Category: Biblical Wisdom

Last Sunday, my pastor told the story of an elementary school project that he put off until the last minute. When he turned in a thrown together mess, the teacher simply shook her head and allowed him to re-do it over his Christmas break. At the time, he didn’t see that she was in any way “helping,” him.

He ended up writing a well thought out paper because he had to. He went on to say that God sometimes helps us by doing nothing.

I feel like that concept really makes us squirm these days. I work in an elementary school office where we see parents all day long bringing in lunch boxes that got left at home, and water bottles, and homework, and ice cream money.

We have become a society that really doesn’t believe in the idea of suffering the consequences. If our kids don’t study and fail a test, no worries, they can re-take it.

But, who can blame the kids? The adults are making the rules.

If we run up too much debt, we can file bankruptcy. The idea of the bail out has become part of who we are. Has that philosophy made us better off?

Is that how God’s Kingdom works? Is Christianity merely just about intentionally making one bad decision after another, knowing that grace will save us?

Yes, it’s true that we can always be forgiven if we honestly seek forgiveness and repent which means ceasing the sinful behavior to begin with.

But, on Sunday, my pastor threw out another idea. He said that faith is not just a feeling; faith is also thinking and doing and that when we dig ourselves into a deep hole where we have to make a move or find that the game is over, we really come to understand that “we can do everything through Christ who strengthens us.”

I think I remember reading that somewhere. Oh yeah, that’s Philippians 4:13.

Any good parent will tell you that sometimes the best thing you can do for your kids is let them figure it out on their own. Sometimes they need to fail. Sometimes they need to face the consequences of their actions. It’s hard and it’s not pretty, but it makes them stronger and builds their character.

Sometimes God does the same for us.

The Bible tells us that, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us….” Romans 5:3-5a

Look around. Couldn’t our world really use more character and hope?

God always hears our prayers and He always answers them though not always in the ways that we would like. But, do we always answer our own children’s requests in the ways that they would like? Does that mean we don’t love them?

Perhaps we can’t just regularly exclude God from our lives and then expect Him to help us every time we get in a bind. Perhaps, like a loving father, He stands back sometimes and let’s us learn that we do need Him on a daily basis, that His Word does matter, and when we willingly choose to wander, we can find ourselves in a mess of our own making.

There’s always forgiveness and redemption. Jesus ultimately provided that.

But, we are creatures of free will. We have choices. Obedience is one of them. We also have the gift of learning from our mistakes if we are willing to admit them. Even when we do find ourselves in a pit of some sort, that requires us to do our own climbing out, we are assured that, “we can do everything through Christ who strengthens us.”

A sermon reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The air outside was heavy when I arrived home from work yesterday. It was cloudy, but the forecast was not calling. for rain. I let my dogs out and went to pick a couple of tomatoes and some okra, when I felt the first drops. I hurried back inside as those drops quickly became a steady pour.

We have been in drought here in Georgia, and we desperately needed the rain. I stood and watched it from the porch for a few minutes, totally appreciating how cleansing a good rain could be.

I was reminded of a recent visit with a friend of mine who has been having a really rough time lately. Life has been throwing her one hard ball after another.  Now this lady is tough as nails, but she finally broke down the other day and cried.

Then she apologized for being a “cry baby,” which I assured her was ridiculous. It’s really unfortunate that society has taught us that crying is for the weak.

I read an article in Psychology Today, that reported that emotional tears actually contain stress hormones that are excreted out of our bodies when we cry. It also stated that studies suggest that crying actually stimulates endorphines, our body’s feel good hormones. Furthermore, human beings are the only creatures known to shed emotional tears.

Isn’t that interesting?

Children have no trouble shedding tears when they are hurt or sad. It’s only as adults that we consider shedding them some kind of character flaw.

The science suggests that we were biologically set up to feel better after we cry. Why would we consider crying to be a weakness?

We know in the Bible that Jesus cried. When His friend Lazarus died and everyone was crying and mourning, the text says simply, “Jesus wept.” John 11:35

His heart was moved. His heart was troubled, and the Son of God wept.

I can’t imagine anyone thinking Jesus was weak or a cry baby. Quite the contrary, as Christ followers, we are supposed to seek to understand and follow all that He did.

Jesus loved deeply. He cared deeply for His friends and ultimately for all of us. We are called to do the same and when we love others deeply and care deeply about the situations around us, we are sometimes moved to tears.

In the end, when we allow them to flow, we are simply acknowledging our humanity. If the Son of God wasn’t ashamed to shed tears over what moved Him, should we try to be any different?

After the rain at my house yesterday, the sun came out and the air felt much lighter. After Jesus wept in the Gospel of John, He raised Lazarus from the dead.

Tears have a definite cleansing power and perhaps a healing power too. They are an essential part of our existence on this side of heaven. One day, “there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.” Revelation 21:4b

But, while we are traveling here, maybe we should embrace them instead of denying them.

A rain shower reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

At the elementary school where I work, we have a Lost and Found. Amazingly, after being in school for only six weeks, it’s full already. There are some perfectly good jackets and sweaters and a table full of water bottles that have been lost so far. We even have the lense of someone’s glasses. How could that not be missed?

Every now and then, a child will come up to the office to ask if something has been turned in, but for the most part, the items remain unclaimed.

I am told, that the year will end and the lost and found will be full even though, several letters will have gone home reminding parents to come and check.

I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. My pastor reminded us in last week’s sermon, that we live in a throw away society.

If something breaks, we don’t try to fix it. We throw it away. If we lose something, we buy a new one. That’s a byproduct of living in abundance.

My pastor also reminded us that God’s Kingdom doesn’t work that way and that Jesus isn’t running a throw away society. In Luke 15:8, there’s a parable of a woman who has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she simply let it go? She has nine others. Nope, she searches high and low until she finds it and then she contacts all of her friends to let them know.

Jesus tried to explain the Kingdom of God to people in ways they could relate to. The people in Jesus’ time understood the message. The people in our country during the Great Depression, understood the message. Maybe living in our abundance has caused us to lose something in the translation.

As the pastor shared the parable of the coins, I thought about that lost and found at our school. I thought about how precious those jackets and sweaters would be to a child who didn’t have one. I thought about how precious a water bottle would be to a child in Africa, who has no vessel to transport water on a several mile walk from a well to his village.

The Bible tells us that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:25

There have been countless words and essays written on that statement by people far smarter and more educated than I am. But, perhaps it simply means, when you have to rely on God for daily provision of your physical needs, your faith tends to be strong.  You get to see God in action everyday.

The “rich man,” and let’s face it, that would include most Americans, have plenty of food to eat on a daily basis. So, in a sense, we are robbed of seeing His daily work.

But, Jesus provides us with an answer. When the disciples ask who can be saved. Jesus replies, “With man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

Each and every one of us matter to God. We are never left abandoned in the lost and found. Jesus will come and claim us if we only ask. We are each a treasure to Him with far more worth than we may believe. We may have been abandoned by humanity, but we will never be abandoned by God.

A sermon and a lost and found rack reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

I just finished a Bible study on Ruth. I love her story. I have read it quite a few times. It’s got all of the elements of the ideal love story. There’s a marriage and then there’s tragedy. There’s some dark days, but in the end, the main character, Ruth, finds true love and the son she has gets to be in the bloodline of Jesus.

I love the story because I know how it ends. I imagine while Ruth was living it, it wasn’t so great. She married a foreigner. Her father-in-law died. Her husband died and her brother-in-law died. I’m sure this was not the happy ending that the young bride was dreaming about.

At least she has her little family with her sister-in-law, Orpah and mother-in-law, Naomi. Perhaps they brought comfort to one another. But, then Naomi decided she was going back to her people. She tried to send Ruth and Orpah back to their own families, but Ruth refused to go.

That’s the part of the story that has really intrigued me this time. I could easily write about how Ruth is a perfect example of how God doesn’t judge us on where we came from. Ruth was a Moabite and they were enemies of Israel. I could point out that God will use and bless anyone who willingly worships and follows Him and I would be right.

I could write about how even when our world is at the very darkest, our sovereign God is at work, even when we can’t see Him or feel Him. Ruth teaches us that even on days where getting out of the bed is more effort that we feel like we can handle, He has a plan.

Ruth lost her husband, father-in-law and her sister-in-law. Naomi lost her husband and both of her sons. Her days were surely dark too. But, we know that God was at work providing a new husband for Ruth, a Godly man and eventually a grand baby for Naomi to bounce on her lap. I would be right about those observations too.

But, this time, Naomi’s faith is what stayed with me, for days after I was done reading it. In the end, it was Naomi who led Ruth to her God, to her people, and eventually to a new husband. It was Ruth’s deep love and trust in Naomi that led her to Boaz on the threshing floor.

What was it about Naomi that made a young Ruth leave her birth family and travel into enemy territory where she would likely be judged and looked down upon?

Perhaps it was her deep abiding faith. Perhaps Ruth knew that she just had to get to know Naomi’s God and her people better because Naomi was so different from the women Ruth knew. Even in deep grief, Ruth clung to Naomi.

Ruth and Naomi’s stories are intertwined. We can’t read one without the other. Their story reminds me how important it is that we live our faith and not just talk about it. The only way to really bring others to God is through our actions.

Naomi’s actions must have seemed so insignificant at the time. She was returning home destitute, yet she took the young woman who God had put in her life, with her, because Ruth didn’t want to leave her and in agreeing to do so, those two women helped to change the course of human history and play a part in the greatest story ever told.

Ruth and Naomi remind me that no one is insignificant in God’s plan. We all play a part and we are all intertwined. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

My family just returned from a week at the beach. We had a nice time. The little condo we stayed at had a plant out on the deck. It wasn’t in very good shape. It was quite wilted from lack of water.

I asked myself who would leave a plant out at a vacation spot knowing it would not likely get watered. Not to mention that it sat right in the middle of the deck. The little plant nagged at me and I eventually went and got it some water which it soaked up immediately.

I was quite surprised to see how quickly it perked up. It looked like it might even live. I watered it a couple of other times, each time asking myself what the point was, thinking that the people who were renting the place the next week, might not water it and let it die.

Why did I feel so compelled to care for this plant that wasn’t even mine?

As I was watering it on my last day there, I felt an answer gently whispering to my heart, “Because you can.”

That was of course the answer all along. I watered the plant because I could. It was hardly any effort on my part, to fill a glass up at the sink and walk it out to the plant. But, it was life saving to the plant.

I think we often find ourselves wrestling with the notion of whether or not we should offer our help in different situations. We tell ourselves that we didn’t cause the problem and so it’s not our responsibility. We tell ourselves that the problem is so huge that our little contribution won’t matter anyway.

While those may be valid points on an earthly scale, we sometimes forget as Christians, that the Kingdom of God works on an entirely different currency. Jesus showed us with fishes and loaves, that whatever we have, no matter how meager, when put in God’s hands is always more than enough.

I have heard it argued that while Jesus’ number one reason for healing the sick was to glorify God, that He also healed because people in pain or in need, moved Him. He intervened; He healed because He could.

That reasoning fits with everything I know about our Savior.

The Bible tells us, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

We are not saved by good works, but our faith calls us to do them, because Jesus did them, because they glorify God, and because we can.

A little wilted plant reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

I recently watched the movie, “Apollo 13,” which by most accounts is a pretty accurate account of the actual events of the Apollo 13, space mission. It’s a fabulous movie and I had seen it before, but it had been a while.

Different aspects spoke to me this time.

The entire mission was the perfect storm. Everything that could go wrong did, from one of the astronauts being bumped twenty-four hours before the launch, to failure of one of the engines at lift off.  The first two days went smoothly with a few minor glitches. Then there was an explosion and they lost one oxygen tank and the second began rapidly depleting. They also lost two fuel cells.

The American people at the time, were not interested in the launch. It had become old hat to them and the networks didn’t even broadcast it. No one was particularly interested until the explosion occurred and lives hung in the balance.

Does that sound like a familiar phenomenon? We are surrounded by wonder everyday, but we don’t pay much attention because it has become normal to us. If it’s not new and shiny, we tend to check out.

But, when disaster struck, the world was riveted. Everyone was glued to their televisions.

President Richard Nixon asked the Nation to observe a day of prayer. The Senate and House, jointly passed a resolution on April 14, 1970, asking all Americans to pray at 9:00 Eastern Standard Time for the safe return of their countrymen. They also urged businesses and communication media to pause for prayer at that hour.

Are you stunned? Can you imagine both houses in Congress passing anything through that quickly? Can you imagine our leaders urging us to pray? They didn’t seem to be overly concerned with the separation of church and state or offending anyone.

In Rome, in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope led 50,000 people in a prayer for the astronauts’ safe return.

In Jerusalem, there were prayers at the wailing wall.

There were thousands of church prayer services held all over the country, asking God for intervention.

We are a country who has always had God at our root and we turned to Him in droves.

The odds were terrible. If they had enough power to get home, they could very likely have burned up on re-entry and the sea they were set to land in was on the edge of a typhoon.

But, we serve a God who doesn’t care about odds or statistics. He cares about, faith, trust and obedience. He answered the prayers of the millions of people who prayed and delivered the astronauts safely.

President Nixon later spoke at a church, where he said, “This event reminds us in these days of growing materialism, deep down, there is still a great religious faith in this Nation….I think more people probably prayed last week than perhaps have prayed in many years.”

People prayed and God listened.

It’s been forty-six years since the Apollo 13 launch. A lot has happened. But, we still serve the same God.

The Bible tells us, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Are we paying attention or have we become complacent? Are we praying like we should for our country and our leaders? We know there is power in prayer. We not only see it in the Bible; we have seen it throughout our history.

One of the astronauts famously said, “Houston we have a problem.” Perhaps we should say, “Heaven we have a problem,” and then ask God to fix it.

History shows us, if enough of us pray and turn to Him, He will.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂