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.

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

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.

 

Sweetening Marah's flow

A radio commercial recently was equating hard times during the holidays with being short on funds.  Yes, that can be difficult, but this also is true:  Better a dry morsel with peace and quiet, than a house full of feasting with strife. 

It is strife that makes the holidays most difficult.  Family divisions, long-held unforgiveness, grudges, even just different political and spiritual viewpoints... all these can add up to strife.  The worst of family strife is withdrawal of a loved one, estrangement, divorce;  all which leave those remaining with a debilitating ache of spirit.  This also can come from the abscence of a dear one, whether through death or distance.

And so we read the Psalms and seek comfort during this time.

Then He'll lead the way before you,
Mountains laying low;
Making deset places blossom,
Sweet'ning Marah's flow.

May your bitterness be sweetened through the kindness of God's love.  Know that you are not alone in your grief.

Evil Tidings

A friend said to me the other day, "It's like you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop."  


After having lived for a lot of years, one learns that life can be a series of catastrophic events followed by the pain of dealing with the catastrophe.  During the calm times in between these hard events, we can become fearful of the next difficult season.  Life has taught us to expect that next catastrophe.


Yet the Lord knows our fears and addresses them in the Psalms.  Stand fast, dear Christian and believe God to provide His strength and establish His purpose through the difficulties of life.


He will not be afraid of evil tidings; for his heart standeth fast, and believeth in the Lord. 
Psalm 112:7


Sovereign Lord, give me Your strength to not fear the next difficult season.  Help me to believe in You.  Amen.

Daily Bread

When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," are we thinking of the loaf on the kitchen counter?  There are other types of daily sustenance that we need in order to get through the day.  Jesus called himself the "Bread of Life." 


Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Matthew 5:6


Jesus, give us Yourself daily.

Bearing Fruit

The scriptures compare us to trees.  We are called "living oaks" and "trees of righteousness."  We shall be known by our fruit - whether it is good or bad. 


What is good fruit?  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control exhibited consistently.  In essence, unselfish behavior - doing what is best for those around us and not just prioritizing our own needs. 


What is bad fruit?  Here is a list given in II Timothy:  lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,…


You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.… Matthew 7:16-18


Heavenly Father, Please confirm our presence in your orchard by bearing good fruit within us.  Give us the discernment to notice whether good fruit or bad fruit is being borne in the trees around us.  Amen.