Highs, lows and the everyday….

 Highs, lows and the everyday….

I found myself doing laundry, cleaning, washing dishes, and hemming school pants for one of my grandsons yesterday….the everyday things after a whirlwind  week of company, dinners, family gatherings, and finally a wedding….

From the highs to the everyday….

Most of our lives are the “everyday “….

We have highs in big fun, celebratory events, the get togethers, the new babies, the weddings, the graduations…the things that bring laughter, joy , fun into our lives…

And we have lows…the illnesses, the uncertainty, the wars, the downturns, the funerals…

But, mostly we have the everyday….the day in, day out…  chores, laundry, cleaning, gardening, daily school, taxiing to somewhere…

I thought of the Israelites in their 40 year “everyday” sojourn in the desert…they had “everyday”….although their food was provided, their clothes didn’t wear out…they did have highs and lows of creativity of the tabernacle, the celebrations, the given law…and finally the taking of the land at the end with homes, food provided again…the promised land…

Or Ruth…daily gleaning in the fields for food…only to celebrate a marriage with the owner and become in the lineage of David, Jesus…

Gideon, daily, secretly, gathering grain to care for his family, but then chosen to defeat the enemy….

And on through the Word, people living the “everyday “ life, persevering through life and death, highs and lows, the sweat of their brows…daily fishing, daily providing, daily learning….

Just as we still do now years and years later…and all the years in between….just as Solomon wrote….there is really nothing new under the sun…

Jesus, fulfilling promises made, living on His created earth, day after day, teaching, healing, compassionate, knowing his end and resurrection persevered in doing the everyday…

Thank YOU for the highs and and even the lows….the everyday….You are with us through it all…as we press on….

 Let us acknowledge the Lord;let us press on to acknowledge him.As surely as the sun rises,he will appear;he will come to us like the winter rains,like the spring rains that water the earth. Hos.6.3

 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil.3.12-14

 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. Jas.1.25

Through it all….by Andrae Crouch, a popular 1990’s song,

Last verse…

Through it all,

through it all,

I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.

I thank God for the mountains,

and I thank Him for the valleys,

I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.

For if I’d never had a problem,

I wouldn’t know God could solve them,

I’d never know what faith in God could do.

First encounters….

 First encounters….

Weddings have a way of making us reminisce about the past …first encounters…those planned and unplanned meetings of couples, families in the past and present…we look around at new faces and old familiar ones…

I thought of the first time I met my future husband, in a dorm at college…did I sense that he was the one I would marry…

Or when he first met my parents…(my mom had suggest to my dad beforehand to invite my “boyfriend “ to breakfast, to which my father replied protectively, “I am not just going to ask any ole yahoo”…) he asked him to breakfast…then we all went to meet his parents…friends to the end…going away from the meeting, thinking these are really nice people…

Or when we met each of our children’s future spouses and then their parents…going away with the same…”those  are really nice people”…hoping they feel the same…

We share family events, children and then grandchildren and maybe great grandchildren over the years…we may not see one another but once a year or more…but there is that connection that we hold dear…those first moments of introduction, those first impressions…and then long term friendships…

We add new characters to our books of life…

Thinking of first encounters…Adam and God….Adam and Eve…Isaac and Rebekah…

 So the  God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the  God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Gen.2.21-22

 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.  Gen.24.62-67

Down through the ages of the Word…Samuel and God…David and Samuel, Ruth and Boaz…Isaiah, Jonah, Jeremiah , Elijah and the widow….

The disciples and Jesus, the encounter on the road to Emmaus, Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul in the multitude of churches….

And many, many more first encounters…life long and changing relationships…

Our encounters with the Creator, the Savior, the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel …am I engaged, seeking  the most important relationship….the one that lasts an eternity not just an earthly, temporal time…

 Look to the  Lord and his strength;seek his face always. Ps.105.4

 You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. John.15.14-17

Thank YOU….

Dear Don, Mom and Dad, Grandmas and Grandpas

 Dear Don, Mom and Dad, Grandmas and Grandpas,

I remember a time when we all wrote once a week, letters about everyday experiences, what was the latest news of our lives.

I still think of  those letters,  telling of school activities, dates, proms…

Don, we wrote so much the summer before we were engaged and married. You were working out of McCall, Idaho, in purposed wilderness areas… I was a nanny in Seattle…thick, voluminous letters…

This letter is a bit hard today, as well as joyous wrapped into one…

Am missing you, wishing you were here for this new occasion…

A bit nostalgic…I see pictures of you, Don, teary eyed at each one of our  children’s weddings, walking your daughters down the aisles at the places they chose…or watching your sons as they took their new wives’ hands….

Holding your firstborn grandchild, and then playing with each child as they came…wrestling on the floor or bouncing them on your foot…encouragement…

Mom and Dad, your hugs to each grandchild and grandchildren…pats on the back, teasing, laughing , telling stories, walks in the woods…sharing life….encouragement….

I won’t dismiss the harder times, they were there as well…character building…life and death times…losing family, grandparents, through sickness and health…till death parted us…on this earthly journey…

But, each child, each grandchild and great grandchild has inherited some of your traits whether biological or not…artistic, storytelling, laughter, musical, diligence, caring, giving, analytical, perseverance, resourcefulness, planning , thoughtfulness…to name few…

I know you are not here physically, but a part of you is here in us all…

Thank YOU for your blessings, bringing us together as You chose…families…

 Know therefore that the  your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments …Deut.7.9

 Remember the days of old;consider the generations long past.Ask your father and he will tell you,your elders, and they will explain to you.Deut.32.7

 

Don’s favorite verse… “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened…Luke.11.9-10

Marriage…

 

Marriage…

My oldest grandchild is getting married this weekend….what a blessing…

Watching his birth is like yesterday and eons ago  at the same time…what a blessing that was…

Growing up years, traveling various times together, his laughter and love…pictures of each stage of his life…berry picking (and eating), smiles, learning to pan  gold from his grandfather, riding a “coot” with his great grandfather, school pics, mission trips….

And now a new adventure…

What wisdom do we pass down to the next generation for marriage? The whole Word…

 Love the  your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates…Deut.6.-9

 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.Jer.29.11-13

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.1Cor.13.4-7

 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.Gal.6.2

 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, 1Thess.5.11a

 Ask, Seek, Knock“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matt.7.7-8 (grandpa Don’s favorite)

Just a few…

Thank YOU for this event and all the years that led to this day…

https://www.crosswalk.com/family/marriage/engagement-newlyweds/-things-ive-learned-first-year-into-marriage.html

https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/encouragement/the-best-marriage-advice-i-ever-received-encouragement-for-today-august-13-2015.html

https://www.crosswalk.com/family/marriage/7-of-the-greatest-needs-of-a-wife.html

https://twodrifters.us/blog/marriage-advice-for-newlyweds.html

https://guidedoc.com/26-best-pieces-marriage-advice-for-newlyweds

https://www.crosswalk.com/family/marriage/divorce-and-remarriage/bad-habits-that-can-destroy-your-marriage.html

“Toe stompers”….

 “Toe stompers”

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us…

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1John 1:7-10

Our women’s Bible Study is reading through a book by the late Jerry Bridges, “Respectable Sins”, written in 2007.  

The table of contents lists the chapters, subjects he covered …

1. Ungodliness 

2. Anxiety and frustration 

3. Discontentment 

4. Unthankfulness 

5. Pride

6. Lack of self-control

7. Impatience and irritability 

8. Anger

9. Judgmentalism

10. Envy, jealousy, and related sins

11. Sins of the tongue 

12. Worldliness 

Not only these headings, some chapters are further broken down into subtopics….

Like Pride- 

1. Moral self-righteousness 

2. Pride of correct doctrine 

3. Pride of achievement 

4. An independent spirit

We tend to think of the Galatians list…

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and  envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal.5.19-21

Or the Ten Commandments, or the “biggies”- murder, etc…

Forgetting that the fruit of the Spirit…each fruit has an opposite…no love, joylessness, unkind, no self-control, etc..

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Gal.5.22-26

I don’t know about anyone else, but the topics have stomped on my toes numerous times…am almost to the point of wearing thicker boots and the use of crutches…my “toes” are so bruised and broken…having resorted to the use of 1John 1:9 unceasingly…asking forgiveness…….wanting only to exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit,  walking in righteousness and the light, not the opposite…

Thank YOU…

Quiet…

 

Quiet…

Some of my neighbors have the TV going from the time they get up in the morning until they go to bed  at night, movies, news, soaps, etc…adding children in the mix…there is always talking or background noise…

As contrasted to me, my house is silent with occasional music or maybe TV in the evening…I like quiet…

But, even with or without the background noise, there can be distractions of many kinds…

I was thinking of this as one of my signs on the wall is, ““Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth. Ps.46.10…

Further, reading Mark 15…”Jesus made no further answer “….and then Pilate put the sign on the cross…

I wondered what Pilate went on to believe…he had an answer right before him…the silent answer…was Pilate still and did he come to know God…will he be among the crowd in heaven….

I am just  contemplating….

Looking up “silent” and “quiet”…this verse in Zephaniah touched my heart as well…quiet and loud…thank YOU that You quiet me with your love…

The  Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;he will rejoice over you with gladness;he will quiet you by his love;he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17

Jesus Delivered to Pilate-And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.And the chief priests accused him of many things.And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him,” You have said so”.

 And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.”

But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”Mark.15.1-5, 26

So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. Luke.23.9

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth. Ps.46.10

All we like sheep have gone astray;we have turned—every one—to his own way;and the  has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,yet he opened not his mouth;like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living,stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wickedand with a rich man in his death,although he had done no violence,and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Isa.53:6-9

 

Three fingers back…

 Three fingers back…

There are times when I read through the Word, books about the Word, devotionals, etc, that I just want to copy down passages and send them on to various people who are struggling with particular areas…I just want to say, “look, this pertains to you and your struggles, do this and things will go better…”

I want to be their “counselor, their truth revealer “…pointing my finger at their weaknesses, their “ lack of growth or understanding” from my self appointed pedestal….

Oh, how self-righteous, “holier than thou” I can be….

Then I am reminded over and over that while I may be pointing one finger at them, three are pointing back at me…humbled by my presumptuousness…

While I may want to take the speck from another, I have a log of my own…

The Real Holy Spirit works much better in our life…my job is to encourage, stand beside, build up…learn…obey…

3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Matthew 7:3-5

Thank YOU…

https://gccsatx.com/hymns/show-us-christ/

Show Us Christ Lyrics, Doug Plank, Bob Kauflin

VERSE 1

Prepare our hearts, O God

Help us to receive

Break the hard and stony ground

Help our unbelief

Plant Your Word down deep in us

Cause it to bear fruit

Open up our ears to hear

Lead us in Your truth

CHORUS

Show us Christ, show us Christ

O God, reveal Your glory

Through the preaching of Your Word

Until every heart confesses Christ is Lord



VERSE 2

Your Word is living light

Upon our darkened eyes

Guards us through temptations

Makes the simple wise

Your Word is food for famished ones

Freedom for the slave

Riches for the needy soul

Come speak to us today

BRIDGE

Where else can we go, Lord

Where else can we go

You have the words of eternal life