Olive Tree

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Take Up Your Cross DAILY

Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  [Luke 9:23]

Last Friday, I made a list of the mundane things to accomplish before a house guest arrived.  When leaving for the store, I snapped a picture of the list.

Only today did I see the image overlaid on my list.  Do you see what I see?  A cross!  Yes, we are called to carry the daily grind with patience and fortitude. 



 Today marks the first day of school for many.  It means getting back into the "daily grind."  Elisabeth Elliot once said that the hardest thing about life is that it is so "daily."  Yet, we are called to take up our cross, DAILY, and follow Christ.


Sunday, March 1, 2015

Hapus Dewi Sant!

March 1st marks St. David's Day in honor of the patron saint of Wales. 

Who was St David?

St David (or Dewi Sant in Welsh) was born on the south west coast of Wales, near the present day city of St Davids.

His family was aristocratic. He was educated at a monastery and became a missionary, travelling through Wales and to south west England and Brittany to spread Christianity. He is also supposed to have visited Rome and Jerusalem.

David founded a monastery where St Davids stands today. He died in AD589 and was buried in the grounds of his own monastery. He has been the patron saint of Wales since the 12th century. (From the BBC News Magazine)


We read Psalm 51 tonight, the beautiful Psalm of repentance written by King David. 


Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
                                                                                     (Psalm 51:10-12)
 

Friday, February 27, 2015

You'll Get Through This

God gives us footholds in the seemingly impassive wall of suffering.  Today while listening to Christian radio on the 5-minute drive from the gym to home, I happened to hear the world premier of a new song.

Here is the link to listen:

http://1075alive.fm/mark-smebys-song-youll-get-through-this-free-download-share-with-others-2/

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Okay for Dads to Pray this Prayer

Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.  Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.  [Nehemiah 4:4-5]

Nehemiah was the governor who oversaw the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.  He prayed this prayer against specific enemies who were trying to thwart the building efforts.

We encounter enemies who are opposed to the building of our families.  The New Testament says to love your enemies and do good to them that persecute you.  However, I think the above prayer is appropriate for a father to prayer for protection of his family.  The father has the responsibility to ward off evil for his family.  He cannot take any chances.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

The Example of Others

I have a sweet friend who is suffering from a serious health situation.  Do you know what she said to me?

It went something like this:

"In the Garden, Jesus asked for the cup to be taken from Him.  The answer was 'no.'  If the answer was 'no' for Jesus, what makes us think that it will be different for us?"

Lord, please bless my friend.  She truly is like the Virgin Mary, who said, "Be it unto me according to thy Word," and like Jesus, who said, "Not my will, but thine be done."

Bless you, Angela.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Broken Gifts with Beautiful Wrapping




During this Christmas season, we are busy with gifts.  Buying gifts, making gifts, receiving gifts.  I make chocolate-covered pretzels to share with neighbors and friends.  My dad fashions delicious sticky buns and we enjoy a perfect set of eight buns for Christmas breakfast.

Yesterday my son held two carefully-wrapped parcels of chocolate pretzels on his lap.   As I drove the car, I kept admonishing him to keep his legs still.  “Don’t drop the pretzels,” I warned.  We didn’t want to give out a gift that was broken in pieces.

In this modern world, we keep ourselves carefully, beautifully wrapped and “together.”  Yet, the very gift that God wants from us is brokenness.

“…A broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”  Psalm 51

Brokenness, too, is the daily gift that Jesus offers to us – Himself, broken for us.

“Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you.”  I Corinthians 11:24

Why does God do things so opposite of us?  Why are His ways so different from ours?  He led Abraham to begin sacrificing his beloved, miracle son on an altar.  His ways are not our ways.  What a relief when a lamb was provided instead.  But then, God  proceeded to do the very same thing.  He sacrificed His one and only beloved, miracle Son, His lamb, on a wooden, cross-shaped altar.  The Lamb of God – broken, for us.
If that wasn’t enough, He calls us to copy this sacrificial Son.  We receive His broken body in the Eucharist and in our hearts and then we are called to offer our own bodies, our own hearts, for Him to use as He chooses.  He chooses brokenness.  

Oh, how we want it to be different.  We want it easier.  We want to give a perfect package, a pretty gift, one that turns heads.  Yet we are called to be like Him:  “…despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”  Isaiah 53:3

Even these words seem broken, not quite right.  Yet, I offer them up for Him to use as He sees fit.  The same goes for my heart -- my incomplete, broken, beating heart.  He can crush it, break it, or even put a sword through it if He so chooses.  By His grace and His presence, perhaps I can say words like the Blessed Mother said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
                                             
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; 
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; 
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
  ~Christina Rosetti

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Heart Fire

The crucible for silver, the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.  Proverbs 17:3

The definition for crucible is: A ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures.
  
Silver is subjected to very high temperatures.  Gold is placed in a furnace.  What about the heart?  This verse implies that the heart also is tested through extreme heat, through fire.  

Lord, may my heart survive this oven of fire.  Use the heat to refine my heart and make me more beautiful.