Thursday, April 23, 2020

Eternal Beauty-The Secrets of God



Ecc. 3:11 "He has made all things beautifully appropriate in their moment.  He has also placed eternity in the hearts of mankind, yet they cannot fathom the scope of it from beginning to end."

Pr. 25:2 "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.  It is the glory of Kings to search it out."

Genesis 1:28a "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it."

Everything has its time-the moment in which it is so perfectly appropriate that it is beautiful.  The most ugly things you can imagine take on a fierce beauty at the perfectly appropriate moment as they fulfill their unique purpose.  Yet we, as humans, look to see the eternal scope and are continually frustrated.  It is as if God Himself dyed eggs and hid them for us to discover at just the right time. Those who wish to be in control (rule) eagerly hunt for those treasures and delight both in the finding and the sharing.   For it is in the finding of God's secret patterns of time, space, and concept that we discover what it takes to bring order to chaos, light to darkness, manicured gardens from weed patches.  Those secrets show us the beauty of all that is around us by exposing what each thing is intended to do and be to make the whole work elegantly.  We are made for this search.  There is no greater joy than finding the perfect solution at the right moment; watching its implementation bring life and order to everything around us.

Are you searching for beauty during this trying time?  The beauty is all around you.  It includes moments when people show up at a hospital parking lot to flash lights at the staff to tell them how much we appreciate what they do.  It's curbside delivery in a pandemic.  It's people volunteering to sew masks or 3D print Love and Peace on face shield frames.  It's the perfect preventative treatment at the moment we need it.  

If you have forgotten what we're about and why we do all that we do, this is why I do all that I do.  If you want to rule, then it's time to go find the secrets God has hidden, not to keep us from information, but to give us the excitement of the chase, the 
joy of the discovery, and the beauty of the unveiling.  

Friday, March 6, 2020

Faithful, Wonderful, Intentional: Is. 25:1

Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

Isaiah 25:1 NIV

Perfect faithfulness
Wonderful things
Intended (planned) long ago

I am in awe, Father.  You show us, by example, the way to be productive and successful.

You are perfectly faithful.  You never let us down.  You never leave things out.  You never tire of us or of the tasks before You.  No detail is ignored, no moment wasted, yet without hurry or frantic action, all is complete and completed.  Even when we let You down, You tenderly pick us up and encourage us to try again.

You do wonderful things.  Good enough may be enough for us, but You do all things well.  You create beauty in every atom and every sunset.  You clothe the grass with splendor to shame Solomon.  You have infinite time and space and yet waste none of it.  Even cycles of rest and labor work wonderfully together to bring joy and peace.  Every piece of the whole orchestrates toward Your intention and Your intentions are good.

You are completely intentional.  You think so far ahead and afield and plan for every circumstance.  Your plans are comprehensive yet flexible; thorough, yet relaxed.  No chess grandmaster or military strategist could anticipate as You do.  Before even light had come to exist at Your word, You had encompassed all within Your infinite plan.  Yet you allow us to choose our own way and plan for that as well.

In all Your ways You are faithful.  In all Your creation, Your passion creates wonder.  In all things You choose the outcome You intend.  We long to follow You, as dearly loved children imitating their Father.  Make us faithful, wonderful, and intentional.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

New Year Goals: More accomplished or More of Him?



I am a huge goal-setter.  I love the beginning of the year because I have such marvelous intentions for the year ahead.  Unfortunately, like most others, my goals often go awry sometime in the first quarter (or January, truth be told).  Letting go of perfectionism helps, but lately, I've started praying into my goals in order to make sure that I'm working on what He finds important for the year, not just what I would like to accomplish.  When I figure out what His intention is for my year, it's easier to make goals that push me that direction--and He's pretty good at lowering the bar for what I must do and raising it for what He will do.  Part of that includes asking myself (in His presence) why I want to accomplish that goal. 

For instance, a few years ago, a few of my friends decided they wanted to read through the Bible in a year.  I had time to blog back then, so I said, "Sure!! and I'll blog about something every day too!!"  January had 30--not bad!  February had 20--not terrible!  The rest of the months to August had 2 or 3--still better than my historic average, but not anywhere close to what it needed to be.  I also didn't keep up with reading the Bible through the year.  So why did I quit? 

It is grueling, but that's not why. 

Perfectionism is part of it, but that's not why either. 

The answer to why I quit has to do with why I started it in the first place.  I wanted to read through the Bible in a year because everybody else was doing it.  It seemed like one of those "good for you" goals--like brushing your teeth or eating your vegetables. When it turned out that it wasn't as "good" for me as I thought--I didn't derive enough benefit from it in terms of my real goals--the fact that others were doing it was not enough to keep me going. 

My real goal for reading the Bible is to know God better and hear Him for myself.  Reading through the Bible in a year began to feel like a chore to be checked off rather than a time to commune and enjoy Him.  The first time we read through the Bible together as a family was when I was a toddler, and it took us 3 years.  What I wanted was to Know Him and rushing through it made it feel impersonal and overwhelming, rather than intimately connecting. 

So if your goal is to get closer to a real God who really knows and loves you, there's a better way.  To learn how to hear God for yourself follow these three (ridiculously easy) steps.

1.  Ask God to speak to you and open your Bible:  Believe that He will.  Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice," so trust Him to open your ears.  Use a plan of some kind so you're not playing Bible roulette, but any old place will do. 

2.  Journal:  Open your Journal and write down the day, time, and the passage you're in. Read until something hits you between the eyes. 

3.  Start the dialogue:  Write the part that hit you in your journal in a personalized way.  If He is speaking to you, write it as if He is talking directly to you--even include your own name where it says "you"!  Then write back to Him.  Thank Him for what He will do or tell Him what will change in you because of what He said.  If the passage captures your heart's cry to the Father, then write it like you would say it to your closest friend.  You may find that the Holy Spirit will bring up the deepest cries of your heart in a passage--things you didn't even know you wanted or needed.  Recognize that if He is driving you to pray that, He already has an answer planned for it so thank Him in advance for hearing your heart and providing all you need.  Allow Him to shape your heart's desires and prayers as you go.  He may show you better things to want than you started out with. 

A baby Christian could do this and begin their journey with Him.  An 80 year old intercessor that has followed Him all her life could still use this.  It would probably even work for an unbeliever as long as they suspended their disbelief long enough to try it.  It could be 5 minutes.  It could be a conversation that lasts 5 hours.  What is important is that you connect with Him and that's all that matters. 

Try it out and let me know how it goes.  If you like, you can even post your journal entry for others to see what it's like.  I'm sure the encouragement will spread like wildfire.

Next time, I'll post what I'm trying this year for Bible reading.  It's similar to this, but has a new twist I haven't tried before.  So far I'm really enjoying it. 

Praying that He will make Himself real to you in a fresh way...