Thursday, September 2, 2010

A Gift

Each summer, Scott labors over our garden -- faithfully planting, watering, trimming.  This year's weather was so humid, although the garden was beautiful, I chose to enjoy it -- mostly -- from the window.  But now, the mornings are cool enough, I can grab a liter of coffee and enjoy one of the best gifts anyone has ever given me -- my husband's version of "Longwood Gardens" (so say the haters).  There's the constant flurry of squirrel activity -- flicking bushy tails, tree branches waving under their weight as they swing from limb to limb, nails scratching bark and the "crick, crick, crick" of their call.  I hear the honk of a rippling black arrow long before it flies overhead.  Splashes of bright color peek from still-green leaves, though most of the garden has been cut back, prepared for its winter repose.  The squeal and hiss of brakes on the street out front signal the arrival of a new school year.  And, almost as if on cue, a leaf falls.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tuning In -- to God

Every morning on my way to work, God and I talk.  Days off, when I'm not laughing in the face of circadian rhythm it is much easier to get up, read my Bible and spend quality time in prayer in my room.  But, through the week, the place I can remain quiet and alert, is during my drive.  Although having quiet time in my car helps me to circumvent the temptation to reset the alarm and go back to bed, there is always the temptation to listen to some music instead -- especially when we've been out in the car the previous afternoon, and as I start the ignition in the morning, some cool new tune comes on and coaxes me into its riffs.  "Just one song," I think.  Or even, "Well, I've been really good the last couple of days.  I prayed longer last night before bed.  I can skip it just this once."  Its not long before I'm back down on my knees and begging forgiveness.  Not because God has laid out some divine judgement, but because without Him I am nothing.

David expresses it perfectly in Psalm 30:

When I felt secure, I said,
"I will never be shaken."
O LORD, when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.

In today's vernacular, The Message says it, just how I feel it:

 When things were going great
I crowed, "I've got it made.
I'm God's favorite.
He made me king of the mountain."
Then you looked the other way
and I fell to pieces.

Sure, God lets us suffer the consequences when we make dumb choices -- what loving Father wouldn't?  Does He enjoy inflicting pain or dishing out "just desserts?"  No more than anyone would their own child or grandchild.  But sometimes, it doesn't take anything close to that to remind us Who brought us to "the mountain."

Sunday, August 29, 2010

A "Hands-On" Approach

This morning as I sat down to read my Bible and pray, I asked God to speak to me -- to show me what "words of wisdom" (my thoughts, not His) He would give to guide me and train me through my day.  As I read through Psalm 29, my initial impression was, "OK, another praise song -- can't get enough praise.  That's nice,but where is today's lesson?"  Reading it again, I thought, "Interlude."  Sort of the way people view verse after verse of genealogy right in he middle of a good story.  "Today must be something of a 'skip day'."  Third time.  "OK, power, glory -- I get it.  Certainly they are qualities of God not to be ignored."  One more read through -- only I couldn't just read through.  The words leapt off the page!  Wow!  "The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon!"  Now, I've never seen the cedars of Lebanon, but I have seen the redwoods in California -- amazing!  Majestic!  Monumental!  Hard to believe anything at all could break them.  But the voice of God does!

"The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness?"  Earthquake!  With only His voice!

"The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth."  OK, time to dish, here.  My husband had a vasectomy a long time ago.  A few years ago we even discussed a reversal; we decided against it, but that has never stopped either of us from wondering "what if?"  I have thought from time to time, I would be absolutely thrilled if God intervened and gave us a child -- I know Scott would be.  "The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth."  With only His voice, God controls reproduction for mankind, the animal kingdom, plants and trees -- everything!  He spoke the word thousands of years ago, put it into action and still maintains it today!  He can choose to deliver the deer early, or not at all.  He can choose to give a child to a couple who might never have had one, or choose others to serve Him more passionately.  His voice is so powerful, so magnificent, it can make the earth quake and the frailest of creatures seek its breath in the big world of the living.

And then, there's the piece de resistance... verses 10b and 11:

"the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!"
 
How can we not feel peace to know that God is in control of it all?  To know that God is still on His throne today, watching us, listening to our prayers, protecting, admonishing and teaching us?  That's peace, to know that the One who strips the leaves from the trees autumn after autumn -- or not, if He so chooses -- is at work in our lives day after day, hour after hour!