Chocolate!

Humanity is like a box of chocolates. Superficially, we may all seem somewhat similar, but everyone has their own God-ordained flavor on the inside. You ‘bite into’ some folks and discover they are tangy lemons, others are soft jellies and yet others are tough caramels; our talents, skills, temperaments and personalities all blend together to produce our special flavoring. Even though we may personally hate maple creams or find nuts unappealing and wonder why they even have a place in the assortment, every single flavor in God’s chocolate box is good and valuable in His sight. He has given to each of us an individual flavor that carries with it our individual power.

It is easy for us as humans to become very loyal to our flavor type. If we are a sweet vanilla cream, we feel that is the best flavor and we depend on the power of our sweetness to get the job done. If we are a chewy caramel, we feel that chewy caramel is the best in the box and everyone should recognize the fact. If we are decadent truffles, we tend to only respect others who have achieved decadence and thus the comparison goes. We fall into the trap of overvaluing our own flavor and we forget God intended for his chocolate factory to produce all different types of flavors for His purpose and for His enjoyment. The goal of our flavor is not to satisfy our desires and longings, but to taste so good to those consuming us that they take a second look at the box to see what Expert made these delicious chocolates. Whatever our personal flavor, it should embody our Maker’s motto, “O taste and see that the Lord is good!” 

The Silent Force

It is a beautiful, verdant tree, its towering trunk and ample branches providing welcome shade from the Texas heat. However, at some point in its lifetime this tree had suffered a lightening strike that caused an internal split in the tree’s trunk. In an effort to reinforce it, someone had placed a sturdy metal band around the trunk. I was surprised when my daughter walked into the house one day holding this metal band in her hand. “What happened?” I asked her, “Were you pulling on that?” I started to admonish. “No,” she replied, “It was just open.” I went out to evaluate the situation and try to determine what strange force had popped open a metal band, and the conclusion I gathered surprised me. It was not caused by vandalism or curious children, but by the growth of the tree. Despite its scars, its weakness, its internal damage, the tree had continued to grow and its own growth and weight had broken the band that held it.

Sometimes we look at people and it is obvious that there are issues holding their lives in a bind. Samson was one of these people. Despite being called of God to accomplish a great mission as a judge and deliverer of the Israelites, he was held in chains by his own desires. This weakness eventually caught up with him and he found himself a depowered captive. However, the enemies forgot that as his hair grew, his power grew. This oversight allowed Samson to break the fetters of his oppressors and achieve his greatest victory ever.

As humans, we all wrestle with things that hold us down, but we must remember that every human also has the power to grow. As we become more honest with ourselves, more aware of God, more educated about our situation and more dedicated to making small, everyday changes, we begin to grow. Although slow, unseen and not very glamorous, growth has the power to break the restraints that hold us back. 

Finding Our Joy

"If you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord 's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the Lord,...."  Isaiah 58:13-14

We live in a caffeine world. There never seem to be enough new coffees or energy drinks to counteract our constant, collective lethargy. Burnout, exhaustion and fatigue are all too common in our everyday lives. Not only are our bodies tired, but the contentment in our spirits has been extinguished. Are we really toiling beyond reason in our convenience filled world? Is life really so much more stressful than it was for those who went before us? Where did our strength go? Who stole our joy?

In the Old Testament, the Sabbath day of rest and reflection was not optional; it was an unbending commandment from God for His people. The Cross has freed us from keeping the Law and the New Testament does not repeat the command to keep the Sabbath, so in the Christian world it has been reverently displayed in the Museum of Times Bygone and relegated to the ranks of the studious. However, maybe we have exercised our spiritual liberty to the point that our bulging muscles inhibit us from grasping what we desperately need- rest with purpose. Not mindless couch potatoing or constant pleasure seeking, but sacred times dedicated to mindful reflection, deliberate leisure, true human connection and inward stillness. The purpose of the Sabbath was to refresh, recharge and refocus by renewing our God focus, a time to lay down our agendas and pick up God's agenda, to exhale stress and inhale peace and to perceive the divine though confined to the earthly. The principle of the Sabbath was the principle of remembering that we find our joy when we lose ourselves in the rest of a loving God.

Sowing Esther Style

“..If I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:16

 Picture retrieved from:

http://www.sierraclubgreenhome.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/seeds.jpg

“Send in your faith seed!” Such seems to be the ubiquitous cry of the televangelist. No, he’s not talking about flower seeds, or vegetable seeds or even grains of mustard, we all know he’s referring to the stuff found in wallets! The Christian church in North America has thoroughly embraced the belief of fast blessings. The idea prevails that if we give $10 to the cause of Christ, we are guaranteed $100 back, or $1,000 or maybe even $10,000 depending on our faith. The Kingdom of God has become the new and improved Wall Street for believers. If we are willing to give, we are sure to get back! Does God bless those who give in faith? Most definitely, but giving with the thought of getting a quick return is not exactly faith giving.

Esther found herself being asked to sow a seed. It was not a financial seed, but it was definitely a faith seed. To go in uninvited before the king in order to intercede for her people was to invite instant death. God was asking Esther for a faith investment that had no guaranteed returns, no visible safety nets and no promises of glory. She knew it could mean complete disaster for her, but she battled through her short-sightedness until she was able to say those words of ultimate faith, “If I perish, I perish!” No reward, no guarantee, no victory in sight but a willingness to lay it all down for the sake of the Cause. It is when believers are willing to sow in Esther’s style that faith begins to really prevail, that the church can flourish even in times of scarcity and persecution, and what was sown in the unseen starts to produce the visible.

The White Elephant

The White Elephant

Someone gives you a kind, heartfelt gift and although you appreciate the gesture of the giver, sometimes the gift itself is not as easy to appreciate. You look at it and ask yourself, "To what event would I wear this awful tie? Where can I discreetly put this hideous knick knack? What am I going to do with yet another obscure kitchen gadget?" These are typical responses to things we don't really want yet somehow we find it difficult to get rid of them for whatever reason. These are our white elephants.

One of the biggest white elephants of all is pain. Something happens and suddenly we find ourselves holding a memory that we would like to dispose of yet somehow we can't. We look around our lives and try to figure out what to do with it. Should we put it on a shelf where we will constantly remember it? Should we take it out back and bury it? Should we alter it and wear it with pride? Pain does not dissolve on its own so we have to find a place for it in our psyche. Sometimes we decide to place it on the shelf of self-guilt and allow self-loathing to take control. Sometimes we plunk it in the knife drawer and seethe with a constant desire for revenge. Sometimes we shove it into the attic with forgotten things and wonder why our home is always filled with such an odd odor. Sometimes we put it in the front yard as an everlasting monument and take comfort in the sympathetic gazes of passersby. Whatever our decision, white elephants are not easy to hide. Speaking of hiding, perhaps the best place for our pain is in the closet, not hidden behind coats and golf clubs, but covered in the grace, mercy and blood of a Savior, because whatever we bolt down in our prayer closet can't stomp on us any longer.

The Filter

Image retrieved from:

http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/174/cache/lawn-mower_17497_600x450.jpg

My son is quite patient by nature, but I was watching as his frustration quickly mounted. There is nothing as maddening for a 12-year-old boy as a lawnmower that keeps stalling out when you are trying to get through another round of lawn chores. My husband had been trying to get the mower fixed, but the local handyman never seemed to be home. However, as David struggled with his job, a kind neighbor came over and started to check out the equipment. He quickly told us that our problem was a dirty filter and he easily remedied the issue.

Filters are meant to keep certain things out. Their purpose is to keep things clean and in good working order. We all use filters in our daily lives. Not just in things like refrigerators, cars and vacuum cleaners, but also in things like our hearts, minds and emotions. From the time we are children, we start to install filters into our perceptions and interpretations to protect ourselves from things that seem harmful. Sometimes these are good filters. For example, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 4:23 to “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” In other words, God is telling us we should install filters around our heart because garbage in will contaminate the quality of our existence. However, sometimes filters get dirty or wrongly installed and we tend to keep sputtering out and we don’t understand why. We don’t notice that we have installed thick filters of self-protection, defensiveness, mistrust, neediness, anger, boastfulness and a myriad other things in the hope of keeping hurtful things out. What we fail to realize is that what these filters are really doing is blocking out the good and necessary and instead of protecting our lives, they are choking us to death. Before you give up on that project, idea or relationship… check the filter!

Love Doesn't Care

The shouting, the tears, the jumping up and down all may have seemed a bit excessive to the casual observer, but none of this mattered to her! In the big picture of life, it was a relatively small victory but you would not have known this by watching her celebrate this small milestone. She had set a goal, done the work and made it happen, and now it was time to wholeheartedly celebrate! Her husband stood close by, witnessing this unbridled display of emotion which would have caused many ego-sensitive males to cringe in embarrassment or quietly slink to the nearest bathroom, but not this gentleman! With his arm slung around his rejoicing wife, copious tears of pride rolled down his rough face. It was not his accomplishment, not his achievement nor his personal victory, but one would never have known that by watching his expression of pure joy that reflected the happiness of his emoting wife. Self-consciousness was absent. Self-centered pride was carried away in the river of other-centered pride. It didn't matter what others thought, opined or said concerning the matter because the love in his heart just didn't care.

It is reminiscent of a man on a Cross. Bleeding, hurting, grieving, suffering, with rivers of blood streaming down his face. It was not His crime, not His transgression nor His fault. Self-consciousness was absent. Self-centered pride was carried away in a river of other-centeredness. It absolutely did not matter what others thought, opined or said concerning the matter because the love in his heart just didn't care.

The quality of our love is not measured as much by how much we care, but by how much we find we don't care when the whole world is watching. True love is not focused on managing opinions, presentations or criticisms of outsiders but on cultivating the well being of the ones we love at any cost, understood or not. Real love just can't afford to care.