challenge

“Reading is a way to love God with our minds. In Matt. 22 the Savior is asked which is the greatest commandment in the law. He responds, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ i would submit we have given too little thought to how we might love God with all of our minds. Reading is a means of loving God with your mind. Reading is an expression of loving God with your mind. Communicate that to God. I will often say out loud to God, ‘Lord, I love you with all my mind. This act of reading is an expression of my loving you with my mind.’ This perspective of reading will transform your understanding and experience of reading.” (source)

I found this very challenging when I read it last night. I was forced to confront and reevaluate my mental intake. While I’m not against the need to just relax my mind, I also realize that it’s too easy to find my mental diet consisting almost exclusively of “brain candy”. Keeping my mind sharp, observant, and discerning is one of my great responsibilites before the Lord, for through that He is able to speak with clarity and revelation. To keep my mind exercised–which includes everything from pouring over cookbooks to reviewing classic literature to faithful reading of the Word–is one of my renewed goals.

faithful

“‘Come ye after Me.’ —mark 1.17

If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you.

God’s experiments always succeed.”

—oswald chambers

Sort of reminds me of,

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
—1 th 5.23-24

a thought

I came across an interview with Elisabeth Elliot, wherein she eloquently expresses a thought I stumbled with earlier this week. It is this: God reveals enough about who He is for us to trust in what He does.

We know, for example, “that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). Now the Bible says we know that. The Bible does not say God is going to show us how all things work together for good, here and now. He’s not going to show us that, here and now. We have to take His word for it. But that’s what it means to take His word. You just read the verse and as my friend Catherine Morgan said, “I don’t have faith, I just know how to read.”

So if you know how to read, open your Bible, read Romans 8:28 and 29. It says there, “Everything that happens, fits into a pattern for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” It is all we know, but it is enough. He will prove it in His time. . .

So what difference does this make in our life during this week? Let’s meet everything that comes, as people who know, trusting and submitting to the authority of the eternal Word–Who does not reveal the end or the outcome or the meaning, but only Himself. –elisabeth elliot

ahead

I love Christmas. I get excited by the end of September, and am already sad by December 18th–because it’s almost over. I just want to sing carols and cut cookies and light candles and shop for stockings and decorate some more. I love it.

But I always find that I lose track of the important date that comes right on the heels of Christmas: New Year’s Day. Oh yeah. A new year.

Time out. Stop the frosting and the Jingle Bells for a minute. Pause and reflect. Life will move on after all of the garland is stowed away for next year–have I thought about that? Have I heard from the Lord about how it will move on? Have I stopped long enough to actually take this year by the horns, rather than just coasting through 365 more days and nights?

What are my expectations? What are my hopes and prayers? What are the Scriptures that I want to see brought to life in my situations? And the church–what does God want to do in us this year? What sense of vision can I add to the Body? What am I going to write on my little card on New Year’s Eve?

And you know what’s amazing? God will answer those questions. When I sit myself down on the couch for a few minutes, ignoring the sprinkles that somehow ended up all over the floor, I find that new life starts to bubble up within me. New excitement. New purpose. New desire and zeal. New energy and vigor. New determination to get the Kingdom. I think of my family, brothers and sisters in so many different seasons, and I see opportunities for God to guide and move in their lives. I think of the church–people and families who I love so dearly–and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is going to build us and move us forward. I think of the world, nations that have yet to see the fullness of the glory of God, and a confidence in God’s ability to use us rises afresh.

And suddenly, I look at my life, and I know that I am called. I’m not just here; I have destiny. Glory to glory, brighter and brighter–that’s my life, my calling.

Whatever has happened before is not the sum of God’s ability. No, it’s only the tip of the iceburg. And I, like Simeon, am determined to see the glory of God unfold before my eyes. We are living in a day of visitation–God is active and moving and accomplishing His Word on the earth–and I only pray that my eyes are opened to see it.

Oh, God, let our eyes behold Your glory in these coming days. Lift our hearts from ash heaps; turn us from “the good old days” to an expectation of what’s to come; cause our spirits to believe with a faith that sees the greatness of who You are. Let us declare Your glory among the nations as You whisper Your lovingkindness to our hearts.

8 more days…

The electric candles in our windows are on timers. The automatic shut-off occurs at 11 pm each night… except for last night. One of the timers must be broken, because the little light was shining, yellow and warm, until 4 in the morning. I fell asleep staring at it, mesmerized by its glow, soaking in the cozy aura–the same aura that fills “the Homestead” during the Christmas season.

I miss it.

new day

A new day.

Cold as ever, but clear, too. Pretty.

A list waiting faithfully on the counter, ready to remind my fuzzy head first thing about what the day demands.

Cookie dough waiting to be rolled. Logs waiting to be frosted.

The possibility of some little hands helping with the sprinkles this afternoon.

A floor showing signs of projects–too many projects!

A fridge full of quick and easy party food. (Isn’t that why God made peppers in so many colors? For a quick and pretty plate?)

A husband coughing–still sick. Poor boy.

Best of all, new mercies. A clean slate. I’m glad for that. So glad.

Lord, let my heart find You today. I want my heart to be home to a well-worn road leading to Zion.