A New Year

So I’m cheating because I posted this one in December, 2011. Hope you don’t mind. I think it’s a good piece for reflecting on all that goes well in a year and what it means to be thankful for all of it; the good, the bad, the ugly. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

December, 2001

It's that time of year again, a time to ponder all of the wonderful miraculous blessings that we have received for yet another year.  Sometimes it's difficult to separate one year from another.  Time flies so swiftly, and we forget that what was so troublesome to us last year has now become a distant memory at best.  That's how quickly God can and does change things in our lives.

Sometimes I find myself neglecting to remember just how much God has answered my prayers.  At these moments I truly realize how ungrateful I am.  So God, please forgive me, and help me to remember:

Help me to remember the sore throat that went away, the toothache that never came, the car bill that wasn't mine to pay, the accident that never happened, the roommates and apartment that were mine to share, the extra money that helped me go on that trip, the doctor's visit that proved everything was A-OK.

The extra long smile from my brand new niece, the surprise week off from school, the long visit with my mom, a hug from a friend that changed my whole day, the Word of Life teaching my soul, the extra soft pillow on my bed at night, the stars shining brightly in the sky, the electricity we never lost, the rainbow reminding us that You keep your promises. 

The newborn babies I got to hold, the Saturday nights we spent with friends, the Sunday morning trips to church, the cows in the meadow and the grass in the field, and every other single blessing I've received so ungratefully from such a gracious hand as yours.

Amen.

P.S. Help me to have a better memory next year.                                                                            

crazy safe

¹safe

adjective \ˈsāf\

: not able or likely to be hurt or harmed in any way : not in danger

Have you ever had a dream that was so sweet you didn’t want to wake up, and when you did wake up for the briefest of moments you experienced an inexplicable joy; peace filled your heart; and all was right with the world. 

In these dreams I’m usually with a person. No one definable or recognizable, just a person and with this person I feel perfect peace like they know me from the inside out and love me—just love me.

Lately I’ve been thinking about these sweet dreams and contemplating their meaning. Why is it I feel so safe in these dreams; and is it possible to feel this way in “real life”?

Ephesians 3:17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  (NLT)

You know what I’ve figured out in the past week or so? I am safe with Jesus. I know that sounds weird and like something I should have always felt. But it’s a different kind of safe than I expected.

It isn’t so much that I trust his power, or his greatness or even his love for me. All important things for sure, but the safety I’m truly talking about is the safety to be me, warts and all. Like Jesus knows me from the inside out. 

You see for a long time, I fooled myself into thinking that Jesus couldn’t see the darkest parts of my heart—like I had  these secret corners where I stuffed everything I was ever ashamed of in a place where he would never find them. 

But the only one I was fooling was me. Stuffing all of my “dirty laundry” in these dark corners never really made me safe. It was kinda like I cleaned house before Jesus showed up for dinner. But the truth of the matter is that what I thought was safety was only a counterfeit for the real deal.

^{Hebrews 4:15-16} Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

I don’t know about you but when I feel guilty over something I’ve done, the last place I want to go is God’s throne—even if it is a throne of grace. And in his throne room the last thing I feel is safe. But I think that’s a mistake on my part, a big mistake. 

Sin doesn’t scare God. He’s not afraid of it; He doesn’t try to pretend it’s not there. Sin is what it is and God’s dealt with it on a cross. I think rather than running away and hiding from Him, God wants us to come boldly to his throne of grace and hide in him.

So lately, I’ve been trying something different; truth and honesty. Not just with myself, but with God. Leaving those corners of my heart that I hide from everyone else, open—refusing to play hide and seek anymore. 

Honesty with God has been like balm to my aching soul, because it’s in sincerity, that I’ve found a “safe” I never experienced before. It’s like the happiest of my dreams only this one never ends.

¹safe

adjective \ˈsāf\

: not able or likely to be hurt or harmed in any way : not in danger

Let the stable still astonish:

By Leslie Leyland Fields

Let the stable still astonish:

Straw—dirt floor, dull eyes,

Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;

Crumbling, crooked walls;

No bed to carry that pain,

And then, the child,

Rag—wrapped, laid to cry

In a trough.

Who would have chosen this?

Who would have said: “Yes,

Let the God of all the heavens

And earth

Be born here, in this place”?

Who but the same God

Who stands in the darker, fouler

rooms

Of our hearts

And says, “Yes,

Let the God of Heaven and Earth

Be born here—

In this place.”

Matthew 11:2-6

Matthew 11:2-6

When John [the Baptist] heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

This story about John the Baptist has always intrigued me, for a couple of reasons. Number one; why would John the Baptist send his disciples out to see if Jesus was the real deal? Wasn’t John the one who, in his earlier ministry, had announced that Jesus was the Lamb of God saying that had proof, declaring that he had seen the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Jesus. (John1:32)

So, why the questions? 

Maybe it was because in prison John had a lot of time to think—apparently too much time, because for the first time in his mission, he was beginning to doubt. 

After all, it says in Isaiah 42 that “[Jesus was sent] to open eyes that [were] blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who [sat] in darkness.” 

So where was John’s get-out-of-jail-free card?

Throughout his lifetime, John had faithfully followed the mission he’d been given. He’d come as the “voice of one calling in the desert, preparing the way for the Lord.” He had been a true soldier of the faith. For heaven’s sake, the guy had lived in the wilderness, worn clothes made of camel’s hair and eaten locusts for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

 

Didn’t he deserve a break? 

Apparently not, because rather than being rewarded for his work, John got thrown into jail—just because he told the truth; declaring that King Herod was an adulterer for taking his brother, Philip’s, wife. 

For that he was placed in prison. 

And maybe it was this very verse in Isaiah that John kept ruminating on. Maybe it was shaking him to the core, and now he needed to know that everything he’d declared about Jesus was 100% true.

Here comes the second intriguing part of the story—a key verse in Matthew Eleven that gives a glimpse into what John was really struggling with. 

“Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (Matthew 11:6)

 Jesus gives John’s followers all kinds of examples of what he was doing; healing the blind, making the lame walk, curing leprosy, even raising the dead. But it’s that little verse tucked in at the end of the story that reveals the truth; 

“Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

Have you ever been tempted to give up on God, to give up on faith and hope, to abandon the truth of God’s Word?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. It’s easy to follow God when you’re on the mountain top. It’s in the valley that things get a little rough. So it gives me hope that John the Baptist struggled, too.  

In those valleys, God can seem far off, like He’s abandoned you. But just as Jesus had a special promise for John, it’s one for us, too. 

Even when we walk through those dark valleys, if we don’t fall away “on account of him”, we are truly blessed. Don’t fall away because you’re figuratively experiencing some “prison time.” Be blessed. Live the blessed life. Stand firm and strong in the truth and know that one day you will be released from your prison, (whatever it may be) too. Hang in there, dear ones. Hang in there.