Posted by: Jo | November 25, 2011

The Ordinary Becomes the Extraordinary

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The days in Vancouver have become crisp, cold and sunny. As the sun flooded our balcony today I was reminded of one of my friends sharing a fascinating insight on such a day as this. She and her husband had to get up early to reach an old wooden car ferry that was still in use to pull cars across the river near where she lived. As they boarded the ferry the sun had not yet risen and she noticed that a spider had woven an intricate web across the wooden rail and little dew drops had been caught in its flimsy threads. Just as she was observing this, the sun’s rays struck the ferry. She gasped as the very ordinary spider’s web became transformed by the sun. Every little dew drop became a sparkling jewel and the whole web became a shimmering work of art. No longer ordinary. Now extraordinary!

“I am just an ordinary person.” How often have we heard these deprecating words from someone, or perhaps have uttered them about ourselves, believing that there is nothing spectacular about us or our lives? One of the fascinating things I have noticed while reading Scripture is the way God chooses very ordinary people to achieve extraordinary accomplishments for his glory.

Often these ordinary persons are not even given a name, but because of their faith in their Heavenly Father, they are used to bring God glory. One of my favourite stories is found in the book of 2 Kings 5. In the story we are introduced to a little slave girl who has no claim to fame except she has kept her faith in the God of her people. When she learns that her master has developed leprosy, she takes the audacious step of speaking to her mistress about a Godly prophet in her own country who she assures her mistress will be able to heal the master from leprosy. The result of this extraordinary courage of this little girl is the well-known story of Naaman dipping himself seven times in the Jordan and being healed.

The little boy, again we do not know his name, who was willing to share his lunch became part of one of Jesus’ best known miracles, the Feeding of the Five Thousand, and yet everybody who knew him would have thought of him as an ordinary little boy.

Scripture tells us that Peter and John were ordinary men. They were simple fishermen and yet we know the extraordinary way they were able to spread the good news of Jesus Christ even though they had no schooling. (Acts 4:13)

So what is the message for all of us ordinary folk who perhaps feel that everybody else is just that more significant in the eyes of the world. Once we have allowed the Lord Jesus to flood us with the light of his love and forgiveness, we are no longer ordinary in our Father’s eyes. In his eyes we become those extraordinary children in whom he delights.

The story of the spider’s web is a good one to remember when we get those doubts about how significant we are in the big scheme of things. The web was flooded with sunlight and became a joy to behold, but O, how more astounding are our lives when they are flooded with SONLIGHT. We become that new creation Paul was referring to and we can confidently announce…

“I am extraordinary!”

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Posted by: Jo | November 18, 2011

Asking For Directions

“in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:6)

RoadTrip01Several years ago my husband and I planned a trip to take us from the West Coast of Canada, (where we live) to the East Coast of Canada and even across the water to Newfoundland. We were going to drive as we wanted to see as much of each Province as possible and as we were sharing these plans with our family one of our daughter’s asked, “Who is going to do the navigating?” When my husband replied, “Your mother”, there was a stunned silence and I thought I could detect some muffled laughter. Perhaps they were thinking “NAGIVATOR” might be the more appropriate word but, I was not surprised by their reaction as I am not noted for my navigational skills and can easily become confused in my own neighborhood, but knowing what a long and perhaps difficult journey this would be, I had every intention of using every available source from maps to directions, from travel books to even asking others who had attempted a similar trip what the problems might be.RoadTrip02

Life is often described as a journey and those of us who have been travelling for some time know that the road is not always straight and easy to follow, that often a sharp bend takes us by surprise or the road we are just becoming familiar with has a detour sign and we are suddenly thrust into unknown territory that demands that we learn a whole new way of proceeding. Sometimes the road suddenly divides and we have the agonizing choice of which road to take and both seem to be leading to different locations.

Fortunately for us our Heavenly Father is quite aware that his children need his help to stay on track while we traverse that long journey of life. He has provided the perfect travel guide; his word.

One of the lessons my husband and I learnt on our trip was not to be too ambitious about how far we thought we could go in any given day. We found that by being too confident about distances, left us overtired and unable to RoadTrip07appreciate the beauty of the countryside we had driven through. The same applies on our life journey. In our present day society, one of the main causes of illness has been related to stress. When we fill our lives with countless activities for ourselves and our children our path becomes rough and steep and we begin to feel we are not actually going anywhere, we seem to be on a treadmill rather than progressing through life and there seems to be no end in sight. Stress is spoiling our enjoyment of our journey. That is when we need to stop and consult the travel guide. The Lord entreats us to stop and spend some quiet time with him; he urges us to be refreshed by speaking to him and reading his word.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Our journey can also be thrown into confusion by that fork in the road. RoadTrip11It may be a new job to be considered or moving to another part of the country; perhaps a chance to buy that long dreamed of home; or perhaps the Lord calling us to start that ministry close to our heart. How to decide! Once again we need to consult the travel guide.

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”” (Isaiah 30:21)

The Lord has not promised our path will always be smooth, but he has promised much more than that. He has promised to be our constant travelling companion,RoadTrip04

“…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

 

 

 

 

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Posted by: Jo | November 11, 2011

Becoming God’s Gracious People

“The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” (Numbers 6:25)

When I was a little girl I can remember my mother remarking about an acquaintance, “She is such a gracious lady.”  My mother placed much importance on good manners and appropriate behavior for me and my two sisters and my brother.  She wanted us to try to be always aware of what we said and more importantly how we said it and as my mother had a strong sense of family, we were also warned of how dreadful it would be to bring disgrace on our family name by an ugly disregard of another’s feelings and to remember that how we treated others had a powerful effect on those around us.

Perhaps being gracious does not rank highly in what parents think is important to teach their children in today’s society, but to my surprise recently I have seen several ads on T. V. promoting politeness while driving; to allow others to merge safely; to acknowledge with a wave of thanks when others allow you to go first; to wait patiently for your turn, so with my mother’s voice echoing in my mind I decided to explore the many times we read in Scripture that our heavenly Father longs to be gracious towards us and in turn would have us to be gracious towards others.  The dictionary defines “gracious “ as being filled with grace. When the psalmist begs the Lord

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations” (Psalms 67:1-2) he is asking to be filled with God’s perfect grace.

The grace of God is one of the most powerful images portrayed in the Bible.  Perhaps this beautiful characteristic of God has been etched on peoples’ lives and hearts for over 200 years by John Newton’s well-loved hymn, “Amazing Grace “, John Newton was writing from his heart as he felt he had a good reason to think that perhaps “a wretch” like him would not qualify for that redeeming grace that our Heavenly Father was offering to all his children.  It is obvious from the words of this hymn that grace cannot be earned; it is a gift lovingly bestowed upon us.

When we reread the psalmist’s cry in Psalms 67:1-2 we realize that asking God to be gracious towards us has two distinct parts.  Firstly we need his grace to forgive us and to accept us into his family and secondly having been forgiven we now need to become gracious members of this family so “that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations”  We need to be filled with his grace so others will come to know him.

So how do we become God’s gracious people?  This is when we all agree with John Newton, God’s grace is amazing! When we are aware of how much we need grace and ask God to be gracious towards us, an amazing transformation happens in our lives, suddenly we are more willing to offer grace to others.  We are more willing to love that difficult neighbor.  We are more willing to forgive rudeness in others and not to respond in anger.  We are more willing to be patient in that long line up.  We are more willing to be kind to those less fortunate than us.  We start to think of others more highly than ourselves and find great joy in pleasing the Lord rather than pleasing ourselves. We are on the way to becoming one of God’s gracious people.

“…How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you” (Isaiah 30:19)

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Posted by: Jo | November 4, 2011

Chosen Vessels

“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8)

Recently I read a short, sad story about a daughter returning to her childhood home, to help her father pack up her mother’s possessions after her mother had died. While sorting through a cupboard of crockery she came across a large box that she had never seen before, and as she pried open the lid she could see a set of exquisite china, each piece carefully wrapped in tissue paper. As she unwrapped one of the pieces she could see the delicate pattern etched on the side and a gold rim encircling the edge and it appeared never to have been used.  Intrigued as to why she had never seen the set, she asked her father about this mystery and learnt that it had been a wedding present and her mother had been waiting for a special occasion to use it.

The story touched me and I felt sad that the beautiful china had never been allowed to bring joy to its owner or to others and it had never been able to fulfill the purpose for which it had been made.

I began to see a similarity in this story of the unopened gift, to our relationship with our Heavenly Creator. Each of us have been beautifully hand crafted and molded in to just the right pleasing shape by the Heavenly Potter. We have been designed to bring him great pleasure and just as the giver of the gift in the story chose carefully, so too we have been just as lovingly chosen.

Jesus says in John 15:16,

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name”

The Lord himself calls the apostle, Paul, chosen, but also specifically, “a chosen vessel”.

“…for he is a chosen vessel unto me…” Acts 9:15 (KJV)

Vessels are designed to be able to hold some sort of substance and consequently are hollow.  When Moses was given the design for the Tabernacle each detail however small was carefully relayed to him by the Lord.  Vessels were carefully chosen and dedicated to be used in glorifying the Lord God in worship.  What a beautiful picture this provides for us when we realize we are chosen vessels; chosen to bring glory to the Lord; lovingly handcrafted by our Father, the Potter; with a hollow space just waiting to be filled by his Holy Spirit.

When we can grasp this that each one of us is unique, but each has that special place in our hearts to be filled, we certainly do not want to hide in the cupboard, wrapped up in protective tissue, never venturing out into the world, never experiencing the joy of being filled to capacity, never using all the gifts God has poured into our hearts.  Unlike the precious china in my story, we have a choice.  We can ask to be filled by the Holy Spirit.  When we ask to be used to bring glory to the One who created us we will no longer have empty, hollow lives, but will be filled and overflowing with joy that we are part of his treasure trove of chosen vessels.

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Posted by: Jo | October 28, 2011

Walking In His Light

“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” – Psalms 36:9

Overcoming Anger and FearWhen my two granddaughters were little girls they often had sleepovers at our house. We had long ago bought a night light to plug into the socket of the bedroom they slept in, but one night one of them was reluctant to go to sleep (perhaps a scary movie or some hidden fear). She finally blurted out, “I need another light in the hall. What if I need you during the night and there is no light to show me how to get to your bedroom?”

Light

Dark

These words pervade our minds with a myriad of images, conjuring powerful emotions that can stir up physical reactions. When darkness in any form descends upon our lives our first reaction may be like that of my little granddaughter, one of fear and anxiety, a feeling of being lost, a need to find guidance to one who can dispel the darkness with light.

The words “light” and “dark” are often associated, respectively, with “good” and “evil”. How do I overcome fear?We talk about the darkness of despair, dark moods, the terror of the dark and we depict the evil character of children’s stories dressed in black to distinguish just how bad he is, distinct from the good character that is easily noticeable by white and luminous clothes.

Any of us who have grappled with depression can readily agree that the feeling can evoke one of such blackness that the very darkness surrounding one seems to be impenetrable. The wonderful news is that there is no darkness however thick that cannot be penetrated by God‘s light. Over and over again we are reassured that God’s love for us is so great that when we walk in his light we will see light.

Just as my little granddaughter knew that having a light to guide her was essential, we need to actively seek that light that we need.

“You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” – Psalms 18:28

A Light for the WayWhere do we start to find this light? God’s word is a good place to begin.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” – Psalms 119:105

Few of us escape periods of darkness in our lives. It may be a scary health diagnosis, a job loss, a broken relationship, problems with a child, a real fear of what the future holds, or any number of diverse reasons can cloud our lives with worry. Some worries can paralyze us into doing nothing. The best solution is to take God’s promises to be true. It is amazing that after seeking the Lord through prayer and reading his word and honestly presenting the problem to him, that light pierces the darkness and we are surprised to see our way through what we thought was an unsolvable. This beautiful old hymn puts it into all perspective.Jesus is the light

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full on his wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of his glory and grace”

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Posted by: Jo | October 21, 2011

Feasting With The Lord

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” – Psalms 34:8

Sweet as HoneyOne of my friends has recently been on a weight loss program which has been highly successful. She was sharing several great lessons she had learnt through this endeavor, such as being aware of what and when she ate. She was very grateful for the insight into identifying those occasions where she was just mindlessly eating. She was encouraged to make her mealtimes a special event in which she concentrated on what she was eating, with no distractions like the T.V. or the latest book she wanted to finish. Snacking was definitely one of those mindless eating episodes to avoid. While I was listening to her I was suddenly struck by this thought

Do we snack on God‘s word? Are we so distracted by what is going on with our lives that we mindlessly open his word read it hurriedly and consequently gain no real sustenance? Do we set a special time in which we do not allow anything to become between us and his word so we can say like the psalmist?

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”– Psalms 119:103

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that just as human babies begin on milk, but need to progress to solid food, so do we. Solid food takes much more effort to eat than strained baby food. We may need to look closely at how much time we actually devote to reading scripture and to what extent we probe, study and inwardly digest those precious words.

“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” – Hebrews 5:14

The wonderful news about following God’s diet is that there are no special foods to buy, everything is absolutely free.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat!” – Isaiah 55:1

The other wonderful part about following the Lord is his constant invitation to dine with him. We can experience feasting with him whenever we choose to be in his presence through his word, and have our souls nourished by his love.

“He has taken me to the banquet hall and his banner over me is love.” – Song of Songs 2:4

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Posted by: Jo | October 14, 2011

The Extravagance of God

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” – Psalms 19:1

Mother with new born babyA little girl made a remark to her mother while viewing a new baby, “Why does God keep making new people? Why doesn’t he just keep the ones he has?”

I was thinking along those lines last week when I was walking in our local park and was suddenly overwhelmed by the beauty of one spectacular tree clothed in all the golden finery of Fall. I knew that in a few days time the wind would scatter those exquisite leaves to be tossed around hither and thither and the tree, now bare, would wait for spring when its Creator to begin the cycle all over again. What an extravagant gesture of God to allow us to enjoy that beauty over and over again. Surely it would have been easier to just make all the trees green and as the little girl thought, just keep the leaves you have.

The insect world is another example of the extravagance of God. What did the dragon fly imageever do to be able to flaunt that iridescent blue on its wings as it dips and flies over the pond? Surely to give the butterfly those startling colours for just a day was such a waste. What precision it would take to paint those little black dots for the ladybug.

Some of God’s extravagance is plain for all to see, but what about that tiny perfectly formed bush orchid that is hidden deep in the forest? Only a few observant ones notice its soft hues and delicate shape and perhaps it just becomes trampled by a careless foot.

The jungle is extravagance supreme, from gaily coloured parrots to frogs with such vibrant reds and purples who are hidden so deep in the tangle of plants they are only visible to us through the powerful lens of the National Geographic.

The ocean must be Goimaged’s delight in creativity in both colour and shape, from beds of coral to undersea gardens to tropical fish, to myriads of tiny creatures that each have their own distinct shape and colour. One of my favourites is the clown fish who must have earned that name from its looks.

God’s extravagant gifts of beauty are his way of showing how much he loves the world that he created and how much he loves sharing it with us his children.

But of all God’s extravagant gifts to mankind one exceeds all the others. His love for us was so great that he counted no cost when he gave his son to die for our sins.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

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Posted by: Jo | October 7, 2011

Favoured One

“For whoever finds me finds life and receives favour from the Lord.” – Proverbs 8:35Mother and Daughter

“Favourite” is one of those words that brings about a feeling of pleasure in our whole being. We all have that favourite flavour of ice cream or that favourite place we steal away for solitude. We have that favourite T.V. show / that favourite book / favourite author / favourite past time etc.

Erma Bombeck (one of my favourite authors) wrote a beautiful article entitled, “Favourite Child” which is an exquisite exposition of how a parent’s favourite child is the one who needs you the most, or the one who is in the middle of some disaster perhaps of their own doing, or the one who is awkward and difficult and constantly in trouble. We all have experienced times in our life, a desire to feel the warmth of being “the favourite one”

The wonderful news for us is that when we seek the Lord and find him, we become favoured ones (Proverbs 8:35)

God is our protective fatherWe have perhaps watched a doting father with his child and remarked,

“That child is the apple of his father’s eye.”

How amazing to discover our Heavenly Father assures us that is exactly who we are.

“. . he shielded him and cared for him, he guarded him as the apple of his eye” – Deuteronomy 32:10

For many of us it is hard for us to feel special. We may have grown up being made to feel that we didn’t quite measure up, perhaps in a large family with smart brothers and sisters. We may have had that reinforced through our school years even to thinking nobody really noticed us. We may still as adults feel inadequate, compared to others. The wonderful promise in the Proverbs verse (8:35) is that when we find the Lord we find life and become one of his favoured ones.Father and Daughter

“I will look on you with favour and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you” – Leviticus 26: 9

Being one of God‘s favourite people is not based on how clever we are/ how beautiful / how gifted / how good we are, in fact we cannot earn God’s favour. He bestows favour on us as a gracious gift if we acknowledge him as our Lord and Saviour.

Then we have no more doubts about being unnoticed, unloved, unworthy we can sing with gusto with all God’s other favourite children,

“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so”

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Posted by: Jo | September 30, 2011

An Appealing Attitude

Taking it On“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” – Philippians 2:5

The story of the birth of the church in the book of Acts begins with a dramatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit and as we read this exciting story we are amazed to read the effect this has on the disciples. We see Peter transformed from an unschooled fisherman to a powerful orator, but it is not only his eloquence that impresses the crowd, Peter’s attitude is so different his listeners search for an explanation.

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” – Acts 4:13

The telling phrase in this verse, “these men had been with Jesus” is the only explanation their listeners could grasp. “Spending time with Jesus” and the infilling of the Holy Spirit had brought about this remarkable change in attitude.Infilling of the Holy Spirit

All of us at some time in our lives have had a struggle with attitude. We may have been programmed by circumstances to have a negative attitude to certain situations. We may have assumed an attitude of cynicism when a contentious topic arises. We may have cultivated an attitude of indifference to protect ourselves from being hurt in close relationships. We have read lately how an aggressive attitude of a few can stir a crowd to riot.

On the other hand an appealing attitude can work wonders in our lives. I have a dear friend who struggles with a chronic disease, but her attitude towards her infliction is always positive. She refuses to be defined by her disease and consequently does not let it control her attitude so she is a pleasure to be with and her reward in doing so is a host of friends who enjoy her company.

So how can we strive to have an attitude the same as Jesus?

In the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul tells us it is possible to change that wrong mind set so it has no influence over us. We can be rid of that negative attitude which clouds our wellbeing. We can banish cynicism and become more open minded. We can exhibit a positive attitude within our family/ our work place/ our church. We can develop a caring attitude towards those who we would normally brush off. Our whole attitude to life can change.

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds” – Ephesians 4:22, 23

I love this anonymous quote I read recently;

Appealing Attitude Word Cloud“Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?”

When others are able to note we “have been with Jesus” by our attitude, it will certainly be worth catching.

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Posted by: Jo | September 23, 2011

Times of Refreshing

“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints” – Philemon: 7

We often see the word “refreshing” used in advertising, especially if the advertisement has something to do with long cool drinks. We can use it ourselves in describing a cool shower on a hot day. A well deserved nap after an arduous morning’s work can be refreshing, so the task can be tackled again. Lying in the shade of an accommodating tree after completing that hike up the mountain side, restores one’s laboured breathing and refreshes the lungs. Tired clothes hanging in our cupboard for a period of time can be refreshed by a rubbing over of the steam iron. Lots of action words are used in the dictionary to describe the word “refresh”; reinvigorate, reanimate, brighten, strengthen, make clearer, make more distinct, so what does Paul mean when he writes to Philemon and thanks him for refreshing the hearts of the saints? How does one refresh the heart of another? Most of the above definitions work just as well within our spiritual lives as they do in our everyday lives.

Scripture often refers to times of refreshing coming like streams of water in a parched and dry land. The prophet, Isaiah, tells the people of the wonderful way God will restore them in these beautiful words,

“I will make rivers flow on

barren heights,

and springs within the valleys.

I will turn the desert into pools of water,

and the parched ground into springs.” – Isaiah 41:18

Sometimes our life seems to be like a parched desert, with no relief in sight. Our faith seems dry and lifeless. Our prayer life becomes routine without that infilling of joy that was once there. We need refreshing! Paul was commending Philemon for doing just that for the believers in Colosse. We need also to seek the company of believers, but most of all we need to be refreshed by the Lord himself. God’s word is a good place to start.

“Repent then and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” – Acts 3:19

The Lord may have also placed people in our lives that need refreshing. Maybe a care giver of an elderly parent who needs to have a break; perhaps a young mother who would love some time of her own if the little one she has could be minded; the lonely widow who sits at the back of the church who desperately needs someone to talk to; the young teenager at odds with his parents who would appreciate an older type brother to listen to him; or the friend who is struggling to hold on to her faith after a tragedy in her life.

When we seek to refresh others, we ourselves become renewed and reinvigorated, our own lives no longer desert like, but filled with life giving water and we will be able to say like Paul.

“ ..so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.” – Romans 15:32

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