Tuppence a bag!

A letter to my mother and sisters:

“I want you to see with the eyes of my heart for you.

So often we are focused on the big picture, on the big dream, on the big idea.

But what if God’s love for you is like the grains of sand by the sea.  Every grain collected over time and season.

I want you to know that you have cared for and loved children and that may seem small to you.  

Maybe you haven’t seen the big deposit for your future in this.

Maybe your love feels like small crumbs to feed birds with.

Listen to the words of this song.”

Early each day to the steps of Saint Paul's
The little old bird woman comes
In her own special way to the people she calls
Come, buy my bags full of crumbs

Come feed the little birds, show them you care
And you'll be glad if you do
Their young ones are hungry
Their nests are so bare
All it takes is tuppence (anything at all) from you

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag
"Feed the birds, " that's what she cries
While overhead, her birds fill the skies

All around the cathedral the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares.
Although you can't see it, you know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that she cares

Though her words are simple and few
Listen, listen, she's calling to you
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag

 (Feed the birds-Julie Andrews)

-In her own special way to the people she calls-she feeds them and shows them she cares, and all around the cathedral-the saints and apostles are smiling each time she appears.

Lily Pads

There is an Abbey I like to visit and there are a few trails off the grounds I like to walk.  One trail will take you to a high rock, and you are able to look down upon a natural pond.  One summer, I walked there with my sister.  I was compelled to go down lower to pond level and look more closely at the lily pads that appeared that summer.  I touched one, and as I tried to pick it up, I realized it was connected by stem and root to hundreds of other lily pads.  I was amazed.

On the surface, each lily pad seemed independent, solo, floating on their own, subsisting beside other lily pads, but if you dug a little deeper you could see how interconnected each lily pad was to the other by stem and root.

This got me thinking about how we live our lives.

As Americans, we value independence; we can’t wait to grow up and go, and live out on our own-away from our parents, and enjoy the freedom, and independence that adult life brings.  We go out and rent apartments, buy homes, work jobs, volunteer at local churches or other grass-root organizations of our choosing.  We may stay a short or a long-time and then leave to go somewhere else and build new relationships.

But what impresses me is that no matter where we go geographically we are spiritually like lily pads.  We grow stems and roots; we connect not to other lily pads, but to actual people and places.  We have a spiritual interdependence to the towns and people in which we live, work, and volunteer. And when we leave, no matter how short or long our time is, we may feel an uprooting.

This helps me see past my likes and dislikes, and makes me more grateful for my experiences.

This also stirs me to take more seriously and prayerfully the decisions I make regarding where I live, where I work, and where I worship, because no matter what we may think-we are not flying solo out here.  We are not just subsisting beside other people.  We are divinely and spiritually connected in ways beyond our control, and yet we make choices everyday to where we go and who we talk to. 

Lily pads are amazing. They create shade and protection for fish in ponds, and they provide a gentle resting spot for frogs and dragonflies. (Facts on Water Lilies-Home Guides)

Lily pads are sublimely connected to their environment and So are we!

Rabboni!

“My Love is Enough for you” Jesus

Do you believe that the greatest treasure that we hold and carry is the Love of Christ that surpasses all understanding? (Ephesians 3:19)

It’s the Love of Christ that fills the void, the lack, the need, the holes.  So many broken, hurting, and wounded people came to Jesus in the Gospels and He met their needs and then some, but what did they take away with them?  They encountered a Love that healed, made whole, delivered, and set free.    

Whatever we are looking for, whatever we are seeking-it’s like a crapshoot, a poker game.  We may win that hand or not, but regardless of the outcome- there is someone who waits for us on the other side of the door-and He will give us something more valuable than any amount of lottery win that we could have hoped for.

“My Love is enough for you.”  You have to believe wherever he sends you; His love goes before, beneath, beside, between you and every person you encounter. 

“I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.”  (John 14:27)

“Jesus asked her, who are you looking for?” (John 20:15-16)

RABBONI!

Shame

“God is as close to my shame as this shawl is to my shoulders.” Lauren Winner

Shame.  We don’t really think about it too often, unless we have experienced trauma of some sort.  But shame is always there, hiding beneath the surface.  But God is also there, closer to our shame than we think. 

When Adam and Eve first sinned, shame entered into the story.  And you know what God did? He covered their shame.  In the book, “Wearing God” by Lauren Winner she describes how God may have tenderly dealt with Adam and Eve before they had to leave the garden.  She says, “While I feel cloaked with shame, God is tenderly stitching me a suit of clothes.  The clothing is God’s own self.”

God enters into our shame and covers it with Himself.  He doesn’t want us to stay in hiding. 

I’m sure there are areas in all of our lives where shame is lurking.  Mostly they are areas we would rather keep in hiding, better left unsaid, rarely or never to discuss.  When we talk about these areas, we feel embarrassed…like someone has found us out. 

Our own bodies carry so much shame.  Most of us are not content in the bodies that we inhabit; always thinking how we can cover them, lose weight, and hide the blemishes.  How difficult it is to accept our own bodies when shame is lurking there. 

So, what do we do?  I think first we have to acknowledge where there is shame in our lives.  We have to come to terms with it.  Maybe even talk about it.   Then we have to invite God into it, and ask that He would cover our shame with His Love.

This may free us from always having to hide beneath the fig leaves, and instead turn to God who is in our corner, tenderly stitching our clothes. 

The Great Reconciler!

Mary Oliver states, “If you are too much like myself, what shall I learn of you, or you of me?

Diversity is a gift, but it is also a challenge.  It’s a gift when we stand open-hearted to hear and receive from each other.  It’s a challenge when we take a judgmental, defensive posture; Judgmental because I don’t understand where you are coming from; defensive because your views are different from mine.  Judgment and Personal Defense never gets us very far.  Relationship does. When we take a posture in willingness to listen and learn, than true reconciliation is born.

Repentance is also needed, because there is such a great barrier that exists between gender, ethnicity and religious orientation. It’s truly a journey, but there is always hope because Jesus made a way for us at the Cross.  There is always level ground at the Cross.  We lay down our pretenses, our labels, and our false accusations.

At the Cross there is true repentance, healing and reconciliation.  But we must journey to the Cross together, and let the Life and Death of Jesus speak to us; His pain born in ours, His loss, His grief born in ours.  Only Jesus is the Great reconciler that we long for.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Let Jesus become our message of reconciliation; the one who tears down the barriers and the dividing walls of hostility. Ephesians 2:14 And brings us true peace…

The Power of Who You Are!

“Jesus did not call perfect people to join him in his ministry.  None of us is faultless. A huge amount of work in our world begs to be done with an attitude of care.  Let us go to be of service to others with our strengths and our limitations, trusting that God will take the best of who we are and bless others with it.”  Joyce Rupp

Wherever we go, whatever we do, we will accomplish God given tasks in the power of Who We Are. 

“It’s not by might.  It’s not by power.  It’s my Spirit says the Lord.”  Zechariah 4:6

God anoints Who We Are to accomplish the given tasks at hand.  We cannot be anyone or anything else other than Who We Are.  And God can use all of us- our greatest assets and our greatest weaknesses, Our God given gifts and our God given quirkiness; all of us is Holy ground to the Lord.  He consecrates us by the blood and by the marriage of Word and Spirit. 

Like the old Gospel Song says, “If you can use anything Lord, you can use me.”

It’s who you are that blesses people.  Some people will like you, and some people won’t, but that doesn’t change your blessedness and belovedness to God; Stay in it.  Stay in the Story and watch God act on your behalf.  So often the people we don’t like and the people who don’t like us-we just need to connect to them in some way; when you connect to others than the walls and defenses come down.  Pray for more connection.  Sometimes it takes awhile.  Jealously may need to be confessed to God. 

It’s Who We Are that we carry into the world.  God uniquely created you.  God uniquely created me.  “He is the potter.  We are the clay.” Jeremiah 18:6

We have to trust the potter.  We have to trust His unique design.  Ask God to give you eyes to see yourself as He sees you; the beauty and the scars.  Sometimes it’s the scars that make us unique.

Don’t just hide them- in time reveal them and watch God use them in a way that draws others to Him.

The truth of Who You Are is what speaks loud and clear to others.  God will reveal himself through you- imperfect, flawed, beautiful you. 

The question is, Will you let him?  Will you let him carry you out into this thirsty world in the power of Who you are and bless it beyond reason!

Hope Deferred

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”  Proverbs 13:12

Remember when you were in high school waiting to hear back from colleges that accepted you and colleges that denied you?  And even worse, colleges that deferred you to a later date.  What?  After I have waited for such a long time!  I remember I heard it through the grapevine that if you got a heavy envelope it was an acceptance, and if you got a light envelope it was a denial.  I’m sure some of us suffered a great disappointment because we didn’t get into our first choice, and maybe we even had to choose a “Safety School." Remember those?  Schools that you didn’t really want to go to, but you knew that you be accepted into. 

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”  It’s hard to wait a long time to get a “No” answer.  Especially when we feel that a “Yes” would be the answer to solve all our problems, and fulfill all our earthly dreams. Though, it rarely works that way.  Reality hits, no matter what choice you make there will be challenges, a cutting edge of growth, and fantastic benefits-that outweigh the cost!

This is life! This is story!

But what about, “A longing fulfilled is a tree of life?”  Where is that tree?  Last time we saw the “Tree of Life” Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and they messed up royally!  Yet, God clothed them and sent them out together.   “A longing fulfilled” makes me think of relationship.  Remember in college we met some amazing friends that God gave us to walk alongside us for the ups and downs of college life.  And today at our jobs, in our families, in our marriages God has given us people who really like us, some who really love us and want to see us rise to the occasion; fulfilled, happy, and full of life. 

I know it’s really hard to be deferred.  It’s discouraging.  It’s disappointing.  We begin to lose heart.  But can you believe that God- who opens doors, closes doors, too?  And what He wants to do in and through you is beyond any “Safety School” or “First choice!”

Cutting edge of growth awaits you!  Fantastic Benefits!  Challenges that you can meet head on!  And relationships that will sustain you as a Tree of Life!

The Broken Road

I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you
That every long lost dream lead me to where you are
Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms

This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

Broken Road-Rascal Flatts

More than anything our brokenness draws us to God's heart. “God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.” Psalm 46:1 The Message.

How many times, how many trials, and tribulations that we find we are on our knees crying out to God to meet us there. 

He answers our prayers often on the broken road with a word, a song; a memory that comes to us as if God were speaking to us- ready to lift us up out of our pit. Psalm 40:2

For God doesn’t just leave us on the broken road-He blesses us when our hearts rise up to meet his.   

There is an old Irish Blessing that states:

May the road rise to meet you,
may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God hold you in the palm of His hand and bless you-for brokenness can be a gift when it points you to God.

This much I know is true.  That God blessed the broken road that pointed Him to you..

More for you...

Andrew Comiskey, founder of Desert Stream Ministry tells a story of coming out as a homosexual to his mother.  He said, that she told him- “I wish for more for you…”  This always stayed with him.

I think this phrase, “I wish for more for you” could be uttered by parents, siblings, friends, spouses, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.  Anyone we love and we see struggling with anything from anger,  to addiction, to poverty, to disease, or any type of familial strife- our hearts go out to them and we truly “wish for more” for them.

This also hits home in areas where we personally struggle, and hope for wholeness and healing.  Depression is like a wave that knocks you down.  The challenge is to get up-hit the surf again-catch the next wave and ride!

The good news is God wants “The More” for us.  He wants us to see better days inwardly and outwardly.  He wants us to know “He’s the source of our strength.  He’s the strength of our life. We can lift our hands in total praise to Him!” (Richard Smallwood-Total Praise)

A Very Great Reward!

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1

There is a beautiful song that sings, “Thou oh Lord, are a shield about me.  You’re my glory and the lifter of my head…”

In Abraham’s case he was childless, but God said, “Lift up your head, Abram and count the stars-if indeed you can count them.  Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be.”  Genesis 15:5    

Where there is a lack in our life-God fills the void with a promise.  So often, we mope around, with our heads hung down so focused on what we don’t have.  But God wants to turn those few loaves into enough to feed the multitudes.  We have to stop focusing on the small voids in our lives, and trust God that He can fulfill a promise for us that is exceedingly abundantly more than we could have asked or imagined. 

Abraham never could have imagined that he would be called, “The Father of many nations.”

“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.  No longer will you be called Abram; your name with be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.  I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.”  Genesis 17:4

If Abraham had stayed focused on the little thing, He would have missed the great blessing God had planned for him. 

So often in Abraham’s journey he didn’t know what he was doing! He just took God at His Word, and with every small test of faith, God enlarged His territory and it enabled him to receive the fullness of blessing that God had prepared in advance for Him. 

Through it all, through it all, my eyes are on you. 

Through it all, through it all, it is well!

(It is Well, Bethel Music)

“Abraham believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6

But, Yet God in His sovereignty always takes it to another level.  He doesn’t want us to focus on our little voids, or even on the great promise.  He wants us to know in the end-He in the fullness of His Love is what we are truly seeking.  For only He is our very great reward!

A Father's Dream

“They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”  Jeremiah 17:8

Rooted deep within

A river streams;

of Father’s dreams-

For children well and fed.

The heat may come,

The blazing sun-

Still we in radiant gleam.

A time of drought,

No worry pout,

For fruit will

Sweetly green.

Threshold

I stand at the

Threshold and wait,

As one door opens,

One key breaks.

I step inside and

light flickers on.

Just enough light for

The step I’m on.

Then you enter in

And my garden-

Full in bloom.

The scent is sweeter

Than the rarest

Perfume.

The light now

beckons me

to turn.

Even in darkness

I feel its burn.

Being His bride

And beloved friend-

I find I’m alive

And safe within.

Friendship

“Jesus, you are like an open book with pages yet to be written…” Cathy

There is a song I’ve been singing for years, “Knowing You” by Graham Kendrick.  

All I once held dear
Built my life upon
All this world reveres
And wants to own
All I once thought gain
I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now
Compared to this

Knowing You Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You're my all, You're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love You

I was thinking about friendship. It takes years to build a good friendship.  It takes trials, set-backs, tests, and trust.  It takes investment.  Then over time we truly get to know each other and value each other.  We can sit in silence and enjoy the power of just being together.  There is so much to be gained through friendship.  In friendship we find true connection, meaning, energy, peace, and joy.  In friendship we connect to our true selves.

And how much more inspiring is the friendship of the Lord which builds us up over time in being faithful, in being present, in showing up on our behalf for so many years and in so many ways..

Nothing in all the earth compares to the power and simplicity of Knowing Him!

Jesus says, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”  John 15:15

Splendor

But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:5-6

When Peter is reinstated by the Lord after his denial, the Lord asks him three times, “Peter, Do you love me?” John 21:15-19

I think the question, “Do you love me?”  could be interchangeable with the question, “Do you trust me?”  I think many followers of Jesus would respond positively when asked if they loved the Lord.  But what if they were asked, “Do you trust him?”  I wonder if the response would be so favorable.

Trust is a difficult pill to take; especially when we consider the uncertainty of our future and we are called to step out into the unknown.  Trust is difficult when we have known failure and heartache.  But through it all, the question remains does God have our best interest at heart?

There are people all around us that can trigger painful memories, but can God turn those painful memories around for us in that they become healing agents for others, and become a launching pad to more trust in a Faithful God?

Someone once said, “Fear is the greatest enemy to faith.”  I would add, “Lack of Trust is, too.”

I don’t know which question will hold more weight in Glory, “Did you love me?  or Did you trust me?”  I think Love and Trust are divinely interrelated.

Brennan Manning, Author of “The Ragamuffin Gospel” once said, “How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved!”

Life Abundantly

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…”  John 14:6

Jesus came that He might show us the Way of Love…

Jesus came that He might speak the Truth and bring light…

Jesus came that we “Might Have Life and that Life Abundantly.”

I am the Way-

Love is the right attitude in action.  1^st Corinthians Chapter 13 says, “Love is patient, Love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.  Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.  Love never fails.”

I am the Truth-

Jesus always spoke the truth in love and the truth is like light shining in the night.  It’s penetrating, it’s piercing, and it’s brilliant.  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light!” Isaiah 9:2

I am the Life-

Jesus came to conquer death once and for all and grant us life eternally.  So much of the Abundant life comes from being connected and filled with His Holy Presence, and to be able to experience the fruit of the Spirit which is, “love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23

Jesus is the way, the truth and the Life!

“Come follow me, Jesus says, and I will send you out to fish for people.”  Matthew 4:19

A King

“I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in Spirit, to revive the Spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”  Isaiah 57:15

Can you imagine a King who left His throne and palace to go and live with His People?

Well, that’s what Jesus did.  There are many reasons why Jesus came to earth, but I believe one of those reasons is He was so attracted to humble and repentant hearts that he had to come closer.

He couldn’t let them go unnoticed.  He had to restore the crushed Spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.  These were His followers.

He wanted to be near them, to bless them, to affirm them-to bridge the gap between them.

So, this King didn’t just stop there-He said, I have to do one more thing.  I need to save my people.

I will ransom my life for theirs.  This is the highest and holiest act of love ever written.

And that’s the kind of King we serve, but the truth is He’s really the one who serves us….

"For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?  Is it not the one who is at the table?  But I am among you as one who serves.”-Jesus (Luke 22:27)

Jesus Reigns!

The Holy City

I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Revelation 21:2

The New Jerusalem is symbolic of many things but also of God’s fulfillment of His promises to His people.  Like the great, Consummation.

Consider brides, and all the preparing and planning it takes for their wedding day; hoping not one detail is missed.

This, concerning the New Jerusalem John prophesies, “The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself was made of pure gold, as pure as glass.  The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone:  The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third, chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.”  Revelations 21:18-20

The New Jerusalem is a beautiful promise over time taking place, just like a bride waiting and preparing for the day she will be wed.

The parable of the 10 virgins is a beautiful parable of brides who kept their lamps burning for the bridegroom to appear.

And isn’t that the challenge for us all, will our hearts still be burning with the flame of love for the bridegroom when He returns?

Hold on to the promise-Fan into flame the Gift of God! (2Tim 1:6)