As the first buds began to form on the trees here in Idaho, it’s time to start thinking about working on my garden. You gardeners out there know the routine—bringing in compost, roto-tilling, getting the seedlings started, getting the watering system up and running, putting in new plots – it’s a lot of work to get ready.

As I was thinking about all I had to do I remembered something I learned years ago at our last home. We always had a big garden but we never grew melons because we lived in a foggy area that did not have a lot of sunny days. One year I planted a Crane melon plant in a small area of my garden. That particular melon was developed specifically for my county and it produced three delicious, sweet melons.  So I decided the next year to year to expand and put in a whole melon patch.  That meant I had to tear down the fence around part of my garden and add a new ten-foot by twenty-foot plot.  The place I chose had been a pasture for years.  I used it mostly to let my sheep graze, an unused area full of tall grass and weeds that I occasionally mowed down so the sheep would eat.

In order to prepare the ground, I had to weed-eat 200 square feet of tall grass down to the roots, and then get out the rototiller and turn it over. The roots of the grass were deep and intertwined and the soil packed down and it was real work, as my aching legs and back attested when I finished. After I tilled it twice, I raked out all the leaves, and clumps of grass roots that had been torn loose and turned over.  As I uncovered the plot, I realized that it was dark, rich, fertile soil; perfect for my melons and whatever else I wanted to plant there.  There it was, a goldmine of nutrients that had been just sitting fallow for eleven years!

As I worked the soil, I began to think about the condition of my own “garden”, and then I heard that still, small voice speaking to my spirit.  “Is there any area in your life that has lain dormant?  Let me break up the fallow ground of your heart, so that you might bear fruit, thirty, sixty, one hundred fold.”

Do you have fallow areas in your life that need plowing up so they can be made available to the planting of the Holy Spirit? I sure do.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12

Judy and I worked in our garden a lot last fall, cleaning out the finished plants, burning piles, adding amendments and turning the soil over. We collected all our grass and leaves over the summer and laid them down as mulch on the beds to keep weeds down and get the garden ready for spring. Now the beds are all tucked away waiting for those first warm days to stir the life in the soil. It got me to thinking

Fall is the time in Idaho when the agricultural community slows down and the fields all over the valley are waiting for spring. By the time the first snow falls we will be spending a lot of time indoors by a warm fire, doing catch-up work around the house and generally just waiting for spring to come. Sometimes we get anxious for winter to be over so we can move on to the activity of spring and summer. But I say, wait.

Fall and a winter are a great parallel to seasons in our lives. There are times when the Lord speaks to our hearts and sets us out on great adventures. We fill our hours and days with activity and doing. Then sometimes He has us wait and the waiting time is just as valuable as the “doing” time. It is during the waiting time that the Lord refreshes and renews our lives. As we sit with his word, wondering, “What’s next, Lord?” we find new strength and wisdom at his feet. Mary discovered that secret long before Martha did.

So my counsel is this: don’t let this winter be a time where the limitations of inactivity make you anxious or unsure. The Lord always has something new for us, and it often takes a season of waiting to give us the strength to go on. So rest in this time and know that He’s got something for you just around the corner. And when it happens, you will run and not be weary, you will walk and not faint, and you will mount up on eagle’s wings.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 KJV

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” Isaiah 43:18-19.

January is the time of new beginnings. Most of us look at the New Year as though it is a clean slate, la table rasa, upon which will be written all the glorious things that might happen or could happen as the year unfolds.

We are determined that everything will be different and we declare strong-minded resolutions: we will not make the same mistakes again; we are leaving our failures and unfinished business behind; we are starting completely over.

Here’s the truth about that: in this world we have no guarantees that this brand new beginning will work out any better than the last one. Every New Year begins in the ashes of the old and many are the dreams and hopes that lie scattered behind us in those ashes. And despite our best laid plans the broken fragments of our dreams stick to us like glue.

Can you see the dilemma we face? The new beginnings we hope for do not start with nothing, for in truth everything from the past is carried forward. Even a book does not start with a blank page, for when the writer begins, they have been crowded to the work by a story that has been germinating in their heart. That story may spring to life on the page, but it was born long before in an idea, a thought, or an experience. So it is with “new beginnings.”

But there is hope.

That’s because the “Author” of the book that is our life wrote it long before we were even born. Because He lives outside of time, he knows the end from the beginning. He was there when we were born and He will be there when we die. And seeing the dilemma that wrong choices and sin make in our lives He offers us a way out of the endless cycle of disappointment our lives can become.

In eternity, where He lives, there is a real new beginning that we can count on. And in His love and mercy towards us, he offers it to us. That new beginning is the change that takes place in us when we say, “Yes” to His Son.

The Apostle Paul says we become a “New Man.” In the Greek language the words are kainos anthropos. Kainos means “new” but not only in the sense of having just been created, but also meaning “new” as in never before heard of, a completely different kind of human being. That is the new beginning that God offers us, a chance to be what humans were always meant to be: perfect, unspoiled, eternal beings crowned with glory and honor and living forever with him in a beautiful garden.

So let’s make a resolution for this coming year. Let’s look “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,” and resolve that our lives will not be submerged in a world that can only bring disappointment, but we will live for the one who has guaranteed us a seat by His side in heavenly places forever.

And if we do not know Him as Savior, let’s make sure we resolve to change that. Then we will find the new beginning we have always hoped for.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. II Corinthians 5:17

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. Revelation 21:21 KJV

A friend of mine who was a missionary once told me an interesting story. When he was in South Africa he visited a gold mine. There he was able to watch the process by which the miners extracted the gold from the ore that was dug from the earth.

First they crushed the gold-bearing rock into manageable chunks. Then they put it into a huge caldron where they began to heat it. When the ore melted, the impurities floated to the top and they were scooped off. Then the operator turned up the heat and more impurities floated to the top—again to be scooped off. This occurred over and over until the process of purification was completed.

Once the operator was finished my friend asked him how pure the gold was. The answer: “99.9% pure.” Steve asked another question. Is that the purest it can get?” The operator answered, “Yes. 99.9% pure is the purest gold we can ever get in this world.”

My friend asked one last question. “If it was 100% pure what would it look like?” “Oh,” the man said, “it wouldn’t be yellow anymore. The yellow color is the impurities that are left in the gold. No, 100% pure gold would be perfectly clear, like glass.”

There are two things that come to mind here. First of all, when we look at gold in this present life, it is the wonderful, gleaming yellow color that captures us. That’s why we call it “Gold”. It’s that lustrous golden color that has caused men throughout history to do anything to possess it. If we stumbled upon a trove of gold that was clear like glass we would probably pass it by even if it were right before us. And doesn’t that reveal us for what we are—natural born sinners who are drawn to the impurities of this life while we often walk right by those things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, or of a good report?

The second thing that comes to mind is our future. When this life is over and we stand before the Lord, He will finish the refining process, the fiery trials as it were, that he began on the day we said yes to him. And when He finishes, all the impurities will be gone and we will stand transparent before him, as transparent as the golden streets of heaven, purest gold and clear like glass.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 KJV

If all winter days
and all memories of winter days
could be shaped into one day of your life…

would the sun be shining on frozen glass
and go slipping away on heels of leather
down, down to the schoolyard gate…

or would the crunch of your boots make the only sound
on a dark evening
muffled by falling snow
(can anyone remember the quiet of such a night?)

The road winds away through the powdered elm trees
branches lifted like lonely arms…

and then a glow in a window ahead
to light your way
home…

In Him was life and the life was the light of men
The light shined in the darkness
and the darkness comprehended it not.. John 1:5-6

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Judy and I worked in our garden a lot last fall, cleaning out the finished plants, burning piles, adding amendments and turning the soil over. We collected all our grass and leaves over the summer and laid them down as mulch on the beds to keep weeds down and get the garden ready for spring. Now the beds are all tucked away waiting for those first warm days to stir the life in the soil. It got me to thinking

Fall is the time in Idaho when the agricultural community slows down and the fields all over the valley are waiting for spring. By the time the first snow falls we will be spending a lot of time indoors by a warm fire, doing catch-up work around the house and generally just waiting for spring to come. Sometimes we get anxious to get the winter season over and get on to the activity of spring and summer. But I say, wait.

Fall and a winter are a great parallel to seasons in our lives. There are times when the Lord speaks to our hearts and sets us out on great adventures. Our hours are filled with activity and doing. Then sometimes He has us wait and the waiting time is just as valuable as the “doing” time. It is during the waiting time that the Lord refreshes and renews our lives. As we sit with his word, wondering, “What’s next, Lord?” we find new strength and wisdom just sitting at his feet. Mary discovered that secret long before Martha did.

So my counsel is this: don’t let this fall and winter season be a time where the limitations of inactivity make you anxious or unsure. The Lord always has something new for us, and it often takes a season of waiting to give us the strength to go on. So rest in this time and know that He’s got something for you just around the corner. And when it happens, you will run and not be weary, you will walk and not faint, and you mount up on eagle’s wings.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 KJV

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ left his eternal abode in heaven and became a man, being born of the Virgin Mary when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her.  We all know the Christmas story.  We know that Christ came as Savior and King, but have you ever thought about the purpose behind His coming?   You see, God the Father had a reason for sending His Son into the world.  We read John 3:16 and we see that “God so loved the world…” and that’s a good thing.  But what did the Father really accomplish by sending His Son?

First, He fulfilled the goal of earth’s history – that fallen man, separated from God on a planet that had fallen under a horrible curse, would be restored to relationship with God and the earth would be remade – restored to its Edenic state, which man will administer as God’s representative ruler.  All this summed up in the perfect Man, Christ Jesus, the Messiah, ruling over the earth as King of the redeemed nation of Israel;

and second, God regained full dominion over the heavenly realm and placed an elect group of formerly fallen, now redeemed men as rulers over that realm, with the heavenly man, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the glorified Head, and His church placed in Him and seated with Him as His body – administering the heavenly places.

In fulfilling His divine purpose, God cast down a usurper named Lucifer who had stolen control of these two realms when he made himself Prince of the Power of the Air and the God of this world.  He then created a hopeless, helpless, useless, faithless, creature called man to rule in Lucifer’s place.  When that first man, Adam, failed the assignment, God knew that He could only trust Himself to carry out His eternal purpose, so He became a man, not dead in sin as Adam had become, but born alive by the Holy Spirit, and filled with the power to do everything His purpose required.  And as we watch history unfold, we will see the final outcome – Christ the King reigning over the earth in the millennial Kingdom, and Christ the Lord reigning over the heavenlies forever.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.  John 1:14

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The ancient Hebrews had a very structured set of rules by which they performed their worship in the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon.  These rules were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai along with the Ten Commandments.  God was very strict about how the Levitical Priests came into His presence, because He was giving them a glimpse into the heavenly realm.  This is what the bible tells us about Moses’ meeting with God:

...there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;  who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”  Hebrews 8:4&5

What God was saying to Moses was, “The pattern I showed you on the mountain – for your earthly worship – is a duplicate of the pattern that happens in the heavenly throne room, when the citizens of heaven worship me.”  So the priests knew that if they followed the heavenly instructions they would align themselves with the heavenly realm, and in that way, actually experience the Divine presence.

The book of Psalms is a liturgy for Temple worship that the priests used every day.  One of the keys for coming into the sanctuary was exuberant praise and thanksgiving.  Psalm 100:4 told the priests, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving in your heart, come into His courts with praise.” This was not a suggestion, it was a commandment.  The priests never entered the temple unless they were thanking God with all their hearts for His many blessings. Why?

First, God had shown a way for humans to actually catch a glimpse of the peace and joy that existed in heaven, and to share that joy – like a down payment on the next life.  And second,  God knows that the best way for us to deal with our problems is to put our attention somewhere else.  And if I am being thankful to God for all the blessings in my life, instead of blaming Him for all the bad things, it’s amazing how the answers to every situation just seem to come, along with real peace.  The Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  Philipians 4:10

President Abraham Lincoln also understood the value of giving thanks when he declared a national day of thanksgiving for a nation wearied and troubled by the Civil War.  The nation needed something to get the country’s mind off the troubles of the war and focus attention on the good things in life.  It was such a great idea, every president since then has declared a national day of thanksgiving.

So this year, when you sit down to thanksgiving dinner, wherever you are – with your family or at the Gospel Mission – remember that giving thanks is the way we touch heaven, and that thanking Him for all our blessings opens a door for heaven to enter our mundane lives and bring a bit of God’s glory to bear on this earthly existence.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, come into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  Psalm 100:4

I was reading Joyce Sheldon’s book, “From Fear to Faith”. It’s a journal in poetry and prose about the years she spent as a caregiver to her dying husband. One of her poems reminded me of a song I wrote years ago, called “Carry Me.”

Like the wind, on the water
like the moonlight through the trees
Jesus come, to me softly
Carry me, carry me

Carry me to the Master
Hide me there in His Heart
Lift me up, to the Holy City
Where we’ll never be apart

For like the pillar
in the Temple
He’s the Rock on
which I stand
And I will never, ever leave Him
for He carries me, in His hand

He’ll be there when I need Him
He’ll be there when I’m alone
He’ll be there when my heart feels
Like a stone, like a stone

Like the wind, on the water
like the moonlight through the trees
Jesus come, to me softly
Carry me, carry me…

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38,39

Judy and I have worked in our garden a lot this spring, bringing in compost, roto-tillinng, getting the seedlings started, getting the watering system up and running – it’s a lot of work to get ready.  Last year we had one crane melon plant that produced three delicious, sweet melons.  So I decided this year to expand and put in a whole melon patch.  That meant I had to tear down the fence around part of my garden and add a new ten-foot by twenty-foot area.  The place I chose has been a pasture for years.  I use it mostly to let my sheep graze, an unused area full of tall grass and weeds that I occasionally mow down so the sheep will eat.

In order to prepare the ground, I had to weed-eat 200 square feet of tall grass down to the roots, and then get out the roto-tiller and turn it over.  This was real work, as my aching legs and back can attest.  After I tilled it once, I raked out all the leaves, and clumps of grass roots that had been torn loose and turned over.  As I uncovered the plot, I realized that it was dark, rich, fertile soil, perfect for my melons and whatever else I wanted to plant there.  There it was, a goldmine of nutrients that had been just sitting for eleven years!

As I worked the soil, I began to think about the condition of my own “garden”, and then I heard that still, small voice speaking to my spirit.  “Is there any area in your life that has lain dormant?  Let me break up the fallow ground of your heart, so that you might bear fruit, thirty, sixty, one hundred fold.”

Do you have areas that need plowing up so they can be made available to the planting of the Holy Spirit? I sure do.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.    Hosea 10:12