Seeking Harmony

    

      

      I've often said that I came out of the womb singing harmony, and no wonder with two gifted musicians for parents. I'm sure that, like my son, I was exposed to music from the moment of conception. I can tell you this: Christian danced all the way through a James Taylor concert in my belly, and I'm pretty sure he's still a fan! But for me it was always the harmony my ear was drawn to, and my voice couldn't help but follow. In my head, I more often hear harmonies than melodies. 

      In a devotion I just read I was reminded that the black keys on a piano are just as essential as the white keys. Any pianist will tell you that it is a rare song that is played only on the white keys or only on the black keys: either one would lack "color" (pun intended). And speaking of color, think of the rainbow. Without sun AND rain, darkness and light, there would be no color, no rainbow.

      There are so many obvious applications to each of our lives: without the dry times, would we appreciate the floods of bounty? Without the dark times would we appreciate the light of joy? Without hunger could we truly savor a tasty meal? Without the bleak winter would we even notice the bloom of spring? Imagine if God had created just one type of animal or plant, or if all humans looked exactly alike! I can only think how mundane, even boring, life would be if every day were exactly the same. To me it would become as painful as listening to a piece of music consisting of one note played endlessly without harmony.

      Maybe it's this "harmony hang-up" I have that has always drawn me to the West Indies, and particularly Jamaica. Oh, I love their music, make no mistake, but that's not what I'm talking about here. From my first visit there, I was struck by the array of skin colors, not just in the country, but in individual families. And no one talks about whether an individual is a "black Jamaican" or a "white Jamaican," because they are all different shades on the scale of color, as unique and essential as each note on a piano keyboard. Jamaicans are actually proud of their mixed heritage, as expressed in their motto, "Out of many, one people."  

      What is it about America these days that makes my dream of harmony seem like a childish fantasy? Maybe every prejudiced American could be transported to Jamaica for a few days to experience this harmony? Or what if we all just humbled ourselves, took ourselves off of the throne where only God belongs, and began to look at others as God sees us all: unique individuals, EACH created in His image and for His glory.

     "Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.... So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; he created them male and female."  (Genesis 1:26-27 CSB)

"Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord."  (Leviticus 19:18 CSB)

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in Heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have?" (Matthew 5:44-46 CSB) 

"I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another."  (John 13: 34 CSB)

  Oh, friend, the God of the universe MUST love color-- He created it! There's no reference to a particular color in Genesis 1! His first covenant promise was contained in a rainbow, which comprises all the colors in in the prism!  Jesus, the Son of God, in His last hours on earth prayed for us: "I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name that You have given me, so that they may be one as we are one."  (John 15:11 CSB)  Anyone else longing for a little harmony? Pray with me "that [we] may be one!" 💗

                           "He must increase, but I must decrease"  (John 3:30)

♱

Despair -- Hope

      I'm not proud to admit that recently I've let the state of the world and my own situation sit like a boulder on top of my head, pressing my mind and body into a place of hopelessness. Even though I don't read or watch "the news" these days, I would have to live in total isolation in the wilderness to escape knowing and being affected by what's going on. I mean, what's normal about having to sanitize every piece of food or mail that comes into the house from off our own property? What's normal about not seeing friends and family for weeks or months even though they live just minutes away, or if you see them giving "air hugs" instead of the life-giving feel of someone else's strong arms holding you together for just a moment?

      Anyone who knows me at all will affirm that this negative outlook is not the norm for me: I can usually see a touch of grace in most any situation. Yesterday, though, was one of those days I just couldn't; I just wanted to get to the end of it, go to sleep and wake up in Narnia! I did fall asleep, but I woke up and nothing had changed-- I was sad to the core. So sad I couldn't even speak of it. And yet, God heard. I picked up my phone and there, from my Jamaican "sister" Jeanne, was a song, and it spoke my broken heart. (I'm posting the link below and praying it will minister to you as it did to me.) 

      I listened, and then I walked around my own yard. And you know what? "There Was Jesus"...  in the beauty of each brilliant color of each delicate flower or butterfly wing, in the numberless shades of green in the forest backdrop, and in the music of each bird song that accompanied my walk. My friend, without you uttering a word, God hears the cry of your broken heart, for He has indeed "put [your] tears in [His] bottle...." (Psalm 56:8)

"I have asked one thing from the Lord;

it is what I desire:

to dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord

and seeking Him in His temple."

(Psalm 27:4 CSB)

      Please enjoy these photos of what I discovered, allow yourself to revel in the comfort of the entirety of Psalm 27, then listen to this beautiful song.

There Was Jesus

"He must increase, but I must decrease"  (John 3:30)

♱ 

Purpose

      Tap, flutter, flutter, flutter... tap, flutter, flutter, flutter...  tap, flutter, flutter.... It took me days to discern exactly what that unfamiliar yet nearly constant sound was. At last I looked up from my chair toward the branches of the river birch which gloriously shades our front windows. And there it was: a flash and flutter of brilliant red against the emerald leaves. It took Bill's bird book to figure out we were observing a summer tanager doing what they do: this faithful male was collecting bugs that had gathered on our windows to feed himself and his family. The sound quickly became so familiar that we missed it during his brief breaks, and especially when he left us for warmer climes over the winter. But he's back now with his tapping and fluttering and an occasional soft "pit-tick."  

      That bird knows his purpose-- to care for his family-- and he carries it out faithfully without complaint. He has no idea how much delight, comfort, and inspiration he's giving me just by doing his job, what he was created for, hour after hour, day after day. I don't think he longs for adventure or even some greater "assignment." I think of our healthcare workers and first responders who carry out their duties without notice or acclaim, even and more so during this pandemic. Those certainly aren't glamorous jobs, and yet, like that bird, they inspire me-- to be a more faithful servant, without complaint (There's the hard part!), without adulation. 

      We received a graduation announcement this morning, from a sweet high school friend who had no prom and no graduation ceremony, no "Pomp and Circumstance." And yet she fulfilled this mission of her young life: she graduated from high school, and will be on to her next assignment in spite of the strange conclusion of her senior year. And after all the happy and hopeful pictures, at the very bottom, this graduate had chosen to place the following Scripture:

       "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  (Joshua 1:9 NIV)  

   Now that's inspiring! 

Carolina Bird Club photo

   

   

      Lord, forgive me for wanting some greater purpose, some grander recognition on this earth; for what could be grander than fulfilling YOUR purpose for me in a manner pleasing to you? And what more could I need than fellowship with You to fulfill my purpose humbly, yet courageously? I love You, Lord Jesus, and that's all I need!

"He must increase, but I must decrease"  (John 3:30)

♱ 

Golden Bowls

 

  I hope you'll allow me a very personal moment here, though my prayer is always that this space will encourage you. Last week I did something which three years ago would have been no big deal at all, just lots of fun: I invited my family to gather for Sunday lunch at the lake. I LOVE entertaining and have missed it so! I enjoy preparing the food, making a beautiful setting, and most of all anticipating joyful fellowship with loved ones. I was determined to celebrate a belated Easter, Mother's Day, and a modicum of freedom after months of quarantine.

      I had planned this for a couple of weeks, and with Bill doing all the legwork, had gathered ingredients and little by little prepared the food. Going to the lake a couple of days before in order to make final preparations, I had to rein in my thoughts of having a spotless house, with the perfect decor and festive plates and napkins set out artistically, for I knew my limited energy would be required for the food preparation. Even so, Saturday came and I was in such pain that I had to call Bill to come and help with the set-up. I confess, I spent more than a few moments mourning the loss of my ability to "do it all myself." But then I reminded myself that two years ago I could hardly get out of bed, much less think of staying alone at the lake or standing in the kitchen long enough to prepare a meal. 

      Asking Bill to make an extra trip over was challenging enough to my independent spirit, even though he graciously came and did all I asked and more. After he left for home and I sat praying for strength and even momentary release from pain, I did something even more difficult for me: I sent a quick text to Bill, Margie, and Linda (my closest prayer warriors) asking them to pray specifically for me to have a good day Sunday. I really wanted to enjoy my family "just one more time" like we have done so many times before. I quickly felt an inexplicable peace, through my pain and weakness. I stopped worrying about how I would finish putting out the food and even sit at the table to eat. I had a wonderful sleep Saturday night, and woke up fairly strong Sunday morning. Pain lingered, and no small amount of anxiety-- or was it excitement? 

      Then Bill came back offering last-minute assistance, and soon my grandchildren were bursting through the door with squeals and hugs. Suddenly all pain fled and I found myself feeling "almost normal" as we stood (impossible for me even a year ago!) in a circle and held hands to give thanks for our food and our time together. I sat with the whole family for lunch at the table in the sunshine on the deck, rather than eating on my lap in my recliner while I listened to the laughter outside. I followed the kids to the water's edge to watch them fishing, and then presented them with Easter treats while sitting in the floor and helping them discover the surprises I had hidden in their eggs. As everyone left and I settled in my chair with a huge smile on my face, I raised my hands and my heart in praise to my "Good, Good Father"!

      And then I remembered the golden bowls. In our Revelation study a couple of weeks ago we looked at Chapter 5, in which the Lamb takes the scroll, and

           "When He took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints."  (Revelation 5:8 CSB)

      Think on that, my friend! Your prayers and mine, along with all the prayers that have been prayed throughout time, are being held in golden bowls before the throne of God! They are never forgotten; they don't slip by unnoticed. They are even now in God's throne room, held in bowls of the world's most precious material, ready to be poured out to glorify the One Who died that we might live! 

      Take heart: I have prayed many prayers that have not yet been answered, or have not been answered in the way I hoped. I know many of you continue to pray for my healing, as I have done for many of you; it's not happening instantly, but it IS happening. Sunday was one of the immediately-answered prayers. I dare say you have had both delayed and immediate response to prayers, as I have. But know this: not one of your prayers, proffered from a sincere and believing heart, has been missed. And when its answer comes, to God be the glory!

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect."  (James 5:16 CSB)

♰

Making Bread

      Have you ever seen or heard of so many people making their own bread? I find myself wondering if it's ever been so common in our homes since pioneer days? As far as I know there's been no shortage of bread, but what is it about these days of quarantine that make us want to go back to the old ways?

      Early on, the word "reset" kept coming to my mind: it seemed that thanks to the unusual world situation we were somehow having to rethink our priorities, figure out what is really essential. Suddenly going to restaurants and shopping for clothes or jewelry, treating ourselves to manicures, massages, and hair coloring, even gathering in houses of worship or schools, was deemed non-essential. Suddenly our lives became centered on our homes and families and simply taking care of ourselves. 

      I confess I've had a nearly three-year jump on this homebound, pared-down situation-- plenty of time to contemplate what's really essential. I've been reminded often of the refining we all go through during hardship of any personal nature. I've asked God constantly to reveal His purpose in my refining time. Perhaps it was for just "such a time as this," to help someone else endure the difficulty of isolation. I can only hope so.

      But what of this bread-making process attracts us? Yes, many of us have learned the basic steps of turning a fine dry powder and some liquid into something solid to sustain our bodies and even treat our tastebuds. Whatever shape or taste you desire for the end result, you must apply heat. And just the right amount of heat: too high or too low, too short or too long would ruin the finished product. But what about that powder? It doesn't come that way from nature! 

      I've observed from our farming neighbors just how painstaking the process is to grow wheat, from breaking up the soil, putting just the right amount of fertilizer on it, to spreading the seeds. And then you must WAIT for sun and rain and time to do their part. For winter wheat, which is what most breads are made of, it takes seven to eight MONTHS from planting to harvest! And then the wheat must be threshed (shaken off the stalk), and then separated from chaff (winnowed), and finally ground. Knowing all that, I'm truly amazed at how little I pay for a bag of flour!

      I'm wondering,then, if consciously or unconsciously, somehow all this bread making is one of our ways of slowing down to contemplate and perhaps appreciate the complexity of even the "simple" things, the necessities of our daily lives which we so often take for granted. Rest assured, my friend, God knows the exact amount of sunlight and rain, threshing and winnowing, grinding and even heat you need to become the perfect "loaf of bread" He designed you to be to feed someone else's soul!

          "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It's no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."  (Matthew 5:13 CSB) 

          "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

          "For it was You Who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wondrously made."  (Psalm 139:13-14 CSB)

NOTE: I urge you to read Psalm 139 in its entirety, especially if you're feeling over-threshed, over-ground, and over-baked!

♰

Jeopardy -- Justified

      

       Okay, I'll admit it: the heaviness of what we are all going through these days is taking a toll on me physically and emotionally, as I know it is on you. I personally would have difficulty getting through a "normal" day and time without my confidence in a glorious future without pain or sorrow, a future in which I'll be reunited with loved ones who have gone on before me, and most of all where I'll walk endlessly in the presence of God my Savior. But in the midst of today's pandemic, when our vulnerability is ever before us, I cannot imagine the constant feeling of being in jeopardy, the ever-present dread that life could end in a futile gasp, without the assurance that what's to come next is so much better! And so, for my unbelieving friends and family, this is my desperate plea to listen to the call of the God Who made you, Who loves you enough to die for you, so that you can be in His presence for eternity.
   
        Along with an on-line group Bible study of Revelation, I've been doing my own study of the book of Hebrews. This morning's passage, Chapter 10, brought to the surface my ever-present concern for loved ones who reject Jesus (Yeshua), the Messiah of the Bible, Who came to save them and give them hope in such a time as this. In the book of Hebrews, by constantly quoting their own Scripture (the Old Covenant or Old Testament) the author pleads with Jews who have rejected Jesus to acknowledge Him as their Perfect Priest and Messiah. And then in Chapter 11 he proceeds to give us what we like to call the "Hall of Faith": an elaboration of the patriarchs of the Old Covenant who continually looked ahead to the coming of Messiah by complete faith in the God Who created them and chose them as His people. His logical conclusion, and the crux of the message to the unbelievers, was the plea in the beginning of Chapter 12:          

        "So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us, too, put aside every impediment — that is, the sin which easily hampers our forward movement — and keep running with endurance in the contest set before us, looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting, Yeshua — who, in exchange for obtaining the joy set before him, endured execution on a stake as a criminal, scorning the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2, Complete Jewish Bible) 

      Scholars estimate between 200 and 400 distinct prophecies in the Old Testament are fulfilled in Jesus Christ of Bethlehem. That previous sentence refers to one of my favorites and I think one of the most stunning. The prophet Micah, some 700 years before the birth of Christ wrote:

           But you, Beit-Lechem [Bethlehem] near Efrat,
        so small among the clans of Y’hudah,
        out of you will come forth to me
        the future ruler of Isra’el,  
        whose origins are far in the past,
        back in ancient times.
2          Therefore he will give up [Isra’el]
       only until she who is in labor gives birth.
       Then the rest of his kinsmen
       will return to the people of Isra’el.
3          He will stand and feed his flock
       in the strength of Adonai,
       in the majesty of the name
       of Adonai his God;
       and they will stay put, as he grows great
       to the very ends of the earth;  

              (Micah 5:2-4, Complete Jewish Bible)

      A couple hundred years later, Daniel was just as specific in predicting the exact coming of Messiah after the rebuilding of Jerusalem following the Babylonian destruction (587 B.C.) and before the final Roman destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. (See Daniel 9:24-26). The Temple had indeed been rebuilt by Cyrus the Great well before Jesus' birth, and with the destruction in A.D. 70 all Jewish genealogical records were lost, which makes the ancestry of anyone born after that time impossible to trace back to the House of David! (References to Messiah's lineage are found throughout the Tanakh (Old Testament), most notably Isaiah 11:1-10.)

       I could go on endlessly about Messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, but the bottom line, dear friends, is that my Hope is in Yahweh, God of Israel, the God revealed in the Tanakh (Old Testament). And through His perfect sacrifice, and not any work on my own, I am justified. (I love the explanation pastors frequently give of the concept of justification: It's "just as if I'd" never sinned!)  

       "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5:1, KJV)

        "For God so loved ____________ [insert your name] that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."  (John 3:16, NIV)

       As we Christians celebrate Sunday the resurrection of our Messiah Jesus, are you in jeopardy or justified? If you have questions or would like me to pray with you, please contact me via Facebook-- nothing would delight me more!

      

Uncertain -- Held

      

       I awoke this morning remembering a dream that has stayed with me all day, and I hope I shall never forget. The place and time were insignificant, as were my surroundings. I only recall my feelings. 

      In the beginning I was uncertain, insecure, even lost and afraid, when suddenly I felt strong arms surround me from behind. Instantly my fear and insecurity were gone. I was not surprised or taken aback, though this was certainly not expected. I seemed simply to accept and feel immediately calmed, comforted and strengthened by this "anonymous" support. I then moved ahead confidently, and those strong, safe Arms stayed wrapped around me as I went. At one point the Arms laid me down to rest, while staying secure and strong around me, yet still unseen.Together we then arose and moved on, until finally I got a fleeting glimpse of just a bit of His face:
     
      "He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him."  (Isaiah 53:2b CSB) 

Yet I knew Who had me wrapped in His Arms:

       "He lets me lie down in green pastures;
          he leads me beside quiet waters.
3          He renews my life;
         he leads me along the right paths
         for his name’s sake.
4         Even when I go through the darkest valley,
        I fear no danger,
        for you are with me;" 
        (Psalm 23:2-4 CSB)

This song expresses beautifully how I felt. I pray you feel the same. 💗


                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJhsexd8Qqg