Category Archives: Today: Make it Count

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December 11, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, God's Grace & Love, Holidays & Holy Days, Joy, Peace of God, Today: Make it Count

HOLIDAY TIME

He continued, “Go home and prepare a feast, holiday food and drink; and share it with those who don’t have anything: This day is holy to God. Don’t feel bad. The joy of God is your strength!” [Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)]

christmas starThe countdown has begun and it’s just two weeks until Christmas. At this point in December, we’ve probably made ourselves and our families crazy while preparing for this wonderful holiday. The word “holiday,” however, doesn’t come from “holler-day” as in holler at your family because you’re over-booked or over-drawn, nor does it come from “hollow-day” as in feeling drained and exhausted. A holiday is not supposed to be a “horrible-day” either! The word “holiday” actually comes from the words “holy” and “day.” Its original Old English meanings were “religious festival” and “day of recreation.”

As we prepare for the upcoming holiday, we want to remember to keep the day “religious” which means keeping Christ in our Christmas festivities. But what about that other meaning of the word holiday: a “day of recreation”? Perhaps it’s time to stop the madness and do some refreshing and recreating. Try taking a break from all the holiday prep and listen, truly listen, to the beautiful music of the Christmas season. Ponder the words, “joy to the world” or “tidings of comfort and joy” and let them fill your heart. Sing along with the carols’ words and let the hallelujahs, glorias, and fa-la-la-la-las echo throughout the house. (FYI: “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” and “Santa Baby” are not Christmas carols!) Put your feet up and read some Christmas stories or poems—the first two chapters of Luke are a great place to start. Perhaps you’d prefer O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi, Max Lucado’s The Christmas Candle or even The Grinch Who Stole Christmas! Watch a holiday movie, drink a cup of cocoa with marshmallows, sit quietly by the fire, or make a list of things for which you’re thankful instead of things you need to do or want to purchase. You’ve probably spent hours decorating the house but have you paused to enjoy the decorations or think of what they represent? Notice the star on the top of your tree and imagine the magnificence of the star of Bethlehem. Take the time to look at your nativity scene and think about the people depicted in it. Remember the purpose of all this holiday hubbub: the celebration of Christ’s birth. The Jews were told by Isaiah to clear the way for the Lord. Have we cleared the way for His presence in our hearts, not just during the holiday season, but all year long?

Father, as we busy ourselves with preparations to celebrate Christmas, keep our hearts and minds focused on the real meaning of this holiday—the loving gifts of salvation, forgiveness and restoration brought to us by the Christ child.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. [Dr. Seuss]

Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken! [Isaiah 40:3-5 (NLT)]

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November 17, 2015

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Family, Friends & Fellowship, Love & Works, Sorrow, Grief & Regrets, Today: Make it Count

IN THE VALLEY

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. [Psalm 23:4 (NIV)]

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear. [John Newton]

golondrinas penetente NM My mother had been very clear—she was to be cremated and her ashes tossed into our rose garden. I was only fifteen when she died and filled with teen-age indignation when my father interred her ashes in a cemetery plot. Angrily I asked how he could go against her wishes. He simply replied, “Following her wishes is far easier said than done.” What had seemed so easy in theory was, in actuality, far too difficult for the grieving man to do. Burdened by my own grief, I didn’t understand; older and wiser, I do now.

I thought of my father’s reply when a friend mentioned the difficulty of planning her husband’s Celebration of Life Service—she wanted to do one thing but family members insisted on another. A few days later, I overheard two other widows discussing their husbands’ cremains—neither woman felt ready to dispose of them and yet they were being pressured to do so by family members. Grief is hard enough by itself; family dissension only makes it worse.

Each of us grieves in our own way and at our own pace. In his grief and loneliness, my father made some rash and foolish personal choices. I dealt with the loss of my mother in acts of teen-age rebellion and reckless stupidity. A friend reluctantly went off to college just a few weeks after her father died and ended up sitting in her dorm room in tears. Grief-stricken and unready to move on with her life, she flunked out of school. Once done mourning, she returned to school and graduated with honors! While none of us handled our grief well, we all needed to pass through that dark valley the best we could, just as my widowed friends will do in time.

Rather than telling our friends and family what they should do and how to behave in their grief, perhaps we could take a lesson from Abe and Sarah, a long-married couple with whom I attend Bible study. Sitting across the table from me, they’d left an empty chair between them. Jokingly, I asked if they were annoyed with one another. No, they were just leaving a spot for the recently widowed Mary. She and her husband used to sit across from them at Bible study. Not wanting Mary to sit by herself, they now save a place for her between them so she won’t feel alone. That, I thought, is what church family does for one another—they walk together in the dark valley of sorrow.

For those who mourn, that dark valley can seem long, gloomy and desolate. A Christian knows he is never alone in his grief—God is always with him. The Bible, however, is abundantly clear—we are to bear one another’s burdens. When someone is walking in the valley of sorrow, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to make their journey easier by offering our love, encouragement and support, and possibly even by saving a chair for them.

Do not mourn the dead, but comfort the living. [Jonathan Lockwood Huie]

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. [Romans 12:15 (NIV)]

 

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November 10, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Fruit of the Spirit, Love & Works, Obedience, Today: Make it Count, Wisdom & Guidance

THE LBD

And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. [Colossians 3: 14 (MSG)]

polydamas swallowtail - NBG595webIn spite of the Netflix show’s title, orange will never be the new black, at least not when it comes to women’s dresses. The iconic “little black dress” was first introduced by designer Coco Chanel back in the 1920s and this piece of clothing has been a woman’s wardrobe staple ever since. Depending on the fashion accessories worn with it, the LBD can be appropriate for just about any occasion. For most women, it’s our basic all-purpose garment. Of course, at my age, my LBD gets more wear with a jacket at funerals than with pearls at a cocktail party. While my husband doesn’t have a little black dress in his closet, he also has a basic all-purpose garment: brown khakis and a light blue button-down shirt that can be dressed up with a navy blazer and tie.

While I consider my little black dress to be a wardrobe necessity (and actually have more than one), the Apostle Paul tells us there is another, far more essential, all-purpose garment we need in our lives—love. The image of slipping into a suit of love every morning appeals to me. How nice to know that a suit of love will always fit, never make me look fat, and match every accessory in my closet! It will never shrink, stretch or fray and doesn’t even need ironing! When I’m clothed in love, I’ll never be over or under-dressed and I’ll always be in style.

Today, as we look through our closets and dresser drawers, let’s be sure to reach for love before putting on anything else. While we’re at it, how about adding the accessories of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? After doing that, we’ll be dressed in an ensemble finer than any we’d ever see featured in Vogue or GQ.

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. [Colossians 3:12 (MSG)]

 

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October 22, 2015

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Challenges & Difficulty, Faith & Hope, Fear & Doubt, God's Word: The Bible, Nature, Obedience, Peace of God, Today: Make it Count, Trusting God, Worry

TUMBLEWEEDS

Russian thistle (tumbleweed)-Kodachrome Basin State Park,UT 009-cropwebThe Lord says: Cursed is the man who puts his trust in mortal man and turns his heart away from God. He is like a stunted shrub in the desert, with no hope for the future; he lives on the salt-encrusted plains in the barren wilderness; good times pass him by forever. But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and has made the Lord his hope and confidence. He is like a tree planted along a riverbank, with its roots reaching deep into the water—a tree not bothered by the heat nor worried by long months of drought. Its leaves stay green, and it goes right on producing all its luscious fruit. [Jeremiah 17:5-8 (TLB)]

The stunted shrub about which Jeremiah speaks is much like the tumbleweed. If you haven’t seen it in real life, you’ve probably seen it blowing across the desert in movies. The tumbleweed is actually the Russian thistle, a common western weed, and has a pretty little flower. Once mature and dry, however, the entire plant separates from the root; shaped like a ball, it looks like the dead shrub’s skeleton. In the western states, you can see tumbleweeds as small as soccer balls or as large as a Smart Car in ditches or tumbling along the desolate landscape.

On the other hand, cottonwoods are hardy trees. Much like the ones mentioned in Jeremiah, they put their roots down near rivers, lakes, and irrigation ditches throughout the southwest. Large trees, they have been known to grow up to eighty feet tall with trunks over five feet wide. Because they grow on the water’s edge, they typically survive prairie fires and can live over one hundred years. The hardy Rio Grande cottonwood even flourishes in New Mexico’s White Sands National Monument, an environment too harsh for most plants. In an area of scorching heat, scant rainfall, relentless winds, poor soil and blowing sand, the cottonwood survives because its roots are planted firmly down into the life-giving water hidden beneath the sand.

Do we want to live as a tumbleweed, dry and rootless in a barren land, with no hope for the future? That is what it will be like if we put our trust in our own strength or that of other people. Or do we want to be like the cottonwood, with deep roots, able to withstand fire, heat, wind and drought? If we put our trust in the Lord, we will never be alone and we’ll be able to survive, perhaps even thrive, in the most stressful of situations.

They shall neither hunger nor thirst; the searing sun and scorching desert winds will not reach them anymore. For the Lord in his mercy will lead them beside the cool waters. [Isaiah 49:10 (TLB)]

And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done. [Colossians 2:6-7 (TLB)]
cottonwoods (NM) -cropaweb

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September 18, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Fruit of the Spirit, God's Grace & Love, Joy, Nature, Today: Make it Count, Trusting God

TOMORROW

bearing fruit -horz web

False Solomon’s Seal, Solomon’s Seal, Bittersweet Nightshade, Elderberry

I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth. Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I made you and will take care of you. I will carry you and save you. [Isaiah 46:3b-4 (NCV)]

Last night, at my mother-in-law’s retirement home, I was nearly run over by a parade of residents in wheelchairs along with several more ambulatory seniors shuffling along on their walkers as they moved toward the patio to enjoy the last rays of the day’s sun. Last night, I caught a glimpse of tomorrow and I’m not anxious to go there. It’s not the white hair and wrinkles—it’s not even the stooped posture and frailty—it’s the lack of independence that frightens me the most.

I’m at a point in life where, when I look at my children, I see what I was like yesterday—or what feels like just yesterday. Then, when I look at my mother-in-law, I see what life will be like tomorrow or the day after. At my age, time passes way too quickly. It seems only a few years ago that we had teenagers and now our teenagers have teens of their own. Wasn’t it just last month when I held the first grand in my arms? I turned around for just a second and now she has her driver’s permit. I’m sure it was yesterday when I stood on the bus so a senior could have my seat—now people offer their seats to me!

As I walk through the park, I’m reminded of the season. Instead of the gaudy colors of summer, I see the yellows, oranges and browns that come with autumn. The asters are just bits of fluff and the black-eyed Susans look naked without their golden petals. Yet, I see another kind of beauty—the beauty that comes with the changing season. In fact, the maples and oaks are more spectacular with their brightly colored leaves. Moreover, it is only when the flowers have faded that they start bearing their beautiful fruit. Old age, like the autumn prairie and woodlands, can be beautiful when accepted gracefully.

Our years are a gift from God. Having outlived all but one of my family members, these years are a gift I appreciate. Yet, I confess to apprehension when I walk into a room and can’t remember why I’m there, forget someone’s name, can’t open a jar, or need ibuprofen for my aching joints. I’m not so sure I’m going to enjoy everything about this next season of life. I don’t relish the thought of eventually giving up my driver’s license, being unable to handle my finances, using a cane or walker, or possibly needing a caregiver. I would much prefer to have the health and vitality of middle age to the frailty of the elderly and so I exercise and watch my diet. Nevertheless, no matter what I do, the years will eventually take their toll on my mind and body.

I’m sure God didn’t ask the flowers how they felt about getting old, withering and eventually dying, and I don’t think He’s going to ask me. I have no choice but to accept this season of life and joyfully prepare to move on to the next. Like the flowers and the people I saw last night, I will turn to face the sun and make the most of the days with which I have been blessed. And, like them, I will gracefully accept the passage of time and bear as much fruit as possible. While I may change and fade with the years, I know that God never will. As old as He is, He’ll never be infirm, He’ll never be too weak to hold me upright and He’ll never become so absent-minded that He forgets my name.

I have no one in heaven but you; I want nothing on earth besides you. My body and my mind may become weak, but God is my strength. He is mine forever. [Psalm 73:25-26 (NCV)]

People ought to enjoy every day of their lives, no matter how long they live. [Ecclesiastes 11:8a (NCV)]

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September 16, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Joy, Love & Works, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith, Thanks & Praise, Today: Make it Count

LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! [Psalm 145:10 (ESV)]

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. [Isaiah 60:1 (ESV)]

“I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” [Lesbia Scott]
I sing a song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true,
Who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen, and one was a shepherdess on the green;
They were all of them saints of God, and I mean, God helping, to be one too.
They loved their Lord so dear, so dear, and his love made them strong;
And they followed the right for Jesus’ sake the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest, and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
And there’s not any reason, no, not the least, why I shouldn’t be one too.
They lived not only in ages past; there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
In church, by the sea, in the house next door;
They are saints of God, whether rich or poor, and I mean to be one too.

cathedral of st francis - Santa Fe8546webAs a girl, one of my favorite hymns was, “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God.” I joyfully sang of the doctor (Luke), queen (Margaret of Scotland), shepherdess (Joan of Arc), soldier (Martin of Tours), priest (John Donne), and the one slain by a beast (Ignatius of Antioch). Although I wasn’t anxious to be devoured by lions, the thought of being in company of such a stellar cast of Christians gave me great joy. The fact that I, simply by knowing Jesus and by loving to do His will, could be one, too, was even more exciting.

Although it’s been years since last singing it, I thought of that hymn when touring the Cathedral Church of St. Francis in Santa Fe recently. Several saints had been beautifully depicted in the stain glass windows. It was a sunny day and the light shone magnificently through the colored glass. I was reminded that the saints of the New Testament weren’t dead; they were living individuals who had dedicated themselves to the worship and service of the one true God as revealed through Jesus Christ. In fact, all Christians are called to be saints of God—to live their lives in a way that reflects their faith in Christ. We all can be saints of God if we allow the Son’s light to shine through us as brilliantly as the sun did in those windows.

Saint: one separated from the world and consecrated to God; one holy by profession and by covenant; a believer in Christ. [Easton’s Bible Dictionary]

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. [Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV)]