Another Life Lesson

Once upon a time I had a nice collection of heirloom vegetable seeds. In my best Mother Earth intentions, I felt it was a good thing to keep the staples of our grandparents’ pantry alive and (pardon the pun) fruitful in our lives today. I would search through online seed catalogs and order heirloom versions of the veggies and fruits I would plant anyway. It was a small step in keeping the in touch with the past while feeding my family in the future but I enjoyed it.

Did you notice the word ‘enjoyed’ in the last sentence was past tense?

That’s because one fateful day I discovered my entire stash of beloved heirloom seeds had been raided and destroyed by a pesky critter(s) of small proportions; the little ones that scurry around in the dark, twitching their little whiskers and poaching ones dreams and efforts…mice had discovered and consumed my seeds leaving nothing in their wake but pieces and bits. This, Friends, is one of the down sides of country living; the critters came first and claim squatter’s rights.

The sad, sad tale of the heirloom seeds happened a few years ago. In a more recent situation…oh, say two days past….I walked confidently to my own pantry to retrieve a bag of brown rice to prepare for the evening’s dinner. Upon measuring out the rice I noticed some of it was moving…..huh? Then to my great surprise, some of it took off in flight! Closer inspection revealed that some how, some way a winged critter of some sort had made its way into the rice bag and transformed it into a critter condo for the next generation of winged critters….they looked liked tiny little moths. What makes this incredible to me is that the closed bag of rice was stored in a closed plastic container that was in my closed pantry cabinet. Needless to say…we did not have brown rice with dinner that evening; though I did get to chew on some meaty words from Matthew 6:19-21…

Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal. But gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Matthew 6:25-26 also says….

Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?

There is a lesson in there……..

Walk in Victory!

I was having an interesting conversation with a Christian friend the other day and she told of a woman teaching in her church that often referred to herself as ‘nothing more than a worm.’ This seemed to resonate with my friend’s husband and now, he too, was saying he was nothing more than a worm. My friend was a bit appalled by this way of thinking. She stated that she was not a worm but a redeemed Believer that walked in victory through Jesus Christ! She did not understand how they could see themselves as worms if they truly believed that Christ was victorious and walked away from the grave for their sake.

It sounds to me like they may have gotten stuck in a well meaning but albeit misguided rut. Yes, we are to be humble in spirit and know the glory belongs to the Lord. It is by Him, through Him and because of our faith and belief in Him that we are redeemed. We can walk victoriously in this world because of Him, not from anything we might do on our own. Apart from Him we can accomplish nothing; that is not the same as self-depravation where you feel and say you are nothing more than a worm. God created man to have dominion over the critters, not be one of them. Nary has one single worm walked the garden as companion to God….at least not that I’ve read about in scripture. And … according to scripture…

1 John 5

EVERYONE WHO believes (adheres to, trusts, and relies on the fact) that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah) is a born-again child of God; and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him (His offspring). By this we come to know (recognize and understand) that we love the children of God: when we love God and obey His commands (orders, charges)--[when we keep His ordinances and are mindful of His precepts and His teaching]. For the [true] love of God is this: that we do His commands [keep His ordinances and are mindful of His precepts and teaching]. And these orders of His are not irksome (burdensome, oppressive, or grievous). For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith. Who is it that is victorious over [that conquers] the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on that fact]?

Not one word about considering or calling yourself a worm is required in this Scripture for you to be victorious or obedient to God. I did read where we are to BELIEVE, LOVE and OBEY. No groveling or wriggling around in the dirt required. I can’t imagine that calling yourself a worm would do a whole lot to draw people to the Lord but walking in victory and love….that’s a different story.

As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord!

Alone at Last!

“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.” ~Albert Einstein

I just read an article on how to have more solitude in your life and the benefits it brings. I’ve long been aware of my need for solitude so I find it rather amusing that there are so many articles telling you how to find it, work toward it, etc. I can recall as a girl I knew I had to have time away from the chaos of three younger brothers. As a young mom with little ones I craved alone quiet time that had become so rare and precious. When my kids were older I established my “closed shop” rule: After 9pm I closed the door to my bedroom and no one better knock unless there was blood, death or fire. It was my only ‘me time’ and as a single working mom with many teens (at one time 5 teens and two 11 yr olds…mine & others) living in my home, closing shop was the only way to have any solitude at all. To this day my kids do not call me after 9pm. That’s a good thing.

It was during the time of my first ‘empty nest’ that I rededicated my life to the Lord. I was struggling with having all the kids out of my home but God used the opportunity to get my undivided attention. I have been very thankful ever since. With no one else needing my attention and time I was free to focus only on seeking Him when I came home from work every evening. I was like a giant sponge, thirsty and dry, and the living water of Jesus was the only thing that satisfied that thirst. It was an intense time of my life; intense in a complex and wonderful way. Finding solitude in Christ may sound contradictory but when you consider that He is in you and you are one with Him…it is solitude at its utmost!

Today, I can say I have adjusted to living with another adult after the big shock of it all when my Honey and I first married. He, too, needs time alone at home to just ‘be’. It is a comfortable fit for us and I believe plays a large role in our compatibility. We need ‘our time’ but honor each other’s alone time.

As a writer I most definitely need time alone! Referring back to that ADD possibility, I get distracted easily and nothing is more frustrating that to be writing along and have something or someone pull my mind out of the writing mode. It is like a short circuit in the creative flow of words and thought processes. My beloved dogs are a major source of distraction and frustration. Though they live indoors I have to send them outside most writing days. Just the playing, romping and begging to get in my lap can ruin an entire writing session. I can’t write when my Honey is home either. My ‘office’ is smack in the middle of our home out in the open. Anything he might do short of sequestering himself in his studio for the duration is disruptive. He’s tried simply sitting on the couch quietly, not talking or anything but I can see him, feel him and want to strangle him for inhibiting the writing process…….love him bunches but need him gone so I can write. He talks of the day he can retire but I have no idea where he will live when that time comes, certainly not with me…all writing would ground to a screeching halt and that will never do!

If this sounds selfish to you consider the fact that I am in good company in requiring solitude. Jesus was surrounded by the masses, walked many a mile with the entourage of disciples and their ‘posse’ (groupies, families) and He sought out solitude, too. The spirit needs a regular dose of solitude to renew, regroup and re-energize.

John 6:15
Then Jesus, knowing that they meant to come and seize Him that they might make Him king, withdrew again to the hillside by Himself alone.

So, Friends, toss the cell phone in a drawer, take a walk by yourself, turn off the TV and radio or send the family to a movie…just do something to make slices of time for solitude. No noise to distract, no voices to respond to, just you and Jesus quietly sitting together. It is not something to fear or dread, it is ”…delicious…” to quote Albert Einstein!

Hand Crafted

The older I get the more I think I am developing Adult ADD (Attention Deficient Disorder). My attention span is shrinking and the ability to walk from point A to point B to accomplish a task is sliding down right along side it. Something catches my eye and my mind dashes to that thing. A thought completely irrelevant to what I am thinking or talking about zips through my head and I am off to another area and have forgotten what I was thinking about in the first place. While a touch of this is good for a creative writers mind, it can also slow down reaching a goal.

For instance, if I am working on a section of the book in progress and want to work though that part of the story-line, ten different ideas may come to me for other story-lines for the same book. I have to stop and write them down or I will forget them. Meanwhile, the section I planned to finish in that writing session can be left ignored and incomplete. Often, the new ideas make an impact on the story-line I was working on so I adjust it to make the new idea have a foundation in the story. The creative process is exciting, complex, frustrating, fulfilling and tiring. ADD comes in when I am writing along and excited about what I read as I go when an idea about remodeling the guest bath makes an unannounced visit in my mind and I feel the urge to stop and draw out the idea on paper. See the dilemma? I have countless notebooks and scrap pieces of paper that have tidbits of ideas that came to me at odd times. I am creative so it is not required that I be organized in my creativity…though it would help immeasurably.

The flip side of that coin is that I need some semblance of structure and order to keep my mind at peace. Here is where the knowledge that God is in control helps me the most. The chaos of the creative mind can rest in that knowledge and not feel at risk for losing control of things in my world when the creative side is in action. God has His hand on all of it so I do not need to stress over any of it. I make lists, set goals and have an ability to prioritize and troubleshoot so possible conflicts, or bumps in the road are met head on and not unprepared. I am logical, practical and objective…..usually the opposites of creative.

All creative writing teachers tell you to just write, do not edit or correct errors as you go; just write for a period of time to allow the creativity to run free. I have difficulty doing that. If I see an error, I correct it. I edit my work as I go. I will edit it again and again before I’m through with it. I edit absolutely everything I read and hate that I do. I love to read books that take me out of edit mode and simply carry me along with the story. Other types of writing, newspapers, emails, letters, etc make me crazy with the edit mode; I can not switch it off. Creative right brain vs. Logical left brain; constant tug of war.

So why am I writing about this and why should you care one way or the other about my internal tug of war? I’m sharing all that to say this…sometimes I have gotten down on myself when I thought I was not being creatively productive and other times I have been disappointed with myself because I was not organized and disciplined more than I am. Going to God for help, guidance and forgiveness where needed, He helped me understand that all my quirks and idiosyncrasies make up the unique individual I was created to be. He crafted me, He gave the abilities I have, and He installed my brain to not be dominated by one side or the other. I should consider it a gift of right + left instead of right vs. left. I am ambidextrous; able to use both hands equally and consider this an advantage, so the duel sides of my brain/personality/way of thinking I needed to accept rather than question or get frustrated with. God does not make junk. As imperfect and quirky as I feel I am God sees me as His unique creation and that makes it okay with me!

Maybe I’m the only one that struggles with this sort of thing but I doubt it. I think we are all our own worse critics and we need to give ourselves a break and quit demanding our own standard of perfection from ourselves. The next time you want to beat yourself up over something just remember who created you and that our Master Potter does NOT create junk.

Flames of Passion

The one year anniversary of Truth in the Morning blog is coming up in two weeks. I am amazed that the year has flown by so quickly. My goal was to write a new post each weekday and I’ve come close but not hit that mark. Another important goal was to finish a book I am writing. Looking back at the stumbling blocks to reaching that goal I see some legitimate reasons for being unable to submit a post on specific days like being too ill or out of town. Additionally, I can recall more than a few days of struggling to find the passion and inspiration to do so. It is those days I do not like and want to eradicate.

I have gotten sloppy in my writing routines, too. At one time I made a point of reading my Writing Business Plan, Daily Writers Prayer and Affirmations I created to help keep myself focused. This may sound silly to you to have to read those every day but life and the world throws things at us that distract our focus and sap our energies; even the desire and energy to do something about which we feel passion. I know my limitations and I get frustrated by distractions. Frustration is not conducive to productive writing…in fact; it is destructive to the creative process.

Since mid-December, I have not written one word on the book. It is a fiction story of Christian persuasion, of course. I was on a roll before the holidays, even had accountability partners checking on me. I needed this because I had written a difficult part of the storyline that drained me emotionally. Writing and creating is hard enough when you do not have to live in a character’s head! I took what was to be a mini-vacation over the holidays to regroup. We are now nearing the fifth month of my mini-vacation from the book! Ekk! This is unacceptable.

Slowly the storyline has been creeping back into my head when I was not purposely thinking about it so I know I am now ready to jump back in. I had made a point of not even reading what I had written because I knew I would feel guilty about not writing. The games we play with ourselves! One of my efforts to jump back in was to load the book on my laptop. I will not bore you with steps I took to make that happen but just know it is never wise to do something you consider vitally important at a time you KNOW is not your best brain time. Bad idea! Bottom-line is that I made a move that left my head spinning because it appeared I had erased the entire thing!! I thought my head would explode, my heart nearly stopped several times and my stomach…well, let’s not go there! I panicked, prayed, panicked some more and then prayed a lot. I could not fathom the possibility that the book was gone, my head was in such a tizzy! I could barely breathe.

My husband pointed out that I had printed a copy and still had that but all the difficult emotional stuff had not yet been written at the time it was printed. This felt some better but not enough to jumpstart my brain. I had to walk away and focus on breathing for a while. Once a bit closer to normal I was able to think again and, thankfully, discovered I had not erased it after all. Thank you, dear Lord!

All the trauma and drama had a silver lining; I realized how very much I was invested in the book and the deep emotional attachment I had to the passion that created it in the first place! The short time of terror flamed the passion to write, to create, to use the gift God gave me to share Him and His glory once more. A simple postcard from heaven would have been nice but maybe not as effective in garnering up all the emotion, intensity and passion. God knows me well and used an effective means to get my undivided attention. The flames of passion for this book burns brightly once more. I asked for forgiveness for my slack attitude and procrastination. I asked for renewed determination, a laser-like focus and clear mind as I write. My desire to share God and His love, mercy and grace through this book had a serious wake-up call. I’ve dusted off my written commitments and will read them every day once more. Oh, accountability partners,..…

Anything God might want to get your undivided attention on?

Taming a Wild Heart

We have been “adopted” by a feral cat. It just started showing up on the front deck. One weekend morning after breakfast alfresco, my Honey suggested we just leave the leftover food for the cat. It was a very skittish dark brown and gold with touch of white Calico cat, rather small…maybe an adolescent or just small cat, we couldn’t tell. We were not allowed close enough to get a really good look. Any movement by the front door sent it scurrying back under the deck and into safe refuge under our house. It took all day but that evening the little tri-colored kitty was on the picnic table having dinner from our breakfast. We felt pretty good about that.

I started leaving bits of puppy food for the kitty on a daily basis; then just broke down and bought cat food. We added a water bowl after seeing the cat drinking rain water from a container in the back yard. If it had decided to hang around the least we could do was provide clean water. The cat came to us, we just provided the necessities.

We needed to call the cat by something other than ‘kitty’ so I decided on Jack, I don’t know why; it just popped in my head. So when I saw the cat on the deck I would get as close to the screen door as I could and say, “Hi, Jack” My Honey thought I was saying Hijack; so we ran with that name. Slowly over time Hijack has gotten used to us. I talk to it from behind the safety of the front door and it stopped running away. Eventually, it started staying on the deck while I put its food out….on the far side, of course, but progress was being made. Now I can sit on the swing and visit with Hijack and a mere 3-4’ distance is all that is needed for comfort.

One day it became clear….Hijack was pregnant. Surprise! My Honey asked if I had prayed for a pregnant cat…I firmly believe it was him, he’s a sucker for the kitties! Outdoor cats are good when you live in the country; they help keep away mice and snakes. So, we are not so opposed to Hijack raising her brood under our house. She has a job as Rodent/Reptile Sheriff, now. Any day she will give birth to her babies under the house. Honey and I sit completely still and listen for the tiny voices of kittens when we do not see much of her.

Our relationship building with Hijack is not so different than ‘feral’ people with God. They gladly eat from the table He lays out before them. God provides all the needs but many people dash for cover if they think they may have to get close to Him. It has taken time to build a little trust with Hijack so she does not feel threatened by us and for her to know she can depend on our provisions. God continues to provide and offer His love and mercy, too.

‘Feral cat’ simply means a domesticated cat (or their offspring) that has grown wild, sometimes without the touch and interaction with people. ‘Feral people’ may have come from a home of godly people, maybe not; but have lived a life away from God and His love. Their hearts may have grown wild from lack of trust-worthy people showing them love; they come to trust no one. It is not always easy to tell by sight that they may have a feral heart but just try to get close and they bolt every time. Sharing God’s love needs to be like that cool drink of refreshing water. It is there for the taking like the water we leave available for Hijack. If we get pushy or overbearing we may lose the opportunity to reach out to that person again.

You know, it is amazing how much we have come to care about Hijack. We have never even touched her but we love her and want to make sure her needs are met. God cares far more for us and all those feral hearts out there than we even can care for another. We will not give up on Hijack, nor will God give up on His people. Let’s “adopt” a determination to keep feral hearts in prayer. Patient love and prayer works wonders! God will do all the rest.

The Book of My Heart

"God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes." Psalm 18:24 The Message

I do not typically read the The Message Bible but a friend posted this and it touched my heart. It struck me as spiritual poetry. Then I meditated on it more.

Here is how it is worded in the NIV “The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.”

God does, in fact, rewrite the text of our lives when we open the book of our hearts to his eyes! He forgives our sins, washes us clean and pure and looks at us without seeing the old spots and blemishes of sin. He separates us from our sin…therefore; it is accurate to say he rewrites the text of our lives when He erases all we have been and creates the new us as He sees us! That alone should be enough to give praise and thanks for. Notice it required action on our part for Him to do His part. We must first open the book of our hearts to His eyes.

“..the book of my heart..” if that’s not poetry I do not know what is! Since God sees the heart and knows the soul of every one of us, He knows what He will find in the book of our hearts but it is the action of opening our hearts and inviting His eyes that we must do. He doesn’t need us to read us….He wants us to want Him to read us.

Years after one of my daughters was grown I discovered a diary she kept as a girl. It was filled with the flighty thoughts and angst of a pubescent girl child. It was also filled with an alarming amount of anger and hostility toward me. It was a precursor to the emotional issues we would later face in her life. Scripture tells us that out of the mouth the abundance of the heart speaks. It also speaks through the written word hidden in a book of the heart. It would be a couple of years after these words were written that we would discover the depths of her distress and despair. I was not aware at the time of the writings that she felt the way she did. She kept it hidden from my sight in person but it filled pages of this book. Insight to her feelings and fears may have presented an opportunity to address the problems long before they became so serious. But, her book was hidden just like the problems.

When I discovered the diary years ago and read what my daughter had written I was filled with a mixture of emotions. Mostly, I was so sad that I did not know of her needs and was not able to seek help for her. I felt that I had failed her by my lack of knowledge of her heart. She was at an age when I could have sought help for her without her cooperation; later when she was older, our efforts were handicapped by her refusal of medication and help.

God does know our hearts and the pain we have expressed in them. Yet, He will not force Himself on us. He wants us to lay the books of our hearts out open in front of Him, inviting Him to read. Unlike my situation with my daughter, God can change the text of our lives and rewrite all the pain and sin away. Imagine His sadness to know His children hide away the books of their hearts, hanging on to all the misery and heartache needlessly! I am so very thankful He desires to read me, to know me, to forgive me, to erase all the wrong and ugliness from me and then to rewrite the text of my life to be acceptable in His sight!

"God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes."

“The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.”

We must first open the book of our hearts to His eyes…….pass it on!

The Heart of David

I have a brother that is walking out the path David chose to take when Saul was literally after his life. The brother I write of today is Michael. He is a godly man and has served in the church most of his adult life. He doesn’t just show up, he actually gives 98% of his non-working time to actively serving God and his church family. He works with kids in the Royal Ranger program and is also the Commander that goes around helping other churches get the program started in their church. Nearly every weekend he is leading, teaching and inspiring kids and their parents. Countless hours are spent in preparation, execution and successful completion of the endless campouts, pinewood derbies, authentic reenactments, wilderness training, fishing trips, color guard training, and many more activities. He is also involved in a new program that takes non-believing men on wilderness campouts where they simply and with love share the heart of God.

Michael lives on the Gulf Coast and makes a point of staying in town to keep the church open for people that do not have a place to go when a hurricane heads their way. The first time he did that I spent the night watching TV for any news of their area and situation. I had begged him to come and stay with us for the duration of the storm. Growing up on the coast you develop a healthy respect for the power and intensity of a hurricane. I spent the night it arrived in prayer for my brother’s life and safety. He slept through it! His comment was that if God was to take him home during that storm what better place to leave from than church! Little brother taught me a lesson in all that. The next hurricane I prayed and went to bed. He and the church were still standing when the storm moved on.

At this time Michael is facing a trial of David and Saul proportions. His pastor has confronted him regarding tithing. Michael is a man of little financial means. His income rarely covers the necessities of life and he is still supporting a teenage daughter. His pastor confronted him several different times because he is unable to tithe regularly. In a recent conversation his pastor stripped him of his official duties in the Royal Ranger program in that church saying he had to step down until he could show he would tithe regularly and consistently. He is fully aware of Michael’s financial position. At the time his pastor made this declaration, Michael was on off work for a total of three months because of surgery that took bones out of his wrist. Basically, he was kicked while being down. His involvement with the kids is his ministry. Michael has tithed his time, his service, his love of God in training up these kids, yet it seems that years of service has little value to his pastor if he doesn’t give money. All these weeks following his dismissal, Michael continues to perform his duties because he had events planned and in motion with those kids and he said he was not going to disappoint them. He shows up to teach his classes every week. No one has stepped up to take his place. He has said nothing about any of this to the people within the church. Word is leaking out now about the situation, as word often does. Other churches want him. His pastor ignores him, not even speaking to him. I witnessed this myself this past weekend.

I asked my brother why he stays. He said that God showed him he was to treat his pastor as David did Saul when he had an opportunity to kill him in his sleep. God dealt with Saul and God will deal with the pastor. Saul tried to kill David many times, chased after him, had a bounty on his life, yet David did not harm him when opportunity came around. Michael has continued to seek God throughout the painful situation with the pastor. He chooses to be a man after God’s own heart like David as he deals with his own Saul, the pastor.

We all face our own versions of Saul in his sick and descending days. We all have enemies that come after us, chasing us, trying to beat us down and turn others against us. David had fear, yet he continued to seek God. David suffered greatly and was dishonored in the eyes of his countrymen, yet he continued to seek God. David kept his eyes on God. Michael has suffered more than he will admit as his pastor turned against him, yet he raises not a word against him because he keeps his eyes on God. My little brother is saddened by the loss of the friendship he had with his pastor but his resolve to stand faithful to the calling and to God’s direction gives him strength and conviction. I am filled with admiration and proud to call him my brother; both in the natural and in Christ!

As we face the Saul’s in our lives I pray we, too, can be people after God’s own heart and deal with our situations with honor, prayer and integrity. It is a timeless lesson in faithfulness and seeking God.

Rain, Rain, Come my Way

As the rain gently falls on my garden I am reminded we have choices to make everyday. As with the rain, we can view it as life giving nutrition to our plants so we have food to feed our families or we can see it as something ruining our plans for the day, a nuisance. Scripture says the rain will fall on the just and the unjust alike…I see that as the same opportunities for everyone. We can choose to look for the positive, the blessings, and the favor of God that pours out in our lives…OR…we can look at every circumstance and see only the negative…what we can’t do, can’t buy, can’t accomplish.

Using the rain again, I see it as refreshing and replenishing life here on earth. I know people that see it as gloomy, depressing and the cause of disappointments. That is so sad to me! The same rain is falling on each of us, yet our perspectives determine how we feel about it.

Those that live in lands where drought is common probably cannot understand a negative attitude about rain anymore than those of us that have lived without Christ can understand why everyone would not choose to live with Him. To know life without His mercy and then have personal knowledge of Him and His mercy is as much a contrast as barren drought plagued lands before a season of life giving rain. One brings death, the other brings life.

My heart is heavy when I see the suffering of people in the sun scorched lands where loved ones die at alarming rates and new born infants wither in their mother’s arms. Believers, there are people dying all day every day everywhere you look without anyone taking the time to share Jesus and His life-giving love with them. Life in a drought stricken land is painful, hard and brings certain death. Life lived without Christ promises a painful, hard and certain death where the suffering lasts for all eternity.

My challenge to you this rainy day is that we take the time to see the rain as life giving and a reminder that people dying all around us living drought-like lives without Christ. May the rain serve to prompt us to share Christ with those around us. May the life-giving Living Waters of Jesus rain down everywhere we go on everyone we see. May we be a part of the solution to people living barren lives and not a part of the problem by being passive. Rain falls; it is life in action. May we be life-sharers in action.

Standing on Holy Ground

This morning my mind and heart keep running through a Christian song ‘We Are Standing on Holy Ground’. Yesterday I had to take my shoes off at church to accommodate my back injury or walking and fellowship with others would have been impossible. I had a few people make comments about my bare feet, mostly in a joking manner but they were empathetic when they heard it was because of a bad back. I just told them I was standing on holy ground. This usually brought a chuckle in reply but the thought would not leave me…weren’t we standing on holy ground? Shouldn’t we consider our church property holy ground? Does that mean we should all go barefoot at church? My mind and thoughts evolve quickly. So it was no surprise to me that the song was in the forefront of my mind. I decided to research what scripture had to say about standing on holy ground.

After reading scripture, commentaries of scripture, historical information about practices during religious rituals, etc…I have come to the conclusion that I was much closer to practices of our Jewish forefathers and the early Christians than my fellow church people wearing shoes and boots. It turned out to be interesting reading.

In looking up ‘standing on holy ground’ in scripture, there are only two specific references…Moses’ encounter with the Lord at the burning bush and stories like Stephen’s speech of Moses at the burning bush. I was most touched by one of the commentaries on this scripture. It talked about God using Moses out in the desert to show the people of Israel that the temple or holy land was not the only holy place God inhabited. They jealously guarded and regarded their temple as the only place God would communicate with man. The burning bush experience showed Moses took off his shoes out of respect for the Lord. It concluded saying any place God makes His presence known is holy ground. So, that answers my question about considering our church holy ground. That being the criteria, any place you commune with God is holy ground; your living room, church sanctuary, prayer time, etc. Shoes not required!

Additionally, back in the Temple days, the High Priest were the only ones allowed in the inner sanctums of the temple and had to ritualistically wash their hands and feet before entering…no shoes in the Temple!

Jesus, on the night of the Last Supper, washed the feet of the disciples as an act of servitude and love…no shoes there. The Armor of God tells us to shod our feet with the Gospel of Peace, that is all that is necessary when we are prepared for spiritual battle.

There are many cultures, religious denominations and/or groups that practice leaving your shoes outside the door when entering homes or in places of worship. Even when we were ministering in a remote African village and a few of us ventured out to the hut where their priests and drummers were stirring up the spiritual realm, we were instructed to leave our shoes outside the hut. It appears to be a global sign of respect.

I did not feel self-conscious about being barefooted before my Lord at church. I did not feel uncomfortable about the people and their opinions, either spoken or unspoken. I felt humbled standing before the Lord and in my weakened injured state felt this was the best place to be. I know there is a mentality out here that you wear your Sunday best to church but I’ve never felt that was a God thing. Our clothes neither make us more connected to God or less connected to God. Coming before Him with a bare naked heart and transparent soul is where our priorities should be in my estimation. I give Him my worship, my service and my time every day; not just on Sundays. As I write this I am in my jammies, barefooted and full of love for Him.

Let’s not forget that our bodies are His temple! My naked feet are a part of that temple. I am to care for His temple as long as I inhabit it. I do not allow graffiti on it, I do not put harmful substances in it and I keep it clean and as free from disease as possible. Yes, my humble opinion is that shoes are optional. As long as my feet are willing to go where He leads me, I do not think He cares what is on them.

We are standing on holy ground
For I know that there are angels all around
Let us praise Jesus now
For we are standing in His presence on holy ground

Give it a Rest!

The writer of Genesis said: “..By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done…”

It seemed important enough to God that He rest after a week of work, yet in today’s craziness, most people are so bent on running faster and faster; filling their schedules to the brink of exhaustion and even playing a game of one upping one another to see who can claim rights to being the busiest. We tend to feel lazy and unproductive when we aren’t running, made to feel quite small if stopping to take a nap. So much so, if we slack off from the crazy race we tend to do it on the sly so others will not know we are taking a time of rest. Are we are ashamed of rest?

Do we think of time away from work as a waste; as second class hours? That is not a Biblical principle. ‘Sabbath is God’s antidote to workaholism. It is the checkmate to men and women who have fallen into the trap of believing their personal worth is built upon what they do rather than who they are.’ according to the wisdom of Gordon MacDonald’s book Renewing Your Spiritual Passion. I know most people believe they simply have to cram in all the activities in order to maintain life as they know it. There will always be dishes and laundry to do. No matter how much time you put into it on Saturday or Sunday, there will be more on Monday. We can not say the same about our strength and energy.

The heart, probably the strongest and most resilient of our muscles, is designed to rest between every beat. Most growing things have a period of dormancy every year. Yet we tend to fill as many hours of each day with as many things as possible. A while back I realized I was walking at a crisp pace while talking on the phone because I felt I wasn’t wasting time just talking and visiting with people. How sad is that? Then, I decided to purposely walk while talking because I was adding to the number of steps I take each day in my efforts to increase my physical stamina. It was a habit developed out of guilty feelings of wasting time that I turned into part of my health regime. I’ve done it for so long now that rare is the time I can actually sit down and talk on the phone at the same time. Birthed from guilt to a positive purpose is good but it is incredibly sad to think that time visiting with friends or family is wasted time. I’m confident that was never God’s plan for relationships! Nor was staying so busy we do not take time to rest. He was the role model for what should be our actions and habits.

I had a doctor tell me once that I did not really rest even when I rested. My mind stayed busy, my body stayed tense, my rest never felt recuperative and I was paying the high toll it had taken on me. I now make time for quiet and rest. No TV or radio to fill the airwaves with noise. No books or internet to fill my head with an endless parade of things to think about are allowed either. I require a certain amount of alone, quiet time for maximum sanity. I feel the drain on my body and spirit when I am deprived of that time. Yes, the spirit within is directly affected by the activities and busyness of the outside. If we are not taking time to rest and renew our bodies and mind are we really taking the time to renew our spirits? Probably not. Can ‘crash and burn’ be far behind with we deplete our physical, mental and spiritual resources?

May you rest in the Lord and be filled with all the goodness that comes from following the example our heavenly Father set for us. May your bodies be strengthened, walking upright in vigor and purpose in providing for your family. May your mind be set at ease and be filled with the peace that only our Lord can bring. May your days be fruitful and your labor rewarded. May you take diligent care of the body, the Lord’s temple, with which you are guardian over while walking this earth. May you use wisdom in all your choices and directions, seeking the Lord for wisdom and His will to be done. All this and more I pray for you and me alike. Rest in the Lord, Friend.

It's Me - Really!

This morning, while logging in online to the blog site I had a thought zip through my mind I’d like to share. You see, at this moment in time, I have four blogs with two each on different blog sites. The log-in box has a little place to click on if you are logging in under a different user name. I was.

I have two primary email addresses; one for family and friends and the other I use on business emails. They are set so that when I receive an email on either one, it is forwarded to the other. This way, regardless of what mode I may be at the time - personal or business – I am notified when I receive a new email. Since your user name on the blog sites is determined by the email address you use, you can have more than one user name. Clear as mud…I know.

The thought I had was that just as I juggle user names and email addresses albeit the same old me, some people use different ‘faces’ and personalities for different situations even thought they, too, are the same old person. We all tend to put our best foot – or face – forward when we want to impress and try to insure a certain facade but the person behind the facade is simply the same old you. Rather like the “man behind the curtain” in “The Wizard of Oz”. We can blow smoke and flash mirrors but we are who we are and everywhere we go…there we are!

We can fool some of the people some of the time but we can not fool all of the people all of the time. And we certainly can not fool God any of the time! As people in our lives come to know us more and more, they are exposed to bits and pieces of the real us; eventually putting together a picture of who we really are as if we were a jigsaw puzzle. God, however, sees who we really are before we are ever born! He knows our victories and failures, our highs and lows and the very number of hairs on our heads. We can change our names, faces and move about the earth as we choose but we are who we are when God looks at us. The awesome part of this story is He loves us regardless of how we try to mask and disguise the real us to those around us. Scripture tells us we are to be transparent with one another, meaning showing our true selves weaknesses and all.

Somewhere in my life, even as a child, I knew the parts of me that others liked or did not care for. I’ve always seen the pattern that people either liked me a lot or didn’t care for me at all…no middle of the road to speak of. My mother used to say that you never had to wonder where you stood with me, I would tell you. I never really understood why that was a problem, it seemed honest to me. It took some maturing on my part to understand that not all people care for transparency and revelation. I had to learn to play the game I detested so much. Imagine how delighted I was as a born again Christian to realize God wanted me to be who I was all along. He loved me just as I was, even before I started the walk toward becoming more Christ-like. Any half baked facades were tossed aside gleefully and there I stood before the Lord, unashamedly naked with all my warts and imperfections….and He loved me.

I entertain myself with thoughts of changing my name and I certainly can be anyone I want to be in my email addresses and user names, but I am who God created me to be and none of the other stuff matters. Yes, there are still people that either like me a lot or do not like me at all and that’s ok. I can live with that. I know I am being true to God and true to the person He created me to be. My God account far exceeds the import of my email or user accounts!

This is the real me wishing you a Jesus-filled day being the real you in the one and only real God.

The Standard by Which We Measure

Years ago in Austin, Texas I introduced my Honey to my favorite tortilla soup at a restaurant where I frequently had lunch during the week when I worked close by. He was just as delighted by the savory concoction as I. In fact, the past ten years we have tried to find a place locally with a tortilla soup that even comes close to the one in Austin. It became the standard by which we measure all tortilla soup. You would think living near San Antonio with a Mexican restaurant anywhere you look one could find a decent tortilla soup. We have found some better than others but none to measure up to the standard. I make a pretty good one here at home but we have not even found a close second anywhere we have ventured into when eating out. Our standard set the bar very high. We will, once again, partake of our favorite tortilla soup when we are in Austin next week on business. We are excited! We are entertained easily, can you tell?

We have consumed a lot of soup in all the years we have searched for a comparable tortilla soup. We’ve talked of our quest to people with whom we may be dining and they tell of places to try; some even purchased some for us they think is great. This is not to say there is not good tortilla soup to be had but merely to say the standard by which we measure has not been equaled or topped. This may seem a silly quest to you but once you’ve known the best, the standard setter, nothing else compares and your satisfaction level is never satisfied with less. You walk away feeling disappointment and are let down. This applies to every area of life, not just tortilla soup.

As Christians the bar has been set very high indeed by our Lord Jesus. He is the source of our strength, the provider of all things, the reason we walk in grace and not condemnation. He set the standard we are to strive to obtain in how to worship, how to love and forgive, how to face adversity with confidence. He, too, faced obstacles and temptations as He walked this earth. Yet, He never failed to measure the obstacles against His Father God. His standard became our standard when we make the commitment to follow after Him. We, too, need to measure our obstacles against our God. There is not one issue or obstacle that looms large when God is our standard. They will pale in comparison and no longer hold us in fear when we keep our eyes on the standard by which we measure and not give thought or consideration to our own strengths. Alone, we have none. Like the many bowls of tortilla soup we have tasted in hopes of finding one as good as THE one, we often try different ways to combat our obstacles on our own only to fail again and again. Nothing measures up The Standard.

As I said earlier, “…once you’ve known the best, the standard setter, nothing else compares and your satisfaction level is never satisfied with less. You walk away feeling disappointment and are let down….” This is never an issue when we keep our eyes and focus on the highest standard by which we measure…Jesus.

Purpose for Life

Most all of us from time to time have pondered and questioned the purpose for which we were created. ‘What am I really here for?’ When we are children we are asked what we want to be when we grow up and in our childlike minds we picture ourselves in various common roles. While the job market for a princess or cowboy may not be what it used to be, the act of thinking about what we want to do or become is now implanted in our minds.

From pondering what we want to be when we grow up to questioning why we even exist is not a big leap. I believe it is a fundamental quest to understand the purpose God had in mind for us when He ‘knitted’ our parts together inside our respective mother’s wombs. It is a deep seeded quest for knowledge and understanding on a spiritual level. When the spiritual aspect is left out in the seeking, the answer may elude us all our days. The Potter sculpts a vessel by hand with intent in mind, thus the shape takes form to fulfill the intended purpose. He is the Potter; we are the clay.

To know our genuine purpose, we must seek the Father and His Will for our lives. His purpose for us will bring a greater sense of direction and motivation. His purpose brings strength when we feel weak in our efforts. His guidance makes clear our path and focus. This does not guarantee smooth sailing and a roadblock free journey but it does guarantee His hand is own our back as we make that journey.

Consider with me the road Jesus had to travel to fulfill His purpose. It is obvious He knew His purpose when at the early age of twelve He was sitting in the Temple with the scholars blowing their collective minds with His insights and comprehension of the scriptures. His purpose was the reason He walked the earth in the first place. He was to become sin, the physical representation of all our sin, to endure a cruel and violent physical death and what must have been a horrifying separation from the Father to make our path to the Father clear and straight. Jesus is the path, the only path back to the Father that created us; back to the Father that wove His purpose for us in the very fibers that gave us form. Is it important, then, to seek and work to fulfill our God given purpose? You bet it is! It was important enough for Jesus to suffer humiliation and abuse. He fulfilled His purpose to bring us to a place where we even had a chance of being restored to the Father.

This weekend we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. His purpose on earth fulfilled, He moved from being our sin to becoming our advocate with the Father. His God given purpose to reign continues. King of kings, Lord of lords, Jesus walked this earth just as you and I. His purpose: to be a living sacrifice for us. As we worship and praise Him this Easter, giving thanks for the purpose which He came, ask for direction in finding the purpose for which you were sent. How better to honor His purpose than in walking out our own in serving with thanksgiving?