God’s Provision for the Broken

^{January 12-14, 2016}

God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.

God said, “The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!”

 So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they’d been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life. (Genesis 3 21-24)

 Listen, God! Please, pay attention!
Can you make sense of these ramblings,
my groans and cries?
    King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
    you’ll hear me at it again.
Every morning
    I lay out the pieces of my life
    on your altar
    and watch for fire to descend. (Psalm 5:1-3 MSG)

I’m tired of all this—so tired. My bed
    has been floating forty days and nights
On the flood of my tears.
    My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears.
The sockets of my eyes are black holes;
    nearly blind, I squint and grope. (Psalm 6:6-7) MSG

God’s business is putting things right;
    he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall,
    we can look him straight in the eye. (Psalm 11:7) MSG

God made my life complete
    when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
    he gave me a fresh start.
Now I’m alert to God’s ways;
    I don’t take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works;
    I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
    and I’m watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
    when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. (Psalm 18:16-24 MSG)

We were created to glorify God. That is all. Just that. We turn away from our calling. From Eden until today, we get distracted. We look the other way. We get wrapped up in ourselves, in what we think we need.

God is always there, providing covering and safety. We lay out our messes, and God somehow for some reason puts things straight. Because, that is just what God does.

Pay attention, don’t miss his mercy, the way he works. God rewrites the text of our lives. He likes to make things straight. Moreover, all he asks, when we get our act together, is that we glorify – honor, praise, worship – turn the lights on, and shine our phone light on Him so others will know how to get a fresh start.

Pain takes over my body, my life, my brain. From head to toe, my pain is so intense, I often forget the reason I am here. I am bent and broken; my limbic system is skewed. I found, somewhere along the way, that if I pay attention to how God works, I discover all I need to set aside the pain for praise.

All I need is to set out the pieces of my life, messed up as it is, and God will rewrite it. Then I do have reason to glorify my God. Where did I leave my phone?

Peterson, Eugene H. The Message (MSG). Carol Stream, IL: NavPress, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/ downloaded 1/12-1/14/2016.

Grandchildren

Monday, January 11, 2016

Day 11, Step 4: Grandchildren

They’ll rebuild the old ruins,    raise a new city out of the wreckage.
They’ll start over on the ruined cities,    take the rubble left behind and make it new. (Isaiah 61:3-4 MSG)

Lofty, strong and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice and right standing with God. The planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. (AMP)

In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. (Galatians 3:28 MSG)

You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. (Galatians 4:6-7 MSG)

On a news channel reporting on the international summit on climate change, I heard someone say something to this effect: 

“We are the first generation to recognize the significance of global climate change. We are the last generation able to do something about it.”

He was young enough to be our grandchild.

In these readings, God set the groundwork many generations ago. Isaiah the prophet had a wife, and since the Scripture does not say otherwise, I suspect he had children and grandchildren. God told us over and over from the time of Isaiah, a prophet of Judah in the 8^th century BC, and I know biblically long before that, clear back to Noah and even Adam, we would keep leaving a mess for our children and grandchildren to clean up.

However, we are always asked if we left them the tools, the inheritance they need to do the job their generation must do?

Paul, the apostle, tells us over and over God has no grandchildren. Each generation we stand only one generation from the extinction of Christianity. Do we live a life that will call our children and grandchildren to believe?

Have we taught them love is unconditional, so they will recognize it in Jesus, and give it to others? Have we apologized, so they know, we know, we too, are not perfect? However, we know perfection as have those who went before us? 

Have we called them who they are:

·        

                                                                                      ELAN: strong oak, great light, the essence of life

     

                                                     GEORGE: guardian of the soil

      DAVIS: sons of David the King,

·         
       

                                                                            MEREDITH: protector of the sea,

·                                                                                  ANN: grace, love, 

·        
         All, home grown and collected:  sons and daughters of the God of creation and salvation?

Have we taught them everything they need to know about staying connected to us, to their parents, their siblings, their cousins, because that is where they can always draw strength to live and to do?

Do we make it possible for them to see us caring for elderly parents, so they will know how to care for theirs when the time comes? Do they see us supporting their parents, so they can learn how to help their children? Do they see us loving, caring and serving?

No answers, just questions. Have we prepared them to be a generation that recognizes the needs of creation and the created? Have we prepared them to be the ones who will do something to preserve and defend?

Baby step four:

• ·        Live and love where our grandchildren can see the good
•       Tell our grandchildren stories 
•       Invite our grandchildren to be a part of a bigger story.

What do your grandchildren need to know? What have you taught them? Tell us because our grandchildren need to know, too.

Fix Your Attitude

Day Eight, Step 3: Fix Your Attitude

January 8, 2016

[Paul says,] "Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!"

(Romans 15:13 MSG)

Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people,
Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil. 

(Psalm 97:11 MSG)

Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank him. Worship him. 

(Psalm 100:4 MSG)

He forgives your sins—every one.
    He heals your diseases—every one.
    He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
    He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
    He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
    He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence. 

(Psalm 103:3-5 MSG)

Dead people can’t praise God—
    not a word to be heard from those buried in the ground.
But we bless God, oh yes—
    we bless hi mnow, we bless him always!

Hallelujah! 

(Psalm 115:17-18 MSG)

[Paul says,] "We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. 

(Colossians 1:11-13 MSG)

[Jesus says,] “I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.” 

(John 6:48-51) MSG)

[Paul reminds us,] "We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment."  (Colossians 1:15-17 MSG)

I was not sure where all this "attitude" stuff was going. All these verses addressing attitudes, God was working ahead of my needs. At least until this afternoon. Suddenly my filters were gone. The words in my brain came blasting out of my mouth. 

"I don’t want to do this. I handled all our budgeting in envelopes the first ten years we were married – I handed it over with no transition – what a mistake – that was really stupid. We’ve done Larry Burkett’s system – twice. It didn’t take. And here I am holding the pencil – again. I don't want to do this again!”

I will let you put the emphasis on the words. I think you know where they go.

Our son-in-law, who needed to hurry to get to a meeting, tucked his chin. Our daughter, who came from the Oncology Infusion Center, sudennly got eyes as big as saucers. My husband bit his tongue. He became rigid from head to toe.

For Christmas our children gave us the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University DVD Home Study Kit and promised to walk through the study with us. Bill already started making spreadsheets. He already shared a gruesome picture of $80,000 of debt accumulated over nearly 47 years of marriage. 

We are still tithing, because we made that decision a l-o-n-g time ago – we’ve never not had enough to make, well, at least the minimum payments. We’ve given a leg up over and over. We are givers not savers. We use credit cards like cash. It’s not Bill’s fault. It’s our fault. To paraphrase Dave Ramsey, somewhere along the line we kept getting chocolate cake when we wanted vanilla because we never committed together to change the recipe.

Will someone please send me to my room and tell me I can come back to the living room when I have a better attitude? 

I’ve apologized for my outburst, but that doesn’t fix the issue or my attitude. I had a lot of trouble going to sleep, even after I talked with Bill and we agreed to him working from the computer and Jorja working on paper and then sitting down together. He finds paper tiresome, and I can’t see the big picture on the computer.

That’s a start. But it is not the last conversation. It is probably not the last outburst. This is stressful. It is not easy. We got in this mess together. We can get out. But to do so we have to work together. 

These scriptures need to be in the front of my notebook. They need to be read and acted on every day over the however long it will take us to put our house in order. In spite of bitter winter pain. In spite of the heebie-jeebies anxiety brings on a moment's notice. In spite of the seasonal downward spiral into the deep black hole of depression. Yes there is help for all of that. Hopefully the combination of:

• God’s holy word buried in my heart and written on my tongue,\Western medicine’s pile of pills for pain management, 
• A yoga tape from follower of the Dali Lama who is my primary care physician,
• Exercises from the physical therapist to reconfigure the disks in my spine from top to bottom, 
• Walking every day outside, inside, or in the pool, 
• Sharing this at next week’s behavioral therapy session with my psychologist, 
• Perhaps seeing the psychiatrist to add an antidepressant to my antianxiety medication, 
• Asking you to pray for me.

Do you need to fix your attitude, too? How can I pray for you?

Revised Book of Common Prayer, Daily Readings, 2016

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Financial Peace University DVD Home Study Kit Copyright © 2014 by Dave Ramsey

Wake Up From Your Sleep

My New Year’s Resolution for 2016 is to take one step at a time. I hope you will join me on my journey.

January 4, 2016

Day four, step two: Wake Up From Your Sleep.

How easy it is to become distracted and at times even lazy. I teach piano and voice lessons. However, at what cost. Time to improve my voice and piano skills and that poor flute is sitting in its case for years. In the past, I even wrote a hymn inspired by a retreat in the Swiss Alps. 

I studied for years, yet it is so much easier not to practice, not to play, not to sing, not to write – except when required by teaching.

The readings from the Revised Book of Common Prayer the last few days have encouraged me not to let my gifts become sleeper gifts. To wake them up and use them not only to provide our needed extra income, to build others gifts, but to praise God with them and for them.

Good people, cheer God!
    Right-living people sound best when praising.
Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
    Play his praise on a grand piano!
Invent your own new song to him;
    give him a trumpet fanfare. (Psalm 33:1-3 MSG) January 2

And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. (Colossians 3:17 MSG) January 3

Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20 MSG) January 4

Step two for 2016 is to carve out time each day to play the piano, to sing 
praises, to carve out Wednesday in such a way I have enough energy to attend choir rehearsal, to begin each Sunday helping to lead worship. Even set aside time to write – words and tunes. Set a priority. Create a schedule for regular practice.

However, start with baby steps. All at once and I am sure to fail.

·         Look at the calendar. Save enough energy to go to choir practice. Plan in a nap. Stay up past my usual bedtime this one day. Can I do it? I do not know. However, if I do not try, I will never know.

·         Sing the warm ups I assign to my voice students every day.

·         Get out the scale book. Play one scale on the piano six times each day for a week, just like I ask my students.

·         Play one hymn or praise song until I can play and sing it at tempo mistake free, just for God and me.

The gifts are God’s. Wake up! How we use them is entirely up to us. Wake up! What a shame to waste our gifts through disuse. Wake up! What gifts  are rusting from disuse? Wake up! Do not let your gifts be sleepers. Wake up! Share your plan.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
Photo: Matt Malloy - Time Lapse Sunset

Follow Those Who Have Gone Before

My New Year’s Resolution for 2016 is to take one step at a time. I hope you will join me on my journey.

January 1, 2016

Day one, step one: Follow those who have gone before.

In my observation and experience, those who follow successfully become everything God made them be. I would like to become a part of that parade.

O my soul, bless God.
    From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!
O my soul, bless God,
    don’t forget a single blessing![1]

Bless: to praise and glorify[2]

Blessing: help and approval from God[3]

Since childhood, an important part of New Year’s Day is watching the Rose Bowl Parade. Floats made of flower petals and marching bands from across the country.

One of the things for which I bless God is the blessing of marching in parades as part of junior high, high school, and college bands. To be an active component of the group, one needed to step off on the same foot as everyone else, and then stay rhythmically in step with everyone else be it forty, ninety or three hundred. Not only remaining “in step“ but also “in line.”

A well-practiced marching band is made of straight lines from front to back and from side to side. Staying in step means awareness of those before you from beginning to the person directly in front of you. Keeping a row requires using one’s peripheral vision to maintain a straight line from curb to curb. When marching perfectly in line and row, with precise distance in each direction, the lines also create perfect diagonals. A thing of geometric symmetry and beauty.

Walk out of the gates. Get going!
    Get the road ready for the people.
Build the highway. Get at it!
    Clear the debris,
    hoist high a flag, a signal to all peoples!
Yes! God has broadcast to all the world:
    “Tell daughter Zion, ‘Look! Your Savior comes,
Ready to do what he said he’d do,
    prepared to complete what he promised.’”[4]

A parade has an exact and designated path. The floats and bands are staged and move out in such a manner as to keep the procession moving past those who line the streets from beginning to end. Being a part of the cavalcade not only means marching in a band that follows the drum major, but also being a part of a larger procession designed to not only to bless God but also to bless others by simply taking one’s place. Just marching step by step into the New Year and all it holds in store.

Lord, I praise you, I honor and glorify your holy name. Thank you for your help already waiting for me in the New Year. Help me know my place in the parade. Let me follow those who have served you, not because of individual abilities and gifts, but because they learned to be a part of the blessed and perfect band. Those in the scripture who are unnamed, but crossed the Reed Sea on dry land because they trusted you. Those who marched around Jericho, working together to complete your purpose. Help me walk beside those who follow your Son, not because of what he can do, but because of who he was, and is, and evermore shall be. Help me feel the rhythm, look straight ahead, use my peripheral vision, and move forward with a precisely consistent measured step. Help me step out and be a part of your parade.

---

[1] (Petersen, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002) Psalm 103:1-2

[2] (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)/bless

[3] (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)/blessing

[4] (Petersen, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002) Isaiah 62:10-12