Archive for Real life issues
Embracing Seasons
Posted by: | CommentsToday I feel fall beginning. As I sit outside in the early morning; it is cool – very cool. I hear a woodpecker in the distance hammering away at a tree. I see a squirrel jump from branch to branch. Crickets are still singing. I breathe in the experience. The first whispers of fall.
Yet, I know that following fall is winter. And winter means death. Fall is the beginning of a season of death. What spring birthed and summer boasted of, fall now begins to kill. Less daylight means less growth and eventually the advent of winter and then death. The death of beautiful flowers and green leaves. Cool becomes cold. Refreshing winds become bitter winds. The welcoming arms of nature will eventually motion for me to stay inside to avoid the inevitable coming of death.
In the natural, I enjoy the change of seasons. I anticipate the upcoming changes. I prepare for the season. I know they will come – one after another – year after year. Birth, growth, dying, and death. And I find that they also come in the spiritual. Yet, I often don’t anticipate their arrival very well. Many times I’m not prepared. But they come anyway.
The dreams of my heart are subject to the seasons, too. Some of them have lain dormant for years. Then something springlike happens and summer comes. The dream lives. It grows. It shows forth its beauty. I take satisfaction in the glory of the beautiful dream’s reality. Suddenly, the air cools. I didn’t expect it. I try to adjust to the changes. Then my dream is met with death – cold and harsh – unforgivingly bitter. I try my best to avoid the cold reality. But the season rushes on without my permission. I just wish it to be over. But the winter is so long. Day after day without any hope of new life. No hope of resurrection. No signs of beautiful flowers. No green sprouts on the trees.
Affliction
Posted by: | CommentsThis entry is taken from Spurgeon’s Daily Devotional.
“Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant?”
Numbers 11:11
Our heavenly Father sends us frequent troubles to try our faith. If our faith be worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: the paste gem dreads to be touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body full of health, and the business profitable; but that is true faith which holds by the Lord’s faithfulness when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when spirits are depressed, and the light of our Father’s countenance is hidden. A faith which can say, in the direst trouble, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” is heaven-born faith. The Lord afflicts His servants to glorify Himself, for He is greatly glorified in the graces of His people, which are His own handiwork. When “tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope,” the Lord is honoured by these growing virtues. We should never know the music of the harp if the strings were left untouched; nor enjoy the juice of the grape if it were not trodden in the winepress; nor discover the sweet perfume of cinnamon if it were not pressed and beaten; nor feel the warmth of fire if the coals were not utterly consumed. The wisdom and power of the great Workman are discovered by the trials through which His vessels of mercy are permitted to pass. Present afflictions tend also to heighten future joy. There must be shades in the picture to bring out the beauty of the lights. Could we be so supremely blessed in heaven, if we had not known the curse of sin and the sorrow of earth? Will not peace be sweeter after conflict, and rest more welcome after toil? Will not the recollection of past sufferings enhance the bliss of the glorified? There are many other comfortable answers to the question with which we opened our brief meditation, let us muse upon it all day long.
Tears in a Bottle
Posted by: | CommentsTears. A result of emotions. Grief. Pain. Fear. Sometimes joy.
The tear ducts in our eyes were designed by God Himself, so it is a given that God expects us to cry at times yet phrases such as “fight back the tears” and “big boys don’t cry” portray our uncomfortableness with tears.
When you think of someone crying, what is your gut level response? Do you want to embrace them and take away the tears? Or maybe you want to get away. You are uncomfortable with tears.
Crying comes from a strong response within us to the events and emotions of life. Responding to one another’s tears sometimes feels like playing Russian Roulette. Do I hug you when you cry or should I ignore you if you’d rather be left alone? Do I highlight your struggle or pretend it is better denied?
What does God think of our tears? They are so valuable that God says he saves them in a bottle
You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book.
TLB Psalm 56:8.
Yet how often do we hurry to wipe away our tears? Personally, I really would prefer not to cry in front of you. I resist sharing my pain so openly. I would rather you not know what is happening deep within me.
Why is that? Is it my fear of your criticism? Is it pride? Is it my fear of sharing the most real parts of myself with another who could so easily choose to reject or accept my heart?
Faithful Abandonment
Posted by: | Comments“My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” Jesus demanded from the cross.
Had God really forsaken Jesus?
Jesus was experiencing complete darkness in his soul as he took our sins upon himself. He was experiencing separation from God in a way he had never experienced it. Separation from God. The very definition of true death. Oh, the horror of it! The ultimate loneliness. The ultimate darkness. Jesus felt forsaken.
It is an awful feeling. Forsakenness. Being turned away from. Being left by the one you love the most. Betrayed. Abandoned.
A few months ago, I went through a season of darkness where I felt forsaken by so many. Betrayed. Abandoned by not only people, but by God Himself. The darkness was unbearable to my soul. I questioned the very existence of God. Surely the God I had based my life upon would never let me be hurt this way. I wanted to die. Death would be better than the pain of being abandoned by God Himself.
So many times I have treasured the scripture that says, “He will never leave me, nor forsake me.” I have cherished the holy words that said, “When my father and mother forsake me, God will take me up.” A deep place within my heart had been forsaken from my very beginning as my father and mother did literally forsake me. So believing God would never forsake me was a bedrock of my faith.
Yet I found myself surrounded by darkness. It invaded my heart. It consumed my soul. I felt unloved and vulnerable. I cried, “Why, God?” until I could cry no longer. Until my heart almost concluded “There must be no God.”
Embracing Brokenness
Posted by: | CommentsLife teaches us to despise brokenness. Broken things are worthless. Most of us can afford to go buy something new and replace our broken things. We toss them. They are not worth the time and energy needed to repair them.
Unfortunately, we do the same thing with people. It just takes too much time and energy to repair them. Unconsciously, we toss them away. We are too busy and important to take broken lives into the repair shop of our heart and begin the work of repairing.
I read this morning about the woman who brought the alabaster flask of very costly oil to Jesus. She broke it and poured out the oil onto Jesus. I believe that as much as anything, it was a picture of her life. There was something beautiful and valuable inside her that was so costly. Jesus was the only one who had ever seen inside her and valued the beautiful oil inside. She was in many ways as broken and useless as the flask now was. Her body had been used and wasted on unfaithful lovers. Yet, Jesus saw past her facade. He saw into her heart. He valued her. He did not reject her sacrifice. He embraced her brokenness.
