High Hopes

“A mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.”
                                    ~ Henry Ford
“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
                                ~ Matthew 6: 30-33
There is a wonderful site that has recently come to our neighborhood called “Buy Nothing”. It’s by-words are Give, Ask, Gratitude.  The idea is to build community and give what we have to each other.  We were able to give some furniture a new home, to folks who needed it.  When one of the recipients came to pick up the furniture, she told us that she was blown away by what people would be willing to take.  She had some food, frozen and within its use by date.  Her family was not enjoying it anymore, but she could not bring herself to simply discard it, so she advertised it on the Buy Nothing site. That, and some other food that she had either been gifted with, or could not use.  All of it was asked for.  Every single bit.  

Here my friend was thinking that buying that food was a mistake, but she was able to help feed a family.  Some folks just won’t go to a food pantry.  The mistake would have been to throw it out.  But she fed the hungry.  The things I see on this site are everything from packaged sheets that someone cannot use to clothing, to party favors.  Perhaps purchased for a party that did not happen due to illness, or shut down.  The bottom line is, if we are willing to give God our “mistakes” God can use them.  Always.  God knows why you made that wrong turn, why your flight was delayed, why you bought too much ____.   If you give it to God, God can use it! And God will bless not only you, but the one he chooses to bless through you!  We are meant to be conduits of his blessings. 

We were thrilled to bless others with those pieces of furniture.  They are blessing others with their unwanted items.  What a wonderful network to be a part of!Books can be re-read if you place them in a “little free” library.  Some neighborhoods have “blessing boxes” specifically designed for food and kitchen items. What mistake will you let God turn into a blessing?  How can you share your abundance, meager as you may think it is, with others?  Set your hopes high! Then give it to God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_HvBDorpzE
High Hopes – Frank Sinatra

Because of Him, Linda

Betrayed

“If your brother sins against you,[a] go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.
~ Matthew 18:15

Dear Friend,

It hurt.  What you did hurt so badly.  I was wounded to my soul. You betrayed me.

You attacked someone I loved. I finally told you, and for the first time in our relationship, we had an honest exchange. And it has been thus ever since. God is so good.

I pray I can be as honest when it happens that I hurt someone else.

I have made so many mistakes.  

I have tried so hard to do the right thing.

I will continue to give it to God every time it comes up. In Jesus’ name.
Because of Him,

Linda

Come as You Are

“Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them.”

                                                                          ~ Salvador Dali

 

Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.                                      

                                                                         ~ Ephesians 4:32

 

     There is a professor that I had to whom I confided my lack of knowledge of classic poetry.  I am sure that I read many poems when I was younger, but whatever clarity I had about them left my consciousness when I went back to school.  She did not miss much before she said “Start where you are.”  

I purchased a book of 500 classic poems and began to copy them, one by one into a notebook.  I still don’t know them all, but I have a better understanding of the timeline of poetry.

     I had another professor who taught “The long poem.”  One of the students in our class questioned a poem that she mentioned in passing and her response was “You don’t know that poem?  Even my 12 year old son knows that poem!”  The student was discouraged, I was incensed, even though I knew the poem about which she was speaking.

     Sometimes we can use God in that way.  We know so much over our walk, and learn so much that it becomes second nature, and yet when someone comes to us in need, it is tempting to use the approach that the second professor used with my class.  Oh to hear the sweet words of the Master saying, “Come, follow me.”

Come as you are today church.

 

Because of Him,

Linda

Devotional – Stung!

Real friends are those who, when you feel you’ve made a fool of yourself, don’t feel you’ve done a permanent job. 

 

~ Author Unknown

 

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

 

~ Hebrews 11:6

This one time, I wrote an ad for a local event.  I took creative liberties with it, and left it to do its work.  The co-chair of the event came in, fury her only make-up that morning, and dressed me down in front of a group of people who knew me, and many who did not.  I held it together enough to leave the room, and collapse in the arms of a good friend.  I had made a fool of myself, I told her, the co-chair yelled at me at the top of her lungs, I sobbed.

She let me cry.  She just let me sob it out.  The co-chair was mistaken, and never admitted it to me, but the damage was done.  My friend assured me that I was not the one who looked foolish, and that I should just go home and rest up for a coupld of hours, which I did.

Friends, there are always people who misunderstand.  There are always people willing to try and make you look bad in front of a group.  But when all is said and done, if we glance over at those finger pointers, there are four of their own fingers, pointing back at them.  Praying for them is not an option, it is a choice that removes those bee stings.

Today, let your ointment be a merry heart, a kind word, and a bit of honey.

Oh how He loves you and me!

Because of Him,

Linda

Laughing at yourself, taking risks

If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances. 

 

 ~ Julia Sorel

 

 

For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

 

Mark 8:36

 

Sometimes that very thing you are afraid to do is a key to something else.  I have a friend who is among the best organists I have ever heard.  This is no small thing, as she has been responsible for bringing several world class organists through the doors of our church.  She is a proponent of music education for the masses, and, in doing so has extended the Lord’s hand through the doors to the community.  The choral festivals, concerts and other music related events have had a hand in extending my musical education, but also in bringing folks to a new place in their spiritual walks.  

 

If you ask her she will probably say something like “Gosh, I was only doing what I do.”  She is always a breath of fresh air, a word of encouragement a haven in a storm.

 

When her teacher approached her to do an organ concert in another country,  there was much hemming and hawing…and then she did it.  I am sure that the folks who heard her were blessed, but more than that, I am sure God used that experience to build up her confidence in the ability she has nurtured and tended by God’s grace.  She is a gracious about laughing at herself.  Laughing at her mistake and moving on.  She has played millions of notes and so many more of them correct because she took a chance on a hard piece, a tough measure, an impossible score.

 

Today, take a deep breath and “sing” in that place that is a risk.  The air that you just took in?  Right from God’s lips.

 

(This is not our organist, but this is a piece that she has played that showcases the range of her talent.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOihxIYhdg

The Last Words of David

 

Because of Him,

Linda

The Old Man and the Bowl

I love to put the experience of fifty years at once into your young lives, to give you at once the key to that treasure chamber every gem of which has cost me tears and struggles and prayers, but you must work for these inward treasures yourselves.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811-1896,
American Writer

 

 

  ^13-15One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.” After laying hands on them, he left.

Matthew 19:14

The Message (MSG)

Let’s take a look at this old Grimm’s tale.

 

The old man and his grandson

Image: The old man and his grandson

The brothers Grimm – KHM 078

There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they bought him a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had to eat.
They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. “What are you doing there?” asked the father. “I am making a little trough,” answered the child, “for father and mother to eat out of when I am big.”

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.

END

We learn from our parents, we learn it all, not just what they intend for us to learn.  As a teacher, I hear parents swearing at or in front of their children, then wonder why their children swear.  They often do not realize that they are even swearing.  As the FCC has relaxed regulations to reflect our “rights,” there are fewer good examples of speech for children to hear, including day time television, or prime time family television.

I hear parents admonishing their children in grocery stores, “the lady will yell at you.” Hoping that I or some other adult will do their job.  I hear them sharing intimate details too serious, or heavy for their little ears, and then asking them how they feel!

Jesus called the children to Him, he took them into his lap, he prayed with them, he loved them.  He spoke in front of large crowds that included families.  And ultimately, he lived the life he expected us to live, and then gave his life that we might live in the kingdom of heaven here  in heaven’s pre-school on earth, and beyond.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s words ring true with my own father’s.  We must learn from others mistakes, but most likely we will make a number of our own, and reap the rewards and lessons thereof.  I believe that the bowl will figure in some other stories this week, for it has a lot to say.

Because of Him,
Linda