May I Have This Dance?

Psalm 94:18-19 (HGSB) If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” thy lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, thy consolations delight my soul.

Each morning I receive via email a daily scripture. It is the first thing I read while I wait on the coffee. The scripture above was my blessing this morning. It was from a different version of the Bible and I looked it up in my Hebrew-Greek version. Oh how wonderful it is to know the comfort and joy referenced in this verse!

My foot has slipped a bit lately as I deal with chronic physical junk. Adding sleep deprivation to the mix makes one less capable of coping well. This morning I slept till 3:30a and woke ecstatic! That was a whole 5 ½ hours of uninterrupted sleep! I woke up simply because I woke up, not because pain gave me no choice. As sleep left me peacefully instead of jerked violently away, I lay very still, almost afraid to look at the clock. For the better part of the past week, the longest I had slept was 1 ½ hour, days of 15 minutes were more the norm. Yet, this morning I found myself waking slowly, stretching, and giving thanks for the true luxury and without a single pain. I praised God for such a gift! When I looked at the clock and realized I had slept through the night without waking even once, I was jubilant! Yes, it was 3:30 and that may make a lot of you moan but, for me, that was a full night’s rest free of pain and interruptions.

And then, my scripture waiting for me… Psalm 94:18-19 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

  

God’s has supported me through the ordeal, and I was aware of His presence through it all. It is the only way I make it through. When we are our weakest, He is the strongest in our lives…if we let Him. But even when we stubbornly hang on to our fierce determination to think we are holding up ourselves, He is there. Our physical bodies are mere clay vessels subject to a myriad of assaults. They are, however, not our only weaknesses; it can be a host of issues. It doesn’t really even matter, the crux of the issue is this…weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning….Thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; that my soul may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to Thee forever.

I pray, Friends, that whatever burden you are currently facing, you feel His arms around you. They are there; we simply need to rest in them. Cradled in the knowledge of His faithful lovingkindness we can give over our anxieties rather than having them take us over. I encourage you to share my Hallelujah dance with me this morning. There is plenty of joy to go around. Is my ordeal over? No, but we are to give thanks through the times of trials and I am certainly all for celebrating each step along the way. Come on, dance with me!

Caught in the Current

Psalm 145:14 (NKJV) The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.

At one time or another many of us get caught up in a strong current. We try to trudge out into the waters to make either a name for ourselves or to fulfill some sort of purpose that we feel needs to be done. We think everything is fine and we’re rocking along in this latest pursuit. Then the tide changes and we find we are stuck out in riptide, caught helplessly by the current which handles us without mercy.

This has happened to all of us when we think we can go a little farther than we should on our own power. We push the limits and there comes a point when we’ve gone too far. We end up full of regret. Guilt is eating at our hearts. Instead of fighting the current we let it beat us down and sweep us under.

It's during these times that we need the Lord the most. Why do we swim away from Him in our times of need? Perhaps we think He will not forgive us this time. Maybe we have done too much, gone too far without calling on Him. Maybe we ran our bill up more than we can pay. We know better but shame and guilt are rising higher and higher, the current runs deep. We struggle on our own to get back to the shore of safety, we flounder and flail about.

But I'm here to tell you that no matter how far we have gone out to sea, the Lord will not leave us. No matter how much we hurt the Him by our hardheaded determination to make it on our own, He still loves us.

If you are thinking right now that you can't go to the Lord with this, think again. He went to the cross for us so He could be there when we need Him the most. Go to Him with what you need. Jesus is the life guard that will brave the currents and go after you no matter how deep or how cold the water is. He calms the storm and walks on water; He will lift you out and carry you home in His arms. You, too, can sleep in the back of the boat as the storms of life rage all around you when you call on Him.

 
May the peace of Jesus Christ be with you.

No Burger King Bible Here

This morning I pulled Jeremiah 6:16 from a box of scriptures I keep on my desk. It read as follows:

“Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

I pulled the whole chapter of Jeremiah up for context and commentary. I found the scripture quoted was only a part of verse 16. The following is the whole of the verse:

Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

The first part of chapter 6 warns of the destruction of Jerusalem because the people have turned their heart and ears away from God. He warns of impending doom as an enemy moves toward them yet they take no action to change or show conviction for their greed and evil ways after being warned.

The lesson we can glean from this chapter is one of repentance and returning to God’s ways; it’s a good lesson. However, the danger comes from taking scripture out of context. Entire denominations and/or religions have made a practice of basing their theology on bits and pieces of scripture taken out of context and used to make a point based in the bits they want to use. Some Christian preachers want to use the ‘pretty part’ of the scripture and ignore the harder part. This is how some have come to be called ‘cotton candy preachers’ because they only use the pretty parts, the ‘feel good’ stuff. If we believe God is the author of scripture and gave His Word to those who committed it to writing, does it not seem a bit presumptuous of us to edit out that which does not tickle the ear, please the masses or give the whole story?

Friends, that was the whole point of Jeremiah 6 in the first place! People chose to do their own thing, walk to their own drummer rather than listen to God and follow His precepts. Isn’t that what we see in America today? People picking and choosing the bits and pieces that fit whatever it is they want to believe from the Bible rather than taking it as a whole? We have federal and state laws based on that practice. I did that at one time in my life. I rationalized a whole lot of things by ‘selective believing.’ It’s scary to think about that time of my life now. It’s scary to see what is happening in our country.

God is good and faithful to us but He is not fooled by our careful editing of His Word. This isn't Burger King, Friends, we can't have it our own way. It was God who outlined the consequences of living outside His will for us. Listen up, America! In Jeremiah 6:10-19, God says it very plainly:

To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in.

   “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,” declares the LORD. “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.

 ¹⁶ This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen.’ Therefore hear, you nations; you who are witnesses, observe what will happen to them. Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.

Fresh Mercies

I woke this morning and my first thought was how wonderful to have a fresh supply of God’s mercy available to me. As usual, God is faithful. Fortunately for us, He doesn’t base it on our ‘performance’ but on His love for us. He gave us a miraculous vessel to live in and care for. We can rest in the Lord even when we do not rest our bodies properly.

Our physical energy can be used productively, abused and/or wasted. Once gone, regardless of how spent, we can’t get it back. People often say they need to get caught up on their sleep. There is no such thing. The daily time for refreshing the body is not cumulative. Once it is gone, it is gone. We can’t store it up like canned goods, it is available each day and then it is gone. Rather like the manna that fell from heaven. The people were to gather what they needed for the day. It spoiled if they tried to stockpile a stash. Refreshing our bodies is the same. We can’t sleep extra hours thinking it will carry us through the next week; it just doesn’t work that way.

My mother neglected herself when it came to caring for her physical health. She would stay up all hours of the night drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes and wonder why she never felt good. Daily we would come home from school to find her crashed on the couch. She typically would say her body needed the rest or she wouldn’t need to sleep. She was right, her body needed the quality rest it was being deprived of and she needed sleep. Sadly, she had gotten her body clock out of sync and to the point of being backwards. If she worked the night shift on a job, she would have been set. However, she was a mom with my young brothers to care for at home.

Her decision to stay up so very late, and, yes, it was a decision – in the beginning at least – had ripple effects that affected us all. Since she had barely been asleep when it was time for us kids to get up and get ready for school, she was a horrible, grouchy person to be around if wakened. When I was in high school and the little brothers were in their early elementary days, but I would get them up, feed them and get them dressed – all the while trying to keep them quiet so we didn’t wake the bear sleeping on the couch. It did not make for a harmonious way to start the day. Later, she went to work outside the home and had to change her habits and patterns.  She never did really understand the connection between proper rest and how she felt and interacted with other people. It was rather like pumping poor quality gasoline into your car and wondering why it hesitates, sputters and in general doesn’t run well.

We, like my mother, have choices to make. We can stay up late watching TV or playing games on the computer, as two examples, and abuse the bodies and energy levels available to us. We can also decide we like to feel good and get along with other people and maintain our bodies with proper rest and fuel. I have found it to be true for myself that I have a hard time making good decisions when my mind and body is not refreshed. My body has some issues that force fatigue and pain on me by their very nature and painful nights do not produce restful sleep. It’s an unfortunate combination. My job is to take care of my vessel and that often means foregoing any activities in the evening, to rest my body and mind so I can function to the best of my ability the next day. My hours and supply of energy must be used wisely. I have a mental picture of the electric meter spinning. It continues to spin whether I am using my energy wisely or poorly. I know I will need every drop of tomorrow’s energy tomorrow. I can’t draw from it today or have leftovers from yesterday to make up any shortfall.

This makes the beauty of God’s new mercies every morning all that much more valuable to me. I can’t count on my energy supply on any given day but I KNOW when I open my eyes that my God has a fresh new supply of mercy and grace available to me because He made the choice to give it to me. If that’s not an awesome way to start your day, I don’t know what is!

In the Still of the Night

This past weekend, my Honey and I made a point of stepping outside our routine, our norm, our typical way of doing things and God blessed us for it. I think we, people in general, get so busy and caught up in our chaotic worlds that we do not stop along the road of life to either smell the roses or truly rest.

        When eating dinner on the front deck on Saturday, my Honey said he was really enjoying the breeze and how pleasant it was out there. I suggested we sleep out on the deck. He normally shoots down that suggestion. I, however, have a treasure trove of good childhood memories of lying in a bed on the sleeping porch of my grandparent’s home on the bay. It was (still is) a house built on stilts for those little issues of flooding during hurricanes. I loved falling to sleep to the howl of the wind. To me, there is something primitive and basic to it that appeals to the core of me. I still prefer to have wind blowing over me even if it has to come from a fan. So I suggest from time to time, when the weather is conducive, that we take advantage of our elevated deck and sleep outside. I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed.   

        We set up our little tent in the waning light of dusk and moved a memory foam mattress into it for a comfy bed. The wind was strong (I was a happy camper about that!) and we had the window covers down so it flowed through the tent with ease. It was awesome.

        The best part was we walked away from doing the same old thing we always do and God treated us to a mini-adventure. No phones, no TV, nothing electronic whatsoever. It was beautiful. We took only our books and a personal mini book light to read by. Lying in the tent listening to the wind and the occasional coyote in the valley, it’s easy to revel in a oneness with God. Without our usual distractions to numb the mind and dissolve nature in the glow of TV, you appreciate the full moon and the One who created it.

        I felt closer to my husband in that little tent than I have in a long time. We were sharing an experience that had significant meaning to me. Nothing else could have meant more. No, it was no big deal or an exotic location or fancy meal or expensive hotel in the tropics. It was quiet time to simply ‘be’ together without interference from the world and her distractions. It felt like a blessing to me. In the stillness of the night under His canopy, God’s blessing was real and palpable.We enjoyed it so much, we left the tent up and did it again on Sunday night. Double portion of blessings!

Psalm 46:10He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”