Rejuvenation

                                                                 

“ I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away; every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:1 (NKJV)

The once vibrant leaves and flowers were shriveled and dead. My neighbor and I stood looking at the tree in front of her home. A rare frost hit Bradenton, Florida, on January 31. Many plants and flowers in the area did not survive the onslaught of cold temperatures. My neighbor’s decision was to cut back the tree. Maybe it would come back to life. Looking at the shriveled up leaves, I was not too hopeful.

I thought back to the day three years ago when I moved into my home. After a long day of unpacking, I sat down on the sofa to relax. The window straight ahead  looked out on my neighbor’s front yard. In the yard was a tree overflowing with beautiful yellow flowers.  It was unique. It was breathtaking. And every day I had the joy of looking at this beautiful tree when I sat on my sofa. 

I also remembered the day when I came home from errands and was in for a surprise. Gone were the beautiful yellow flowers and green leaves. Instead, I saw a tree trunk with stick-like branches projecting from it. What happened?  My neighbor explained that she was having difficulty seeing when she backed out of the driveway, so she cut back the tree.  She assured me that it would come back.

Not being a gardener, I was skeptical. But sure enough, in no time at all, tiny green leaves appeared and began to grow. Each day the leaves got bigger, and one day a tiny yellow flower appeared. Then another and another. Soon, the tree was overflowing with yellow flowers, more beautiful than ever.

During the last three years, I have had a front row seat to the life cycle of the tree. I watched it grow to the point where it obstructed the driveway.  I have seen it cut back to a few bare branches.  I have watched as, little by little, green leaves returned. I have watched as, one by one, yellow flowers appeared.  I have watched the tree become full and beautiful again.

Our lives are a lot like that tree. Sometimes life is overflowing with good and beautiful things. Other times, all the beautiful things in life seem to be stripped away. Our lives then resemble an empty tree with stick-like branches.

What do we do when our lives resemble a barren tree?  In John 15, Jesus compares His followers to branches on a vine. His Father, the Gardener, knows that trees need to be pruned, and He knows exactly when the pruning needs to be done. The immediate result is an ugly, empty tree. The wise Gardener knows that in time the leaves and flowers will return. When they do, the tree will be richer and more beautiful than ever. During the barren times, we need to remember that the Gardener of our lives is wiser than we are. Our good Heavenly Father loves us more than we can imagine. He promises that “all things work together for good to those who love God.” (Romans 8:28)  The barren season of life is not forever. One day, life will be beautiful again.

You may be wondering what happened to the tree damaged by the frost. As I write this, six weeks have passed. I sit on my sofa and look out on a tree with healthy green leaves blowing in the breeze.  The once dead-looking tree is coming back to life.  It is only a matter of time before one yellow flower will return then another and another.  I have complete confidence that one day the tree will be overflowing with yellow flowers, more beautiful than ever. 

Lord, when the hard times of life come, may I have equal confidence that one day life will be full and good and beautiful again.  Thank You for being the Gardener of my life.

And Then It Was Spring

                                                          

 

It was a cold January day in Michigan. The snow fell and the wind blew snow drifts onto the driveway.  I sat on the sofa wrapped in an afghan as I sipped hot tea. The weather man reported temperatures in the single digits with a chill factor below zero. I was thankful to be indoors, but I still felt cold. This isn’t going to last forever, I said to myself, spring will be here before you know it.

 

Fast forward 40 years.  It was a cold January day in Florida. The branches of the palm trees swayed and the wind howled. I sat on the sofa wrapped in an afghan as I sipped hot tea. The weather man reported temperatures in the 30’s with a chill factor in the 20’s.  My younger self would have scoffed at the idea that these were cold temperatures. But my senior bones and my  Florida blood begged to differ. I was thankful to be indoors, but I still felt cold. This isn’t going to last forever, I said to myself, spring will be here before you know it.

 

As I look back, every January has found me longing for spring. And every year… spring comes!  The temperatures rise, the flowers bloom, the trees blossom. How delightful it is…for a day or two.  Then the flowers and blossoms and comfortable temperatures become routine. My misery in being cold always seems to to exceed my delight in being warm. It seems to be human nature that our grumbling about negative things is louder than our rejoicing about good things. Let’s change that this year.

 

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 (NKJV).  God loves to see His children rejoicing.  Spring is a delightful gift from God.  This year let us resolve to enjoy spring.  Let us savor the beauty.  Let our exclamations about the wonder of spring far exceed our complaints about the misery of the cold.  Let’s make this the most appreciated spring ever!

 

 

 

 

God Gave Me a Mattress

                                                         

 

“Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” Isaiah 25:1 (NIV)

 

“There are supply chain problems with the mattress you ordered.  We don’t know when it will come in.  But we can upgrade you to a better mattress for the original price.  We have one in stock and can deliver it tomorrow.” 

 

When the government stimulus check arrived during the pandemic, I had decided to use the money to buy a much needed mattress.  I had gone to the store, tried out several mattresses, and found one that was comfortable and in my price range. Now, I was hearing that the mattress I had chosen was not available.  I went to the store and tried out the mattress they were offering.  It was equally comfortable as the first one. And the sticker showed that the price was significantly higher than what I had paid. I agreed to the offer and a new mattress was delivered the next day.

 

A year and a half passed. One day in November I experienced what doctors call a sudden onset of hip arthritis symptoms. For most people, symptoms of arthritis develop gradually. Although  arthritis had unknowingly been in my joints for a while, for me the symptoms occurred literally overnight. One day I had zero pain and walked an average of 8000 steps per day at a brisk pace. The next day I experienced hip pain and could take only short, much slower steps. I also experienced difficulty getting up from low surfaces  (since I am tall, most of my furniture was low for me). Using seat cushions to elevate the surfaces was helpful. Getting dressed became more difficult on the chair I normally used. One day I decided to sit on the edge of the bed when dressing. My new mattress made the bed high, and getting dressed was much easier. I was thankful for the solution of dressing on the edge of the bed.

 

Several days after I started dressing on the edge of the bed, I started thinking about the original mattress I had selected. The height of that mattress was very low. Since standing up from a low surface was easy for me at the time, the the height of the mattress was not a consideration.  It was comfortable, and that was all that mattered. Today, though, getting in and out of bed from a low mattress would be a major problem. An amazing truth occurred to me: God gave me a mattress!  Isaiah 25:1 talks about how the Lord has “done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” When I went mattress shopping I did not know that I would develop arthritis in a few years, but My Heavenly Father did. The God who provides for the needs of His children stopped the delivery of a low mattress and orchestrated a set of circumstances that resulted in me owning a high mattress.  I can now get in and out of bed with ease. 

 

Today I am learning how to manage arthritis.  Daily exercises and avoiding triggers are helpful. Thankfully, my arthritis symptoms are much less severe than those of many other people. Perhaps it will always be that way. Perhaps the severity of the arthritis will progress. It is impossible to know that now.  But I do know that God will be with me every step of the way.  He already has plans for how He will meet my future needs.  And if I ever doubt that truth, I only need to look at my bed and remember the day that God gave me a mattress!                                                                              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfectly Faithful

                                                           

 

“Lord,  you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” Isaiah 25:1(NIV)

 

Voice activation is a great thing…as long as you proofread the text before pushing “send”.  Every day I send a morning Bible verse to the ladies in my Sunday School class. This morning I selected Isaiah 25:1. Once it went out, I reread it and found that voice activation had substituted “imperfect faithfulness” in place of “in perfect faithfulness”.  That error clearly altered the meaning of the verse!

 

As I reflected on the voice mail interpretation of the verse, I wondered what life would be like if God really was “imperfectly” faithful.  Sometimes He would be faithful and sometimes He would not. Coming to God in prayer would be like taking an experimental medication…maybe it will work and maybe it will not.  It would be like approaching a temperamental boss…is He in a good mood today or in a bad mood? Or it might be like getting into an undependable car… maybe it will start and maybe it will not. Thankfully, none of these things are true about God.

 

Truly, we serve a God who is “perfectly” faithful.  He is also a God who is perfectly wise, perfectly good, perfectly strong, perfectly sovereign. His perfect love for us is unfailing. How could we not trust this God?

 

Lord, those truths are easy to believe when life is going well. Give us the grace to trust You when life is hard.  Thank You that even when everything else in life seems to be changing, You never change. Praise You, Lord, for Your perfect faithfulness.

Searching

                                                                           

 

“You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

 

They’ve got to be here somewhere! It was the first cold day of the winter and I was looking for my driving gloves. I own a pair of  gloves that are warm on the inside and that tightly grip the steering wheel.  They weren’t in the box with the winter scarf or mittens.  I looked inside other boxes on the closet shelf, but the gloves weren’t there. I had a lot to do that day, and I didn’t want to spend any more time looking. My gloves were at least 10 years old. Perhaps it was time to look on Amazon.  Within minutes I placed an order for a pair of driving gloves that would be delivered the next day. Problem solved.

 

How long should you spend looking for something that you can’t find? It depends on several factors. Is the item valuable? Can it be replaced? Is searching for the item worth the time investment? In the case of my ten year old driving gloves, “no” was the answer to all three questions. The decision to stop searching and to order from Amazon was an easy one.

 

Have you ever searched for God?  As Christians, we are forgiven and we have access to the Father because of Christ’s death on the cross. When we first came to Christ we may have enjoyed a vibrant relationship with Him. Perhaps, as time passed, that relationship drifted into lukewarmness. Perhaps your heart’s desire now is to know Him in a deeper, more intimate way. The good news is that God also desires for us to know Him more deeply.

 

Jeremiah 29:13 says “You shall seek me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” The Scripture doesn’t say that we Might find Him.  It says that we Shall find Him. There is a condition, however.  Finding Him involves searching for Him with all of our hearts.  We seek Him in prayer. We seek Him in the Scriptures.  We seek Him as we listen to preaching. We seek Him as we repent of sin. We seek Him as we obey Him and walk with Him.

 

If God seems distant to you, ask yourself if you are searching for Him with all your heart.  If not, why not?  When I stopped looking for my gloves it was because the gloves were not valuable, they could easily be replaced, and they were not worth the time needed to find them. Perhaps the reason that we do not search for God with all of our heart is that we don’t see Him as valuable. Perhaps we think that He can be easily replaced. Or maybe we have things to do and don’t believe that finding Him is worth the time. A closer walk with God can be found but only for those who search for Him wholeheartedly.

 

Lord, create in me a new heart, a heart that desires You above all else. Open my eyes to how precious and irreplaceable and worthwhile You are. May I search for You with all my heart.  And thank You that when I search for You wholeheartedly, I will find You.

Word of the Year 2022

                                                            

 

The 2022 year stretches ahead. 365 blank pages on the calendar.  Will this be the best year of my life?  The worst year? Somewhere in between? It is impossible to know that on January 1st.

 

There are many unknowns at the beginning of a new year. We can dream our dreams and make our plans - and we should.  But unexpected events can derail our plans. The future is unpredictable. That can be frightening unless we remember the things that remain unchanged.

 

Regardless of circumstances, God never changes.  He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords. He reigns on January 1st and will continue to reign on December 31st. He is wise, He is good, and He loves us with unconditional love. Our God is faithful and always keeps His promises. He will guide us step by step throughout the year. He will walk with us in good times and in bad. These  truths are constants throughout 2022.  Unexpected events will not change God or change His love towards us.

 

Last year I began a tradition of choosing a Word and a Bible verse to reflect on throughout the year.  I taped the Scripture verse and the Word of the Year to my bathroom mirror so that I would look at it frequently throughout the day. That practice was so spiritually enriching that I decided to continue the practice this year.

 

The word I have chosen for 2022 is Peace. My verse for the year is Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV): “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You.” 

 

As we reflect on our unchanging God, He promises to give us peace.  His peace is steady and constant and is not dependent on circumstances. 

 

I pray that each of us might walk closely with God this year. As we walk with Him, may we know His Peace which passes understanding.(Philippians 4:7)

 

Have you considered choosing a Word of the Year? Or a verse of the year? If you have, I would love to hear which word and which verse you selected. 

 

As the New Year begins, I wish each reader a Happy New Year and a Blessed Year Ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving 2021 Challenge

  

 

“You turned my mourning into dancing…O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” Psalm 30: 11-12 NKJV

 

They sat in their tents complaining, grumbling, feeling hopeless. You would assume that these were people who knew nothing about God. That assumption would be understandable; it would also be wrong.

 

These grumbling people hiding in their tents had seen the Lord open the Red Sea and had walked across on dry land. Afterwards, their hearts had overflowed with praise and thanksgiving. They trusted this amazing God wholeheartedly. Surely, this deep heartfelt thankfulness would last forever. But, in time, thankfulness began to fade. A problem arose. They panicked. They doubted God’s goodness. Their thankful hearts turned into grumbling hearts. 

 

How could anyone who had seen the Red Sea open up ever doubt God’s goodness and His power?  How could they ever grumble? How could they ever stop giving thanks? It is hard to understand. Yet, I do understand. I am like the Israelites. In my life, God has answered many prayers. He has brought me through difficult circumstances. I have thanked Him profusely. Like the psalmist in Psalm 30, I was certain that I would thank Him forever. But time passed. My thankfulness grew dim. A new trial arrived, and my thankful heart turned into a heart of unbelief and grumbling.

 

When life is good, thankfulness comes easily. When a prayer has been answered, we readily praise and thank our God. But life also includes difficult times. God is worthy of our thanks in all circumstances. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV

 

How do we cultivate a thankful heart in all seasons of life? As the holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, let’s turn our attention to thankfulness. Let’s begin by asking God to give us a thankful heart. Then, let’s challenge ourselves to thank God each day during the month of November. The challenge that I am making to myself and to my readers is to keep a Gratitude List during the month of November. Find a notebook. Write the words “Lord, I thank You for….” Write down one thing. Add to the list every day. On some days you may write 2 or 3 or even more items of gratitude. On some days it may be only one. But commit to adding at least one item to the list each day.

 

As we sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, may we do so with hearts overflowing with  thankfulness to our God.