Ordinary Miracles

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Sometimes we hear God’s voice in unexpected places. Just ask Moses. A blazing bush all afire with glory and a mission impossible coming straight from heaven’s throne…not your ordinary day with the sheep. My life seems so much less amazing, more slow-moving, filled with detours and distractions. Some days I wish I could hear God that vividly and life-changingly.

But it occurs to me in this Advent season of waiting that it’s all a matter of perspective, because Moses spent forty years leading sheep around, day in and day out in that wilderness, occupied with the mind-numbingly everyday existence of water and grass, wool and lambs, getting married and raising a son. Decades of slow-moving days with only the ordinary sounds of life. But when he wrote it down later he was careful to note that “God saw the people of Israel– and God knew.” (Exodus 2:25) In all those ordinary slow-moving days, God was there and God was at work to bring about His plans, listening to the cries of His people for deliverance. And when the time was right he spoke to the man He had prepared for the task and bullied him into doing it. Really. A man just as full of insecurities and fears as I am, who needed some pushing to get him going.

When Moses saw the bush on that one not-so-ordinary day he knew it was worth turning aside from his work to see, important enough to stop and listen. An impressive sight, certainly, but in the solitude of the open spaces under the stars and the changing seasons he had already seen the glory of God in a million everyday ways, listened to the wind and the thunder and the still small voice of God’s presence…and I wonder if he felt like he was waiting for deliverance too, if he recognized the bush for what it was: a fiery milestone of change in his life.

As I listen for God’s voice amid the everyday sounds of an ordinary life, let me remember that He is here and He knows. He is working out His plans, listening to the cries of His people, has a part for me to play if I will pay attention and not get distracted by the pull of media, and shopping, and people’s needs, and chores needing done. I don’t need to be discouraged by the slow passage of time. Because here in the everyday I am tuning my heart to His, bending to obey, and persevering to fill the purpose He has for me.

And if I can learn to hear God’s voice in the ordinary days, then someday when the Extraordinary blazes down from heaven, I will recognize it and be ready to follow. Really, which is the larger miracle, that a bush can burn with glory in the desert… or that God Himself speaks to me in the everyday,  in the quiet spaces of my heart? Emmanuel, God with us…I am listening.

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“It is amazing what the quiet holding of the soul before the Lord will do to the external and seemingly uncontrollable tumult around us. It is in that stillness that the Voice will be heard, the only voice in all the universe that speaks peace to the deepest part of us.” Elizabeth Elliot

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“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”
(Lamentations 3:25)

When Hope is What You Really Need

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In the space of a week Seasons turn, and we go from thanks-giving to waiting, preparing for the birth-day of the Christ Child. And as usual, trepidation and excitement wrestle in my heart for the upper hand. It’s a battle between all the extra work of the season and all the things I truly love about Christmas, and it remains to be seen which feeling will come out on top. I know I am not alone in the mixed feelings. Despite all the glitter and gaiety, or maybe because of it, there is an undercurrent of quiet desperation– as if the whole world feels most strongly this time of year just how much we need a Savior. This is why we observe Advent, to remember in this month of preparation that the fears of our hearts and our wild hopes for happy endings intersected in a stable-cave in Bethlehem long ago on that Holy Night, when all of God’s promises were poured into flesh….all of them “fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

So here at the beginning of Winter…as the Christmas season launches headlong into its race to be bigger, do more, shine brighter… as one year crosses out its last days and another looms large ahead, we unpack our trappings of Christmas and mark off the days of our waiting. We light the candles and read again the old story, unpack the traditions of our years that are rich with meaning, hang the angels on the tree, and wrap up surprise gifts for those we love. All with the silent message: there is Hope for every longing heart. For God Himself has come down to us, and the world cannot ever be the same again.

For all who have held onto the bare branches of Winter and searched hard for Hope, listened long through the night for answers that never seem to come, looked at the blank expanse of a new year with nothing but dread at its enormity, the lights on the tree shine through the window like little beacons lighting the way. The beauty of this Season calls to the spirit, somehow– whispers what we are straining to hear all year long– that there is magic in this old world, something More than what we see and touch, something of eternal value and immense meaning hidden behind the glittery trappings. And the angels on the tree hold out hope in their hands: “See, the Sovereign Lord comes….He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” (Isaiah 40:10-11)

But this season of frantic Joy to The World can grind you down to weariness, take away every last shred of peace if you are not looking for the One who brings it. Ironic, isn’t it, that the very way we celebrate the birth of the Savior only serves to underline our need for deliverance. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah seven hundred years ahead of time to reassure us about His coming: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice…” (Isaiah 42:3) The Creator stoops to our need, bends to lift up a fragile broken world and make it new with His own flesh-and-blood hands. There is help for the burdens we carry, and hope for restoration of every crazy situation we face; the future may be unknown to us, but it is not so to Him, and He will bring justice (in the old-fashioned sense of protecting the innocent and vulnerable, and righting of wrongs). The words of the old hymn resound, “Fear not to trust my mighty arm; it brought salvation down.” (JW Howe) 

The angels over Bethlehem shouted until they shook the heavens, and I am sure it was magnificent and glorious when they announced Jesus’ birth, but I have always been drawn to the laments of the prophets, waiting for God’s promises to come true and reminding God’s people of His faithfulness. Thus saith the Lord…“By Myself I have sworn, My mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear. They will say of Me, ‘In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.’” (Isaiah 45:23-24) This is a solid Hope to hold onto, a compass point to steer by so we don’t get lost amid the shopping and baking and partying; this is the depth of meaning that underlies every sparkle of Christmas. God is with us, and He is for us– if you listen you can hear the angels: “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12)

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” So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

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“He has come for us, this Jesus
He’s the hope for all mankind
He has come for us, The Messiah,
Born to give us life…”
(He Has Come for Us, Meredith Andrews)

Who We Are

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So much of what we have learned about finding our balance is just a matter of living as Christ-followers– responding to God as creatures should, and being transformed as believers should, walking in newness of life as partners in His plan to shine the light of the knowledge of Christ into the world. If we realize a calling specific to us within that Plan, all the better, but we could live a whole life of shining love and doing good, and fulfill His purpose beautifully.

Something stood out to me in one of King David’s songs this week; it caught me again, that connection between belonging to God and thankfulness. Right in the middle there the king tells us to “Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His….”  It is short and direct, something every creature needs to know: the Creator is God and you are not.

Get that much clear and a whole lot of other things in life straighten themselves out too. Remember this, as we prepare for the holiday where we give thanks…while we organize people and plan meals and arrange transportation and vacation time…that there is Someone who made all this, owns all this, rules all this, and the holiday is precisely about giving thanks for what He has provided, even when we make a lot of fuss about our own makings. “We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture….” who truly need a Shepherd to take care of them, because there are some things we can control in this world and so many we cannot. Good thing He is always taking care of us, whether we stop to recognize it and give thanks, or not.

But when you do stop and recognize that He is God– that it is He who rules over creation and provides for every small living creature, including yourself, thanksgiving is the only proper response.

The king sings it out in the next lines, flowing from one thought to the next so naturally that praise becomes the obvious overflowing of a person who knows his identity: “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name!”

It’s easy to forget sometimes that all this is gift and grace. Easy to take life for granted because it’s all we’ve ever known, and easy to wish we had something different, when we compare ourselves to others. Except that we could just as easily compare ourselves to the starving, and the naked and diseased, to see how very blessed we are. David paints it rightly, that our worship comes in full knowledge of our dependence on His goodwill and kindness. And we bless His name for who He is, because “the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever….”  We are the Found Sheep who belong to a loving God, and it is our purpose to give thanks.

Come, ye thankful people, come…

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“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.”
 (Psalm 9:1-2)

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“I am loved;
I am new again;
I am free–
I’m no slave to sin;
I’m saint;
I am righteousness;
I’m alive….
I am all He says I am,
And He says I am His own.”
(All He Says I Am, Gateway Worship)

It’s a Balancing Act

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The biggest surprise, as we learn to find balance in our everyday lives, is how we keep coming back to the topic of doing our own Yard-work. See, that’s a word picture we use to talk about what God has given us– the circle of influence or realm of responsibility for which we will be held accountable. This is at the core of emotional and spiritual and mental health, to know where your circle ends and another person’s begins, and to invest your energy within your own Yard. The Bible calls it being a wise steward. Psychologists call it being highly effective. Whatever. We just realize that life works better when we know what is ours to do and what isn’t. But who would have thought that living a life of balance and being a good steward would turn out to be so much the same sort of thing?

We talk about schedules and which of us likes to plan and which of us tends to fly by the seat of our pants, and we laugh at each other, because we know in the end that unscheduled interruptions and unexpected circumstances are common to all. What any of us can do is work wisely and well within our circle of influence, and leave the rest in God’s capable hands. Of course that is harder than it sounds, because it is in our nature to worry about the unknown– and where does Wise Preparation end, and Trying to Control the Outcome begin? It definitely takes faith, and clear vision to live purposefully in the face of a future that is known only to Someone else. Taking one step at a time. Just doing the next thing, and trusting our Father to lead us on through the expected and the unexpected. But without the balance, we will teeter-totter between chaos and rigidity, and no heart can survive that for long.

When we talk about guarding our hearts diligently, and figuring out what to sow in order to reap the life we desire, we are right back to looking at our Yards again. The Wise King warned, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23) Because if we are not paying attention to the attitudes and values at our core, we can hardly be surprised when our choices go in all the wrong directions, or our words wreak havoc in relationships. We certainly can’t complain about how life turns out if we have left our own hearts in disarray. In gardening terms, you can’t let dandelions and crab grass take over your Yard, and then wonder why you don’t have a lush beautiful lawn. If you want the lawn, you have to do the work of weeding and watering and mowing. Balance between work and rest means taking responsibility for how we live– thinking about our yes and our no so that busyness is interspersed with marginal spaces. It means diligently pursuing health and wholeness within. It’s really just being a good steward of the person God has made you to be. The Wise King spells it out for us: “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” (Proverbs 4:26)

Even when we talk about balancing faith and works, it all comes down to knowing what I am responsible for and what God is responsible for. My soul is in His hands, and my eternal destination depends entirely on what the Beloved One accomplished for me at the cross. “…it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) On this my faith rests, and it has nothing to do with what I can do or earn or deserve, for He has done it and given it freely. But what I choose to do out of faith has all kinds of good results– it accomplishes much that pleases Him and serves others. If I don’t  understand what is mine to do, it gets easy to veer into keeping the rules to earn righteousness, and worrying if I have done enough for God to love me.

I see a pattern emerging, that when I am out of balance in my life, in my spirit, it is because I have forgotten to some degree what is in my Yard and what isn’t. Either I am neglecting to do what is mine to do, or I am trying to extend my reach into other people’s Yards, into things I care about but aren’t mine to fix. That fundamental lack of perspective is human in every way– it’s a function of our broken sovereignty. After all, when people who were made to rule over a planet as God’s image-bearers decide instead to scrounge up their own kingdom out of dust, confusion about their actual abilities is to be expected.

Imbalance can show up as condemnation, and then Jesus says “…first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5) It can look like anxious thoughts that keep me up at night, and I can hear the Church-planter Paul’s words: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6) It can take the form of stress and inner turmoil, and the Wise King counsels, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) It can even show up as pressing need and very real fear, and again Jesus promises that “your Father knows what you need before you ask him…So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ” (Matthew 6:8, 31) 

God’s Words reminds me over and over what is mine to do and what is outside of my control, brings me to my knees in worship before the rightful sovereign Ruler. He directs my attention back to my own Yard, where I will be most productive and healthy, and He promises to take care of all the things that concern me– assures me in every way possible of His love, and His goodness, and His power. When I am being a good steward of what He has given me, and praising God for all He does, that is when I finally find balance for all the aspects of my life.

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“Therefore, my dear friends…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12)

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“God I give You all I can today–
These scattered ashes that I hid away;
I lay them all at Your feet.
From the corners of my deepest shame,
The empty places where I’ve worn Your name.
Show me the love I say I believe.

Help me to lay it down.
Oh Lord I lay it down…
Oh let this be where I die;
My Lord with thee crucified
Be lifted high, as my Kingdom’s fall
Once and for all, once and for all.”
(Once and for All, Lauren Daigle)

 

Of Juggling and Digging for Treasure

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I have become good at the circus act…like most women I know. Juggling, wearing of many hats, role-changes in a matter of minutes. The fact is, our busy lives pretty much require this kind of skill on a daily basis. It’s a balancing act to keep up with everyone’s schedules, switch gears between work and relationships and ministry and household tasks that simply must be done so that people have clean shirts to wear and  hot dinner on the table, and somehow keep my own person and relationships intact. But I am good with details and organizing, and sometimes it seems like I can just keep adding more in, if I organize it right….just one more small piece here and there, and if I just shift this over a bit I can fit one more thing in that spot.

With that kind of mindset, having a relationship with God can become just one more thing to fit in, another plate to keep spinning in this big juggling act.

But the satisfaction in being a Woman Who Can Juggle Many Plates is short-lived, and I heard someone say it again today, that we have learned how to “live crazy” and are working hard to teach our kids the same. When did we ever get the idea that doing more is what makes us more– that doing a lot is the same as doing well? My parents always said “If you are going to do something, do it well.” But back then it meant quality over quantity. It  meant taking your time to think it through and do it well, so that you could be satisfied with what you accomplished. No regrets. That proverb applies to projects and tasks. It applies to lives, and if I only have one of those with no chance to do it over, then it makes sense to take the time to evaluate its quality….make sure I am living well.

Jesus told His closest friends that “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44) The reaction of this man in the story seems old-fashioned, somehow, and narrow-minded. My first thought is how much simpler life was back then, that this guy would sell everything for the sake of something he found in a field of dirt. But that’s not the point at all, is it?  The story is about the sheer value of knowing God, and the sensible response when you realize that fact. The man lays down his entire juggling act– trades it all in for the precious possession of a relationship with God. Get that one treasure and nothing else really matters. The Church-planter Paul said it this way “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ…” (Philippians 3:7-9) It sounds almost too simple to be true, and calls into question the busy-ness we have come to accept as necessary.

But what if the Circus of Everyday Life is just part of the Enemy’s fog cover? What if all the urgent demands for our time and attention are not as vital as they appear? What if more isn’t better, and everything we are chasing after is nothing more than a school of red herrings? While the real treasure is buried quietly in the clay and could easily be passed over, unawares. Or worse yet, snatched up with only a passing glance and added into the spinning plates I can manage.

It’s not like you have to be a farmer digging around in the dirt to find treasure; Paul was on the road to Damascus, breathing fire and seething hatred against the new sect that claimed Jesus had risen from the dead. He was ready to kill them all, if it meant preserving the life he was used to– mind you, he was quite good at organizing thoughts and words and people. Until Jesus (aflame in His resurrected power) burst in on the traveler, and everything Paul had been doing suddenly meant nothing in light of the glory of God. He just laid it all down there in the middle of the road and it didn’t even matter that his physical eyes were blinded, because the eyes of his spirit had seen the Kingdom of Heaven and his heart was bursting full of joy. Later on he would say that God ”made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) It was the man in the field all over again.

And really, isn’t that how this treasure comes to us, in earthen flesh? A miraculous Baby in a dirty manger….the Son of God walking these fields and laying His head down at night….a  perfect Lamb dying on a hillside….a Body buried in a rocky cave for only a little while….until one morning it wasn’t. The treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven hidden in plain sight, and maybe it’s not so much a matter of digging around to find it, as it is opening our eyes to finally see what is truly valuable.

Maybe rushing around in this balancing circus-act is actually as crazy as it feels sometimes, and giving up everything we possess to gain Christ and His righteousness is the most perfectly sane and reasonable choice on earth. It’s worth considering.

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“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

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“Busy is a choice. Stress is a choice. Joy is a choice. You get to choose. Choose well.” (Ann VosKamp)

Winds of Change

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Sometimes you just feel stuck, in so many ways. When you are trying to pursue the good and do what is right, but old ways keep hanging on, and sometimes you wonder if you are really making a difference or growing at all. When your heart feels like it’s broken, and you know life isn’t easy for anyone, and none of us get to choose our own crosses, but who can show you how to carry this one? When what comes next seems impossible to face, but there’s no other way to go except forward. We all get stuck sometimes, when life isn’t what we want it to be and we wish we were somewhere else.

But no matter how much it feels like standing still on the inside, the currents of time and change are carrying us through day after day on the outside, and before we know it the landscape is beginning to look different, and we are awakening to new perspectives. It’s like when you were a child on a long road trip and falling asleep somewhere on the endless winding highway, only to wake up hours later in a whole different state. Setting us in time might be just one more Divine mercy, because as much as we wish we could hold onto the precious moments, there are far too many moments that would destroy us if they lasted beyond their God-given limits. Indeed, this is how God holds out hope to us– He points us forward, always, opening our eyes to what is ahead. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19) But His work is more like the  gradual nurturing and nudging of a gardener than the radical renovating of a construction crew. Jesus described the Holy Spirit like the wind that moves invisibly around us– we can see and feel its effects here and there, and only if we are watching for it.

For everyone who feels stuck in whatever circumstance or in feelings that just won’t go away, Jesus’ beloved disciple John reminds us tenderly that we are in process, and the happy ending is yet to come: “Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.” (1 John 2:28) As real as our experience is in this river of Time, we are constantly being reminded that there is an unseen realm as well, that operates by different principles– and someday we will be able to step easily out of this current, with eyes wide open, onto the banks of a new land. This is our hope, anchored in Christ’s sacrifice of blood and in the love of the Father that moved heaven and earth to reach us before we drowned. The Church-Planter Paul frequently reminded the early believers of the reality of this hope, because he knew how easy it is to get discouraged here. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

So hang in there, and keep your eyes open for what God is going to do for you. There is truly only one thing that never changes: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)  Everything else is in constant slow process under God’s watchful eyes.

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“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:18, The Message)

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“The cross you’ve been given — is always God’s kindest decision. The cross you carry — is carrying you toward who you are meant to be.” (Ann VosKamp)

 

A Mother’s Super-Power

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The world is a scary place, maybe for mothers most of all. Whether we are sending our baby girl off to preschool for the first time, or releasing our young men to pursue their dreams, our hearts race on ahead of them, and we are profoundly aware of all the ways the world will hurt and confound them…how swiftly and irrevocably tragedy can fall. Any mother can tell you, we would face lions to keep safe the ones we love. And any mother can tell you, we know there are so many giants out there that our growing-up children will have to face alone. This is the particular strength and vulnerability of a mother’s heart.

But we are not alone with our fears and we are far from helpless, because the God who made us designed our hearts to look like His, to mirror the nurturing care He has for all His creation. Jesus reminds us that His Father God feeds all the little songbirds; He watches when they fly and when they fall. The same Creator who tells Job that He keeps track of when the wild goats give birth, describes Himself as “a bear robbed of her cubs” to the prophet Hosea. He appeals to a mother’s love as the highest standard, to help us understand how He feels: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (Isaiah 49:15) It is one of the most intimate and passionate promises in the Scriptures.

Perhaps this is one reason that many women become such warriors in their prayers: expressing their hearts to God’s in that shared intensity for the needs and well-being of others, a common language of love. Women like this are affirming Paul’s conviction that “neither death nor life…nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) Although our children will certainly face monsters in this world…of bigotry, of injustice, of violence, of harsh words and harder consequences, of war and disease and heartbreak…yet we understand God’s heart and we say with Paul, “if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32) All the monstrous evil in this world is overcome with the blood of the Lamb, God’s own fierce sacrifice of love for us, and nothing has the power to destroy us in the shadow of His Cross.

So we can stand firm on truth in the midst of a frightening world, and be who God made us to be. We can teach our children to know their Creator and follow His ways, so that they have a foundation on which to build. We can show them how to live with integrity, how to walk in faith, and how to serve in love. We can pray with them and for them in Jesus’ mighty Name and claim His protection over them.

And we can rest our hearts in knowing that He loves our children even more than we do, and He is at work in their lives as He has been in our own. We can trust His love and faithfulness to follow them all the days of their lives. This we can do, as mothers, and take captive every fear.

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“The LORD is my light and my salvation– whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life– of whom shall I be afraid?… Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.” (Psalm 27:1, 3)

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“Peace be still, You are near
There’s nowhere we can go
That You won’t shine redemption’s light
Our guilt withdrawn
As You rise, we come alive
The grave has lost, the old is gone
And You’re making all things new
You are making all things new
You are making all things new
And we are free”
(All Things New, Elevation)

Speaking from the Heart

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As we explore the topic of silence, it is inevitable that we talk about the words we speak. Not only does practicing silence require us to speak less and listen more, but it also gets at the heart of the matter– specifically the heart that is in us. We are seeing more and more how listening to God is a heart-stillness, a heart-readiness, a heart-focus, rather than an outer condition or environment. At some point it seems reasonable to turn that inside out, and look at how our changing inner hearts will affect the words that come out of us.

It’s pretty straightforward cause and effect, that a heart tuned toward Self will produce words that promote your welfare and your concerns…and the more one’s heart is consumed with God, the more your words start to reflect His beauty, His nature, His concerns. Similarly, when you are filled with thankfulness for His blessings, it’s much harder to complain on the outside. When your heart longs for more of His beauty and goodness, the words to make yourself the center of attention just don’t even seem to matter any more. This connection between heart and words is predictable enough to be plotted on a graph. And we laughed ruefully as a group, about the mathematics of words…how a greater volume of words leads to increased potential for the wrong ones coming out, and for useless chatter…and how we women are good at using words. (Sobering when you realize that in terms of sheer verbal potential, women are twice as likely as men to let their tongues get into trouble.)

But looking at the math does make you consider the words you speak in a day and how you will spend them…makes you take a long look at what is inside of you. Jesus put it in more agrarian terms when he said a tree is known by the fruit it produces. “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.” (Luke 6:43) But His point is the same, that words and actions grow out of the soil of a person’s heart. It may take awhile to look past the showy leaves and bright colors, but the proof is always in the quality of the fruit.

James borrows the analogy and adds the idea of a water well, mocking the idea that you can draw both good and bad water out of the same place. We all understand how what is inside is eventually going to bubble up into our speech, even if we are trying very hard to keep our mouths shut. So rather than figuring out ways to guard our tongues, it seems like we would do better to guard our hearts– and then here we are, back to the value of cultivating silence before God. When the insides are silent and resting in His presence, that kind of thing can’t help but show up on the outside. And it’s starting to sound a lot like what Paul was encouraging us to do: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8)  A heart that is focused on Him and full of praise for who He is, is going to overflow into words that are “helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Ephesians 4:28) 

Lord, help us to keep putting these things into practice in our everyday lives, “and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

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“Simply to refrain from talking, without a heart listening to God , is not silence.” (Richard Foster)

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“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11)

 

In The Silence

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You would think silence would be an easy thing to practice. I mean, really…is it even something you can Do? Or is it more of a Not-Doing? And yet it is oddly difficult to choose silence, and do it repeatedly, consistently. We tend to consider it a moment of happenstance, however welcome it may come, or maybe something to pursue every now and then if we are unusually overwhelmed by normal life. My brother-in-law flees to the woods and the mountains periodically in his year, deliberately exchanging his busy people-oriented life for the peace and quiet of nature for a week or two to re-charge his emotional batteries. Several mothers I know would probably settle for a half hour alone anywhere, for any purpose, even locked in the bathroom…and even that is no guarantee of actual silence. As a regular spiritual practice, it seems rather foreign to us (or maybe a little too mystical) and we wonder how exactly one goes about such a thing and why it matters.

The late author/professor Dallas Willard suggests that we practice silence in two ways: by evading noise and intrusive sounds (whether traffic, or Pandora radio, or alarms, or kitchen appliances) and by avoiding talk. Not that any of these are bad things, but they do distract and clutter our minds and spirits with constant noise that requires us to multi-task just to function. Because we are surrounded by such noise from birth, we are hardly even aware of it as a stressor. Our ears and brains have grown accustomed to filtering out what we deem unnecessary and focusing on whatever we need in the moment, and often partially focusing on several things at once. It doesn’t feel like hard work at all– it feels like normalcy. And therein lies the subtle misdirection of our energies, so that normal everyday surroundings claim more and more of our attention, our brains grow used to the constant distractions….and silence becomes more and more an occasional oddity.

It shouldn’t be surprising then, that we rarely sink into the contemplative awareness that lets us examine our hearts and connect with God meaningfully. I wonder how many of us Christ-followers are withering away on the inside from chronic neglect of the spirit while we chase after the tyranny of the urgent on the outside? So our challenge this week is to try out silence, like a new dress in a clothing store– just trying on ten minutes a day of retreating and listening to the quiet, turning our attention towards our Heavenly Father.

It may be harder than it seems, to create that small respite from the noise. Now that I am looking for the silence, I am discovering how loud my world actually is, and how hard it is to pull away from the constant input, even if it is only the quiet noise of written words. For me, silence won’t happen on its own, and if I don’t intentionally step off the merry-go-round to grow this healthy habit I will just keep whirling around in the familiar sensory overload.

And of course when you start looking for silence it doesn’t take you long to realize that outer silence does not guarantee inner stillness. You can find quiet places and still have the inner roar of thoughts and emotions. But the silence is a place to start. Not for His sake (as if He requires the silence to speak to us), but for ours, so we are in a place where we can hear Him. Because God is always with us and His Spirit is always speaking to His own, if we have ears to hear. Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) It’s as much a heart issue as it is an ears issue; what you actually hear often depends on what you value…what you are seeking. Those who are serious about following the Good Shepherd want to catch His every word, will drop everything to listen to Him….don’t care about normal as much as they care about growing closer to Him. I suspect that as we train ourselves to be still and listen in God’s presence, we will discover great riches in the silence. And in the silence we will be able to agree with David, “The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.” (Psalm 23:1-2)

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“Our habits unclothe us — they expose our wounds, our insecurities, our idols, our addictions — or our hopes, our dreams, our prayers. Our habits are us. The patterns of our lives reveal the form of our souls….You change your life when you change what you do everyday.” (Ann VosKamp)

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“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Hebrews 4:12)

Carried

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For the days when the weight of this world seem too heavy to bear, and you wonder if you are going to make it, remember that He is big enough to carry us all. The brokenness of our sin and disease….the heart-wounds and empty places of our lives….all the peoples of the world crying out for deliverance….there is the Cross at the center of our human existence, the sacrifice of our Savior answering with His own flesh and blood: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.” (John 14:6)

On days like this He is the only place to run. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)

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“Take this fainted heart
Take these tainted hands
Wash me in Your love
Come like grace again
Even when my strength is lost I’ll praise You
Even when I have no song I’ll praise You
Even when it’s hard to find the words
Louder then I’ll sing Your praise
I will only sing Your praise…”
(Praise Song, Hillsong United)

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“Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.”
(1 Peter 5:7-9)