Just for today

         "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." (Lam.3:22-23)
         One of my very favorite verses...and here's the incredible thing: it's smack dab in the middle of the book of Lamentations.  Yes, Lamentations--as in the book written by Jeremiah, "the weeping prophet," to lament the destruction of the Jews' beloved city and capital of Jerusalem as well as his people's tragic exile.  Yet in the midst of the sorrow, the destruction, the seeming hopelessness is this powerful word of hope...because of God's forever faithfulness and endless mercy.
         That's the Lord we serve.  He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve. (Ps.103:10)  He's rich in mercy, and because of His great love for us, "even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Eph.2:4-7)
         Like the sun daily rising over the mountains, like the promise of the rainbow after the rain, He is faithful, glorious and trustworthy.  Always.
         Yes, the world is a crazy, often dark place these days...but in the midst of our lamentations, we may, we must rejoice that our Heavenly Father's steadfast love never ceases, His mercies never end--for they are brand new every single morning--and His faithfulness is great beyond all imagining.
         When we start to fret over all our mistakes from yesterday, we grow discouraged and defeated.  And when we start worrying over all the challenges and difficulties ahead of us tomorrow, fear, anxiety and even dread can overwhelm us.  But yesterday's gone.  Done.  Put it behind you.  And tomorrow's not here yet.  Entrust the unknowable and uncontrollable future to the One who holds that future.
          Instead, let's focus on today.  Trust God for today's challenges and needs.  Thank God for today's blessings and gifts.  Ask God for today's strength and empowering grace.  Pray today.  Love today.  Rejoice today.  Read His Word today.  Trust today.  
          In the words of the South African pastor, Andrew Murray: "A day, just one day only, but still a day, given to abide and grow up in Jesus Christ.  Whether it be a day of health or sickness, joy or sorrow, rest or work, of struggle or victory, let the chief thought with which you receive it in the morning thanksgiving be this: A day that the Father gave; in it I may, I must, become more closely united to Jesus.  As the Father says, 'Can you trust Me just for this one day?' you cannot but give the joyful response, 'I will trust and not be afraid.'"
        Yes, Lord, yes.  Thank You for Your steadfast love, endless mercies, and perfect faithfulness...we trust You for and in this day, Today.  To God be the glory.

Glory happening...lift up your gaze!

         Glory happening on the greenway--

         Who would have thought?  On a regular old, ordinary early morning walk, glory flashes all around us.  Wish I could take better pictures, because the combination of my terrible photography skills and an old iphone doesn't begin to do it justice.  The vibrant pinks and oranges painted the entire morning sky--it truly was a gigantic, unmistakable finger pointing straight to our majestic Creator.  
        "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands...In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.  It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.  It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth." (Ps.19:1,4-6)  What a creation...what a Creator!  What a sun...what a Son!
         That magnificent sunrise portended a beautiful February day.  But by the next morning, it was grey, rainy, and gloomy.  Ugh.  I trudged outside with Mr. B, struggling to muster up some energy (well, I struggled; his energy never seems to diminish).  Same old, same old...
        Until I happened to lift my gaze from the pavement up to the skies.  Mother Teresa was so right: "All our trouble comes from looking around rather than up."  I'd amend that to include looking down...how much do we miss by keeping our eyes and hearts focused downward rather than upward?  But I digress. When I happened to glance up at the foreboding sky, I saw a majestic blue heron perched on a tippy top branch surveying the greenway.  

        "Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches." (Ps.104:12)
        "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?'  (Mt.6:25-26)
        How thankful I am for the reminders all around us of God's greatness, glory, and grace in His creation and His creatures.  The skies, the sun, the moon and the stars wordlessly, but eloquently, declare His glory.  The birds sing of His faithfulness...and their song resounds with the command not to worry but to trust.  Oh how I need the Lord's constant visual aides to worship, trust, and thank...and not to worry, complain, and compare.
         As Tim Keller prays: "Maker of heaven and earth, Your creation speaks and sings to us of Your greatness.  May I neither despise nature, failing to care reverently for its integrity, nor worship nature, failing to let it point me beyond itself to Your glory, which even it only 'fitfully reflects.'"
        Amen!  I don't know what you might be going through today, but can I give one simple piece of advice--lift up your eyes.  Stop looking down or around, and gaze upward.  Look up physically and spiritually.  Just as surely as the sun will rise in the morning and the birds will perch on the trees, God is there.  He is forever faithful, loving, good, gracious, wise, and powerful.  He will never ever ever leave you nor forsake you.
         As my dear friend Kelly always says, "He's got this."  And He does.
        So lift up your gaze, and trust Him.
        To God be the glory.
         
       

Preaching to yourself

                            Food for weekend thought on preaching to yourself--
        Loved these words from Paul David Tripp--and I know I've shared them before, but don't we all need reminding?  I know I sure do.  So here are his thoughts--
           "Every day you preach to yourself some kind of gospel--a false 'I can't do this' gospel or the true 'I have all I need in Christ' gospel...No one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do.  It's a fact that you and I are in an endless conversation with ourselves...We either preach to ourselves a gospel of aloneness, poverty, and inability or the true gospel of God's presence, power, and constant provision.  You are preaching to yourself a gospel that produces fear and timidity or one that propels you with courage and hope.  You are preaching to yourself of a God who is distant, passive, and uncaring or of a God who is near, caring, and active.  You are always preaching to yourself a gospel that causes you to rest in His wisdom or a gospel that produces a bit of panic because it seems as if there are no answers to be found.
             Today, when it feels as if no one understands, what gospel will you preach to you?  As you face physical sickness, the loss of a job, or the disloyalty of a friend, what message will you bring to you?  When you are tempted to give way to despondency or fear, what will you say to you?  What life seems hard and unfair, what gospel will you preach to you?...
              It really is true--no one talks to you more than you do.  So God in His grace has given you His Word so that you may preach to yourself what is true in those moments when the only one talking to you is you."
        What a good and true word!  We all have running conversations going on in our heads, and the words we habitually speak to ourselves determine the condition of our hearts.  It's remarkable how quickly I can drag myself down--all by my little lonesome--by focusing on the enemy's lies as opposed to God's Truth.  And there is such enormous power in our thoughts and our words.
        Duh, you say.  But here's the thing--we know it, but so often we fail to practice it.  We daily, hourly, minute by minute have the choice: will we preach to ourselves God's Truth and His words that bring life, hope, joy, peace, and wisdom?  Or will we default to negative, destructive, discouraging, ungrateful words that tear down rather than build up?
       Proverbs 18:21 says that "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits."  And Matthew 12:37 warns "For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."  Yes, these apply to whether we use our tongues with others as instruments of blessing or condemnation.  But they also apply to the words we speak to ourselves.  Because as Tripp says, no one speaks to you more than you.
        Might we preach to ourselves--and to others--the Truth of God's strength-filling, hope-infusing, life-giving Word.
        To God be the glory.  
       
       

"Turn aside" today

        I read it in yesterday's reading from the "Daily Bible."  Such a simple little phrase...and yet oh so powerful.  A phrase with the potential to transform TODAY not only your attitude, your perspective, your agenda, and even your energy level, but also to give you radical joy and hope no matter how pressure packed or challenging your circumstances.
        What that's kryptonite phrase, you ask?  First let me set the scene.  Moses has been living in the wilds of Midian for 40 years after fleeing the Pharaoh's wrath for killing an Egyptian.  Moses, the former hotshot adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter now resides in the middle of nowhere, tending sheep for a living.  And one day, Moses the nobody sees a mighty strange sight--a bush that's on fire, yet is not being consumed.  Go figure, right?
         But Moses has got sheep to tend, a family to support, and endless things on his shepherding to-do list that must be accomplished before this day is over.  So he shrugs and says, "Huh.  Interesting," before hurrying off after his sheep.
        Ah no.  That is not what happened.  Instead we're told (and drum roll, please, because here's the phrase), "And Moses said, 'I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned up." (Ex.3:3)            
        Hey Moses, what ya doing?  You've got no time to waste on frivolous "turning asides."  Those sheep are disappearing around the bend.  You need to hurry, hurry, hurry to catch up!  You've surely got far more pressing concerns than to waste your time "turning aside" just to stare at some burning bush in the middle of nowhere.  Moses, what on earth would the Midian time management gurus say? Stay on task.  Keep busy.  Keep moving.  Check your cell phone.  Peruse the internet.  But for goodness sakes, don't pause to ponder...or to wonder...or worst of all, to worship.
        Praise God Moses didn't heed our culture's siren call to stay relentlessly occupied and entertained.  Nope, he hit the pause button and took the time, in the midst of the wilderness, to "turn aside to see this great sight."
        And then here's the really cool part, for we're told, "When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush." (Ex.3:4)  The omnipotent Maker of heaven and earth, the eternal Lord, the Almighty God spoke directly to Moses when Moses did one simple thing: paused to turn aside and see.
        Such a simple but profound lesson--if we want to be increasingly transformed into the image of our Redeemer and if we want to be men and women of indomitable hope, joy, wisdom and love, well then we've got to choose, choose, choose daily to set aside the urgent in favor--first and foremost--of the supremely important.
       We've got to  shelve--just for a little bit of time--the cell phones and to-do lists and urgent tasks that need doing...and take a deep breath, pause and turn aside to see the Savior in His Word.  As Gordon Macdonald puts its in his powerful book The Resilient Life, "Character is developed--for believers anyway--when we let the Scripture inform us.  We are what we permit to enter the deepest parts of our soul.  A steady diet of television, cheap publications and shallow literature will make us dreadfully inadequate people.  A daily exposure to the Scripture and to literature that focuses on Scripture is a necessary part of the diet."
          But it's not just turn aside to the Word--though that's our top priority.  We also need to turn aside to really see and savor God's glorious creation.  Don't just let that sunrise pass you by unnoticed and unappreciated.  Cultivate the wonder of a child to see it with astonishment and gratitude.  God has given you another morning...and this new morning begins with an astounding show of beauty as the sun rises yet again in all it's splendor.  Don't miss it.  Then look from the beauty of that creation to trace it straight back to the Creator and Giver of all good gifts. (James 1:17)  As C.S. Lewis says, "One's mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun."  That sunrise is an opportunity to rejoice and declare "Great is Thy faithfulness, Father!"  
        And, of course, turn aside to love--really love--appreciate, and enjoy the people the Lord has so graciously placed in your life.  Oh my, maybe I'm all alone on this, but me and my busy, self-focused, distracted self needs to be reminded of this day after day.  That to-do list will always be there...these irreplaceable loved ones will not.  Turn aside to love and serve and savor them like Jesus loves you.
       Like I said, a simple phrase, but oh my, how much hangs in the balance if we will simply, daily choose to turn aside.  Turn aside to our Savior, to His creation, to His children.  Turn aside to ponder, to wonder, to worship, to savor, and to love.  Turn aside today.
       To God be the glory.

Time to start singing

        It's  a fresh new morning.  Thank You for another day, Lord.  Thank You for eyes to see the dawn, a mouth to taste hot tea, and a mind to understand Your Word.  Thank You for another opportunity to choose to praise You and thank You.  Thank You for the reminder just this morning ('cause I'm a mighty quick forgetter!) that thanksgiving and praise are always a choice...but they are a choice that always renews our hearts and minds and brings us joy.  In thanking and praising You, we are transformed and encouraged.  That's what I call a win-win!
        "Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth!  Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day.  Declare His glory among the nations, HIs marvelous works among all peoples!  For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heaven.  Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary."  (Ps.96:1-6)
         "Joy takes practice," says Edward Welch.  "If you are willing to look for joy, the psalmists can lead you to it.  The goodness of God is shot through creation and the church, so joy is always possible.  When you can't see it, return to the cross and appreciate the beauty of what Jesus did."
         Yes, thank You, Lord Jesus, thank You.  When I look, really look, at the cross--that hideous, beautiful cross--and glimpse Your infinite love poured out for us on that cross, all my petty fears and complaints suddenly vanish.
         "God's splendor ascends over the sorrow of life.  Joy is possible.  Choose to become an expert int it."
         Thank You also, Lord, for Your myriad gifts to us.  The priceless gift of Your Word, of course but also the happy pleasure of a mug of tea--  

 The astounding, quiet beauty of sunrise on the greenway--

 A nice long nap in the warm rays of sunshine--

 Sweet memories of time spent in the mountains with those I love--

Chocolate...enough said.

         Today, this day--the only January 26, 2017 we'll ever have--let's choose first to praise our marvelous Maker for the greatest Gift of all gifts--the Lord Jesus.  And then let's choose to thank Him for His many, many little gifts that He extravagantly pours out upon us this day and everyday.  Sing Him a new song today--a song of praise and thanksgiving on this day.
         No matter how your day (or your week...or your month) has been going so far, everything can change for the better if you'll make the choice of praise and thanksgiving.  It's time to start singing that new song.  Make the choice.  Today.  Right now.
         To God be the glory.

Heaven is a world of love

        Just yesterday we received a very painful update from Caring Bridge.  One of my husband's good friends from college is now likely days away from leaving behind her cancer-ridden body and heading to glory.  I didn't know Ruth, but everything I've heard about her is remarkable.  I won't go into all the endless accolades that could be showered upon her except to include the most important one--she loves the Lord Jesus with all her heart.  So one day very soon, she will be seeing the Lord she loves so much face to face and enjoying wonders and joy beyond anything our finite little minds can ever begin to comprehend.
        But in thinking about Ruth, I was reminded of something I heard the other day from Tim Keller that has struck me powerfully.  In speaking of heaven, Keller said:
        "'Heaven is a world of love.'  That's Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon.  When your teenagers would say, 'I'm going out with my friends,' and I would say, 'Where to?'  And they would say, 'Well, we don't know.  Out.'  [By the way, every parents of teenagers in the world can relate to that]
        Do you know why they said that?  They said it because they didn't care where they were going, as long as they were with these friends.  And if you know how important love is, it is so much more important than what you do.  Who you do it with is much more important than what you're doing.
        So if heaven is a world of love, perfect love--absolute--and there's nothing more delightful than to feel love and to be giving love and to having it be answered...If you think about the two or three moments in your life in which you felt the most loved and the most delighted and the most blissful--the most over-the-top--and then you multiply that by three billion...than I'm starting to figure out 'Okay, this must be what heaven is like!'"
      Almost too profound for words.  I think right now of those moments of unparalleled bliss--and they all, all, all center around the loved ones I was with rather than the place or the activity or the whatever.
       Being in Dominican Republic with our children--

Yes, simply wonderful. Magnificently beautiful place...but it wouldn't have meant squat had we not been there all together.  In fact, our children laugh at how ridiculously often I say to them--whether sitting around the kitchen table or driving in the car or doing whatever--"Oh, it's so good to be here with you together."  It's my mantra now that our children are grown and mostly away from home.  And oh my, it is always so good to be with them.   
        Or Cane River.  Yes, yes, yes, we adore the astounding beauty of God's creation.  What a masterpiece God created when He made mountains!  But it's being there all together with our children and with my wonderful sisters and brothers--and telling the same old family stories around the battered old dining room table--that makes it supremely fabulous.
         Or Thanksgiving at Cousin Vicky's--
       

So. Much. Fun.  But still...it's the people, people!  The folks are what make it sublime!
         Or our trip to Chicago.  Janie loved it; we all loved it.  But that's the point--we loved it because we were together.

         Ha.  Take even an exercise class this morning.  Sure, we can exercise and cross if off the to-do list.  Or, we can experience just the slightest tiny foretaste of heaven in a sweaty exercise class because we're doing it with our buddies...complaining together.  Laughing together.

        There's nothing, nothing, nothing like the priceless, wondrous gift of love in our lives.  And love is not from from God or of God--though both of those are absolutely true.  Love IS God.  Love is who God is, and every moment of love we enjoy is both a gift and a teensy hint, a little foretaste of the perfect, infinite, wondrous love that permeates, fills, and overflows heaven.
         Today, this day the Lord has given you, is another opportunity to love--love Almighty God, the Author, Source, Enabler, Giver of love, and love the priceless, irreplaceable, eternal souls He has so generously placed in your life.  You or I may not have tomorrow to love them...so love today.  Rejoice in them today.  Pray for them today.  Remind them again today of how much you love them and what treasures they are in your life.
        And rejoice today that every single scintilla of love you've ever given, shared, experienced, and enjoyed is all just the most minuscule foretaste of what God has in store for us in heaven...because "Heaven is a world of love."  Oh praise God for such a future!
        Thank You, Father, for dear Ruth and for the priceless gift of her life and for all those whom she has loved and all those that love her.  Thank You for the glorious hope and promise that they will see her again.  Thank You most of all for our Savior, the Lord Jesus, who gave His life that we might one day experience such wondrous Life and Love in heaven forever and ever.  Help us this day and everyday to live lives of love, love, love.  All by Your grace and all for Your glory.
         To God be the glory.  

Marching orders for a new day

        "My first business every morning is for my soul to be happy in Jesus."  George Mueller
        Thank You Lord for this time early in the predawn darkness to meet with You.  Thank You for the stillness of our house.  Thank You for the quietness outside...one of the blessings of cold and ice--not much going on outside in the world around us!  Thank You for family and friends.  Thank You for health and home.  Thank You for food to eat and a warm fire to savor.

        Lord, Your Word says "For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,' likewise to the downpour, His mighty downpour."(Job 37:6)  What a Creator!  What a creation!  So thank You for the wondrous way water can remarkably transform from clear rain to white snow.  Whiteness that transforms the landscape...and slows us all down.
        Now, I confess my attitude about this snow/sleet has not been constantly thankful.  In fact, I was one of the curmudgeons who hoped this winter storm would be "much ado about nothing."  Sigh.  But I'm reminded of a phrase I just reread from John Piper that we are to be "Pervasively thankful."  And God's Word says it over and over again: "I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." (Ps.9:1) "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." (I Chron.16:34)  "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Col.3:17)  And "give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."(I Thess.5:18)
        So Lord thank You for the snow, for the sleet, for the gift of life slowing down a bit, for the cold (though I'm NOT a fan--but it sure does wake you up and make you appreciate the gift of a warm house and a hot fire), for all, all, all You have given us and for all, all, all You will give us in this new day.  Thank You for the many big and the myriad "small"--as in all the cardinals at our bird feeder!--blessings You shower upon us each day.

        Annie Dillard once wrote: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.  What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing."  In other words, this day, this hour matters.  How we spend each one of them matters and we are responsible for living our life rather than simply allowing our life to live us.
        We need to be responsible for establishing the daily habit of thankfulness in ALL things.  Being "pervasively thankful" won't just happen.  We must determine to relentlessly and pervasively make it happen by constantly looking to the Lord and choosing to give Him thanks in all circumstances, in all places, and in all times.  And that begins by choosing daily to put my nose in His Book every morning, so that Almighty God can transform my mind and my thinking.  "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom.12:2)
         Marching orders for today: Spend time in the Word.  Soul happy in Jesus.  Pervasively thankful.   Share that love and thankfulness with others...till my head hits the pillow.  All, all, all only by the grace of Jesus and for the glory of God.  Yep, got it Lord.
         To God be the glory.