Develop a TV Habit

"What?" you say.  "Habitualize that conduit of immorality and tabloidism?" 

Well, no.  I mean, develop a "Today's Verse" habit.  I use a 3x5 card, slipped into my back pocket.  The verse comes from a quick devotional reading, or Morning/Evening Prayer from the 1928 Book of  Common Prayer, or the weekly scripture assignment  for a Bible study I attend. 

Most often, a verse will stand out.  My best friend calls them "little diamonds," those verses. 

Then, when the inevitable loveless, loud, self-centered, short-sighted, rude, unbelieving, unenduring, imperfect, faithless, hopeless thoughts occur, I pull out my TV and it sets me straight.

Gardening in Heaven

I've been reading through the book of Revelation this spring. Revelation 21 talks about the new heaven and new earth.  It cross-references Isaiah 66:22, " They shall not build and another inhabit.  They shall not plant and another eat.  The elect shall enjoy the work of their hands."

It reminded me of our last house... all the gardening and things we did to make it nice, and then another inhabited it.  We  had a flourishing little vegetable garden in our backyard the summer that we moved.  The house we moved to had more land, but no garden.  I remember thinking about it after we moved - that the people who inhabited our former house were eating the harvest that we had planted. 

The lesson could be that within our striving to improve and beautify our personal areas, we want to keep God's kingdom as the ultimate goal.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but God's word will never pass away.   

In this new heaven and new earth, that Isaiah speaks of, the elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.  So, gardening will be a part of the new earth!  Gardening without the effects of the curse.  No weeds, pests or drought. No poison ivy.  Delicious tomatoes. 

How Many Sets of Footprints?

Remember "The Footprints Prayer," where there are two sets of footprints in the sand, our own set and that of the Lord's?  Yet, when only one set is visible during the lowest, saddest times, the Lord said, "It was then that I carried you."

Last year was traumatic for me.  I shed many tears and I know that God carried me through.  However, when I was being carried, there was not just one, but four sets of footprints in the sand during that time.  They were the footprints of four very dear friends, each who carried me in her own way.  The Lord had my friends do the carrying.  Thank you, dear friends.  I pray that I can have the privilege of helping to carry you when you need it most.

Mother Teresa Would Agree with Joni

Yesterday, we talked about how, when we "die to self" for the sake of another, a beautiful fragrance will result.  That fragrance shows itself as love, more love.

Mother Teresa said the same thing in a different way:
 “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
― Mother Teresa

Are you willing?

Rose petals

I, by chance while out driving, have heard quadriplegic Joni Earekson Tada speaking on Christian radio several times recently.   She and her husband, Ken, have come out with a book about marriage.  She had the most beautiful illustration that I wanted to pass along, although I won't be able to say it as well as she did.

She said that, every morning,  a couple of women come to help her get ready for the day.  There were some dried rose petals on her bathroom counter that had fallen off a bouquet.  The girls were starting to clean them up and she asked them to stop, take the petals, and crush them in their fingers.  Then she asked them to hold up the crushed petals to her nose.  She smelled the beautiful fragrance that came when those petals were crushed.

Joni said that this is what marriage is like.  You are crushed, and as you allow the crushing to take place, a beautiful fragrance comes forth.

Pansies

I discovered today, in my leaf compost pile, a pansy plant in full orange-flowered bloom.  Last fall, I had dumped the contents of my flower pots onto the compost pile.  Sometimes the beautiful moments, that we think are gone, can come unexpectedly to visit us again. 

Shining

My favorite devotional spoke today of shining for Christ.   

I usually send my children off, be it for a play date or a romantic date, with a prayer.  I pray over them that they will shine for Christ.

Yet shining has a cost.  A candle does not shine unless it is burning.  This burning causes self-reduction, even pain.

“Many want the glory without the cross, the shining without the burning, but crucifixion comes before coronation.  

“’The glory of tomorrow is rooted in the drudgery of today.’”