Perched Beside Provision

There are days when we are met with great challenges and tests to the mettle of our lives. We have unexpected hardships that knock on our door, we gaze at a checkbook that holds a single digit balance while looking at a stack of unopened bills or we receive a report from the doctor that tells us that our time frame of life has suddenly changed causing us to count the blessing of virtually every minute.

Life is fraught with hard times and challenges that test the stuff that we're made of and that's just a fact, however, we have been given every tool of provision that we need to get through the tough times. 

I have a hummingbird that paints the picture of that provision every single morning for me. He comes and lands on the iron rod that holds my hummingbird feeder and I smile. He comes knowing that I'll have placed the sweet nectar that he craves into that red bottle. He comes and sits and looks at me as if to say ”thank you for being an instrument of provision for me”. Now there are most certainly other places for his provision had I not hung that feeder and he would still be cared for by his maker but these days he comes if only to remind me of the faithfulness of provision that he perches next to. 

If we as human beings could only get a handle on the truth of that like my little humming bird. We have also been provided with a tool of provision that will carry us through and at the same time provide us with sweet nectar that will soothe our pain  and blanket us with care on the hard days. That provision is Gods Word. How many times are we in distress and sit, tear filled on the sofa, smack dab beside a Bible and have never picked it up? How often do we sit in our family rooms right next to a bookcase where dust gathers on the greatest treasure of care and provision that we are privileged to have?

We are like that hummingbird in every way being provided for yet we are perched and seemingly never notice the red feeder. We don't open the book to read the red words that were spoken by Jesus to teach us how to pray and how to love and how to endure. 

We become filled with doubt where our next dollar and meal will come from and we cry ourselves to sleep with the words ”why God” on our lips.

You're perched right beside your provision and its there waiting for you to ingest the sweet nectar of healing and comfort. The red words point straight to the one who has already provided and sacrificed it all so that you can know and trust exactly like that little hummingbird. 

So as you sit perched from wherever you are today, stop and notice! Notice the beautiful provision. I promise you it will feed your wounded soul and gratify every hunger pang that you'll ever have. It's beautiful and right there at your fingertips. 

Midnight Weavers

There is a sort of magic that happens outside of my house in the wee hours. That's when the weavers come out. They can't be seen too many times during the day but they work their magic when all gets quiet and the darkness settles over the mountains. It's sort of a wondrous thing to behold. The sun comes up over the horizon and floods the nooks and crannies of my front porch and their handiwork becomes visible. At times their weaving is highlighted by little droplets of dew that make their amazing works of art sparkle when the sunlight hits them. I find it simply beautiful. Now, I haven't always found it beautiful. When I first moved into this house in the country I saw these striking works of art as "nuisance cobwebs". I would come out onto the porch and find them everywhere, every morning! I could go around with my broom and sweep them off of the chair rungs, the storm door and my plants on the rails grumbling as I swept away their industrious nights work. I soon realized that it was simply fruitless. As I sat down to drink my coffee with the sunrise one day, sighing that I had to brush yet another cobweb off of my rocker, I succumbed at last to the futility of my morning task. I sat rocking and noticing really how gifted and creatively talented that God had made these little midnight weavers. In my quest for web-free living, I had not stopped long enough to see the beauty of their work. Every fiber that they wove had to be attached to something. Every circle that they spun connected to every anchor strand as if a master architect had painstakingly designed it. They worked their weaving towards the center forming a beautiful tapestry of lines that are breathtaking when I took the opportunity to actually notice their form. Their little canvases were formed everywhere; they worked their magic between my porch rails. Their creative work could be seen on my wicker settee  and they even connected the branches of my potted jade tree on the post. There seemed to be no nook or corner that was left untouched. The morning light revealed their nighttime spinning and it was really quite glorious. Their soul task and focus was to weave their web, the tool that God instinctively designed in them so that they could capture their food. Small bugs and insects get caught in the web and the midnight weavers gather their sustenance from the prisoners of their handiwork. It all is wonderfully thought out and planned so they can be provided for as our Masters plan. The birds of the air do not toil or spin but they know that their Creator has provided food in nature to meet their needs. The deer find the streams when they are thirsty and the eagle has the sharpest of vision allowing him to soar and swoop down to find his provision. Our creator designed all of it and it's a perfect and beautiful dance. It allows us to see and be reassured that He will do the same for us when we need our provision. And just like my little midnight weavers, my life needs to have anchor points. I need my relationships and family to anchor me. I need fellowship with other believers to encourage me. I need to study and read Gods Word to truly anchor me in my faith. All of these things form the warp of my life's tapestry. God will then make a finished work of me with all of the other strands of life situations, struggles, tears, joys and triumphs to form the weave of my tapestry. It's alll a part of the Master Architects design you see. Purposeful and perfect. It's all, I'm totally convinced of, a part of the amazing plan that once more points us ever to Christ and His perfect work. Col. 2:2 says, "I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ." How beautiful and purposeful and perfect is his plan for us. It's intricately woven for us, for our benefit. Isn't that just like a good good father, always and ever thinking of his children. I love his plan, woven just for me! It makes my heart smile. Now, every time I come out with my coffee to sit I purpose to see the handiwork of my little midnight weavers and be reminded of my own tapestry of love that is still 'under construction'. I truly desire it to be as glorious with every mornings light as the spinnings on my front porch. Thank you God for allowing me to see that beauty through your little midnight weavers. 

Beautiful Agony

This morning I saw a picture in my gardening magazine of the most beautiful flowering tree. My breath was literally quite taken at the beauty of its colorful yellow blossoms. But, upon closer research I found that there was an enormous “agony”, if you will, to having this particular beautiful flowering tree. You see this tree, for all of its beauty on the outside has massive thorns looming just under the blooms. These thorns can actually grow up to 10 inches in length. This tree is known as a “Jerusalem Thorn” tree. 

It’s funny how my eye was drawn straight away to the blossoms, the exterior. I was so taken by their beauty that what was lurking on the inside of all the beauty simply went unnoticed. Isn’t that true of a lot of things. King David found himself looking upon and craving the beauty of Bathsheba and fell pray to the ugliness of sin that lay in wait for him, ensnaring him into the darkness of murder, death and adultery. Eve saw the beautiful apple and secondarily noticed the serpent that cunningly caused her and Adam and the rest of humanity to forever deal with the reality of pain and death. 

There is beauty in this life but many times there is the agony that can come along with the beauty. Sacrifices made to make things better can be painful. The allure of sin can be tempting and hard to overcome but there is also the agony that follows temptations selfish decisions. This is where love steps in! All the hasty, knee-jerk, self-centered and self fulfilling moments are redeemable and it was an act of love that set the stage for the beauty to shine amidst the agony of the price. And there is always a price! But, the price was covered, paid in full and it was done by the greatest act of love ever recorded. And “yes” there was agony that we can’t even begin to imagine that followed. In the words of singer/songwriter Stephen Curtis Chapman. . . .

“And it's beautiful agony that He believes it's not too late for me. This is how love wins, every single time, climbing high upon a tree where someone else should die. This is how Love heals, the deepest part of you, letting Himself bleed into the middle of your wounds. This is what Love says, standing at the door, you don't have to be who you've been before. Silenced by His voice, death can't speak again, This is how Love wins!”

Beautiful Agony redeems! For all the agony that we know He went through, a painful crown formed from a beautiful tree, made  the beauty of that act illustrate His great love for us. No deception here, just a love that remains  and a hope that forever lingers leaving a beautiful scent for all who stay and get lost in its fragrance. This is how love wins! 

Troubles of Rocky Rubble

As you may know now if you've been with me for awhile, I love gardening. But I have to be honest with you, this particular year has been a year fraught with obstacles. We moved back to Pennsylvania and of course I wanted to put in a garden. So, I had a very good friend bring his Rototiller to my house and proceed to turn over a plot of land that had never been turned over before. It was a relatively small plot but nonetheless it took him several hours to turn it over. As it turns out, the ground is severely rocky. The soil looks exquisite and rich and perfect for garden soil but “ugh“the rocks are beyond belief. Between the rain making the ground constantly soggy and the rocks making it feel like I was digging into concrete, well it’s been a tough year already. It seems that the elements are against me. The relentless rain and now the rocks. Never have I wanted to give up and walk away more but I look at the trays of vegetables that I have purchased and have been given and I just can’t do it! I know it will be rewarding but the obstacles are almost too much to bear.

As is the case in every scenario of my life there’s a lesson or a story to be told. As I hoed the soil this morning and the rock completely bent the tine of my hoe in half I couldn’t help but hear a voice saying “keep going, it will be worth it in the end I promise you”! Well, whether that was God revealing his extreme great sense of humor or whether it was my internal “never say die” voice, it really doesn’t matter. The lesson here is loud and strong. We will have obstacles in our path in this life. We will have roads of rock and rubble and trouble that try to bend us like the tines on my hoe or break us. In this life we will have trouble, guaranteed! But my word of the year and actually word of my life if I were to be honest,  is “perservere”. It says in Romans 5 ““And not only this, but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance; and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character, hope and confident assurance”. 

So, when you’re in the middle of your “rocky rubble” or troubles, just hang in there! Keep pressing in through the rocks and obstacles and stay focused on the end goal. It WILL produce something in you that is good and wonderful. You will become stronger and learn to handle those troubles with a new determined maturity the next time you face them. Your character will be built up and “sured up” and reinforced for the next bump in your road. My tine (my spirit) my be bent but my previous trip down rocky roads has caused my character to persevere on! 

So, rejoice and be glad if you will and actually give thanks for those “troubles of rocky rubble”! Now, I’m off to hammer out the tine of my hoe and pick up the rocks. This story will be continued and my garden will thrive, I’m sure if it! Stay tuned. . . . 

SINGLEHEART

I've had many people ask me about my user/screen name that I have used for over 20 years now. ”Where did it come from?” ”What does it mean?” And the best one, ”are you single and looking for love?” I truly laugh at that last question because my user name seems to spur on all kinds of spam mail and emails from dating sites.  Truthfully though, I have been happily married for almost 47 years now and I may have been ” looking for love” at one time but I've certainly found it over 50 years ago now. When I could be referring to my husband here, although he's the love of my life, I'm referring to my truest love and that is my Jesus. The truest kind of love can only be found in Him. Now my husband loves me in all the ways a husband can love but my husband can't give me everything that my truest love can and did. You see, I deal with battling dark days and depression and although my husband can love me by praying with me and taking care of me in every way he can, there are still dark days and only one person can rescue me from that darkness. When I seek peace in the midst of my storm, I cry out to Him and he brings peace and dispels the darkness. Oh there have been times when I questioned His presence and questioned whether he saw me in my depression. But His love never fails and His care for me is evident when I feel His peace flow over my spirit in a way that I can't understand. It soothes just when I can't handle another blow. His love and peace embrace me when my strength is gone. What He gives holds me up when I cant stand. There was an old hymn that we used to sing in church when I was young. It was called ”Wonderful Peace”. The lyrics said, ”Peace, peace wonderful peace, coming down from the Father above, sweep over my spirit and help me I pray, with fathomless billows of love”. What a perfect and exact description of what He does for me. Is it any wonder He is my truest love. So, back to the ”singleheart” thing. Many years ago I remember praying and asking the Lord for a heart after him and what would that look like fully? He took me to the bible to Jeremiah 32:39 where it says, ”I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.” Jeremiah spoke ’exactly’ what a heart after God would look like here! I will give them ONE HEART and One Way. That was my desire. I didn't want to be a double minded, fickle follower of Christ but my desire was to be in one accord with Him. That's what happens when you find your truest love I believe. You begin to think alike, act alike and in every way your hearts are so bound together that the two hearts look like ”One Heart”! Something clicked in me so many years ago. I was even privileged for a while to direct our youth drama team and you've probably guessed, we were called ’ONE HEART”. It is the word that I've chosen to chase after a true love relationship ;with ’singleness of heart’. So ”Singleheart” has been the name I have used. It's deep and rich in meaning for me and reminds me, every time I see it or type it in, of the way I choose to love Him. So, on my deepest and darkest days when my heart beat slows down and I feel sadness and dejection slipping over me like a heavy blanket, I know I can speak the name of my truest love and he will do exactly what that old hymn says. ”Sweep over my spirit and help me I pray with fathomless billows of love”. Fathomless means ’unable to be measured or understood’. I will never understand how He does it but I'll never question it because when I call Him, He always does it because we have ’ singleness of heart’ and an immeasurable love. 

IMMERSED

Today, while sipping my morning coffee, I watched a Dove as she fed at my bird feeder on my deck rail. My feeder is a sort of makeshift feeder if you will, one that isn't so pretty but it does the job. It consists of a birdhouse that I purchased at the flea market and on either side, two plastic food containers for holding the bird seed. Yeah, like I said, not pretty but utilitarian completely. As I watched the dove feasting on the seed I noticed that she must have been hungry because it seemed that she couldn't get it fast enough. Then I laughed out loud because she stepped over the edge of the container and sat down right in the middle of the seed and just ate around herself. I think one reason I laughed so hard is my complete relating to her situation. There have been days, I thought to myself, that I was lonely or depressed or just bored and I have spent the day surrounding myself with food to alleviate the problem. I felt like I was eating around myself being fully immersed in the middle of my stuff! This dove was a vivid reminder of just how "immersed" we can get in our issues. It's as though nothing else matters or we don't even notice how consumed we  can get while trying to alleviate our pain by eating around ourselves. It's a funny and ridiculous picture but I'm sure it happens to others as well. Honestly! Tell me I'm not alone in this! At any rate, if you can relate at all just ask yourself this question. . ."what is it that I feel that I've fully immersed myself in and I am mindlessly medicating myself with?" You may be so immersed in your work that you are sleeping all the time and you feel that life is passing you by. You may be suffering grief so badly over a loss of someone that you are self medicating with drugs or alcohol. Or maybe you are so caught up in the mundane things of life like house cleaning, wiping little noses and picking up endless toys or laundry that you feel like you are immersed and drowning in your own weariness. Whatever that looks like just know that the issue isn't in what you are immersed in but the problem or issue comes from our response to that immersion. We can sit in the middle of our stuff and mundanely eat around our pain or we can be like that dove who, just now I might add, stood up and stepped out of where she was and flew off to the rest of her day. We can respond by changing our responses. We can change our obsessive working hours of overtime to get more of the almighty dollar and spend more time with our families instead of sleeping the time away from fatigue. We can grieve for those lost loved ones but reach out to others for companionship and help in the midst of our grief instead of closing the door and sitting alone in our stuff. We can get some housework done, maybe not all of it and then allow those toys to lay there on the floor while we take time for ourselves and our children by getting outside or going to the park. That stuff will always be there to do but our children won't. So what are you immersing yourself in and what is your response to that immersion? The best answer I can give you is one that either you've heard. many many times or one that you don't desire to hear at all. The truth of it, for me at least, has been to fully immerse my self in my relationship with God through worship, fellowship with him in prayer and by the reading of His word. This was the crucial key to my responses to problems and issues when they arose. I no longer want to "eat around myself" medicating my pain with food but what I have immersed myself in and fed upon has been the thing that has equipped me to step out of the seed bin and go on with my day in a victorious and purposeful manner. It has been the answer! You know that little term " you are what you eat?", well, it's true. When you immerse and eat upon the word of God and feast in His presence and worship Him and send up your prayers to Him He will fill you and guide you through your pain, problems and issues. The more deeply we are immersed in a relationship with God the more you love Him and the more you'll look to Him for help. It says in II Timothy 3:16-17" All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be throughly equipped for every good work". So, your immersion question is answered! Immerse yourself in Christ, his word and a relationship with Him and He will be the only medication or remedy to your issues or pain. Praying for you today my friends that you will be free from "eating around yourself" and equipped with His bread of life for newness of life! 

The Blue Speckled Bowl

Who of us can really pinpoint the moment in our lives when a friendship gives birth? Thinking back, I cannot put my finger on the exact day or hour when I ”just knew” we’d be friends but I can tell you this, it started with the gift of a blue speckled bowl. 

That may sound very strange to some but my friendship with this beautiful lady grew wings of sorts when she gifted me with a blue bowl to do my baking in. That was some 30 odd years ago and to this day I can truthfully say that that worn blue speckled bowl is my very favorite. It has seen many a cake, loaf of bread, batch of cookies, picnic salad and much more fill its walls and every time I pull it from the cupboard I can see the face of the friendship that it formed. 

We were created in our Fathers image and we were meant to have relationships and friendships with others. That's just how God designed it. From David and Jonathan to Elijah and Elisha to Paul and Timothy and Ruth and Naomi, friendships demonstrate and model Gods great love for us.

I personally believe that in these days and times we are seeing a ”friendship famine” of sorts so everytime I look at my blue speckled bowl brimming with the next delight to come from my kitchen I'm reminded of the fullness of blessing of friendships that I have in my own life. But sadly, not all can say that. Society has found itself replacing flesh-and-blood relationships with digital friendships and long meaningful conversations with text messages. If you don't feel like I'm totally correct here then please, next time you’re dining out at a restaurant look around. How many people are engaged in what looks to be meaningful conversation and how many are on their cell phones not making eye contact with their dinner partners? What these kinds of so-called ”relationships” do is quite the opposite in reality. They isolate! 

I want to plead with you to live your days out from here on valuing the gift of friendships and true relationships. We were made to reflect our wondrous Creator and ”wired” to have fullness of relationships. To quote pastor and theologian, Jonathan Edwards. . . . ”The well being and happiness of society is friendships. Tis the highest happiness of all moral agents”. We have strayed from the path of this happiness that is supposed to be experienced vertically with God and horizontally with one another. 

In Hebrews we are called to ”exhort one another everday” and to ”encourage one another”. (Heb 3:13) 

The sheer truth of the matter on friendships is that they ”half our sorrows”. We need friends and companions to sit down with us on our dark days and remind us of Jesus’ heart for sinners and sufferers. One of the most amazing things we can give or receive during those times is the gift of companionship. Friends and companions can cut those sorrows in half by simply being there and encouraging us with the right words.

Friendship and solid relationships also point us to the cross because on the cross is where we see displayed the greatest act of love and friendship that was ever known. Jesus said, ”Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”. (John 15:13)

Let's get the order of things back in order! We must treasure God above friendship, thank God for friendship and enjoy and display God through friendship. 

So, as today in preparation for my families Easter dinner I look once more at my blue speckled bowl and think what ingredients it will hold this time as I use it. My friends’ face once more comes to my mind as do the words; kindness, compassion, sacrifice, selflessness, time, caring, trust, and love. All amazing ingredients to a great deal of happiness and joy. I'm thankful for the gift of my friend and for every time I'm reminded of that gift because of a blue speckked bowl.