Uplifted in a Broken Down World

Once upon a now ago, there was a child who longed to give his Mommy and Daddy the most special of all Valentine’s Day gifts.   Though very young in years, his heart possessed LOVE many grown-ups might still be seeking.

     His mind was fretting with confusion over what Valentine’s Day (worldly speaking) required of him.  After all, what does one give to show he loves his Mommy and Daddy more than anything else in the whole wide world?   It’s pretty hard, you know, for a little tyke to figure out grown-up traditions.  But, try his hardest, he did.

     A trip to the mall, surely, would do the trick.  So, next time Mommy bundled him up for his umpteenth trip to “shopdom”, our little man eagerly headed toward the car.  Mommy was shocked at his sudden change of behavior but didn’t question the new attitude.  Instead, she whispered a prayer of gratitude: “Thank God for James Dobson and his book THE STRONG WILLED CHILD.”   The Good Lord, sighed back: “If only you could see it’s not a change of behavior but an unchanging heart full of LOVE.   Ah, but you will, you will.”

     The mall was supposed to answer his gift giving quest.  Much the opposite occurred.   Imagine what our little man experienced.   Throngs of big tall people, pushing and pulling, running and reaching, to get the bargain of the decade for their most loved person of the century   He wondered, “How come everybody has gotta buy a bargain in order to give the most precious gift of all —LOVE????”   Un Uh, the mall was no help.

     What, oh what, should, or could, he do now?   Mommy and Daddy always prayed when they needed answers.  He’d do the same that night.  And so, his nighttime prayer sort of went: “Dear God, I love my Mommy and Daddy more than all the money in the world can measure.  But what can the pennies in my wooden treasure box buy to give them?   I really, really want it to be the ‘bestest’ gift of all”.

     Next day at school our little scholar asked his teacher what the ‘bestest’ of Valentine’s Day gifts really was.   She’d have the answer; teachers know everything!!!!   Warmly she smiled, while bending down to his height and offering her feeling that the rose was the most cherished Valentine’s Day gift.   It was the very symbol of LOVE.

     Exuberance, immediately, filled his heart.  Yeah, she must be right; and he knew all about roses.     Last summer, he and his Daddy had planted three rose bushes; and, like wow, they grew and grew and grew.   One whole side of the house was covered with roses, and they were super beautiful.   But wait; there still was a problem.   Winter had destroyed the flowers.  They all were gone.   He didn’t have even a one to pick and give this Valentine’s Day.

     A brief moment of thought, and then he decided, “I’ll buy one”.   Again, he tugged his teacher’s skirt, and heartstrings.   “How much does a rose cost,” he asked?   “About five dollars,” she replied. With eyes as big as saucers, he gasped back, “Five dollars, you gotta be kidding!!!!   We had hundreds last summer.   How can anything Daddy and I grew so many of last summer cost more money than I’ve saved all winter?”

     He was back to nowhere in his search for the “bestest” gift of LOVE.  

    Sunday morning dawned, and our little shopper was convinced there wasn’t a store in the world that held a gift with his price tag on it.   As the family scurried to get ready for church, his thoughts turned to the big-boy job his Mommy had asked his help in doing.   This week it was time to change the humongous banner that hung high before the “congre…”  “congre…” Church Family.  

     Which one will it be, he wondered?  As he and his Mommy carefully unfolded it, he jumped for joy.   “Mommy, this is my favorite one of all.  It’s purple with a crown and a tiny drop of red.  I remember the story, too.”   As his tiny arms struggled to hold up from the bottom what his Mommy was raising to the top, his little heart and soul understood all about Valentine’s Day.

     Unquestionably, a happy little tyke headed home with his family.   The car was barely stopped, when he went running to secure his treasured gift.   Now his hardest task of all was to wait for Valentine’s Day to dawn.   And, finally it did.

     Not even out of jammies, he clutched his little wooden treasure box and ran to find Mommy and Daddy.   All the while, he was chanting, “Happy Valentine’s Day; Happy Valentine’s Day, Mommy and Daddy!!!!”  

     With great excitement, a very blessed Mommy and Daddy peeked inside their little one’s wooden treasure box.   No sooner had the lid been raised, when their son proudly proclaimed, “It’s LOVE, Mommy and Daddy.   It’s LOVE!!!”

     Gently, his Mommy lifted the contents from the box – a thorn-filled rose stem.   No flower, no leaves.  Just a thorn-filled stem.

     Wholeheartedly, he continued, “I figured it out all by myself.   Flowers come and go; but the thorns, they’re the LOVE part.   They make it through winter storms and all.  They don’t die.   That’s why Jesus had a crown of thorns.  He’s LOVE; and His LOVE can’t die, you know!!!”

     Indeed, this little child had given the “bestest” gift of LOVE.

     This story holds the message of LOVE and the gentle reminder we all are children – Children of God.

     The center day of this week is Ash Wednesday.

     It is, also, Valentine’s Day.

     What story, this week, will the message of your LOVE write??

Many, many years ago, God taught me the lesson of His closing a door and opening a window. Let me be honest and proclaim, for me, the wisdom lesson was not in God’s closing and opening. It was in the “where abouts” of the window. Point blankly, God’s revelation (and correction of my wayward thinking) was the open window is not necessarily (and actually most often NEVER is) in the same building as the closed door. Wow, was this a light bulb going on, blown away moment for me!!!

Think about it. How many times do we accept that God has closed a door but fully expect Him to open a window in the same building, so we can keep pursuing and achieve the same goal/dream upon which the door was closed? Personally speaking, at one time, this was my absolute presumption. How short (and blind) sighted I, truly, was.

Truthfully, I’ve struggled and must have frustrated God in regard to this door/window not in the same building schooling. Problem was I used human desire over God’s purpose in trying to align my wishes over His direction. My heart fully believed I was pursuing God’s will, and most of the time I was. The problem was I was overlooking that God’s WAY for me to follow His WILL is His choice, not mine. God’s WAY is indicated by the window He opens, and my liking it or not, that window is most often not in the same building where that door slammed in my face.

Once this concept of the open window’s “where abouts” is understood and accepted, our tunnel vision ceases, and trust in God’s leadership brings us peripheral vision. Our sight becomes open to the possibilities of wherever God is going to open a window, He will help us climb over its sill and into where He will lead, inspire and watch us fulfill His WILL for both our hearts and souls. 

Don’t know about you; but as for me, when a door now slams in my face, I’ve learned to lace my hiking boots as I grab a Kleenex to cry into. Amidst my tears, I also ask: “where we going, God; and if that window isn’t on ground level, I’m assuming You’ll be hoisting me on your shoulders so I can crawl inside. Also, if the window isn’t where I think I want to be, You better be wearing your heavy boots. You’ll need them to punt me through the window that YOU opened!!! 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow — and this includes the Open Window’s “Where Abouts”!!!

My ready to turn three-year-old grandson and I played a special game the weeks leading up to his twin sisters’ arrival. While his mommy was in the hospital keeping the twins safe in her tummy, JB and I ventured, each day, on a trip to see them. Almost magically, every day as we headed out to the hospital, I’d open my purse and JB would find a hot wheels car in my handbag. All the way to the hospital, his tiny little hand clutched the small car. Once inside his mommy’s room, he’d run to his transport trailer, parked by her bed, and add his newest treasure to his collection of yesterdays’ cars.

Last week, two months after his mommy and sisters got home from the hospital, JB noticed my purse sitting high up on his kitchen counter. While climbing up an unsafe stool to fetch my handbag, his mommy pulled him back down to security and asked him, “just what do you think you are doing?”. JB pointed and answered, “Need GaGa’s bag”. Though his mommy was totally in the dark, the light bulb switched on for me. My little buddy hadn’t forgotten the magic of matchbox cars pouring out of my handbag. He was looking for it to continue!! 

I felt horrible as I realized my purse was now void of even a single hot wheel. Feeling like a flop of a Grammy, I opened my bag, peered inside and explained to JB that it was empty of cars since he no longer needed to visit his mommy and sisters in the hospital. Honestly, I was expecting his non acceptance and, even, a few tears that the magic was gone; but surprise to his mommy and me, this was not JB’s reaction. Instead, he ran to his cubbies, pulled out the one garaging his cars, sorted through and picked out two from his collection, ran back to my purse and dropped them inside. He zipped my purse, hugged me, said “I share” and ran off to put the binky back into his squirming sister’s mouth.

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’.” Matthew 18:1-4 (ESV)

Lately, too many times to count, God has awakened me to the richness and reality of this quoted Scripture. Look at our world. Adults are acting like spoiled rotten babies — in no resemblance at all to the Biblical referenced children. I truly believe, since so many grown-ups have grown out of living as a child of God, our Heavenly Father is having His littlest followers take the stage and actively personify the heart and soul God plants, waters and harvests in His greatest and tiniest Children. 

JB put more than two matchbox cars into his grammy’s purse. He put renewed faith, hope and love into my heart and soul. Years will see JB grow up; but my deepest prayer is he never outgrows the giving and loving heart and soul of being a child — a, forever, child of God. 

Like many of you, my past few months have been inundated with mountains to climb and valleys to climb out of. We all know there are two diverse, Christian prospectives to view such challenges. Fearfully, we can crawl to God and beg His mercy and grace; or boldly, we can run to God and expectantly declare His power to defeat the enemy, while repeating His promise from Philippians 4 :19 — “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”. 

Those who know me can testify that my faith runs. However, no acclamation do I deserve. On the contrary, it is God who repeatedly sends me “Angel Friends” who encircle my being with reminders of how mountains are to be climbed and valleys to be climbed out of –and it’s not by winning a war but by resting in God’s peace. 

It was an early Monday morn. My Grammy Group was meeting to pray for our grandchildren. A sister gram was sharing her hobby for (and from) our Lord. Sandy makes beaded bracelets confirming God’s presence in our present. As she was showing us her bracelet gifts, which she shares with both fellow Christians and total strangers, one caught my eye and soul. Noticing my attraction, Sandy offered it to me. I, literally, snatched it from her hand and slid my wrist into it. The message encircling my wrist read: “God Gives Me His Peace”. Since receiving this bracelet, many messages have I discovered in it. However, the one I realized yesterday is the memo I wish to share today.

After donning my bracelet for weeks, I finally noticed the knot tying its ends together rests between the words God and Gives. That the wording is broken with a knot, initially, seemed odd to me. That was until I sensed God’s wise explanation.

For God to intercede in our lives and get us up our mountains and out of our valleys, there has to be a bond between God and us — i.e., a knot tying us together. Too many humans go to God only with the beginning of a mountain or a valley needing to be overcome. However, God desires us to always (good, bad, hard or easy days) have Him centered in our lives and not positioned as a bookend of our needs. Simply stated, to rest in God’s peace, I (and you) need God to be the center knot of my (your) entire life and not just flanking the challenges of my (your) ups and downs. Only when I (you) am tied to God as my (your) life’s center will I (you) rest, always and forever, in HIS Peace. ”You Keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3 (ESV)

Be it accident or intentional, the knot in my treasured bracelet has significance (and a reminder) beyond string securing beads. I’m now tied, more deeply, to God as my constant center with His peace the resulting gift. Amen and Halleluia!!

A mighty oak tree adorns my daughter’s backyard. In Spring, its picture perfect buds awaken the squirrels to a new hotel and restaurant about to burst through the barren branches of old stomping and chomping grounds. Come Summer, the Oak’s artistic scene replicates canopies of shade refreshing parched beings – both four legged and two. With the onset of Fall, the mighty oak reflects a Norman Rockwell perfect replication of idyl relaxation transposing into manual labor. Humans rake the falling leaves, while critters harvest vittles to carry them through the cold barren months ahead. It’s the winter debut, however, that magnificently displays God’s rendering of Matthew 17:20. ”If ye have faith like unto a tiny mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible for you.”

Branches laid bare, the beauty of color removed, shelter from adversity removed and without a doubt, the Mighty Oak becomes the image of a Child of God’s strongest stance. In the event, this is not the picture in your photo album of God’s might displayed, let me etch the scene.

Stark and barren is your first glimpse. However, look closer. Stature is impeccably poised tall and defiant to wintry elements. The oak does not cower or bend in gale force winds. Perfect symmetry emboldens grandeur of creation to ooze from its core. Can you not, therefore, see the depiction of God’s child, at his/her strongest, in the snapshot of a mighty oak withstanding winter on earth?

When skies are sunny, our lives are well nourished and our storehouses are full is not when we most fully mirror the image, or meaning, of being God’s child. The strength and blessing that grows from being a member of God’s family is that our stature stands tallest in the winter winds of adversity. The world can strip a Child of God of all its outer riches, only to reveal the beauty, strength and perfect harmony of his/her inner core. In Spring, Summer and Fall, outer rains water the Oak Tree’s pretty picture; but roots deeply embedded in the soil of God’s nourishing baptismal waters emerge, flourish and shine mightiest in Winter. The question remains. In our identity of being a child of God, what season photographs our personal resemblance to our Father in Heaven?

Christ’s heart was woven out of Lycra. Mankind’s heart, too often, is twisted in broadcloth. The amount of love a heart can hold is dependent on how much it is willing, and able, to stretch. Is it any wonder then how Christ’s heart made room to love both the worthy and unworthy, while it’s too tight a fit for human hearts to hold dear anyone but the worthy? Christ’s heart stretches, so as not to reach a “filled-up” limit. Mortal hearts, it seems, have a capacity; and, once reached, inclusion turns away in exclusion. For man’s heart to mirror God’s, maybe, we need to change the fabric of our hearts. 

The human heart wastes far too much time and energy condemning what is wrong instead of personifying what is right. Let me be clear on this. God does not want, expect, nor even hint that we are to love what is wrong. Wrong is wrong, and this is plain and simple. However, so much emphasis is placed, today, on hating and confronting what goes against one’s convictions that Christians feel let off the hook when it comes to living God’s example, Christ’s love and reflecting Godliness. 

Hate, too often, overflows from our hearts when love is needed to pour forth and fill in the potholes Satan strews across our life’s journey. A heart that stretches in love is the best (and definitely Christ’s) means of filling in the sink holes scattered along the Highway to Heaven? Take note. It’s a Highway to Heaven, not a low way. Highway implies God’s way. Low way insinuates Satan’s way. The Highway of God’s heart stretches in love. The low way of Satan’s heartlessness is corseted in hate. 

One last thought: our hearts are created to stretch in love, but our morals are purposed to shrink from evil. Would that we all could (and would) reverse today’s norm – hearts shrinking in love and morals stretching in evil. There is but one way for this to happen. For our hearts to stretch and evil to shrink we must embrace “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. … Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. … Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’. … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”. Romans 12: 9-10, 12, 16-19, 21 (ESV) In modern day tongue, a Twenty-First Century translation might simply say: Exchange the broadcloth of your heart for the heart of lycra that is Christ’s. 

Wow!! This week, God truly shook my mindset. I am a mother to the umpteenth degree. Thus, for me, Mary has always been automatically declared the one into whose hands God entrusted His son. That was until a few days ago when God enlightened me. Think with me.

Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem for Caesar’s census. Mary was considered an outcast, as she was carrying a child out of wedlock. Society scorned her. So, she and Joseph were travelling alone. Their family, out of shame, wanted to be nowhere near them. Once arrived in Bethlehem, there here was no room for them in the Inn. A stable was their only shelter. No midwife, let alone family member, was even present to assist with Christ’s birth. Joseph, and Joseph alone, was with Mary when Baby Jesus’s arrival took place. Thus, I ask you, into whose hands did God first place Jesus, His Son, who came to save the world?

Joseph, Christ’s stepfather, delivered Jesus, and it was into his hands that God placed His son. Unquestionably, Joseph was first to hold Jesus. Reflect on this. Oh, how our world so needs to ponder this fact. We live in a society where to a fast-growing majority, fatherhood is almost obsolete. However, we cannot deny that God first placed Jesus into an earthly father’s hands. Joseph was the one initially charged with caring for the Savior of the world. God did not do this by accident. God does nothing by accident. 

Man has a huge shortcoming in recognizing God’s messages, but God does not fall short in signaling to man what He longs for them to understand. Fathers are the foundation of family. Be it biological or stepchild, a father is God’s initial, delegated parent into whose hands He places His children. In corroboration, it was into Joseph’s, not Mary’s, hands that God delivered His Son. 

Would understanding this change the world? Maybe. I pray so. I have no magic answers, but after God shared this revelation with me, my entire being longs for others to comprehend and value this epiphany. Shouldn’t we as a society seek to encourage men to understand God delivered His son into their hands, or is it enough to just consider it a woman’s blessing? Would men walk away so easily from fatherhood if they realized Joseph’s, not Mary’s, hands received the Christ child?

My heart and soul have witnessed so many babies’ welfare threated by being born into life with an absent father. Would that all might somehow fathom that God gave His Son to a stepfather’s hands before His mother’s arms could embrace Him. Our world needs to change for children to be able to securely grow. Maybe this change could better be had if men (women, too) pondered in their hearts and souls into whose hands God chose to place His Son.   

God sent His Son down to earth as a lowly baby. Since that first CHRISTmas, mankind has marveled over this. The awe has never disappeared that God would gift His Son, a King, to humanity and send Him just as we, ourselves, are — a lowly creature of no power, wealth or, seemingly, royal heritage. 

Do you, like me, find this incredibly mind boggling? Why would God, our Heavenly Father, do this? I know the Bible answers because of the depth of God’s love for you and me; but still, this seems so hard to fathom. Am I, or you, really worthy of this? Honestly, I, personally, (as well as the vast majority of fellow believers) feel pretty beaten-up and inferior, lately. Satan’s world keeps throwing punches that deflate. Christians everywhere feel more worthless than worthy. 

Granted, mankind, as a whole, has turned to evil as their guide; but an even more concerning statistic is that Christians see themselves as helpless, hopeless and inferior to the odds stacked against them. However, are we really as low born and bred as we envision? Could there be a deeper message centering in this very regard? I conjecture there is. 

While it is well for us to ponder God sending His Kingly Son to earth as a lowly Babe in a manger, maybe it is time for us to feel the other direction, too. Yes, God sent His Son, a King, to us on earth as a lowly baby in a manger; but was the message exclusively one of “King as lowly”? Could God, also, have been signaling “lowly as King”? Is there a symbolic sign of God’s love for, and perception of, us in the status of Baby Jesus’s arrival on earth? Couldn’t God have been revealing that He sees and holds us, His lowly human children, also, as royalty? If we are God’s, is not our lineage of Kingship? Maybe, understanding this is the kick in the heart, soul and body we need to stop acting like ignoble defeated human beings and start to confidently reject Satan’s attempts to label us as lowly sinners. 

To all Children of God who go to sleep tonight shrouded in the darkness of visualizing yourselves as failures, too lowly to look up, not worth the effort to save, to wrong to ever be righted, forgotten, unloved, unlovable, abandoned, exiled, etc., etc., etc., solely know, and “soul”y believe, GOD TREASURES YOU — so much so that He sent His King Son to be just like you (lowly) that you might, also, recognize yourself in your CHRISTmas Baby Brother. God desires us all to see ourselves reflected in the newborn in the manger. We are God’s offspring, Kings and Queens of royal worth in God’s eyes and heart, His noble sons and daughters. 

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”. Romans 8:16-17 (ESV)

My life’s journey with God is filled with moments of God revealing understanding of His will and way. The majority of these sharing experiences are enlightenment through new perspectives and perception of age-old Biblical happenings. It’s as if God hits me over the head (and heart) with a new window to view one of His past occurrences, gifts or lessons Some bring laughter to my body. Others flood my soul with tears. Such was last weekend’s wrenching comprehension which I now share – the ride within the Ark. 

Noah and his family loved and obeyed God in a time much like today. Evil was rampart; and much of humanity worshipped and adored themselves and their ways, not God and His Word. Our Lord in Heaven recognized Noah’s family as moral and God-centered, though living in the midst of the complete antithesis to His will and way. God vowed to save Noah and his offsprings. Thus, Noah and his loved ones found shelter from complete annihilation within the Ark that God instructed him to build. Today, not one of us Christians is unfamiliar with God saving Noah through a ride in the Ark. However, I’d bet we all fall short of one of the most instructional and reassuring lessons of the Ark – what was the ride within the Ark like??? 

God brought Noah to safety through a ride in the Ark, but it was not a smooth sailing escape. From within the Ark, Noah and all inside endured not a sunny cruise but a wild, rugged storm. And no, there weren’t hurricane ready windows that Noah could gaze through seeking signs of the storm subsiding. In the total darkness of a tempest squall, Noah’s Ark journey was God leading him to promised safety and salvation. 

Fast forward to our present day. To us who firmly trust and believe God is shaking up our unscrupulous world but who, also, cling to God’s Word that His followers and believers will be saved, what kind of ride are we expecting? Are we to anticipate a luxury cruise or a grasping hold on a dinghy we fear is about to capsize? Three days ago, God led me to comprehend the answer to this question. 

When we are aboard God’s ship, with destination beyond earth’s tribulations (possibly at this very moment), not sunlight but the light of the SON, solely and “soul”y, will navigate our journey. On our inside God’s peace will reign, but beating fiercely on the outside of our vessel will be unending waves of worldly, evil forces. 

Smooth sailing is in eternity, not the journey there. Though we’ve secured a ticket on the heaven bound carrier, those of us travelling inside this Ark, just like those on Noah’s, will be tossed and thrown by threatening floods of heinous, outside opposition. Thus, as we face the forces of Satan’s nature, let’s fasten the sashes of our armor and secure our inner peace and trust by pondering Noah’s ride within the Ark.

Strongly, I suspect I was not alone a couple months ago as I stood upon the mountain top. In fact, I, also, have a suspicion many Christians, as recent as a month ago, accompanied me as I knelt in the valley. Today finds me, and most likely many of you, collapsed. However, not that I, and you, have collapsed is of significance. Of consequence is on what we have collapsed. Are we collapsed on the battlefield, or are we collapsed on the Promise. Herein, is the greatest testimony of our faith. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” I John 4:4 (NIV)

I do not, currently, know of a Christian life free of battle against the worldly adversary, Satan. Our world is besieged with evil, striking every avenue of life as we know it. In all likelihood, the worst is still to come. My firm belief is that where we collapse and beseech our God to save us, will turn the tide of victory. Plain and simple, the war we are facing is not determined on the battlefield. It is already secured on the Promise of God’s Word: “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Exodus 14:4 (ESV)

What makes the difference between faith and trust in God carrying us victoriously through all the current (and still to come) battles we face or cowering in fear and defeat is whether we collapse beaten from fatigue on the battlefield or if we collapse into God’s loving promises, knowing the victory is already won. Do we fight standing on the battlefield, or do we fight standing on God’s Promises? Satan can defeat us standing on the battlefield. He cannot defeat us standing on God’s Promises.

Bottom line is that where we stand (and collapse) is determined, individually, by each of us. Tonight, and every tomorrow, my vow is to pray and face all battles from Promise. My hope is that we stand side by side, not on Satan’s battlefield but on God’s Promises. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angles nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, no height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8: 37-38 (ESV)