Number Five is Alive!

As a young child reared in the south, I was instructed to practice the habits of saying, "Yes, Ma'am or No, Sir." If an adult entered the room and there was not an open place for them to sit, a child relinquished their seat to the adult; considered common courtesy. To this day, I believe that is how it should be; the respectful course of action. Not many children or youth today are receiving such instruction and it is painfully obvious when you see them interact, not only with their parents, but also with all others.

Respect is not an old-fashioned concept to discard as archaic and obsolete. The Bible repeatedly addresses treating parents and elders respectfully. Regardless of your age, someone qualifies as your elder. Our country is center stage in the growing trend of ideologies that do not honor the people that paved the paths we walk today. Not only does that put us as a nation in shameful light but also magnifies how far removed we are from the foundational teachings of Judeo-Christianity.

You need only ask any teacher in a public school in this country and you hear horror tales of behaviors and practices in our youth. This situation did not blossom overnight. It has been simmering a long time; unlike a pasta sauce, this dilemma does not improve with simmering. Our teachers are highly restricted as to the discipline they can impose on the ugly, unruly students. Today's teachers are being attacked, cursed, and leered over by students. It all boils down to flagrant disrespect. At one time teaching was a noble profession. Now you need a Black Belt just to defend yourself.

The problem boils down to an epidemic of disrespect. It is not required and taught in the home so the plague washes over into our schools, government, and society as a whole. Students of the Bible can tell you how God dealt with disrespect. How many examples do you want? We have hundreds of them. Individuals, families, nations, and tribes were punished, sometimes wiped out completely when disrespect was allowed to run amuck. Do we never learn?

The scariest part of all this is that by not teaching and demanding respect in our homes we are raising generation after generation of educated barbarians. If the positions of father and mother do not require respect, is it likely THE Father will receive respect and honor? The fabric of today's families stained with over indulging our children and fostering the mentality of entitlement is fraying at the seams! Our culture put the wheels in motion when respect was replaced with every new hair-brained idea from some 'scholar' that decided our babies were being damaged by expecting anything from them; we were squashing their creative little minds if we dared set limits and imposed punishments for undesired behaviors.

God set limits and had expectations; punishing those who turned their backs on them. Worse yet, God allowed those walking in disobedience to wallow in the mire they created for themselves. See the pattern yet? Holy Scripture tells us that God loves us, therefore requires more from us. We need to love our children enough to do the same. Children learn what they live, they repeat what they hear, and become parents to pass on what they believe to be foundational principles. Proper respect needs to be high on the list of what they learn and take with them. Only when teaching and expecting respect in the parental home becomes the standard once more can it wash over the nation in a perpetual ripple effect. We have enough tails wagging the dogs already…congress is a fine example of that. With eyes wide open, we need to look at how respect is displayed in our homes. What we are leaving as a legacy for the future generations to inherit? Will honor and respect be counted among prized possessions?

Honoring father and mother is #5 of the Ten Commandments. Notice it is a commandment…not a suggestion. Are WE honoring our Father when we ignore His Word to train a child up in the way he should go? It is never too late to set boundaries and redirect behaviors toward respect and honor. The fifth commandment does not expire with age. Number Five is alive!

Say No to Status Quo!

I write a short 350-450 word article for our church bulletin every week. You have no idea how difficult it is to reduce, edit and maintain my point in so few words! (ah, humor) This is my cross to bear; the limiting, not the article writing. On several occasions I have written on being aware of that which we give thought. It is easy to fall into the trap of negative thinking, believing our view is the only right view; rather than focused on godly matters over those of the world. Perhaps it is my tendency to over analyze things but I happen to believe that a lot of people do not consider issues that really matter over trivial issues. I think we also tend to take the ideologies of our culture and families as our own without considering why we believe as we do. For the sake of this article, I will refer to that as Status Quo Mentality.

I believe relying on a Status Quo Mentality can be a dangerous thing. Let's face it; little mental challenge is required. When considering the Christian faith, we are told we have the mind of Christ. I doubt Christ would recognize 'His’ own mind when listening to the thoughts of the everyday man/woman. We tend to be bogged down with paying bills or wondering how we will pay them and trying to figure out when we will possibly have time or energy for the demanding yard work. Then there is that irritating co-worker that occupies our thoughts because for some reason they seem out to get us. What in the world will I prepare for dinner tonight? There is laundry to do. What are those terrorist and warmongers up to today? With little effort, we can fill an entire day with thoughts without actually thinking about that on which we chose to think. We color our world with the thoughts we choose to give valuable time and allow to occupy our minds.

In conversation with my friend, Helen, we shared opinions and ideas that we had carried because those opinions and ideologies were fed to us over the dinner table and were told/taught were life's truths and beliefs. I, for one, heard many incredulous attitudes and beliefs that I challenged. I learned early on to question the status quo mentality. It made my life more difficult than it had to be, but it was not in me to accept opinions that would not settle in my belly. I know now that was the spirit in me holding issues to the light.

We've all heard someone justify an attitude by saying, "I can't help it, I was raised that way." We were all raised one way or another and not all of those can stand up to the light. My 'raising' certainly could not. I believe scripture addresses this, in part, in 1 Corinthians 13:11 when it says:

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

When I was a child, I believed in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. It was not an evil plot on my parent's part to deceive me but to bring joy in a child's heart with a little fun fantasy. As I grew older, I questioned and pondered these things. The result: I made a determination based on what I thought rather than what I was taught. In the case of the aforementioned family traditions, no harm was perpetuated. Some family traditional thoughts and beliefs can cause very real harm. Racial issues jump to mind and prejudices of any sort can cripple a nation as easily as an individual. You only need look around the world today to see it daily.

On a more personal scale, allowing our thoughts to remain unchecked will dictate our lives. If you wake up angry at the world, the world seems hostile. If you wake up angry and question why you feel anger; the underlying issues may reveal themselves allowing you an opportunity to deal with them. You discover you can disarm and/or redirect those negative thoughts into something positive and productive. Your entire day can made better by simply taking a few moments while you brush your teeth to be in control of your thoughts rather than letting them control you. The Bible refers to this as taking your thoughts captive. More simply put: think about what you think about!

Ownership

Own your stuff! I’m not talking about material stuff but the ‘stuff’ you say, the actions you take or do not take and the decisions you make. None of us are innocent victims of life and circumstance all the time. Yes, sometimes fate seems to drop bombs in our world but we seriously need to look at how we contributed to that which comes our way.

I know this couldn’t possibly be about you but we all know someone that never owns up to anything. Everything is someone else’s fault and they take no ownership of that which they do. If they behaved badly it was because someone made them mad or started it first. If they fail to follow through on a promise it was because things changed and they couldn’t help it. If confronted on anything they give many half-baked reasons it was unavoidable and not their fault in the first place.

As a child I grew up with a plaque hanging in a family kitchen that read, ‘I can resist anything but temptation!’ It was referring to food in the kitchen but this is a mindset many subscribe to in all areas of life. Some simply defer to the little red demon sitting on their shoulder urging them on as if they were no more than lemmings headed for a cliff to fall over.

Grow up, People; the devil does not make us do anything! We choose to. He can throw temptation in our path at every turn, whisper naughty suggestions in our ears and open doors that lead to destruction but the decisions to act on any of them are ours and ours alone. No one else, not even the evil one that roams about to kill, steal and destroy, is responsible for our choices. We and we alone own them.

It stands to reason, we need to examine our role in that about which we are unhappy. Sometimes, it really is circumstance, which creates unpleasant situations in which we find ourselves. Even in those times, we still make choices regarding the paths we will take. A bad situation is an easy target for laying blame; this, however, does not negate our responsibility for how we respond in the situation.

If you are not happy with how someone is treating you, examine how you treat them. If you sow disrespect you will harvest disrespect. If you spread seeds of disregard it is disregard you will walk in. When you are intolerant, others will be the same with you. If you think and act as if you consider yourself better than the other person, they will diligently work to knock you off your high horse. If you scream in anger, they very well may scream back at you. What is your contribution to the situation? We need to take off our glasses of self-absolution and take a long hard honest look at what we did or didn’t do that stirred the pot of discontent. Unhappiness, discontent, disillusionment and dysfunction do not come into play quickly like cooking instant oatmeal but, seasoned with despair, are simmered slowly over time until they boil over creating quite a mess to clean up in the relationship.

1 Corinthians 13 says: Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…..People, however, do.

These familiar verses talk about how we are to treat all people. I know this is true because we are told in scripture that we have nothing if we do not have love. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Who then is our neighbor? Everyone is. Do we treat other people with the consideration we afford ourselves? We do if we are to live as instructed in 1 Corinthians. Imagine how easy it would be to own our ‘stuff’ if modeled after that scripture!

Take time for some thoughtful prayer and ask God to show you were you have failed to live and love as instructed in 1 Corinthians. He will show you. Maybe not all at once so not to overwhelm you but there will be flashes of memory that pop in from time to time playing out a scene from your life. This is not to condemn you but to bring conviction that cleanses and allows for healing once repentance is sought. Forgiveness and redemption, too, are yours to own.

High Standards

Years ago I established a standard for my life that simply states: Never lower yourself to the standard of behavior that you find unacceptable in others.

It rules out a Tit-for-Tat mentality. Quite frankly though, some get more difficult when you do not act as badly as they. This may ramp up their bad behavior for a bit in frustration, but it helps me to maintain the standard I’ve set for myself.

Let me state emphatically, this is a difficult credo to live by. It was only after I rededicated my life to Jesus that I could establish and maintain this at all. In my life BC (before Christ), I was quite skilled with my quick draw tongue; leaving a trail of wounded, bleeding adversaries in my wake.

Proverbs 24:29 says: Don’t say, “I’ll do to him what he did to me, I’ll pay him back what his deeds deserve.”

Proverbs 20:22 says: Don’t say, “I’ll pay back evil for evil”; wait for Adonai to save you.

These are but two of many examples of scripture that back up my credo. When someone is curt or rude or ugly, we, as Christians are not to respond in the same manner. Acting badly because someone else has does not justify repeating the act. I am responsible for how I behave; I have no control over their behavior.

Proverbs 20:3 Avoiding quarrels brings a person honor; for any fool can explode in anger.

Proverbs 17:14 Starting a fight is like letting water through [a dike] – better stop the quarrel before it gets worse.

Let’s face it, when we react to bad behavior with more of the same, we are giving that person control over us. I want no one, save Christ, to have control of my life. I want my life to reflect a godly standard that shines through the black clouds of stormy interaction. I want my thoughts and decisions to be automatically filtered through the standard of ‘What would Jesus do?’ We are to grow more like Him as we walk out our faith. Do you pictures Jesus red-faced in a screaming match? Would He shoot an angry look if someone said something He didn’t like? Would He rely on sarcasm to make His position more ‘effectively pointed’? No.

Tongue and temper can be tamed…I am a living example. I’m not saying this to tell you how awesome I am, but to show you how He changed me because He loved me; I worked to make changes that pleased Him because I love Him back! The more you ‘know’ Christ the more you want to please and emulate Him.

Proverbs 17:27 makes my point: A knowledgeable person controls his tongue; a discerning person controls his temper.

Think about it; with Jesus our standard, we are required to look up. Never lower your standard to that which you find unacceptable in others.

Shopping List

Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, don’t sell it,

Also, wisdom, discipline and discernment.

This morning I ran across this scripture and pondered it for a while. I also looked it up in Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible. As a Christian writer, I wanted to make sure I understood what God meant. The name of our ministry is Truth in Love (Ephesians 4:14-16) and the name of this blog is Truth in the Morning…so, speaking the truth as I understand what God is teaching me is a priority. The word ‘truth’ literally jumps off pages at me.

Ephesians 4:14-16 (Complete Jewish Bible) says: We will then no longer be infants tossed about by the waves and blown along by every wind of teaching, at the mercy of people clever in devising ways to deceive. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah. Under his control, the whole body is being fitted and held together by the support of every joint, with each part working to fulfill its function; this is how the body grows and builds itself up in love.

It was that scripture above that God used to name, direct and instruct us in the ministry He planned for my Honey and me. We are to speak the truth in love in teaching, sharing and growing the body of believers. It’s not always a popular position to hold but it is the position He gave us, so we will strive to hold on to it in truth.

So, when I read in Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, don’t sell it, also wisdom, discipline and discernment….I want to know that I know that I know what God is saying!

The commentary says this about 23:23…..

Buy the truth, and sell it not; be willing to part with any thing for it. Do not part with it for pleasures, honors, riches, or any thing in this world.

How does one go about “buying” truth, wisdom, discipline and discernment? The commentary says we are to be willing to part with anything to obtain them. It stands to reason that….as a man’s money goes, so goes his heart….let’s face it, people will spend money on the things they value…..for some it may be a new car every few years, a fancier house, stylish clothes, the latest ‘big boy toy’, vacations or bigger ‘bling’ (jewelry). So, if we look at our personal finances, a quick review will show where our money goes….any of it going to acquire truth, wisdom, disciple or discernment? We are, of course, talking about godly truth, wisdom, discipline and discernment….not that of the world. The exchange rate need not be in dollars alone, how much time, effort and perseverance have we invested in such pursuits? This is not a pop quiz, you do not have to turn in your answers….but you know….and He knows…..and the fruit of your labor shows.

The second part of the scripture and commentary is devoted to NOT selling them; not exchanging them for pleasure, honors, riches or any thing in this world. Do not sell out what you know to be godly truth, wisdom, discipline and discernment for the appetites of the flesh. Pleasures of the flesh are fleeting, honors bestowed by the world are quickly taken away or forgotten and worldly riches can fluctuate with whim of man, governments and principalities. Just saying the name Madoff is enough to make my point…..

In conclusion let me say this one scripture makes no bones about it. We are to be willing to sacrifice everything for them and hang on to them above anything else. I’d say in God’s economics…that makes them extremely valuable; gold nuggets worthy of pursuit.

Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, don’t sell it, Also, wisdom, discipline and discernment.

Morsels to Ponder

I, for one, am tired of hearing about and reading the avalanche of information on “how to…” feel younger, live longer, sleep better, eat this…oops, no, don’t eat that anymore…eat this instead. Egad! It’s enough to boggle the mind you’re trying to protect from old age.

I want to live a healthy lifestyle and we can. My Honey and I are certainly not spring chickens any more but with all the hoopla I feel we are more like guinea pigs. First, for clarity sake, let me state that these are my opinions; I do not speak for my Honey. He and I have different points of view in many areas, this is one of them.

Let’s get real, People. We are in a sinking ship of national health to begin with because for generations we have gotten away from food as God created it. We transformed it into something almost unrecognizable. For example: the humble soy bean can now be found in virtually any shape you want to mimic of something you are willing to eat. Chicken nuggets….check! BBQ ribs….check! Corndog….check! The list is endless. It seems though there are many that will not eat meat (that God gave) they do want their soy beans to look like meat. Yes, God gave us soy beans, too, and they are good for us but the flesh driven mind that wants what it wants creates a market for…ta da…beans processed to look like meat. Am I missing something? Is processed beans really any better than other processed food?

Like many of you, I receive via email, internet, tv, etc…several newsletters on health issues. I was reading a report whose headline (and interest hook) said, “Add These to Your Sandwich to Stop Strokes”….of course, I could not wait to see what this might be. Onions, that’s it, onions. Go figure, a natural food that God created…hmm. No plastic bottle required, just put onions on your sandwich. Here’s the key…if you put onions on a white bread sandwich covered in mayo and made of processed lunch meat… do the onions really stand a chance? Ever wonder why store bought bread has to be ‘enriched’ and ‘fortified”? It’s because in our infinite wisdom we took out all the good stuff God gave us to make bread in the first place so it would last longer on the shelf. Clever, huh? This article on onions asked people to comment how they use them. One stunningly bright person wrote that they make a sandwich of buttered bread covered thickly with peanut butter and onions slices. I wonder if that was natural peanut butter or the kind with all the ‘stuff’ added to it to make it last longer, too.

Speaking of “natural”…there’s a highly over used word that grabs your attention in the endless quest for healthy living. All that is ‘natural’ is not good for your health just as all that glitters is not gold. Poison ivy and marijuana are both natural but neither leads to good health when consumed. All that oil ebbing into the Gulf of Mexico is very natural, yet they say daily on new reports that living creatures, all of us, will die if we consume it or even make contact with it. Natural does not necessarily equal healthy, repeat after me.

So as I wind down to climb off my soap box let me conclude with this: the best thing for our health, as I see it, is consuming godly wisdom. Man has made a mess of our food sources so it makes sense to get back to food as God created it. I’d rather share my squash with a little bug than a bug killer. I prefer fresh over processed any and every day. Moderation is good, excess is bad in anything. God made food to nourish our bodies not to destroy them; make wise choices. There’s that wisdom again! Do not lean on every new food fad that comes around…what comes around, goes around. God created chicken eggs…’nuff said...at least it should be; if not, wait awhile and some genius will decide for you. I want God to be my guide, even my personal grocer. I lean on His wisdom for my spiritual well being so doesn’t it make sense to trust that same wisdom in the food I put in my body? General Mills and Oscar Meyer can take a hike; my food will come from the One who gave it in the first place.

Lesson From the Kitchen

I absolutely adore fresh asparagus cooked in scrambled eggs. I first quickly sauté the bottom 2/3s of three asparagus stalks cut into bite sized pieces in a tiny amount of olive oil or sesame seed oil till they turn bright green yet are still not soft. Then I add the top 1/3. Being tender, they do not require but a moment of time to be perfect. I then pour the scrambled eggs over the veggie and turn off the fire. The residual heat in the pan gently cooks the eggs until just set, not hard cooked. A little salt and pepper the only seasonings needed. To me, the combined taste and texture of the silky eggs with the pieces of asparagus still semi-crunchy is simply pure, clean and delightful. We eat a lot of spicy, salsa covered, pepper filled dishes and the contrast of this asparagus egg dish makes it stand out even more. Add a toasted bagel or English muffin and it is a breakfast meal fit for a king.

I grew up with fresh vegetable from the grandparents’ gardens but never experienced fresh asparagus until I was an adult. On the rare occasions we had asparagus it came from a can. Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it but once the fresh crisp asparagus made its way into my life I could not eat the canned again. Asparagus is not meant to be soggy in my way of thinking. To prepare the asparagus you must first remove the bottom portion of the stalk that has grown tough and woody rendering it unusable. When holding the stalk at the very bottom and gently bending it will snap at the point that divides the good from the bad. The hard end pieces go into the compost pile leaving you with only the delicious and nutritious parts; the good stuff.

This morning’s preparation of asparagus and scrambled eggs served as another life lesson from God. While removing the rigid end pieces, it occurred to me that we, too, must have our inflexible parts removed so we can be usable to God. Hardened hearts and unbendable minds and spirits are fairly useless in the Kingdom. It is the tender and willing to change attitudes that can become less like their original fleshly-selves that become good. The eggs, as well, have hard exteriors we must do away with to find the wealth of nutrition inside. Once we have the good with which to work, they are tested by fire to bring about the desired result. We, too, have daily tests and trials. It is the end result, the finished product that determines how well we withstood the trials. Will we come out delightful to our King or will we wither under the fire of trials and be useless?

I found my morning meal to be satisfying and a pleasure. My desire is to live and be transformed into someone God can use and hear Him say, “Well, done…”so I willingly ask that my inflexible, rigid parts be removed; rendering me useful and good for His purposes.

My day is off to a great start, hope yours was too!

Love Is........

Love is a universal language expressed differently, perhaps, but spoken by all throughout the world. In my morning Bible reading it was the common thread no matter the location in scripture. I pay special attention when a subject is raised so frequently.

A familiar text in 1 Corinthians 13, love is the closest we get to perfection on this earth.

1 Corinthians 13 - The Excellence of Love

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

The Love spoken of in Chapter 13 requires dedicated and purposed action. Chapter 16 gives specific instructions for life. Love is forgiving, accepting while strong and alert. It rather sounds like a description of Jesus to me.

Love, as explained in Chapter 13, is for the humble and strong of heart and will. It requires work, sacrifice and perseverance. Love is a purposed action verb. We must be diligent see that we stay focused to love as God would have us.

If love is as described in Chapter 13, then what is it if it does not measure up to that standard? Let’s look at a few of the descriptive words should that be the case: impatient, unkind, jealous, arrogant, unbecoming, self-seeking, provoking, counts wrongs suffered, rejoices in unrighteousness, untruthful, unbearable, unbelievable, and hopeless; endures nothing and fails. How could it not fail, given all that? It is not a pretty picture, is it? I have known relationships that fit right in with all those things, obviously not a love crafted and maintained to reflect a godly image.

As for me and my house, we shall seek to love and be loved as God intended and instructed in His Word. We love because He first loved us.

Back Off, Chicken Little!

Stand still a minute and someone will tell a modern day version of the children’s story Chicken Little. The sky is falling! The earth is tilting on its axis and the winds of adversity blow! Really, People!

Yes, winds of adversity do blow; they always will on this side of heaven. Scripture tells us to expect it. I read the Bible; where does it say we are to dwell on and focus our time and energy on doom's day? Many people do just that. Their thoughts, words and attention absorbed by all that is negative. So much gloom and doom they can’t carry it all; so they share with others. The gift that never stops sapping…..

My Bible says: Proverbs 18:20-21 (NIV) From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

My understanding of this is that it means we create our harvest by that which we verbally sow. Choose your words carefully; we determine the taste left in our mouths when we eat them later.

One of my shortcomings is that I have little patience with people when they run around like Chicken Little telling everyone they encounter of pending disaster and woeful tales of disappointment and disillusion. Their tally of life is based on all that is not rather than all that is. In many cases they simply do not and will not allow any injections of lightheartedness or carefree abandon to rest in the knowledge that God is STILL in control. You may hear an “I know but…” followed by fifteen different reasons their situation is the exception to every rule, bigger and worse than anything anyone else has encountered or will go through. In other words, they breathe life into the nostrils of despair and feed the problem with their negative words until it is as large and unyielding as Jabba the Hut. (Large, mean, rotund creature from the Star War days)

Again I ask…where in the Bible does it say we are to dwell on and focus our time and energy on doom’s day? If Jesus is in your heart and your eyes are on the Lord…..

This world is full of negative situations and negative people. I believe that as Christians we should be the example of folks focused on what is good, pure, holy and right; that which we know comes from the Lord. Let the non-believers wallow in their gloom and doom if they want to but we know God is STILL in control regardless of anything CNN has to say or what the latest terror czar is up to. Yep, we will deal with and face unpleasant situations of the world but we need only turn our focus on HIM to not let fear and pestilence come out of our mouths. Back off, Chicken Little of the world! I am not Goosey Loosey, or Henny Penny…I AM a child of God, MY sky is not falling!

Proverbs 18:20-21 (NIV) From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Choose life and may the sweet fruit of the Holy Spirit fill your mouth and form your words! Yummm…..now, that’s satisfying!

A Tale of Four Kitties

This is a true tale of four cats. For the sake of this writing I shall name the cats for distinction purposes according to their ways and habits. First we have Sin-bad and Carnal Cat, two large gray and white beasts. They roam about with cocky domineering attitudes looking for sport in terrorizing other cats in the neighborhood. They appear to be healthy, if their size speaks to that, but given the skulking about they do for food, perhaps they are feral street cats. Then we have Weak-n-Whiny, a ball of dull, shaggy long orange hair that decidedly says Weak-n-Whiny is homeless. Last but not least we have Skitty Kitty. She’s a small frightened dark chocolate calico with small sprinkles of orange all over.

Skitty Kitty started hanging around on our front deck when she thought no one was a threat. My Honey and I decided to feed the small critter because she did not appear to be accustomed to people; therefore we assumed she was wild. She was small and very skittish, running for cover under our deck and house at the slightest provocation. In the beginning she was almost more a shadow of a cat because we merely caught glimpses of her as she disappeared below. We were not sure of gender until it became apparent that Skitty Kitty was going to be a mother. Wining her confidence was a slow, tedious process. Each week she seemed more confident and would run to the door when I approached with food; finally, she felt comfortable enough to stay on the porch with me as long as I didn’t move quickly or simply sat and had my breakfast while she ate hers. No touching allowed.

Kittens were born, Skitty Kitty reverted back to her more skittish ways and the ‘boys’ became more aggressive. We chase them off at every opportunity to protect her food and kittens. One day the sad sight of a dead kitten was waiting for me when I took her food out. It seemed rather large for its age and there was a nasty large puncture wound in its neck. This seemed to really throw her world into a tizzy. She became wilder and could be seen chasing about or hiding from Sin-Bad and Carnal Cat. Weak-n-Whiny began to cry louder and with more persistence. It was sad and disappointing to see the downward slide. We do not know if there are more kittens dead or alive. We will continue to feed her to insure her health and that of any kittens. It would be great if she came to trust us; my husband wants to touch her so much, he can hardly stand it.

The big picture in this tale of four cats is that it reflects the life and ways of so many people. They try to live life on their own terms but will not hesitate to indulge in the bounty provided by others, a sense of entitlement to that which others have worked to acquire. Perhaps, like Skitty Kitty, they will move in a little closer to God’s provision as long as nothing is expected in return. At times, she shows up at my door rather peeved that her food isn’t waiting for her. “Hello, God…aren’t you suppose to be looking out for me, providing for my every need? Where is it? I want it now!” When a life tragedy occurs people go crazy and act wild…”See, I knew I couldn’t trust you!” and revert to running from the hand of God rather than reaching out to the only One that really can help. They may run to booze, drugs, sin and other people, but God? Not so much.

In life there will always be Sin-Bad and Carnal Cats chasing after you. Sin-Bad and Carnal Cat will come up on our deck but they know when our presence is evident they have to leave. Weak-n-Whiny people will always be around bemoaning their fate loudly for all to hear. If my husband and I are willing to love and provide for a wild little cat we can not even touch, then how much more God will care for His people? She knows she will be safe in our world, on our deck and in our presence….yet still she hangs back. Is this so different from people and God? In His presence we are safe, loved, find provision and protection but when we run in the wild we face sin and carnal people ready to cause harm and steal our provisions as we endure the endless whine of those that know no other way to live. Safe under His watchful eye or wild with cause to cry; which choice will you make this day?

Caution: Comfort Zone Ahead!

Early this morning I put the kettle on to heat water for oatmeal. I was in another room when it proceeded to boil and whistle. The whistling sound disturbed my dogs. I had never given it any thought before but I suppose the high pitch sound was offensive to their sensitive ears. Once the kettle was removed from the heat source, the whistling stopped and so did the complaining from the dogs.

My preferred way to make oatmeal is to pour boiling water on the oats, cover them off heat and just let the water be absorbed, not cooked. I like the Old Fashioned oats because the texture is retained. My Honey has a different preference. His mom cooked the oatmeal in a pot, and then mixed it with sugar and enough milk to make it drinkable from a glass. Generations have been raised on instant oatmeal and know it in no other form.

Oatmeal is a comfort food but we lose the comfort factor if it is prepared differently than the way with which we are familiar. Familiarity, I have decided, is what makes our comfort food a comfort food. Comfort, then, is relative.

The preparation of oatmeal does not really hit the radar of life altering issues but the theory of how, why and what we find comfortable in our spiritual life does.

For some, the mere mention of ‘spiritual life’ is a foreign term and they squirm in discomfort. Some may have a foundation in a solemn, ritualistic form of spiritual worship. Others may have a foundation built on a more casual, relaxed form of congregational worship. Regardless, take them out of that setting and they are most certainly not in their comfort zone. I invited a friend to church years ago and afterward she commented that it required more audience participation than she liked. She was out of her comfort zone. She did not come back.

It seems to me that we may be doing ourselves a disservice when we lock ourselves into the small circle we call our comfort zone. While we may roam about freely within that circle, we are choosing not to discover or experience anything outside the circle. Who knows, perhaps our circle of comfort would be increased, our zone expanded if we did not cling so tenaciously to the rope that tethers us to the center of our comfort circle. Often, the comfort zone circle does not even offer true comfort, but merely clothes us in familiarity. Possible change scares the bejebbers out of some; so much so, they choose to hold on to painful or disappointing albeit familiar ways rather than face risk outside of their comfort zone. And, yes, this is even true regarding our choices in worshiping the Lord.

My God is infinite…omnipotent…omnipresent…alpha and omega...does it stand to reason then that He would have us be so limited in how we relate to or worship Him?

In our Christian faith we know from scripture that Jesus certainly ventured outside his comfort zone from the day he took the form of man until he was once again seated at the side of his Father. He called men out of their comfort zones to follow Him. The fishermen dropped their nets, the tax collector walked away from his records, the doctor left his patients and they all ventured into a nomadic life of miracles and teachings from Jesus Christ, the likes of which they were unfamiliar. Not one comfort zone in sight.

This brings me back to the whistling tea kettle. I don’t imagine the water, if it could talk, would say the boiling to make steam for the whistle was a comfortable situation. But because of it, dried oats are transformed into nourishment, dried tea leaves become a soothing beverage, hard vegetables and beans become more edible, dirty dishes and bodies are cleaned and germs are killed. The process and experience for the water may be harsh but the end result is life giving. Our Lord, the Living Water, went through much the same so we can have eternal life. Yet, like our dogs, we whine and cry when faced with discomfort and rush back to the familiar comfort zone we have created for ourselves as quickly as possible.

I’m wondering if we really can follow after Christ if we insist on staying in our comfort zone. Something to think about……

Happy Anniversary, Truth!

Today we celebrate the 1^st anniversary of the launching of Truth in the Morning blog! I remember that day well. I had set a time-line, a deadline so to speak, for getting the blog launched and, thanks to God’s grace and favor; it launched two full weeks ahead of schedule…that was exciting for me. It represented my commitment to God to honor His commitment to me. God alone is to be praised and honored.

I believe and know in my heart of hearts that any ability I have to share Him through the written word is because He gave me the gift and love of writing; then and only then could the desire to serve Him with those gifts manifest into anything at all. First, He loved me, and then I loved Him. Any gift from God to be used for God is to His glory. God is a god of order not chaos; which abounds when we get the order askew.

God’s giving continues as He teaches me and reveals to me that which He would have me share with others through Truth in the Morning. I have never proclaimed to be a theologian or expert on anything, most especially our Creator, our Lord and/or the Holy Spirit. I simply and in plain language share the life lessons God gives me to share. This is possible only because I have learned to wait on Him and His direction rather than my own purposes. I attune my ear in anticipation of His direction…more commonly referred to in the blog as ‘the holy tap on the shoulder.’ Was I not purposely listening and expecting the ‘holy tap’ I might miss it all together. You may recall I am sometimes perplexed, even bewildered on occasion, by the subject I am given to write on but when I trust Him to lead the writing, I know He will pull it together in spite of my finite mind and limited skill. He is the author; I simply put my fingers to work for Him on the keyboard.

One more thought about the setting of a deadline to launch the blog….to be of any use to God in this endeavor, I had to be right with God. I set a deadline because I know my limitations as a flawed human being. You see, for years God had prompted me to ‘get about my Father’s business’ and use the writing to reach others. I had started an internet devotional group many years ago that lives on today due to the perseverance of my friend and fellow ministry student, Art. I have written training materials for taking people out in the mission field, Bible study materials, daily devotionals I sent out and other forms of writing. All good things, I’m not saying this was bad on my part. BUT, though it was all ‘God stuff’ it wasn’t THE God stuff He was prompting me to write. I pacified myself by thinking I was doing enough. However, any form of disobedience is still disobedience. Until I stopped trying to make God’s direction take me where I thought I should go, I was walking in disobedience. I had to ask for forgiveness for insisting on my own way and then set about with purpose and determination to follow His leading alone. The first step after acknowledging my sin of disobedience was to make a Business Plan to keep me on track with ‘doing my Fathers business’. The rest fell into place when I first got right with God.

The life lesson today: This isn’t Burger King, you can’t have it your own way. When you serve THE King, it is all His way or the highway. As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord!

Coffee?

Early morning usually finds me at my desk reading the Bible, moving on to a little study and research before attempting to write the blog post; this common start to my work day routine. This morning, however, I felt distracted, a bit discombobulated and unstructured. Monday mornings typically find me raring to get back to it, revived from the weekend off I’m ready to hit the ground running…or writing, as the case may be. Not so this morning. Being the analytical sort, I pondered this dilemma a few minutes, asked the Lord to help me get it together, and then all but disregarded the holy tap on my shoulder that came with the instructions to ‘consider the coffee.’ In all fairness to my disregard, let me say I do not consider anything until I’ve imbibed my morning coffee so I was fairly certain this was my minds way of telling me I was not fully caffeinated. I poured myself another cup and proceeded to clear off my desk.

Not being concerned with either my desk or my disregard, the holy tap on the shoulder returned and once more I received instructions to consider the coffee. Don’t know where this is headed but it came with the tap so I know God is taking it somewhere. Let’s sit back, take another sip and see what He shows us.

Last fall I wrote a posting called: Coffee: The Life Lesson. In it I explored how our spiritual lives can become ineffective by miniscule deposits of ungodly behaviors like the mineral deposits do to the interior of the coffeemaker; rendering our spiritual walk as weak as coffee made with luke warm water; tasteless with poor quality. This morning, I made the coffee from freshly ground whole beans. I was out of the ground coffee, so I pulled out the stash of whole beans, set the grinder setting somewhere between medium strength and espresso and let it whirl! The end result was a full bodied brew with depth of flavor and one satisfied coffee lover. Why, I asked myself, do I not do this every morning? Ah, let’s consider the coffee!

Stumbling into my darkened kitchen each morning I make the coffee before doing anything else. It’s far easier to grab the canister with grounds ready to go than to assault my waking senses with the noise of the grinder, so I do. Sad, isn’t it, that I use the whole beans as my backup plan when I run out of the easy stuff?

As a serious coffee drinker I had made a point of reading Consumer Digest to learn which brand of coffee ranked #1 in their flavor tests; testing it myself I found it to be wonderful. I talked to the grocery person in charge of ordering coffee where I shop because it was hard to get regularly and have shared my new found knowledge and satisfaction in this brand of coffee with anyone that will stand still long enough to listen. I have experienced my own custom blend, fine expensive coffee, really pitiful excuses for coffee and everything in between. I know what I like and what I consider substandard. The coffee of choice for me is not expensive but well balanced, full bodied and satisfying depth of flavor. Having gone to that much trouble, one would think I would make the most of it….yet I settle for good when I could have better. The cost is the same. The pre-ground coffee is very good…the freshly ground is far better. I am only cheating myself when I settle for less than the best it has to offer.

Looking back, I can see where I did the same thing in my relationship with God from time to time. It’s quicker and easier to go with the ‘prepackaged’ spiritual walk that requires less of us. It’s better than no spiritual walk at all, I suppose, but far less than the full bodied, flavorful walk of depth that comes from doing the inner work, spending the time. We can go to church, attend class here and there, do our perfunctory prayer time and get to know OF Jesus but that is not the same as sacrificing self to personally KNOW Jesus. The cost/price He paid was the same regardless. You know, when I took the freshly ground coffee out of the grinder, the beans were warm and fragrant from the grinding process. This made the difference in the depth of flavor and consequently the satisfaction it brought. Perhaps we should take a lesson from the coffee bean and be willing to go through the grinder, asking God to change us to a more usable form that allows our relationship with Jesus to be warm and satisfying instead of just utilitarian.

I know the holy shoulder tap got me attention and I will never look at the effort it takes to seek after the best in the same way. It makes more sense now…considering the coffee.

Seasons of Life

Life in south central Texas does not allow us to enjoy the changing of the seasons like other parts of our country. We basically have one season: Hot and then there is the 3 days of cold that are not enough to even qualify as a season. If we are really lucky we might have three weeks of open window weather.….again, not enough to claim season status. This is the natural world; or at least the part where we live.

Life and growing up, then growing older seems to have a natural rhyme and reason to it. I believe I am in the ‘Autumn’ of my life….whatever that really means. Apparently it means my Spring Chicken days are over and I am no longer in an age to be raising young….whoo-hoo! I have been curious as to where my ‘Summer’ stage of life has gone. You never really hear much about the Summer part, do you? I’m thinking that must be the part where you are so busy working and raising your family you don’t have time to think about seasons of your life. It flies by and you don’t even know it has come and gone. One day, you just wake up with achy joints and think, “Oh my! It must be Autumn!” No one ever tells you when ‘Winter’ is setting in…..hmm, maybe I need to give more thought to what my current season may be.…

I don’t get excited about global warming and the changes it may bring because my God set the seasons in motion and my God is still in control and my God has a plan with a purpose! It says so in the Bible in Ecclesiastes 3:1-14. Here is what it says:

TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven:

A time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,

A time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to break down and a time to build up,

A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away,

A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak,

A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

What profit remains for the worker from his toil?

I have seen the painful labor and exertion and miserable business which God has given to the sons of men with which to exercise and busy themselves.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

I know that there is nothing better for them than to be glad and to get and do good as long as they live;

And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor--it is the gift of God.

I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. And God does it so that men will [reverently] fear Him [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is].

It’s reassuring to know I am in tune with God’s plan and purposes, walking through life as the seasons come and go just as He intended. Regardless of what stage of life the world tells me I am in, I am still in line with God’s plan. I can live with the changes to my body, hair color, eye sight, etc….I can live without fear of global warming or any other man-made calamity because God’s plan made provisions from the beginning. He is not surprised by it, not caught unaware. Therefore, I can rest assured that His plan cannot be rattled by mortal man. Where ever you are on the sliding scale of life, God has got you covered! Takes a lot of pressure off, doesn’t it?

Got a Minute?

Over the years I have often written about spending time seeking the Lord on a daily basis. I hear a host of reasons people say they can not do that. Most citing they simply do not have the time. Time is a valuable commodity and it seems our world today spins at a faster pace than the world of our grandparents though we have the same 24 hours in each day they had.

Time is a valuable commodity:

The price of time goes up with every activity you add to your day but the value of that time can be lessened until it is lost altogether when you focus more on quantity of activities than you do quality of time. You can squeeze a lot into your day but you can not add time. Some people seem to find their self-worth in how much they can accomplish, feeling like they must peddle faster and faster so they feel they are doing something and not wasting time.

Other people seem to make a competition out of how packed their schedules are as if vying for the prize and bragging rights to the title of Most Jammed Packed Schedule. It does not take long to listen to people rattling off a litany of responsibilities and activities they have before them. They are feeling overwhelmed by the load yet, in some cases, are bringing their children up with this mentality and molding the next generations to fall in to the same trap of believing in their own busyness rather than looking to God.

Time is a valuable commodity:

Mankind and our need for frenzied activity only subtract the time allotted to us. Everyday we take away 24 hours of our live on earth and spend it. It is what we have chosen to spend it on that determines the value of the time spent.

Seriously, will the world stop on its axis if your child does not participate in every sport available? Will the PTO crumble into dust if YOU are not involved? Does world peace hinge on your hectic schedule that is stretched to the point of snapping? No, not one of those questions can be answered with ‘Yes’ but they can be with a resounding ‘NO!’

It seems to me that we tend to protect, preserve and insure the things we consider valuable in our lives (homes, cars, jewelry, etc)……except our time.

Time is a valuable commodity:

If you are part of a church congregation you know there are a handful of people who have given a lot of their time to the mechanics of keeping things running at the church. Most people pop in on Sundays, some more so when food is involved, some unable to command their time enough to arrive there on time; the rest of the week their time is all about themselves and the world in which their time is spent.

Is it possible they subconsciously think their world is more worthy of their valuable time than that given to seek and serve God? People make time for that which they deem worthy and important. It may be, People, that some of our ‘important stuff’ we spend our time on my have to be left undone if that is what it takes to reserve, preserve and insure time to be spent with God. Our personal spiritual health and growth is dependent on time spent with God. When I stand before the Lord I want to hear, “Welcome, old friend!” I want my voice to be familiar as one that sought Him daily.

The dust in my house will matter not; money in my bank will not be counted but my time is multiplied when I spend it regularly with Him rather than depositing my time in the Bank of Worldly Pursuits.

Time is valuable….spend it wisely!