If I Were a Blueberry

Sep9

by Rita Klundt

 

This week, I’ve been nibbling on blueberries. I eat them more for their health benefits than for their flavor. For sure, they are good berries, but not one of my favorite fruits. On day five, the bottom of the container was visible. I decided to use my blueberries to add some flavor to the plain, vanilla protein shake I was about to make. At least they wouldn’t turn to mush in my refrigerator before I could take advantage of their antioxidant effect.

So, I took the last handful of blueberries, rinsed them under cool running water, and dropped them into the measuring pitcher I use for making my shakes. Five ounces of cold water, three ice cubes, a rounded scoop of the protein powder, and I was ready to insert that blender on a stick thing and press the start button.

It had been a long and frustrating day. Every task, even the simplest of them, had met me with a stumbling block or a hard stop. From the moment my phone alarm sounded in the morning, not one thing had gone as planned. The second to last day of a long work-week ended as the first three had—an hour later than expected. I usually look forward to Fridays. Not today.

I’d been grumpy and a complainer. After nearly ten hours, even I was ready to get away from me. The pressure and the grind of a regular day, with regular challenges, had “made me that way.” My time and temperament were squeezed until it seemed there was nothing more I could offer. During the half-hour commute home, I tried to lure my mood to a happy place with music. I would have succeeded, but for the rude driver who cut into my lane with neither consideration for my schedule, nor a flash of his turn signal.

While I stewed over my detailed list of offenses, naming the offenders, the little motor in my blender was whirring and humming loud enough that my own thoughts, had they turned into intelligible words, would not have been heard. It was focused on winning a battle against blueberry skins and ice cubes. Those antioxidants were escaping the blueberries and causing the ingredients in the pitcher to turn a yummy shade of violet.

I’d like to say I gave my blender an extra thirty seconds to finish its job with a “Ta Dah,” but those unnecessary thirty seconds were actually an indulgence for my temper. Some might say it’s good to use something like a blender for releasing tension, but knowing those sharp blades were spinning because my finger was on a switch only intensified a false sense of power and control over my circumstances. It heightened the tension.

I thought of adding some sugar, but reconsidered. You don’t deserve the added calories, I told myself. Just drink it down. This is about nutrition, not taste.

The first gulp of protein was much better than expected. Why had I been enduring vanilla?

Then, I sat down to enjoy my shake and read my Bible. With the second gulp, I tasted the contrast between those blueberries and me. The nutritional value of the blueberries had not been diminished by the blender’s chopping and pulverizing. The blender had helped to turn an average, vanilla protein shake into a surprising treat for my taste buds. And without adding sugar!

Jesus warns about false prophets in Matthew 7:15-20. Their fruit might look good on the surface. It might even taste sweet, but it will certainly make us ill if we eat it. Whoa! When I felt “squeezed” earlier in the day, the griping and complaining that came out of me wasn’t good. Was it enough to make someone ill? I’d rather not think about that. But neither was it the kind of fruit to help anyone get well, and Jesus said in the twentieth verse, “By their fruits you will know them.”

Well, that was enough conviction for tonight, so I looked for another of Jesus’ fruit metaphors. Of course, I found one in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (NIV)

Heavenly Father,
You know that anyone can express love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control when the work is easy and the burden is light, and You know my current struggles and my burden. But You also know that the fruit of Your Spirit isn’t only to nourish us in the good times, but to bless those around us in the hard times. Help me, Lord, to love my enemies (and those who are merely an aggravation). When anger would be a natural response, remind me of the joy and peace I have in You. When the work is tedious and seems unproductive, show me how to be patient. I know that kindness and goodness have an eternal reward, so where rudeness and selfishness appear profitable, stop me from participation. My eyes tend to wander away from your written words, and my ears sometimes listen to lies. How can I be faithful when my focus is on this world? How long will You be gentle with me? Help me to practice faithfulness and gentleness. As for self-control—isn’t that where my “bad” day began?
I want to be like those blueberries, Lord. When I’m feeling used and abused because I’ve been dropped into a proverbial blender, I choose to be used by You. So, forgive me for not clinging to you, and fill me with Your Spirit as I read Your words and worship with my obedience. Amen.

I could have swallowed those berries whole, or after only a few bites and been nourished, but their purpose was not changed with my decision to drop them under my blender. They were created to bless someone like me. So, if I were a blueberry, I wouldn’t want to turn to mush. I’d rather be pulverized and bless someone.

Think on These Things

Aug12

by Rita Klundt

 

My goal from last week was to gaze at something beautiful before I decided on a topic for my next acrostic poem. So, I’ve done a lot of gazing over the past week. Philippians 4:8 provided a list of things to get me started: true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, and virtuous. Pondering any of those things leads me into an attitude of praise. Thoughts outside those categories steal my time, energy, and so much more.

My acrostic may or may not be a poem, depending on what you’ve been taught about poetry. Myself, I still prefer a good rhyme. But here is my short list of things I find true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous. They cause me to praise God:

 

Think On These Things

Tight friendships and loose pajamas
Highways, long and smooth, that bring loved ones home
Invited guests who don’t mind a little dust
Noisy, happy children
Kind words from a stranger

Ocean waves that sway melancholy toward contentment
Notes that run from the black and white of a musical score to dance in my head for a day

Tears born of laughter
Helping hands when the load is heavy or the work is dull
Evergreens in winter
Salty people who season my world
Early mornings with a blank to-do list

Tender kisses
Hearts moved to compassion
Intellect garnished with integrity
Never out of God’s care
Grace – God’s grace
Souls who’ve widened a narrow path and passed the torch that lights my way.

 

Use the same phrase, or use one of the good things found in Philippians 4:8, to create an acrostic. Send it to me as a comment to this post or to my email (ritaklundt@ymail.com). I don’t care if it rhymes!

Deceitfulness

Aug2

by Rita Klundt

 

This afternoon, I accepted a challenge to write a poem using an acrostic format.  The words love and beauty came to my mind, but those two words were crowded out because of some difficult circumstances. Avoidable circumstances. Someone told a lie. A big fat lie. So, here is my answer to the acrostic challenge:

Deceitfulness

Do not lie
Everyone tempted – Everyone warned
Calamity only deferred
Embellishment becomes necessity
Integrity blemished then redefined
Trust destroyed
Facts omitted or misaligned
Unscrupulous souls enjoy
Love exploited
Niceness tooled for betrayal
Everyone loses
Soiled legacy
Sin. Because to call deceitfulness by any other name would be a lie.

 

And this evening, I was still spewing anger because of that same lie. Adding self-righteousness to anger didn’t help. My stomach still churned. A passage I read from my Bible did help. 1 John 4:7 tells us to “love one another: for Love is of God.”

The person who told the big fat lie today probably knows about God, but doesn’t know Him. That could explain a lot!

My goal: To gaze at something beautiful before I decide on a topic for my next acrostic poem, and to remember what it says in 1 John 4:11. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

Get Plugged In

Oct24

“Get plugged in.”

The invitation was sincere and others were responding, but I had been plugged in for years? Half a century of Sundays and Wednesday nights in the same pew ought to prove something. And I’ve been more than a seat warmer. I’m involved. I am plugged in!

The challenge presented by our new pastor was clear. Yet, my mental picture of “plugged in” looked something like the dusty tangle of cords behind my desks, both at home and at work.

My answer to his plea (not to his face, of course), “No thanks. I’ve been thinking of getting unplugged!”

Am I the only one bothered by the tangle of vitally important electrical cords that create ugly clutter under my desk?

Has anyone else found themselves intertwined in a complicated mess of churchy personalities who make “plugging in” undesirable, if not impossible, even when you agree to connect through their dusty old mess? Where does your mind go when you think of getting plugged in?

Our pastor is a fine orator who practices, as far as I can tell, what he preaches. I’m just getting to know him, and I already like the man. I like his wife as much, or more. He wasn’t asking the unreasonable, or even on his own behalf, and I would have been persuaded had it not been for the heavy mental baggage I was carrying. I had yet to unpack it when the final “Amen” was said.

The best I could offer was a silent prayer of confession that I doubted this “plugging in” thing would change anything—in my corner of the world (or sanctuary) anyway.

I’m in a place right now where situations seem to be closing in on me. I feel it at work, at home, in front of the computer screen where I lay it all down in words, and now at church. My one hour a week of rest and rejuvenation was at risk with this call to “plug in.” For a month of Sundays all I could see was the image of those electrical cords. Unsightly, dusty, and a tangled mess.

All the outlets are taken. Not one more electronic thing can be plugged in. This mental picture was in every room of my life. And it wasn’t pretty, well framed, or blending in with the rest of my décor.

After about a month, my husband’s prayer before lunch nearly pushed me over the edge. I’d been betrayed by the one person who should have understood and been on my side when it came to the unplugging thing, and I knew that God had heard his prayer.

It was a simple prayer. He offered thanks for the crock pot meal, and “for our many blessings.” In a very general way, he asked forgiveness for “our sins,” and then before he said the “Amen,” he ask for God’s direction as to “how we should plug-in at church.”

“You do the untangling!” Yes, I know it sounds more like a demand. Yet, it was a request I made clear to God before I opened my Bible.

I go to the Psalms when I’m mad at God. This time I went to Psalm 102. You’ll never guess what happened – or maybe you’ve been in the place where I was and you won’t be surprised.

From my old King James, verses 1-2 say, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.”

Anyone who knows me well knows there were tears by the time I read that first phrase. Could there have been a better place for God to start? And He wasn’t finished. I found permission in those verses to tell God to look at me, to hear me, and to answer me quickly. The psalmist was begging for God’s attention. Oh how I understand that! Two short verses, and I had God’s undivided face looking into mine. Here’s what I saw:

It wasn’t God who had hidden his face. Between verses two and three, I realized that God was the one who had His hands firmly, but gently, cupping either side of my face — like a parent wanting a child to get the message.

I read the rest of the chapter like that small child, wishing for an alternative, but knowing there was none. And when I finished, another mental image came to my mind and gave me the rest and rejuvenation I needed for the coming week. Here’s what I remembered:

I had walked home from school in a heavy rain. Probably stepped in a few puddles intentionally, but with a block or more to our front door, my shoes were rubbing blisters on my feet. By the time I made it inside, my feet were bleeding, but I couldn’t get those snug canvas sneakers off. My socks were soaked, and the shoes wouldn’t slide off without tearing flesh. The shoe strings, now swollen and wet, had been tied and triple knotted since the beginning of the school year. Can I get a witness? I was in a terrible mess.

Mom tried to help, but I was wet, mad, and probably dreading homework. Too old for the traditional temper tantrum, I threw one anyway. Eventually, Mom got down on the wet floor, and used her hands to turn my face toward her. I don’t recall what she said, but I absolutely remember her using words to calm me before she could take her hands from my face and begin working to untangle and untie those nasty shoe laces.

So I’m telling you this, why?

Because we’re supposed to record and share God’s mercies.

I’ve decided to stay plugged in. If you live in the area, Liberty Baptist in Pekin, Illinois has a lot of rooms with numerous outlets if you need some space, or if you don’t mind a crowd of cords. God’s been doing some untangling.

One more thing. If you ever have the opportunity to help a child untangle shoelaces, or a wad of yarn, or any other frustrating mess, do it.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Psalm 103:1-2.

Truth is…

Aug20

Mom is a natural redhead (some years more natural than others). Jan, born three years before me, had nearly white hair, as did our younger sister, Rhonda, and our baby brother, Kevin. Their genetically perfect blonde heads seared the words “black sheep” all over me and my personality. Never mind that my hair was the same shade of dark brown as Dad’s.

Jan was old enough to know better when she conspired to convince me I was an adopted child. She explained, without the benefit of having completed third grade science,
“When a brunette and a redhead marry, their babies are always blonde.”
While her logic was flawed on so many levels, the examples she provided and her presentation were adequate for my five year old sensibilities.

It wasn’t long before a stark example demonstrated the error in Jan’s theory. Either she was misinformed or she had lied to me. I suspected the latter and brought my discovery to the dinner table, expecting a little drama. Mom and Dad accepted her weak apology for “teasing,” and (based on my judgment as a 5 year-old) they offered equally weak reassurance that I was their natural child.

When Jan pointed out my genetically distinctive personality and legs, common on Dad’s side of the family, everyone laughed, except me. No one verbalized it, but I knew if my parents were to have adopted, they would have selected the most pleasing of all orphaned baby girls, and she would have been a blonde.

This story says more about my own insecurities than anything else. It wasn’t funny then, but now that I’m grown, with children and grandchildren, I can laugh about how gullible I was. Thankfully, Jan’s scam only lasted a week or two, and as far as big sister antics go, that was probably the worst of hers. No harm. No foul.

But it causes me to wonder. How many other scams have I been gullible enough to believe?

You’re not good enough. You’re not smart enough. You can’t. What’s the use? Who cares? Don’t waste your time. Forget about it. Don’t risk it. That’s for someone else, not you. My list goes on.

I know I have selective hearing, listening to some lies more often than others, because some of those lies have been echoing in my brain long enough to have settled into my heart, and bleed out into my attitude and choices. I’m used to them. They have become a part of me.

Have you ever known someone to repeat a lie so many times they actually begin to believe it? Maybe it’s a lie intended to avoid negative consequences or gain something they haven’t earned, and you know it’s a lie, but you listen anyway. Seems harmless. But recently, I caught myself repeating what someone else had said, even though I knew it was a lie when they said it. Again, it seemed harmless. It wasn’t, and neither are the lies of Satan we hear every day.

The lies that Satan uses are intended to make us think we are avoiding negative consequences. He wants us to believe we can cheat to get something we don’t deserve. Adam and Eve took the first bite because they listened to one of Satan’s lies. The awful part of listening to a lie is that we miss out on the blessings of truth.

Truth is…sometimes I’m not good enough, or smart enough, and I can’t, but God can. Sometimes there seems to be no point, but God has a plan. Or I’m sure no one cares, yet I feel God’s urging. Maybe I should finish that project, because to quit would be to believe a lie and accept defeat. I know not to put on blinders, or plug my ears, but to calculate the risk, then trust God. Every believer has a skill or ability that God wants to use, and a unique way that God wants to use it, but Satan wants to distract.

Okay, here’s another truth…I probably am too old for gymnastics or soccer, but Satan would have me believe that I’m too old, and it’s too late to accomplish anything worthwhile. No so! He’d like me to feel that if I can’t be the best, or at least make it to the awards podium, that I shouldn’t bother trying. What a liar!

Here’s another lie, one of his craftiest: If I don’t do it, no one will, or it won’t be done right.

Ouch! Please tell me I’m not the only one who’s repeated that lie so often I believed it to be true. I don’t know all the details yet, but now that a few of Satan’s lies have been exposed, I can hear God calling me to something new or different, and better. Something perfectly fitted to the “black sheep” image He gave me.

Would you be willing to consider these 3 things?
1. If you’re in a rut, get out of it. You might be in someone else’s dream job. And blocking them from the passing lane doesn’t mean you’re getting anywhere.
2. Be a mentor or a Paul for a young and eager Timothy. If the thought of training your successor makes you roll your eyes or grumble, you might be believing a lie.
3. If you’re not willing to accept the hardest or lowliest of the duties required to carry on a ministry, you only think you’re serving people through that ministry, but the ministry is actually serving you.

I John 2:26-28 says:
I’ve written to warn you about those who are trying to deceive you. But they’re no match for what is embedded deeply within you—Christ’s anointing, no less! You don’t need any of their so-called teaching. Christ’s anointing teaches you the truth on everything you need to know about yourself and him, uncontaminated by a single lie. Live deeply in what you were taught. And now, children, stay in Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we’ll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when He arrives. (The Message)

Are you a POW?

Jun30

by Kathy Stanford

We are in a war. Every follower of Jesus learns this truth eventually. And though the ultimate victory is already known, we still must fight the daily battles of this world where “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8. The good news is that we are not alone in this daily battle! God’s word has clearly laid out the fight, our protective armor and the weapons He’s provided for our use, in this passage from Ephesians.

Ephesians 6:10-18

“10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints….”

Sometimes, however, we fail to put on the armor and pick up the weapons. What happens then? We become prisoners of war, my friend. I know I belong to Jesus and nothing will change that. [“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father‘s hand.” John 10:29] But I have sometimes let myself be caught and held captive by the enemy. How does this happen?

It happens when I forget who the real enemy is and turn on those around me. It happens when I fail to surround myself with the truth of His word and believe the lies of the enemy that fill this world, telling me I need more yet never finding fulfillment. It happens when I don’t live in the righteousness He gives through salvation and spend all my energy trying to better myself, yet never being okay. It happens when I forget that it’s a gospel of peace and instead of giving grace, I spread hatred and discontent. It happens when I fail to strengthen my faith by arming myself with the word of God, allowing life’s trials to become overwhelming and steal all joy from my life. It happens when I don’t talk with my Father about my concerns, or fail to lift up those around me, so I lose all right perspective.

I’ve heard that soldiers are told to seek escape if they become a POW. We can escape our spiritual imprisonment by repenting our failure to embrace the instructions of Ephesians 6:10-18 and then faithfully, earnestly seeking God. He will help you escape because He wants us to live the abundant life only found when we are free to love and serve Him with our whole heart.

Are you a prisoner of war? Have you let the enemy capture your spirit through oppression? Are discouragement and the lies you believe keeping you locked away from living the abundant life that Jesus has for those who love and follow Him? You don’t have to stay there. Start digging that escape tunnel right now!

“Jesus please forgive my spiritual laziness. I want to live free in the abundant life you desire to give me. Help me to be faithful in putting on the armor you’ve given me and taking up the weapons you’ve provided. And Lord, keep me mindful of the true enemy.”

If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, or are unsure, click on the tab at the top of the page for more information.

Humility

Jun9

by Kathy Stanford

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

In recent months I have failed to meet deadlines, had a painful misunderstanding with a dear friend, completely forgot – and therefore missed- other deadlines and that is only a sampling. I have heard “You mean you’re human?” said in that light-hearted way meant to comfort, so many times, I’ve grown to dislike it immensely.  I often hear warnings not to pray for patience. I would like to add humility to that warning. For a little while now, I have been seeking to understand what is true godly humility. I have only scratched the surface of understanding, but I thought I’d share what I’ve learned so far.

One aspect of humility is to own it with grace when I “mess up”. Trying to bluff our way through a mistake, hoping others won’t notice, is not only lacking in humility, it’s living a lie. The word “transparency” comes to mind. And the flip side of that truth is to freely and immediately give grace when others “mess up”.  Gloating in another person’s mistake or crowing “I told you so”, “I knew this would happen” (one of my personal downfalls) is not living with humility. Rather we should seek to lessen their embarrassment and try to encourage them.

I also have found humility to be necessary for obedience. As long as I think I know “how things ought to be” I will argue with God instead of immediately obey. It takes humility to submit to God’s leadership.  Of course Jesus gave us the best example of what it means to live with humility.

Phil 2:3-8  “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

I hope you knew I was not serious when I said not to pray for humility. We definitely should pray that God will teach us to live with the true humility that Jesus showed. It may not be a comfortable lesson to learn, but it will take us a step closer to having the image of Christ.

“Dear Jesus, I confess my desires to be “in control” and to “always be right”. Please help me to live as you did, empty of self and humble in spirit. Help me to be an encouragement to those around me, shining the light on their strengths and not their weaknesses.”

If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, or are unsure, click on the tab at the top of the page for more information.

Familiar Beauty

May2

by Kathy Stanford

I live in a small town (less than 1,000) and must drive several miles to get to any place with commercial services. As you can imagine, there are roads I’ve traveled so frequently I don’t really see the views any more. But once in a while a change of season will get my attention with a glorious display of God’s creation. When that happens, in that moment, I am freshly aware of the beauty that had become blindingly familiar. That kind of blind familiarity can happen while reading the Bible. I read God’s word every day, but sometimes I realize I’ve just read a whole passage with my eyes, while my mind was really somewhere else. And once in a while I am jolted to fresh awareness by the beauty of a long familiar verse.

I was reading in the book of Isaiah recently when I came to chapter 40. The chapter begins with reference to the end of Jerusalem’s suffering for her sin as it goes on to tell of the Lord’s coming and the glory of the Lord that will be revealed. The main body of the chapter is a glorious praise of God’s greatness and His complete sovereignty over all His creation, including man. It then comes back to the subject of sin and basically mocks our tendency to think we can hide our sin from God and escape due justice. But then God’s love becomes so beautifully evident as we see that even though He knows all about our wrong doing, He still watches over us. And when we realize we can not make it in our own strength we have the tender promise of verse 31.

Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

The Hebrew word translated wait is qavah, a verb meaning “to wait, look for, hope, expect”. I like all of those words – especially together. If I put in the full meaning it says “Yet those who wait, look for, hope and expect the Lord will gain new strength”. Some days I’m just waiting and hoping – “Lord take me outta here!” Other days I’m looking for and expecting – “Jesus I can’t wait to see your face and be with you!” But no matter what my mental state is, He has promised to give me strength. When life has me going at a run and when I’m just putting one foot in front of the other to get through the day, He enables me to rise above the trials and face life’s challenges. Wherever you are today, I hope you you will reach out to God and let Him give you the strength you need for this – and every – day.

“Dear Jesus, I’m so grateful for the power of your Word and the hope in your promises. Please strengthen me today for whatever life brings. Help me to trust you and glorify you in all I say and do.”

If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, or are unsure, click on the tab at the top of the page for more information.

Writer’s Block

Apr16

Benjamin Franklin said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

I’m suffering some serious writer’s block. It’s crazy! I write a paragraph or two, then delete. This has been going on for weeks. As a matter of fact, I’m tempted to backspace right now until the page is blank.

And it’s not like I’m busy doing anything worth writing about. When this phase (surely this is just a phase) is over, I could write about how I overcame writer’s block, but I’m not over it yet. Besides, writer’s magazines and blogs are saturated with “How To” tips for sufferer’s like me, and no one’s asking for my view or solution, if I had a solution.

So, I better get busy doing something. And it needs to be good. I started my spring cleaning, hoping to uncover some long lost treasure in the back of a closet or behind a bookshelf, but so far I’ve found a paper clip, and a lot of dust. Not exactly material for a novel.

The grandkids will be here next week. They always provide interesting, intelligent and often times humorous stories. Maybe I can write the week after?

I could take a walk. It’s a perfect spring day. My roses aren’t in bloom yet, or I could write about stopping to smell the them.

Mr. Franklin. Did you have days, and weeks, like this?

There is another old quote: “When all else fails, praise the Lord.” It’s such a common saying, I can’t credit anyone specifically for such excellent advice.

Think I’ll try it.

Oh Lord, my Lord. How excellent is your name in all the earth. You give me the air I breath. You are so very good. Nothing is good, except you make it that way. You give my mind reason to ponder. You satisfy me. You are the God of the universe, yet you are my faithful friend. Your promises are true. You watch over me. The sun, moon and stars amaze me, but do not distract you while hearing my prayers. I ask for little. You offer much. I walk away. You call to me, and wait. Oh Lord, my Lord. How excellent is your name in all the earth!

 

Jesus Is Enough

Mar28

by Kathy Stanford

Yes, I know the title is such a cliche’ it almost makes you want to scream. In spite of that, it is true – and I believe it completely. I’m talking deep down in my soul, belief. So why do I still let fear have so much power in my life? Why do I struggle to be content with the blessings of my life, or to do the right thing? Why do I still fall prey to those lies that whisper how worthless and undeserving I am? The short answer is that I still live in a fallen world with a mortal body that is guided by selfishness.

It is of some comfort to know that I am not alone in my struggles to fully live a life of faith. The apostle Paul documented his own struggles in the well known passage found in Romans 7:15-24. In verse 24 he asks the question “Who will set me free from the body of this death?”And then in Romans 7:25-8:1 he gives us the glorious good news – “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ”, because of Him there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in in Christ Jesus. Every time I read that My heart does a little happy dance!

We do not struggle alone. Jesus Himself is our strength and encouragement to not give up on this battle with our flesh. Rather, we can cry out to Him for the strength we need, knowing that He faced and overcame His own struggles. Not only did He face down a direct confrontation with Satan while in a weakened physical state (forty days of fasting; Matthew 4:1-11) but faced down His own fears and reluctance to obey, as He prayed in Gethsemane the night before He was crucified. (Matthew 26:36-44)

I don’t know about you, but I visit “Gethsemane” just about everyday. Even after years of relationship with Jesus, I still want it to be about me. Truth is, it never was and never will be about me. Jesus totally understands my struggle. If you are struggling today, cry out to Jesus. He truly understands and really is enough.

 “Jesus forgive me for not trusting You to be enough. Give me strength to live fully in faith and have contentment no matter what my life circumstances are. Help me to remember that you ARE enough.”

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