Relationship Is Important

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At Faith Barista this week we are discussing the question, "How do you spend time with God and experience spiritual rest?"  Click on the Faith Barista graphic on my right side bar to find out how others experience rest.

All good relationships require communication. If I want to have a better marriage I need to spend time with my husband. We need to talk. Laugh. Cry. Be goofy.....together. If I want to maintain my friendships I have to find time to get together. Chat on the phone. Walk together. Talk together. If I want my relationship as a mother to be nurturing to my children, I need to take time to find out what is important to them. I email family and friends. We keep in touch. We reach out.  Without communication...without sharing... relationships die. Sometimes the death is long, slow and painful. Sometimes not.

I make time for the relationships that are important to me.

My relationship with God is no different. Some people would question me with, "How can you have a RELATIONSHIP with God? God is all about religion...and rules...and church."  My reply is that God, and His son, Jesus are ALL ABOUT relationship. Yes, Jesus came to this earth in the form of man BECAUSE of relationship. God wants relationship with me, not because He NEEDS too, but because He WANTS too. Even though I have been a Christian for many, many years I am still in awe of the fact that the God of the Universe wants to know me....and even more importantly He wants me to KNOW Him.

Sometimes all I need to do, to experience spiritual rest, is to talk WITH Him, the one who knows me most intimately. I commune with the One who knows my heart.

Father,

I long for peace and rest

From You, who knows me best.

I stumble through my days

turning from Your gaze.

I am full of pride

thinking I can hide

all my stress inside

far from You.

Forgive me Father.

I am so stubborn.

I need rest.

Rest for my body.

Rest for my soul.

I need You.

Thank you for your provision for me.

As I draw close to You,

You draw close to me.

And I can rest in Your love.

Amen

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Do Not Worry About Tomorrow

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The backpack is far too heavy for me. I am hunched over from the struggle of having to carry it. It strains me almost to the point of exhaustion.

I'm weighed down by everything I have shoved in there.

Finances.

Relationships.

Marriage.

The Daily Routine.

The Mundane.

Accidents.

Decisions.

Weather.

School.

Children.

The past.

The future.

Illness.

Health.

The things of life, that I worry over.

Each one seemingly so important that I feel I must carry it.

These things that I continually shove in my own personal backpack.

Sometimes it is so full I can't even zip it shut. Just when I think there is room for nothing else...I squeeze another worry in.

I cannot continue like this.

"Father, this is so difficult for me. I don't want to worry, but worry creeps back to me. I say I trust You. I give you the backpack, but then I take it back again. The worry feels comfortable to me...even if it is painful.

Father, will you help me? Help me to trust you more. I need your words from Matthew 6:34 to soothe my tired back. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things."

Lord, you are so much more capable to carry my burdens than I am. Forgive me for not trusting you more."

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The Beauty Of Forgiveness

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He doesn't deserve my forgiveness! She did a terrible thing to me. Why should I forgive her? He hurt my feelings. She said horrible things.

Most of us in this life have had things happen to us that we feel we really don't deserve. People have treated us poorly.  They didn't do what they should.  They shouldn't have done what they did.

I've heard myself say the words, "I will never forgive her for that". She hurt me. She doesn't "deserve" my forgiveness. I hate her.

With those words, the bitterness started to grow, like a vine around my heart. It was slowly choking out the ability to forgive. It was always there with me...like poison that I kept drinking--even though it hurt me.

The truth is that the "unforgiven" rarely suffer like the ones holding onto the bitterness. The one who demands payment for whatever sin was committed against them, suffers much more.

I can't tell you the exact moment that, that changed for me. The moment I forgave her for the awful things she said about me. Things that weren't true. My forgiveness wasn't showy. As a matter of fact, she never even asked me for my forgiveness. She never begged me to forgive her. It was never like that. I don't know that she even remembers what she said to begin with.......but, I did. So, I was the one to make the move. To forgive her. In my heart.

You know, when you forgive someone it is does not always mean that you "forget" what happened. Our minds don't work that way. Forgiveness isn't about forgetting, forgiveness is about "letting it go" and moving on. Bitterness only hurts the one harboring it.

You might be thinking to yourself, "Dawn, does not get it. My hurt is too great. The offense too horrible. I cannot forgive. Ever."

And you would be wrong. I do get it. I know. Believe me, I know. And you can forgive. It is a choice. Not easy, but  definitely not impossible.

Like I said, forgiveness is not about giving something to the other person. (unless he/she asks) Forgiveness is about YOU being able to rid yourself of bitterness.

Most of you know me (especially those of you that have been reading my blog for a long time). If you were to meet me you'd see that I am a wife and mom. Teenagers can drive me nutty.  I look sort of average. I like wearing tennis shoes. I shop at Walmart. I enjoy reading. I have a soft spot for dogs. I love my family. If I don't get enough sleep I'm a bear. Sometimes I yell. Sometimes my sense of humor shines. Above all else I am a Christian.

The reason that I am able to forgive is NOT because I am special...because I am not. I am no different than you.  The reason that I am able to forgive is because, you see, I am one of the forgiven. When Christ took my place and hung on that cross, He cried out, "Father, forgive them!" Christ knew that one day I would exist. That my heart would be dark with the feelings that it harbored. That even if I tried to be good, I couldn't do it. I didn't have it in me. And yet, He forgave me. He didn't have to. I surely didn't deserve it. I didn't even appreciate it.

But, I am grateful for a loving, compassionate, just, and holy God. God tells me in Psalms 103:12,

New International Version (©1984) as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Because God first forgave me, I am now able to show forgiveness to others.

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Being The Hands And Feet Of Jesus

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As a Christian it is important to not only "talk the talk" but, "walk the walk". Sadly, there are people who call themselves Christians, who have alienated those around them. They religiously do the "ritual" but, totally miss the relationship. This quote is funny and unfortunately so true, "Going to church and sitting in a pew doesn't make you a Christian...anymore than going and sitting in your garage makes you a car."  If someone is truly a Christian, he/she carries the name of Christ in that name. I know I am not perfect, but it is my desire, and what I strive for...to be more like Jesus.

In a world full of people who are in need, in pain, questioning and searching---I can be the "hands and feet" of Christ. I can reach out to others in love. Not because I am perfect. I am the farthest thing from perfect. Really. Not for self gratification or personal glory, nor fame or fortune. Only because God is good. That He would choose to use me, even in a small way is both humbling and extraordinary.

"Come you who are blessed by my Father....for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." ....."I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  (Matthew 25:31-46)

Read those verses again. They are profound.

It is not easy. I'm not saying it is. I tend towards selfishness. Most of us do. It's easier to look the other way, than to see the scruffy guy on the street who hasn't bathed in weeks. It's too painful to watch the dying. Holding a hand is hard when the body is riddled with cancer, or one has to look  into the eyes of an Alzheimer's patient. The guy sitting in prison deserves it. He did bad things. He doesn't deserve visits. He should rot. Right? Our human nature is repelled by these situations.

And yet..... What would Jesus do? What am I called to do because I carry His name with me?  He told me what He expects. Whatever I do to those that are helpless, poor, widowed, orphaned, hurt, destroyed, hardened, and heartbroken....I have done it to HIM.

Forgive me Lord. I fail so many times.  Help me to have YOUR eyes. To see others as YOU see them.

Help me to be more like YOU.

 

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To Love and To Cherish

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My family and I attended a church social yesterday evening. We were there to celebrate the marriage of an older couple in our church. They had just celebrated their 68th anniversary. That is practically unheard of in this day and time. They were  married in 1942.

1. I've learned things from observing  this couple.

2. A man of true strength doesn't have to be loud, or hardened.

3. He fought in WWII, witnessed the death of his buddies...

4. Yet, this is the same man, who now in his late 80's, lovingly helps his wife to get out of her wheelchair and into the car.

5. Over the past few years his wife has lived with severe arthritis in her back, and has hearing loss.

6. That didn't matter last night.

7. He smiled at her and leaned over to tell her what people were saying.

8. I learned that she had a yellow Camero that she loved to drive in days gone by.

9. And she enjoyed laughing and being silly with her friends.

10. I learned when he was a boy, his family owned horses and buggies.

11. Until... his dad was one of the first in town to buy a car.

12. I told him, " you and your wife have seen a lot of changes in society, during your marriage."

13. He agreed.

14. I also said, " It is one thing to read history in a book, it's quite another to hear it from someone who was actually there."

15. He laughed. "Yep."

16. "to have and behold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part..."

17. Today's society rarely gets a glimpse at a couple, like the one I saw last night.

18. It is almost unheard of.

19. I was honored

20. To see love, up close.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO RAYMOND AND VIVIAN

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