When God calls me His friend, He does me honor. He is showing me that He recognizes and cherishes my efforts in His name. What a great encouragement it is to know that He values what I do for Him!
With this in mind, I would like to try to imitate His graciousness to recognize the gifts I've been given by my own friends. I'll not name names, but I'm sure you will know who you are! I'm telling you how very much I appreciate you!
I have a friend, whom I happened to overhear when they didn't know I was listening. This person was speaking out against the cruelty shown to me by others. This person's fierce protectiveness is something I choose to have at my back always! Thank you, my friend!
I have another friend who saw creativity in me when I was totally convinced there was none to be found! Gentle, very insistent suggestions have opened up to me a godly outlet for my deepest yearnings which have developed into a concrete expression of the profound. What a genius of a friend!
Another friend, when I added nothing but heaps of trouble to their day, responded with nothing but concern for my welfare, told with hugs and questions after my health. This person, already highly stressed, gave no thought to their own state of mind. Strength and blessings from God, to you, my friend!
I have friends whose generosity overflows into provision for my physical needs. Do you know that you are the very heart of God touching my heart? I pray to do as well, for you are teaching me how to give!
Especially precious to me are those who see my vulnerabilities as opportunities to minister to me, not as openings where they can take advantage for themselves. These angels of God's mercy overlook my faults to see, instead, what it is that God values, so as to nourish and encourage it!
The most valuable trait of all my friends, witnessed by the fact that they are still my friends, is the gift of loving me while keeping me humble! How do they accomplish this amazing feat? With their wonderful, marvelous sense of humor! They see me, they know me, and astonishingly, still include me in their circle! I am different and cherished for it, odd, and it's of value! I will always seek to do the same for you!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
There You Go (Barnabas Back in Action)
"There you go" is an affirmative phrase, an acknowledgement of a right attitude or action, and is offered as a verbal support. There is great spiritual power of encouragement when this recognition is rendered. Simply expressing to someone how obvious it is that the Lord is using them can give them the strength to keep on going.
If it is possible to shore up another's courage, just what could we be looking for, as examples of these behaviors, so as to reinforce excellent character? Perhaps a most basic type of laudable action is to, into the face of all the blandishments of evil, just continue to believe. Actions come from what is believed. Another personal choice needing support, is that person who is always there ( and on time, too!) Predictability may not be exciting, but it is courageous. The next, a good deed kept secret from it's recipient, is the giver eshewing their deserved credit. The rest of the world may not see the sense of what the giver has done. An irrepressibly cheerful person who sees the blessing hand of God in every circumstance and every created thing is someone who is essential to healthy faith. Let them know positive is apprecitated! An act which is very unselfish, and makes for a (cough, cough) valiant individual, is the will to wait to judge (and sentence), to suspend procedure and just listen to a miscreant. It's difficult to hold up the instinct for self preservation! It takes a special person indeed to give love where it is not deserved. This visionary gives out Christ so that the lost might grasp ahold of Christ in the depths of their soul!
There is one more who is most needful of all, of that little turn of phrase or action that encourages. One who seeks to always be an encourager might be showing little regard for their own state of mind. It might be costing them dearly in ways we cannot see. Maybe this barnabas is at a low ebb of energy and could use empowerment by receiving the same gift he gives so freely to others!
If it is possible to shore up another's courage, just what could we be looking for, as examples of these behaviors, so as to reinforce excellent character? Perhaps a most basic type of laudable action is to, into the face of all the blandishments of evil, just continue to believe. Actions come from what is believed. Another personal choice needing support, is that person who is always there ( and on time, too!) Predictability may not be exciting, but it is courageous. The next, a good deed kept secret from it's recipient, is the giver eshewing their deserved credit. The rest of the world may not see the sense of what the giver has done. An irrepressibly cheerful person who sees the blessing hand of God in every circumstance and every created thing is someone who is essential to healthy faith. Let them know positive is apprecitated! An act which is very unselfish, and makes for a (cough, cough) valiant individual, is the will to wait to judge (and sentence), to suspend procedure and just listen to a miscreant. It's difficult to hold up the instinct for self preservation! It takes a special person indeed to give love where it is not deserved. This visionary gives out Christ so that the lost might grasp ahold of Christ in the depths of their soul!
There is one more who is most needful of all, of that little turn of phrase or action that encourages. One who seeks to always be an encourager might be showing little regard for their own state of mind. It might be costing them dearly in ways we cannot see. Maybe this barnabas is at a low ebb of energy and could use empowerment by receiving the same gift he gives so freely to others!
Castles of Air
Little giggles brighten the air like sparkles of sunlight shining on my ear.
Inside a castle made of air, bodies are hurtled with abandon here.
I stare as I drive by at the happy children playing in the yard.
Do they know how little is between them, and the uncaring ground, to be their guard?
How like small children we all are to live on our assumptions,
Blithely pressing on to implement the full force of our presumption.
The ideas that we cherish, do they serve us or do they serve Him?
Do they rest on true security or on a fickle, selfish whim?
Is it just a personal fantasy, this castle of character we build?
In contention with others, what class of concepts do we wield?
With futile opposition we seek to defend our fairy tale,
thinking that we're secure, surrounded by our castle made of air.......
Inside a castle made of air, bodies are hurtled with abandon here.
I stare as I drive by at the happy children playing in the yard.
Do they know how little is between them, and the uncaring ground, to be their guard?
How like small children we all are to live on our assumptions,
Blithely pressing on to implement the full force of our presumption.
The ideas that we cherish, do they serve us or do they serve Him?
Do they rest on true security or on a fickle, selfish whim?
Is it just a personal fantasy, this castle of character we build?
In contention with others, what class of concepts do we wield?
With futile opposition we seek to defend our fairy tale,
thinking that we're secure, surrounded by our castle made of air.......
Soaring Hearts
I've always wondered why the word "hope" is used to represent our inheritance in God's promises. The word appears too fragile and tenuous to support the full concept of who our faith is placed in. I just doesn't seem to express the certainty of fulfillment embodied in God's character. I guess that is just the attitude of someone who has seen Him in action for a while. Or, perchance, it could mean I am still lacking in a mature understanding of Him "through whom we live and move, and and have our being."
At first hearing, hope is the news that there is more to life than what we have around us and what we see with our eyes. It is the shock of the light in the darkness of our world, that lifts up our startled head. Hope is the spark that lights up the raging flame of love within us. No more dogged, weary step on the "firm foundation of unyielding despair."
For those of us who have been at this business for seeming forever, who are still exposed to the wounding, exhausting world, hope changes it's face. The face (of Jesus) becomes more reliable, immovable, and is the face of our now expectation. Since our hope is in Him, it becomes about a God who brings good from evil itself. He rewrites the script of our lives to "write straight with crooked lines." The reality of things that have happened is turned inside out. Pain becomes beauty, and suffering becomes an expression of ultimate love. Hope is actualized victory, no matter the cost, and notwithstanding all the circumstances. We know He is greater than all this. Hope shocks us anew because it is always fresh, always astonishing in it's extravagance of joyful, heartfelt response.
How could something so precious and wonderful be so durable, being as it is, born out of the midst of despair, and flowering, as it does, in the experiencing of adversity? The paradox of His power is revealed! These defining moments are exposing, not who we are or what life is, but more of who God is. Because of who we trust, we are invincible in our weakness, and richly blessed in our need. While we still struggle here, our heart has been freed to soar on twin wings of hope and joy!
At first hearing, hope is the news that there is more to life than what we have around us and what we see with our eyes. It is the shock of the light in the darkness of our world, that lifts up our startled head. Hope is the spark that lights up the raging flame of love within us. No more dogged, weary step on the "firm foundation of unyielding despair."
For those of us who have been at this business for seeming forever, who are still exposed to the wounding, exhausting world, hope changes it's face. The face (of Jesus) becomes more reliable, immovable, and is the face of our now expectation. Since our hope is in Him, it becomes about a God who brings good from evil itself. He rewrites the script of our lives to "write straight with crooked lines." The reality of things that have happened is turned inside out. Pain becomes beauty, and suffering becomes an expression of ultimate love. Hope is actualized victory, no matter the cost, and notwithstanding all the circumstances. We know He is greater than all this. Hope shocks us anew because it is always fresh, always astonishing in it's extravagance of joyful, heartfelt response.
How could something so precious and wonderful be so durable, being as it is, born out of the midst of despair, and flowering, as it does, in the experiencing of adversity? The paradox of His power is revealed! These defining moments are exposing, not who we are or what life is, but more of who God is. Because of who we trust, we are invincible in our weakness, and richly blessed in our need. While we still struggle here, our heart has been freed to soar on twin wings of hope and joy!
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