most difficult, and agonizing time of His life.  He knew it was coming and sought His Father's counsel.  Like us, He didn't want to face the hardship alone so He asked his friends to go with Him, to pray with Him.  They went, they sat near Him, they began praying....and as the night went on and their bodies got tired, they made a choice - they went to sleep.  Not just once, but three times!  And it was a direct, face to face Jesus request!  I can only imagine how they felt when they recognized how disappointed Jesus was at the way they had let Him down. 

If they were anything like me they felt like failures.  After all, it isn't that hard to (fill in the blank), and I messed it up.....again.  And yet, the Bible doesn't say that Jesus condemned them.  Instead, He recognized that, "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak". (Matthew 26:41)  I have to say that I am ever so thankful that God looks at our heart rather than our outward appearances (including our actions sometimes).  Now, don't get me wrong.  I am not saying that there isn't a need to make the effort to do what is right.  Quite the contrary, as there are numerous verses that tell us to make every effort to choose what is right. (Psalm 1:1, Ephesians 5:11, Ephesians 4:26 to name a few)

But when we mess up, what do we do?  Jesus says, "Rise, let us be going".  (Matthew 26:46)  Don't wallow in what has been done wrong.  Go to the person you have wronged and ask forgiveness.  (Matthew 5:23)  Talk to God about it and ask His forgiveness. (1 John 1:9)  And then rise, and leave it behind.  Once we have confessed, God doesn't see the sin any more. (Psalm 103:12) 

You still have to deal with the consequences here though.  Don't think that a confession of wrong doing makes everything better.  I will never be able to remove the pain I inflicted when I chose to react out of frustration rather than love with my daughter.  But I can show her that we all make mistakes.  I can show her how to handle them in a Godly manner.  And I can show her how to move past them. 

*originally published on Coffee with Christ

Regrets

 I had a few free moments and was scanning my Facebook feed when this video popped up:



And it really made me stop and think...we all have at least one regret in our life.  One thing we wish we had done, or had done sooner, that might have changed the whole course of our life.  Or that thing that we did that we wish we hadn't, that we bury in a deep dark place and pray no one ever finds out.

For years I had a long list of the latter.  Choices I made with high school boyfriends, choices I made to fit in with my group of friends, choices I made in what I worshiped.  When I finally made the choice to become a follower of Jesus I was ashamed of them, especially since my first church was full of older people that seemed to have been living the "right" life all of their life. (I am sure that they didn't see it that way and that this was more due to my perception than reality!) So I put on the "good girl" mask, jumped in to a servant position in the church and tried to earn that "right life" feeling.  I wanted to be "good enough" for God.

Unfortunately, I never accomplished it.  You see, we can't be "good enough" for Him.  The Bible says that ALL fall short of the glory of God, ALL have sinned.  (Romans 3:23)  That little 3 letter word includes you.....and me.  Even if you have been a Christian all your life.  And for a long time that verse was really difficult for me.  I wanted to be a perfect reflection of Jesus to the world, and instead my mirror was cracked and stained, and even missing pieces in some places.

The good news is that God extends grace to us, unmerited favor.  You don't earn it, you can't earn it, but He gives it to us anyway.  And His grace is enough.  His strength is made perfect in weakness, our weakness.  (2 Corinthians 12:9)  Now, that isn't to say we have a free license to run out and intentionally give Him opportunities to display His strength because we selfishly want to wallow in our weaknesses.  But when we go to Him and lay our weaknesses at His feet, He can turn them around.  He can use them for good.  (Romans 8:28)

And as for our past, when we give it to God, when we stop hiding it in those deep dark places and pull it out into the light, He isn't going to shake His head in disappointment and turn His back on us.  Instead our God says this:

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

~Psalm 103:10-13 

 Those past regrets, He has already erased them from the blackboard.  Isn't it about time that you did too?  No, you may never be a perfect, sinless reflection of Jesus.  But you can let go of the past and look to the present.  How can you reach out to those around you that are still struggling with their regrets?  What can you do to show them that they are loved and valued just as they are?  So many are hurting, won't you share the all encompassing love of Jesus with someone this Valentine's day?

*originally published on Coffee with Christ