Celebrating

He is the Morning Star

~ "I am the Root and the Offspring of David, 

  and the bright Morning Star" ~

Revelation 22:16

He is the Father

~ "Is He not your Father, who bought you?  

    Has He not made you and established you?" ~

Deuteronomy 32:6

He is the Example

~ "Christ also suffered for us, 

    leaving us an example, 

     that we should follow His steps" ~

1 Peter 2:21

He is Victorious

~ "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!  

For He has done marvelous things; 

His right hand and His holy arm 

    have gained Him the victory." ~

Psalm 98:1

He is Shade

~ "The Lord watches over you;

the Lord is your shade at your right hand" ~

Psalm 121:5

He is the Counselor

~ "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, 

        Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" ~

Isaiah 9:6

He is Awesome

~ "Who is like You ~ majestic in holiness, 

         awesome in glory, working wonders?" ~

Exodus 15:11

In Praise of Birds and Bees and Flowers and Trees...

"the Lord God made every tree grow

 that is pleasant to the sight"

Genesis 2:9

My mom said something sad to me the other day.  We were standing in her driveway saying goodbye after I dropped off some folding chairs I had borrowed.   As I hugged her goodbye, I looked off into the distance behind her, and saw a jacaranda tree ~ the first one I’ve noticed this spring.  I love jacaranda trees.  They have beautiful purple blossoms, and when several are planted together, they are a stunning sight every spring.  Sort of like the cherry blossoms in Washington DC.  Jacaranda trees live quite happily in our area of the country, so there are lots of them.  

from Wikipedia

They are a little bit controversial, however.  After those beautiful purple blossoms have given us all they have to give, they fall from the tree.  The resulting purple carpet is beautiful in its own way, but when they fall on sidewalks, they can be tricky to walk on.   So some people complain to their city council that the trees are a menace; others praise their beautiful blossoms, and insist a little sweeping is a small price to pay.  

I’m in the latter group.  I love the look of them, and think it’s worth it to put up with the small nuisance that they can be every spring.  I guess I figure the risk of someone actually slipping on them is small.   And I think nature in all its forms, is lovely.  {Okay, I guess there are a few bugs I would exclude from that “lovely” category….}

So Mom and I were in her driveway, and I saw a jacaranda tree behind her, and I said, “oh, that jacaranda tree is so pretty.”  And her reply was so hard for me to hear.  I’m sure, that when I share it with you, you’ll feel my pain. 

She said, “I think jacaranda season is nearly over.” 

I know, right??   Just awful….  Awful to think that the jacaranda season is nearly over, and I somehow missed them this year.   I just never really noticed any.  It might have been that I’m busy, but really, I don’t think I’m any busier than any other spring.  And when I’m in my car, I never feel busy.  I love my car and I love my sunroof, and I love driving.  So I tend to be very aware of birds and flowers and trees as I drive.

So I think the explanation is simply that the jacaranda season this year was short.  That happens sometimes.  A few years ago, we got practically no apples on our apple tree, and everyone we talked to was having the same problem with their fruit trees.  It just wasn’t a good year for fruit.   So maybe this year wasn’t a good year for jacaranda.   But long or short, this year’s jacaranda season is almost gone, and there won’t be another one for a year. 

That feels like such a loss.  Someone once said, “Even if you live to be 100, you’ll only experience the first day of spring 100 times.”  That really struck me.  Sometimes I think things like, You only get one sunset a day…  so I hate days when I miss seeing the sunset. 

I think it makes me more appreciative to realize that the oriole I just saw is a rarity in my neck of the woods, or that my kids aren’t going to be living with me forever, or that a shooting star is only visible for a millisecond.  I feel grateful to Him for the beauty He has given us on earth.  He didn’t have to.  He could have provided us with oxygen without trees.  What purposes do butterflies serve?  Why did He decide flowers should exist at all?

Because He's God.  Because He loves beauty.  Because He loves us.  

Hope you're enjoying the season you're in, wherever you are!

~ "beautiful trees... palm trees....

 leafy trees and willows...

rejoice before the Lord your God!" ~

Leviticus 23:40

Seek and you will find

"the Scriptures.... which testify of Me"

John 5:39

One of the things I love about studying the Old Testament, is finding Jesus there.  Sometimes it's obvious, like when it's prophecy about Him:

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  The virgin will be with Child and will give birth to a Son, and will call Him Emmanuel" ~ Isaiah 7:14

Or in Psalm 22: "They pierced My hands and My feet... They look and stare at Me.  They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots."

Those speak directly about Him. Other times, though, it's something that points us to Jesus, but it's a little more subtle, and we have to try harder to see it. {Or we see it because one of the gospels points it out to us... } ~ "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

I also love to connect Isaac's question in Genesis 22:7, "Where is the lamb?" with John the Baptist's answer in John 1:29, when he saw Jesus coming toward him, "Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

But I like to approach every chapter of the Old Testament with the question, "Where is Jesus in this?"  And I often find Him in ways I don't anticipate. 

Such was the case with 2 Samuel chapter 10.  King David decided to do something nice for someone else.  But you know the old saying, "no good deed ever goes unpunished."  And this one won't either.

Nahash, the king of Ammon died, and his son, Hanun, took over as king.  So David decided to show kindness to Hanun, "as his father showed kindness to me."  So he sent a delegation of his men to express David's sympathy to Hanun over the death of his father.

But Hanun's advisers convinced him that David's servants were not reaching out in love, but as spies.  The men were sent back to David with their beards have shaved off, and their robes cut off at the waist.  They were humiliated.  So David told them to stay in Jericho, out of sight, until their beards had grown back, and I presume he also encouraged them to solve their wardrobe malfunctions...

Though I've read this passage before, this time the Jesus parallel was unmistakable.  He came to earth as the King's emissary ~ reaching out to show kindness.  But He was rejected.  His beard was plucked and He was humiliated in myriad ways before He hung on the cross, naked.  Hard to think about... both Him and David's men.

The Old Testament has so much to teach us about God's people and their adversaries... but look for Jesus, too.  You'll find Him in unexpected places. 

~ "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,

and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 

for correction, for instruction in righteousness" ~

2 Timothy 3:16

Don't look! Up in the sky!

"take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven"

Deuteronomy 4:19

Did you hear about our solar eclipse last week?  Several southwestern states, along with a few Asian countries got a great view of an annular eclipse.  For us, the best sighting was dinner time ~ between 5:30 and 6:30.  We had made one of those pinhole cards for indirect viewing, and we were out in the backyard casting shadows to see if we could tell yet, how much of the sun was being eclipsed.  It was hard to tell, though without looking directly at the sun, which all the experts strongly caution you not to do.

The green tint is the welder's mask.  Awesome Girl held the camera inside the mask for these.

But then we went out in the front yard, where some of our neighbors had gathered.  One of our neighbors is a welder, and the shield on his welder’s mask protected our eyes well enough that we could look directly at the sun, and see it being eclipsed by the moon, little by little.  

The sight of the sun being blocked out is fascinating.  We knew we were viewing something that doesn’t happen very often, so it was exciting, and educational.  But there were other interesting effects, too.  

This one is from behind a heavily tinted piece of plastic.

First of all, the temperature.  The light of the sun was impacted for about an hour total, and the more of it the moon blocked, the more the temperature dropped.  It didn’t feel like winter or anything, but there was a noticeable 10-15 degree difference at the time the sun was at full eclipse.  Literally it was like going from sun to shade in a matter of minutes ~ except we weren’t in the shade.

Secondly, the light changed.  There is still so much sun shining around the moon, even at full eclipse, that there was still plenty of light.  And yet, it was different.  It wasn’t like early morning, or early evening, when the sun is hidden by the horizon.  It wasn’t like a cloudy day; there was too much light for that.  Even as I chatted with my neighbor, I still had to shield my eyes with my hand as I was facing the sun.  The closest thing I can compare it to, was memories from my childhood, of when a thunderstorm was coming.  Where we live now, we rarely have thunder and lightning, but where I grew up, we had plenty.   And I remember, in the last minutes before the clouds took over the sky, the sky often had a greenish-yellow tint to it.    That’s what this reminded me of.  Not exactly like that, but there was a weird, cool-colored tint to the sky, even though there wasn’t a cloud anywhere.

But the other thing that really struck me is that you couldn’t look directly at the sun.  Well, you could, really, but more than that, you shouldn’t.   My eyes are pretty sensitive to the light normally, and I wear sunglasses when I'm outside.  But even so, I really wanted to look up and see the sun, even when it wasn't my turn to use the mask as a shield.  We were sort of passing it around, and I got a turn more than once, but in the in-between times, I wanted to peek.  And it felt like it would be okay, because the sun clearly wasn't as bright and hot as usual.  

But you still can't look.  The sun's rays have just as much power to damage your retina as they do at any other time.  So I had to quash my curiosity, and stifle the urge to look at the eclipse with my unprotected eyes.

God is the same way.  In Exodus 33, Moses said to Him, "Please show me Your glory."  And God responded, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.  I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.  But you cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live." 

And I don't even think God was saying, "you may not"; I think he was saying, "You can not."  I think we simply can't handle it.  He is too bright, too magnificent, too glorious.  I don't even think we can handle full knowledge of Him.  Our brains are too finite, too earthbound to comprehend all that He is.   What He has revealed to us in His word, is beauty and knowledge enough for us, accompanied by glimpses of His love through the people around us. 

At least, for now... 

~ "Beloved, we know that when He is revealed,

we shall be like Him,

for we shall see Him as He is" ~

1 John 3:2

The higher you stand, the farther you fall

"to whom much is given..."

Luke 12:48

I'm disappointed in a friend of mine.  She made a decision that she shouldn't have made, and though I have forgiven her for the hurt it caused me, I can't seem to rid myself of my disappointment.

And I know other people who have done the same thing, but only this friend has left me with lingering disappointment.  Why?  Because I expected more of her.  She is young, but mature, and wise beyond her years; she has seen other people made the same decision, and she knew it wasn't right and yet somehow she talked herself into thinking it would be okay for her.  I hope it's not judgmental of me to be disappointed in her.  I know it's because I love her, and I hold her in high esteem.   After all, if I had a low opinion of her, then nothing she did would disappoint me, right?

And that's the hard part.  When we expect a lot of someone, it hurts more when they let us down. 

Sometimes my Awesome Girl ~ who's a bit of a perfectionist ~ can't understand why I'm proud of her even though she has turned in a school paper that is less than perfect.  It's because I'm not expecting perfect.  I'm expecting the work of a student who is learning:  some right, some wrong, and steadily improving in a subject or specific material.  This is how we judge people.  If you gave a 6th grader an assignment of 11th grade material, you would not expect it to be done very well.  But if you give a 6th grader as assignment of 2nd grade material, you would expect a very good showing. 

Or it's like a parent punishing their kids, and maybe giving the older one a longer sentence because "you should have known better."

I think that God expects a lot of me.  And maybe you, too.  I've been a child of His, of my own volition, for most of my life.  I have attended church and studied the Bible and made it my goal to live a life that pleases Him.  And of course, I often fall, which He knows I'm going to.  Mistakes happen.  But when I make a poor decision, when I know better, I wonder if that disappoints Him more than someone else making that same decision. 

My thinking on this subject led me to this verse in Luke.  The phrase "to whom much is given, much will be required" is one of those phrases we sometimes hear bandied about, often in terms of money ~ like rich people should donate more to charity.  But in Luke, it has to do with knowledge of Jesus Christ.  It's in a parable, about a servant who misbehaves while his master is away.  The servant who knew his master's will, but did not do his will, will be disciplined more than a similarly-misbehaving servant who did not know his master's will.

I hate the thought that I sometimes disappoint Him, though I know there's really no getting around it.  But somehow it encourages me to know that He expects a lot of me.  Makes me want to try.  And I know that pleases Him.

~ "Blessed is the faithful and wise steward, 

 whom the master will find so, when he comes" ~

Luke 12:42-43

Pepperoni and black olives on a thin crust, please

"attain wise counsel"

Proverbs 1:5

Chocolate or vanilla?

Hamburger or hot dog?

Lemonade or iced tea?

Paper or plastic?

Easy decisions to make?  Probably.  Either because you always prefer one over the other, or because at the time, you've got a hankerin' for one. 

But if, for some reason, you're feeling pulled in both directions, it can be really hard to make a decision.  You're busy weighing pros and cons, benefits and drawbacks.

But I think an even harder decision to make, is when someone asks for advice.  I think that being a good friend, or spouse, or business partner, or parent.... means giving the best counsel you can in a given situation.  But that can be really hard to do, if you feel strongly about one of the choices.

That happened to me recently.  A friend from church asked my opinion on something she's planning for next year, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to give her solid advice, because I really wanted something specific.  She didn't know I felt strongly about one choice, so she was expecting me to give an unbiased opinion.  But that's really hard to do... when one is, you know, biased.

So I told her I'd think a little, and pray a little.  And I did.  And what I really wanted, more than anything, was to be able to give her an unbiased opinion.  So I did some research, to make sure I knew all the pros and cons.  And then I got out my Bible.

Before long, I was able to give her an opinion.  A well thought-out, well prayed-over; honest "here's what I think is best for everyone involved" opinion.  And I think ~ actually I feel quite certain ~ that God honored my desire to be objective, and stop thinking about what I want.  He knew that what I wanted more than I wanted my way, was to be helpful to her in making her decision.  And to be in agreement with her when she does.  Unity.  It's good.

About 20 years ago, my family visited London.   And one night, several days into our visit, we were starving, and trying to decide about dinner.  Half of us wanted steak, and half of us wanted pizza.  This is hard to accomplish in just one restaurant.  So we spent several minutes debating the merits of a pizza place vs a steak restaurant.  We looked up a few places, and discovered there was a pizza place and a steak place near each other, only a couple of subway stops away.  So we decided to go look at both of them, and then make a decision based on that.

So we got ready to go, then walked to the subway station, then boarded the subway.  All the while it's getting later and later, and we're getting hungrier and hungrier.  And then we got off the subway, and walked up the stairs to the street level to discover...

... that we'd gotten off at the wrong stop. 

We stood there at the top of the stairs, looking around.  There was only one restaurant in sight, and it wasn't a pizza place or a steak place.

And it was delicious.

You know that expression, "hunger is the best sauce" ?  Totally true.  Our hunger was stronger than anyone's desire for steak or for pizza, and we were completely in agreement in our desire for food. 

Unity.  It gets things done. 

So, you can keep insisting on pizza, or you can put your wishes aside, and ask Him what He thinks.  Trust me; it'll be delicious.

from chow.com ~ makin' me hungry right now!

~ "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

but he who heeds counsel is wise" ~

Proverbs 12:15

Want it all; want it now

"the Revelation of Jesus Christ"

Revelation 1:1

Well, summer has officially begun in our home.  Probably in a lot of American homes... Memorial Day has that effect.  On Sunday we barbequed burgers and marshmallows at our house, and Monday we went over to my folks' house for barbequed ribs and corn-on-the-cob.  We ate watermelon and the kids swam a little in my parents' pool, and we had ice cream for dessert. 

I'm not a big fan of summer.  It's probably my least favorite season, because I don't like the heat.  But my kids love summer.  It's not even about school being out, because we homeschool year-round in our home.  They just love all the things that go along with summer, like swimming and barbequing and watermelon and roasted marshmallows and corn-on-the-cob... 

What's interesting to me, though is that my kids want all the good things of summer, all at once.  As soon as they can feel the change in the weather, and the day is lighter longer, they start talking about it.  They get a tiny glimpse of summer, and they can't wait to experience all of it.  They aren't satisfied with some; they want all. 

I love that attitude.  I love the idea of not being satisfied with a little, if you can have a lot.  At first, I thought they were being greedy.  Why do we need all the good things of summer right away??  But then I thought, why shouldn't they be excited for the things they love?  They're not greedy kids; they're not demanding anything, they're just eager.

And frankly, when I thought of it that way, it made me think of heaven.  That's the attitude we should have, as a result of the peek we've had into heaven through the Book of Revelation.  Have you ever read it? 

A pure river of life, clear as crystal... the tree of life, which will bear fruit, and the leaves for the healing of the nations. 

No need for lamp, nor light of the sun, for the Lord will be the light.

No more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain.

Pure gold, like clear glass... precious stones of sapphire, emerald, amethyst, topaz... Twelve gates, each made of one pearl... A street of pure gold, like transparent glass...

A throne, and a sea of glass like crystal.  And a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald.

And angels and creatures and elders giving Him endless praise and glory. 

Let's want that.  All of it.  Soon.

~ "desire better:

      a heavenly country" ~

Hebrews 11:16