Marker

I was the worst mother when I refused to allow my then chubby 12 year old to wear a stylish but short skirt. I was firm, but she pressed back with everything she had.

I knew it was hard to find stylish clothes to fit her, so I knew my input was devastating. More than wanting her to feel pretty, I wanted her to dress tastefully and understand modesty.

I agreed: we’d ask her father’s input. He was a fair man and had balanced my more stringent cultural background on different occasions, so she had a shred of hope.

When he agreed that the outfit was unbecoming for our daughter, her eyes flashed and her words nailed the air with disgust.

However, it became a marker in her life. Despite the anger she felt, she remembers that we cared enough to stand up for her best.

Sometimes God insists on His way despite what we've clearly told Him was best. Thankfully, our anger does not deter His goodness ... and we live to thank Him.

That’s when we look back and appreciate the firm Kindness that covered us.


For Your Consideration

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9, NIV)

Can you recall an incident that seemed devasting but which actually worked to your benefit in the long run?

Yeshua Almighty

She was bent and looked up from a weathered face of 81 years.

There was a quality beyond her looks that drew me to her. I'd been sitting next to her making occasional small talk at the gate. She was articulate, though a bit forgetful, and I could tell she was worried about getting her carry-on luggage in the overhead compartments.

I felt an assignment to make sure she felt secure... as if she were family. I helped remind her where her seat was: one behind mine. To reassure her, I waved to her before I started to sit. The man behind me asked if I'd like to trade seats.

So began a conversation that left us both changed. "You understand older people, don't you."

(I always ask the Lord to guide me to meaningful conversations or good rest whenever I fly.)

She came from a home where her mother hated her. Her older sister, before she died, apologized for being so mean to her. It reminded me of Cinderella, except Hilda had had no carriage, no glass slipper, and no palace life.

She did have a man who had been interested in her and courted her for years. But she was afraid that his controlling sister and mother were only too familiar.

Now, a year after his death, she was grieving what she could have had, missing his care, wondering if it might have worked.

We talked of faith, of the "Almighty" as she referred to G-O-D, and commented on His surprising similarity to the Jesus I talked about.

She didn't think she was the poorer for her experiences. Just sad. I reminded her of Joseph's comment to his brothers. "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" (Genesis 50:20).

They could have made her bitter, those close encounters with rejection. But they didn't. She described how she broke the generational meanness by deliberately speaking encouragment into a younger relative who had also been picked on. There was a sensitivity, an openness to others who were vulnerable.

There were times she looked straight into my eyes and I into hers. Brokenness met brokenness. "Mine keeps being mended by Yeshua," I told her.

"How do you pronounce 'Yeshua' in Hebrew?" I asked. "You don't," she flashed back with a smile. In spite of her custom, I knew that same Yeshua would reveal more of Himself.

We shared slices of our lives and precious discoveries from our faith.

She nodded. "I'm very glad we had this conversation. It has helped me."

I'm glad too, Hilda. May Yeshua, closer than a brother, be your comfort and your peace.

For Your Consideration

"There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24).

How have you experienced Christ saving presence in the twists of your life?

[Note: Name and photograph have been changed.]

Cloud Covering

"[God] spread out a cloud as a covering,
and a fire to give light at night" (Psalm 105:20)

It is one little verse out of forty-five, and one provision of several others the psalmist describes. He urges the people to rejoice in their great God.

"Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.... Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced" (verses 2 and 5).

The psalmist recounts the miracles God used to deliver Israel from Egypt and to supply their needs in the desert. He produced plagues of frogs, gnats, and locusts in Egypt, and supplies of quail, manna, and water in the desert. Their covenant-keeping God was doing the miraculous to help them get to a place to worship Him.

But it was the cloud covering that caught my eye this morning. A cloud to stay the scorching heat. A cloud in the waterless desert.

I've never trekked across north African desert, but pictures record endless sand dunes and hot, rainless skies. I find it amazing that God would use a cloud to stay the heat and guide them at the same time.

Depending on our desert, God will provide the cloud. Our desert and cloud may look quite different from the picture above. The desert might be a glamorous place filled with sound and lights, and the cloud the pages of a Psalm.

Today, God reminded me that He would provide just what I need, and would guide me in the way I needed to go.

I just have to ask. "They asked, and he ...satisfied them ...." (verse 40)

For Your Consideration

What does your desert look like?

What provision or guidance do you need, and have you asked God for it?

Which of God's "wonderful acts" prompts you to share His goodness and power?

Kindness and the Lawnmower

Our lawn mower decided not to start. That was after the lawn got a growth spurt from the rains.

Our yard was beginning to look like we'd moved out already: the grass had to have been five inches high! I drove in from work and despaired that our lawn looked even worse between our neighbors' manicured yards.

Later, I was working on my computer and I looked out and watched Sue drive her mower beyond her property boundary, making repeated loops from her lawn to ours. With each turn, the side of our property was mowed. I was grateful because each fresh cut leveled a portion of my embarrassment.

I went out to apologize and explain the reason we hadn't cut our grass. Then I went to the shed to bring the lawnmower to the garage. I looked up to see Garry walking toward me offering to help me get it started as he had the week before.

When I explained my predicament, he helped me lift the lawnmower into the car, angle it and disassemble the handle so it could fit in the sloping hatch back -- a tedious task.

Driving home the next evening, I wondered how I could borrow or rent a lawnmower. I pulled in the drive and saw the front lawn neatly mowed. Honestly, the surprise sent me into giggles of joy.

My neighbor smiled when I went to thank her. She was happy to help. After all, my husband had helped hers when he was doing some construction, she said.

Today, I watched Garry use his rider to mow down the overgrowth in the back. Sam, our neighbor behind, mowed our extra 4 foot behind his yard to our tree line. How wonderful to have neighbors who help in practical ways! I'm amazed at their kindness and deeply thankful for their help.

God showed me love through my neighbors and their lawnmowers. They fulfilled Christ's law of love and my needs were lavishly met. That serendipity endears my Lord to me and makes me love Him more.


For Your Consideration

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:1, NIV)

Do you have any need that has grown beyond your ability? Have you asked for God's intervention?

You obey the law of Christ when you offer each other a helping hand. (Galatians 6:2, CEV)

Might you extend a helping hand to your neighbor when you see a need with which you can help? Will you acknowledge the joy God must also receive as you express Christ's law of love to others?

One Little Word

This morning I read Hebrews 12:2 in the New King James Version. It says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

It was “unto” that first got my attention. I tried substitutes: “toward,” “up to,” “at,” and wondered how the different nuances might affect the way I looked to Jesus. Then I noticed my study bible had an explanation of “looking” from the Greek word, “aphorao.”

It is made of 2 words: apo, “away from,” and horao, “to see.” It denotes attention that is riveted to the object; undivided attention, without distraction, so the onlooker’s gaze is fixed on one object.

The New International Version translates the phrase, “Fix your eyes on Jesus.”

What happens when I rivet my eyes on Jesus? Or gaze upon His beauty? What if I lock in to try and absorb grandeur or power beyond my comprehension?

Is that how Jesus looked to His Father? Is that how He could stay on His Father’s track when hoards of people clamored for His attention and needed quick fixes?

I suspect Jesus’ early hours with His Father were extremely focused. He knew the value of the relationship, of locking eyes, focusing, and keeping the main thing the main thing.

I must try to remember this word -- aphorao (af-or-ah-oh).

Oh! Oh the wonder when I see Him, when I really look TO Him. It’s that look, that gaze, that persevering focus that keeps me encouraged. He endured past the cross and the shame. Because of His persistent focus, He pushed past weariness and finished His earthly assignment.

With His returned look, so will I.

For Your Consideration
What helps you fix your eyes on Jesus?
What helps you keep distractions to a minimum?

Stop and Worship

We had lost 30 minutes waiting for a gate to open for our arriving flight.

Gail knew the Atlanta airport well and she recommended that the moveable walkway would be as quick as the train to the next gate.

However, it wasn't long before I realized I had to pick up my pace to make my connection, so I respectfully asked if she'd mind if I went ahead. I doubled my pace even on the moving walkway and was making great strides. That is, till I spotted some splashes of color on hanging canvases in the corridor ahead.

As I approached I recognized beautiful colored photographs of the universe, of its nebula, constellations, and galaxies.

They arrested me. I briefly forgot the flight and gazed at the configurations of color, the incalculable lights, and the unfathomable distances documented. I was filled with the awesomeness of their splendor.

Something deep within me called out to applaud and pay homage to the Creator.

I took a few long looks, my face wreathing into smiles as I observed the neon green, blue, and pink from the superimposed telescope images. I couldn't assimilate the incomprehensible distances they referenced, but I gawked, my mind stretching, my heart laughing with delight.

Before I had to move back into hurry mode, I wanted to flag down all who passed by.

Look at what our Lord created! Don't rush by so quickly. This is not the work of an amateur or of a small deity. Stop and worship. Absorb the grandeur as best you can.

This God knows your name, the hairs on your head, your dreams and your frustrations.

"O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens....
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?" Psalm 8:1, 3-4 (NLT)

While I couldn't linger in front of those pictures, they have lingered in me.

They remind me of the joy of relishing God's majesty and my need to stop and look for God's fingerprints wherever I see them... including in the Atlanta airport.

For Your Consideration

"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Luke 12:6-7, NIV).

To what might you need to attend to celebrate God's thoughts toward you?

Is there anything you can do to develop attentiveness to God's majesty?

Unpretentious Worship

Have you ever been in a gathering where you notice people who genuinely worship, unrestricted by others around them? What a joy!

This Resurrection Sunday, we were worshipping Jesus who had publicly poured out His love for us on the cross. We were celebrating the power of the empty tomb.

I had the privilege of sitting behind Philip. Occasionally, I'd glimpse his face: eyes closed yet focused, expression peaceful but passionate. Tall and slim, this young man's unpretentious worship fanned the fire in my own heart. Unconcerned with people around him, it was as if just he and the Lord were in the sanctuary.

So I chose to be outwardly expressive also. It was appropriate, and he had led the way into the holy place.

When I observe a fellow pilgrim worship from that deep inner place, pouring out adoration like precious perfume, the fragrance of Christ fills my own heart. Then the fragrance spreads to others, and Christ becomes visible beyond our worship style, the length of our arms, or the color of our necks.

I dare not look long at those worshippers, because I seem to be intruding on their holy space. But beyond that, my own heart longs to join in the adoration so due our Lord.

Doesn't yours?

For Your Consideration

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." (2 Corinthians 2:14-15, NIV)


Are you able to abandon others opinions of you and publicly express honor and love to Christ who poured out His love for you? If not, what keeps you hostage?

How clean and lovely is the fragrance God spreads through you?