A Lesson from Earthworms
Father, a full day and it is quickly coming to a close. May I hear what You have for me as we come together. Speak for Your servant is listening. Amen.
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Crocuses are blooming. Other flowers are coming up. We will probably see daffodils blooming at church next Sunday. And the most exciting part of spring’s arrival…the smell of emerging earthworms!
This has come freshly to my sense of smell this week as I have opened the door let kids on and off the bus. I also remember my time at Mount Vernon Nazarene College – oh so long ago – and after a rain, it never failed, worms would be all over the parking lots and sidewalks with their pungent odor.
I did just a little research to learn a bit more about earthworms. On planetnatural.com. in an article entitled, How Do Earthworms Survive Winter?, I learned quite a bit. As every seasoned gardener is aware earthworms are a necessity. “They’re tunneling helps keep [the] soil porous and conduct moisture. They feed on decaying matter, leaves and other plant matter, as well as fungi, bacteria, and nematodes, then excretes them as vermicompost or worm castings, one of the most potent soil amendments there is.”
Now that you know more than you ever wanted to know about worms, where in the world am I going with this? Well…life isn’t always the easiest – and I am not telling you anything there – but what do with all the “junk” that we have to work through? Does it have to bring us down? Does it have to leave us defeated? Or can it somehow be used for good? Now I don’t think we need to “feed” on the junk but can’t we take all that “junk” and turn it into something beneficial?
A worm’s product – if you will – is one of the most potent soil amendments there is. I had to look it up, but an amendment, in this case, is something which is added to soil in order to improve its texture or fertility.
Can’t we take the troubles we have and, leaning on Christ, strive to be positive and loving and turn those troubles into a means of helping others deal with their troubles – sharing and encouraging them? God can use all aspects of our livers and make them useful, beautiful even. Through Him, we can improve the environment around ourselves.
Lord Jesus, help us to bring all our troubles to You and may You use them make something beautiful of our lives. Amen.
Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion He understood
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife
But he made something beautiful of my life ~ Gloria Gaither
Mar 31st, 2019, Sun, 6:27 pm
Oh, Be Careful Little Tongue What You Say!
Here I sit, Father, at a High School Varsity Softball game and, as always, thank You for traveling mercies to get here and I know you will be with us on the return. I am never alone!
Mark 6:16-29 (<<click to read the passage)
One more thing in regards to this passage… How often do our words get us into trouble? I think every single one of us would have a hard time keeping tally! Words cannot be retracted – once they are shot forth they are forever said. We don’t get a redo. And “sorry” sometimes just doesn’t cut it.
“King” Herod – and I say that loosely in that he was just a puppet of Rome with no real power – exposed himself in such a way that the worst could happen…and the worst did happen.
Ever heard of someone being referred to as a windbag? Well, that would be an apt description for Herod. “Ask me for anything you like…and I will give it to you…up to half my kingdom!” Bologna! He didn’t have any kingdom to give – everything he had belonged to Rome. If they had chosen he could have been dropped just like that, no questions asked.
But that’s what he said and when he got an unexpected reply, he wasn’t man enough to decline the request – John the Baptist’s head on a tray!
Herod was a loser on multiple fronts!
Remember the words of a song many of us sang as kids? “Oh, be careful little tongue what you say…for the Father up above is looking down in love. Oh, be careful little tongue what you say.”
The Bible is full of passages that refer to the good and bad of the tongue.
1 Peter 3:10 states, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.”
Or how about this one from Proverbs 21:23, “Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.”
Lord Jesus, help us – all of us – to be careful what we say. May we think before we speak and may what we do say be seasoned with the salt of our relationship with You. Amen!
Mar 28th, 2019, Thurs, 4:46 pm
Decisions in a World of Moral Compromise
A good start to a good day. I’m glad we had some time together this morning – it just makes everything go so much better! Thank You, Father, for Your love and camaraderie.
Mark 6:16-29 (<<click to read the passage)
In this passage, John the Baptist took a stand for what was right, even though it eventually cost him his life. Sometimes there are things which are so well put that it is a waste of time to try to put them in your own words. A paragraph in my study Bible* does just that.
“Christians today face a world of moral compromise. Secular power sets standards that correspond to majority vote; Christian standards, however, begin and end with God’s Word. To be faithful to God’s Word, we must stand up against what is morally wrong. Responsible Christians must choose their battles. Start with prayers for wisdom, then prayers for courage. Once your battle is chosen speak and act as a faithful follower of the living God. Witness with strength; move mountains by faith; overcome in love. Show the compromised world a little of John’s stubbornness, fortitude, and faith.”
Wow! Our world is surely replete with moral compromise and honestly, it is easy to just sit back and do nothing. Oh, we may complain to those around us but we don’t really do anything! We are so fearful of rocking the boat. We are paralyzed by our hesitancy to speak out, not wanting to alienate those around us.
When it comes right down to it there are many things that are straight out black and white – backed by God’s Word. And on those things, we must stand firm. There are also many things that are grey more than anything and we must carefully show discernment.
Lord Jesus, that sentence – Witness with strength; move mountains by faith; overcome in love – should be lived out each day in our lives. With You by our sides we can do just that, but only in Your love, Your wisdom and Your strength! Amen!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Mar 27th, 2019, Wed, 10:12 am
What We Think Doesn’t Change Who He Is
Father, thank You for helping me get as much done as I did today but I am calling to You for more help tonight. I am weary and would really like to crash but we need to spend some time together. I’ll just lean on You, OK?
Mark 6:14-15 (<<click to read the passage)
I read a more extended passage but a statement in the notes of my Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation stopped me right there! It reads, “Today people still have to make up their minds about Jesus. Some think that if they can name what he is – prophet, teacher, good man – they can weaken the power of his claim on their lives. But what they think does not change who Jesus is.”
God made man in his own image (Genesis 1:27). It has not been uncommon from that point until now that we have a great tendency to re-create God in our own image. That line, “some think if they can name what he is…they can weaken the power of his claim on their lives”, fits well right here.
From a very early age – before we really even know better – we want things our way. How many toddlers have you seen who upon learning to walk want to push their own stroller? Independent. Defiant. And you would think that maturity would mellow that out some…but it doesn’t.
That same attitude and mindset carry on in most of us until our dying breath. “I don’t need help! I can do it my self! No one can lay claim to my life!” But we’re wrong. There is Someone who can lay claim to our lives. David laid it out in Psalm 139:13 AMP,
“For You [our Creator] formed my innermost parts; You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.”
We are only fooling ourselves and the other fools around us if we think that we can weaken the power of his claim on our lives. For, and this is where that last sentence fits so well, …what we think does not change who Jesus is.
I have quoted this passage of Scripture before but this is the way it will be, and we truly have no say in it.
For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 AMP
Herod Antipas, the king…John the Baptist…Elijah…you…me…it really makes no difference who we are, every single one of us, our knee shall bow and our tongue will confess…that Jesus Christ is Lord.
For what we think does not change who Jesus is.
Mar 26th, 2019, Tues, 6:11 pm
Join the Spring Peepers!
Peepers! I heard spring peepers toward the end of my HS/MS route! There’s a lot to delight in throughout the winter, and I truly cherish each season for their blessings, but I am ready for the transition to spring. And, Father, You have gifted this part of the world with these small chorus frogs which proclaim for all to hear that it has come! It still brings a smile to my face even though I heard them over two and a half hours ago!
Now let’s flip that around some. We, as followers of and believers in Christ, have something far more fantastic to proclaim than spring after a long winter! There are so many people in our world who are hopelessly lost. Every day our world continues to hammer home in their hearts and minds that this life is it! Our existence has come about by happenstance. We have no reason to be. We are no more special than anyone or anything else. We are just the result of primordial goo that “happened” to be in the right place at the right time.
But it is a lie! A lie configured to fill the void when the Truth was rejected!
But as children of our Heavenly Father, we have wonderfully amazing news to proclaim to the hopelessly lost! It is not just religiosity! It is not just ritual! It is a relationship! And it is getting to know Who made us and why He made us! Because (here we go again!) “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” Ephesians 1:4 NLT
We have hope! We need not be lost! Someone is all out seeking us out! For the Apostle Paul proclaims,
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord [in prayer] will be saved.”
But here is where we fit it to the grand scheme of things!
14 But how will people call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher (messenger)? 15 And how will they preach unless they are commissioned and sent [for that purpose]? Just as it is written and forever remains written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” Romans 10:13-15 AMP
Take up the challenge, right here, right now! Join the ranks of the spring peepers and proclaim for all to hear that it – the end of hopeless lostness – has come!
Mar 25th, 2019, Mon, 9:29 am