Jewels of Encouragement

Knowing the Path of the Wind

2013-05-16T00:02:00.000-05:00

first hint of my Solomon's Seal

Warmer weather brings on rapid and often severe changes in our gardens. That mass of clipped back growth quickly transforms into green sprouts, and after a day or two of sunshine and spring rains, those sprouts have formed into your favorite spring flower.

I love Solomon’s Seal, an understated perennial that brightens a small patch of my flower beds. They come up very early, pushing through last year’s rotting leaves with quiet strength. Not much to them, really, other than a rigid stem about 18 inches high, a handful of floppy, yet thick leaves and creamy, white flowers that look like drops of milk.

But these flowers represent something to me—the beginning of a new season, the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Sometimes I wonder what He’s doing with the seasons. Why can’t that hint of warmth stick around for more than three days? And how about those poor robins pecking for worms through a layer of sleety snow?

Sometimes I wonder what He’s doing in my flowerbeds. How exactly does one woman battle a swarm of Japanese beetles bent on mass plant destruction? And why won’t that pesky fungus melt away in the silent fashion it arrived?

Most times I wonder what He’s doing in my life. How can I maintain this pace, carry these responsibilities, bear this weight? And why are the solutions never quite clear enough to instill confidence in my weary soul?

Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Ecclesiastes 11:4-5

Every spring I watch for Solomon’s Seal. And thus far, every spring since I planted this perennial, it has made an appearance. But first I had to dig into the soil, plant the seed and work hard to nurture this flower as required.

God is working in my garden. God is working in my life. And despite the crazed unpredictability of it all, God is definitely working in the weather.

Instead of watching the wind and trying hard to understand its path, perhaps I should stretch my trust muscle. Instead of clocking away the hours looking at the clouds, maybe I should begin reaping.

Now about those Japanese beetles…

In the Garden Every Chance I Get,

Crazy . . . Breathtaking . . . Unstoppable. . . LOVE

2013-05-14T00:30:00.000-05:00

Do you know God loves you? Seriously, do you really know He loves YOU!

We talk a lot about the love of God but I wonder if we really comprehend His love for us. Can we grasp the incredible sacrifice He made for us? Do we understand that if we were the only person on this earth He would’ve died just for us?

In Philippians the author says that Christ “gave up His divine privileges; took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” (Philippians 2:7 NLT) Stop for a moment and think about this. What did He give up?

He gave up . . . Heaven

A place that no words can describe, no imagination can comprehend. It’s easy to think He left the Hilton for the Holiday Inn when in fact it was more like the slums of Dubai. Will we get to heaven and wonder how He ever could have done it?

He left that glorious place to be born a helpless baby; the God of the universe solely dependent on the ones whom He created.

He gave up . . . Time and Space

He chose to be confined to a physical body for the rest of eternity; to experience pain, heartache, hunger, sickness and sorrow. He was limited by time, no longer free to go wherever He wanted, whenever He wanted.

And as if that wasn’t enough, He took on Himself the sin of the whole world; all who had ever lived and all who were to come. He became the Abuser, the Gossiper, and the Hater.

Consider the weight of a single sin; the agony and sorrow it brings and multiply that by who knows how many?? It’s easy to believe He died of a broken heart.

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1116601

But His heart was broken for you! He did that all for you! Why? Because He loves you! He’s crazy about you!

May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how WIDE, how LONG, how HIGH and how DEEP His LOVE is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:18-20 NLT)

God died for you, my friend. Is there anything more He could do to prove His love for you? Bask in it. Revel in it. Be overwhelmed by it. And LIVE in the knowledge that you are His most precious possession.

Kristi's Blog

Broken

2013-05-12T00:02:00.000-05:00

As you read this, the events of April 15, when the Boston Marathon was bombed, happened almost a month ago. I’m writing it on April 18, and everything is still raw to me; the FBI has just released pictures of two suspects and the streets of Boston are still littered with fragments of glass and brick. Meanwhile, a small town in Texas is burning because of a huge industrial explosion. I’m having a hard time tearing myself away from the television screen, but it’s breaking my heart.

Most of you reading this don’t know me; I’m not a sunny person by nature. In fact, when I was first asked to participate in this group blog, I thought, You’re asking the wrong person, honey. ‘Encouragement’ is about as natural to me as peacock feathers sprouting from my forehead. And when my Facebook feed began to fill up on Monday with people thanking God that their own family members and friends in Boston were fine, and posting scriptures of hope when I felt hopeless, my mood got darker and darker. How could people be thankful, and hopeful, when the world is so clearly full of evil?

Like all of you, I’ve had some extraordinary sorrows in my life. And I am perhaps the weakest of Christians, because every time I begin to feel as if I’ve come to grips with my sadness, something like the Boston Marathon bombing happens, sending me back into grief and despair. This time, I reached out to two dear friends, hoping for some comfort. They are both pastors—one male, one female, one nearby, the other almost four thousand miles away. Both of them have been gifted with great wisdom, so the rest of my post, with their permission, will be in their words:

One of the things I think we sometimes forget is that all good things come from God and it's down to his grace and preservation that I made it through the night, wasn't killed on the motorway today, didn't just crumble to a heap of atoms. None of us deserves anything at the hands of God but judgment, and yet he gives us life, bears with us and blesses us…

I think it's also important to remember that what the Old Testament sees in very physical terms—blessings of health, victory, wealth—the New Testament tends to express more in the spiritual realities. Not that the human concerns of our lives are irrelevant—the incarnation shows us that and forever dignifies the human condition—but that the deepest realities of God's provision and protection are seen in more eternal, spiritual blessings…

And ultimately, of course, none of this has the slightest hope of making sense without the Cross. Here, at least, I find the God who enters into our suffering, the God who is an innocent victim of evil men, the God who identifies fully with our human condition. God is attentive to every moment of our lives, but I also think that the majority of what goes on is simple cause and effect. When and why he sometimes chooses to intervene is a mystery.

Those who suffer the untimely loss of a loved one, or other tragedy, are faced with a choice between, “I can’t believe in a God who would allow this,” or, “If I ever needed the Lord, it is now.” But I find it telling that those who choose the first usually still believe in the Lord—at least enough to be angry with Him.

All that said, I still struggle with worry, fear, and the problem of evil…However, by God’s grace, the more I can move away from the first reaction to evil into the second one, the more I am able rest in God.

The problem of evil is utterly insurmountable for those with the first reaction. For those who have moved almost completely into the second, I expect the problem of evil has ceased to be a challenge to faith, and has become a problem for believers to work against, as part of God’s calling on their lives.

So I do think God is involved in the details of life, but the answers to the ‘why’ questions are mostly hidden from us. Also, I think the answers to the ‘why’ questions become less important to us as we, through faith and by God’s grace, move toward “If I ever needed the Lord, it is now.”

¹⁹I remember my affliction and my wandering,

the bitterness and the gall.
²⁰I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
²¹Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

²²Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
²³They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:19-23