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Treasures on earth

I had a visit with my mom today about all the stuff she has accumulated! A lifetime of gifts, purchases, things; some have monetary value, some have sentimental value, some have neither (like her weird little spoon collection). We talked about people who came before us and what they left us and why it matters.

I have a few tokens, gifts, and heirlooms that I treasure because of the people that gave them to me. I know I can’t carry them forward to my next life and they may not mean anything to my children. But I still have them, and I still treasure them. The blanket my Grandmother made for my mom when I was a child, is the bedcover in our spare room. The book my Grandfather gave me when I graduated is in my bookshelf. His mother gave it to him when he finished grade ten. He was the first of his siblings to get that far in his education.

We landed on the importance of the photos. The photos tell the stories of our families. They show the connections, the faces, the relationships. These are the most important things to carry forward.

Whether it is through photos or a precious treasure, I can remember and think of my loved ones and that gives me comfort. I know one day I will see them again.

My family history gives me a framework to build my life. It creates a structure around which I can build my own identity. I am extremely blessed that this history is one of faith, dedication, suffering and love. I want my children to share in this history. I want them to build their own characters in the shadow of the people that came before them.

So yes, its lovely to have physical possessions. Things that I can look at and handle that remind me of the people I have loved. But the stories and shared history… these are the building blocks of my life.

Matthew 6: 19 – 21   Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, 
where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin
do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I am thankful

A friend called. A friend I haven’t talked to in far too long. A sister in the faith with whom I’ve had a relationship for a very long time. But she is not alone. I have other friends who have also been there for me, over the years. They are still there for me now.

There is a very special bond that you share with people who also love God. It is almost indescribable. A commonality of spirit that can help focus you when you need direction. It can be a support when you need to be held up. These friends and loved ones are the greatest joy of our lives.

I may not be the best at reaching out right now, but just know how much appreciate and love you all.

Ephesians 1: 15-16  For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in
the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped
giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”

Psychological safety

I am not a daring person. All I’ve ever wanted is a safe life. Extreme sports have never been attractive to me. I haven’t wanted to do anything spectacular. Safety and comfort have been my main aims.

Everywhere I look there is concern for mental health. ‘Psychological safety’ is a term that has almost become ubiquitous. According to the world I should be aiming at a safety. I should be coddled and wrapped up and feel secure. My desire for safety and the worlds urging are on the same page.

It appears to me that God has had other ideas. My life has been a series of terrifying tightropes. Using all my strength to stay balanced. One wrong step and I fall. My goals and what I live are two different things. Yet God keeps tossing me off the cliff and I am left hanging on by my fingertips.

Maybe safety isn’t the goal.

Maybe comfort isn’t the aim.

Maybe we are all wrong.

The idea of resilience has been hovering around for years now. How to make people more resilient is the big question in education and medicine. This newer idea of Psychological safety and the idea of resilience are at odds.

There is only one way to build resilience in people. Let them fall and then pick up the pieces. Resilience is a by-product of suffering. Plain and simple. No magic pill. No shortcut. No painless way. Resilience is the scar covering the wound.

Based on my own life experience I will say I feel the most successful when I remember where to feel safe. I can feel safe in God’s hands regardless of the storm. Nothing around me is safe, the world isn’t calm. I need to turn to God for that.

The image that always comes to mind is our little boat flaying around in an awful storm – no help in sight. The winds and waves more than we can handle. We feel desperate and alone. Yet, when the picture zooms out, way WAY out, the tiny boat is floating in a great rumbling sea and holding the whole works are God’s impossibly large hands. He may not have me, but he has the whole storm.

The only way forward is through the storm. God is my safety!

Mark 4: 39-41 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 
“Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this?
Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

A line in the sand

How do we grapple with modern Christianity? Voices on every side telling us what it means to be a Christian. What you must believe, who you should support, what cultural idea you should adopt. Its everywhere. Both sides.

We seem to have politicized our faith. This is something that causes me great concern.

Several years ago, we began a very personal road of faith and just couldn’t find a ‘church’ where we could hang our hats. We have many supportive friends, family, and a great community, which we built over that time instead. For us this was a good thing. As a result, our relationship with God has been intensely personal.

I realize this is not the answer for everyone and I would never hold our experience up as an example. But I do believe God protected us from much of the chaos that I see happening in churches today. From the outside it seems many Christians have lost focus and confidence in their beliefs. It looks to me like churches have come under direct assault from the cultural changes.

Like in the Old Testament, in the story of Joshua, the Israelites also had come to a crossroads. Joshua stood before the people and gave his great speech. I can see it my minds eye. A rousing speech reminiscent of the great orators of old. A Winston Churchill “We shall never surrender” sort of speech.

It appears to me that we are at that kind of crossroad as followers of Christ. We are reaching a point where there is a line in the sand, and we need to pick which side we will be on.

Last year I painted a sign and we put it up in our entry way. I want it to be a daily reminder of where we stand. I want my family to remember who we serve!

 Joshua 24: 14-15 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River
and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites,
in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The secret garden

There is a secret garden. A small space forgotten by time and the race of humanity.

The narrowest of paths leads to its unknown location. This path is rugged. This path is lined with thorns and branches. But if we persevere it leads to the narrowest of gates. A rusty, creaky hard to open gate. Behind this narrow gate, enclosed in tall walls is the most unexpected place. A garden.

It’s not the showy beauty of a cultivated garden. There is nothing civilized about it. It is wild and untamed. It is frightening in its chaotic order. It seems untouched by human hands. Nothing there seems planned and yet it was planted by someone or it wouldn’t be within the walls.

The array of flowers is surprising and unlike anything we could imagine. Our imagination being confined to what we already know, what we can see in our own minds eye. This garden is not the product of human ingenuity and labour. It is created by a mind far greater in scope.

No detail is missed. Every provision for every songbird is here. Every tree for afternoon shade grows by plan. The garden seems limitless once you pass through the gate and dwell inside the grey walls that surround it.

But above all else there is a peace. A quiet rest in the safety of the great walls. Visitors are now wrapped up in the same secret hiddenness of the garden itself. The burdens of the world lifted from our troubled hearts.

This is what our lives are like when we trust God. We walk the narrow, dark and dangerous path that he bids us take. Our future with Him is beyond what we can comprehend. And the peace of His love will wrap our burdened souls.

Matthew 7: 13 – 14   “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and
broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

One step at a time

If you are like me (and the odds are you might be) at the first sign of trouble you start to look for an exit. Fight or flight instincts are strong. I am a fighter, but only after I can’t find a way out. My instinct is to try to avoid problems. But… some problems are unavoidable. We can pray and beg for a way out, but it has been my hard-fought experience that the only way through most situations is straight down the middle.

Straight into the mud, muck, and ugliness, that is the only way out. If you try to skirt the problem, you can end up in a worse situation. Go forward into the darkness and pray for God to light your feet. That is the only solution I have found. At some point the journey will end, and the light of God will grow ever greater.

It sounds like it takes courage and perseverance to do this but, it only takes enough courage to take the first step. Then the next day a tiny bit of courage to take another step. By the time you are in the thick of it your tiny bits of courage have brought you that far. The by-product of these daily choices is perseverance. It is not something you have at the beginning of a journey, but it is built in you by the end.

In this way we can get through some very dark days, just one step at a time. The rewards of hardship are not always great material blessings, sometimes it is simply perseverance and wisdom.

In our saviour we have an example of ultimate suffering. God so loved us that he not only acknowledges our sorrows, but he came and participated in them. How rich an idea that is! Just let your mind dwell on that.

The next time you feel overwhelmed by your path reach to Jesus, our saviour. He truly does understand and will give you comfort.

Psalm 119: 104-105  I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Waiting on the Lord

Through my life I have had seasons of waiting. As a young girl I waited for school to end so I could start my adult life. As a young woman I waited for a relationship that would be the start of my family life. As a young mother I waited for my kids to grow and mature. I’ve always had a sense that I’m just a bit out of step with life. I would wait for things to fall in place. Wait for the right job, the right house, the right thing that would make it all make sense.

I then realized that maybe that isn’t what I’m truly waiting on. Maybe I’m waiting on the fulfillment of God’s promises in my life. Maybe what I’m waiting on is beyond the veil, just out of reach?

It’s ok to wait on God. He is faithful. He will meet us and walk with us slowly as we wait. He understands our impatience, our frustration, our confusion. But he also knows what he has planned and like a parent who keeps the secrets of Christmas morning, he also holds his knowledge tight. Until it is time.

So, I wait on Him. One day I will know his plan. For now it is enough to believe in Him and believe He has a plan.

Isaiah 40: 31  But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Lamentations 3: 22-24  Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Dealing with regret

What happens when you do that thing, or say that thing, that you should not have said? You can’t take it back. You can’t undo it. What do you do?

There is little you can do but try to make amends, apologize, and then live with the results of your mistake. We can’t undo our sin, but we can ask God to remove the burden. We can ask him to help us live with the reality of our own imperfection and our own failure. We can’t undo the damage, but we can hopefully grow and learn.

David was a “man after God’s own heart.” God loved him. And yet he was very imperfect. He fell into sin. The passage where Nathan comes to confront David has long been one of my favourite passages. It gets to the heart of how hard it can be to see sin in our own behaviour. It can sneak up on us and catch us unaware. But David, humbles himself. In doing this David becomes a very real role model for other sinners, like me.

Going through hard times does not protect you from temptation, rather it can open certain temptations. Things like pride, self pity and isolationism are among my greatest stumbling blocks. The events of the last year have been an extreme strain. I need to examine my own reactions and accept where I have failed.

But I also need to remember that this is the very reason why Jesus came to earth. It is for me he died.

I found this little video clip. I thought it was worth a watch. Taken from 2 Samuel chapter 12.