March 18, 2014

We Are Perennials, Post #20

After Easter last year, I drove by the 300+-year-old church cemetery near my home and noticed a pile of about 20 or so Easter lilies, all sadly discarded, unloved, awaiting their trashly demise.

I wheeled in, pulled over, spread out my yoga mat in my trunk and placed every one of those plants in my trunk. You see, an Easter lily is a perennial. It will come back to life each year and bloom. So many people, so many churches, throw them away after Easter, thinking their purpose is done.  I hauled them all home,  gave some of them to neighbors who wanted to reuse/replant them. Mom and I planted the rest in my yard and some at the end of my street. It thrills my soul to now see them popping up from the ground, almost a year later. They are destined to bloom again.

Do you ever feel like a discarded Easter lily? I do. God looks at us as perennials. We may have our personal wilting, decaying periods, but He sees our potential. He knows when we are tended and nurtured, we will grow and bloom again and again.

Last year I learned yet another sweet lesson from my precious Mom, the horticulturist. She came over to my home to help plant some caladium bulbs, which we both love in our yards. She brought eight bags of bulbs, a total of 64 bulbs to plant. One by one, we dug a hole, scooped the soil in, planted the bulb, fertilized, and watered. We planted them all around my big oak tree in the front yard, then the rest along the front flower bed.

When we finished,  she did something I had not remembered her doing before. She offered to pray for them, for the newly planted caladium bulbs. As we both stood in the front yard, sweaty, knees covered with dirt from kneeling, she offered a prayer that I can still hear:

“Dear Lord, they’re in the ground now. Please help these bulbs grow well and thrive so that Danya and her neighbors can enjoy Your beauty. Thank You for creating even these bulbs that remind us of You. Thank you, Lord. We love You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

 I had a lump in my throat as we picked up our yard tools and cleaned ourselves off inside the garage. I had no doubt those bulbs would come up, their elephant-ear faces smiling toward heaven.  They grew and flourished,  every single one.

Have you ever prayed over seeds, bulbs you’ve planted? Do you, do we pray before any endeavor?

Similarly, how do we plant seeds/bulbs of encouragement? I encourage you to start today. It could be smiling at the grocery store cashier, looking her in the eye and asking how she’s doing. It could be to pull your neighbor’s emptied trash receptacle to the side of the house, so that he/she doesn’t have to do it when he comes home from work. It could be inviting your neighbor or coworker to church or Bible study.

We are blessed with endless possibilities of ways to plant seeds of encouragement in people around us. Remember, the Holy Spirit germinates those seeds in His timing.  Remember, each of us is a perennial.  

Reflect:

–Am I acting like an annual or a perennial?

–What (or whom) have you discarded, not realizing its potential?

–How can I plant seeds or bulbs of encouragement ?

Renew:

–“Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.”  –1 Corinthians 3:5-7 NIV 1984

Recharge:

–Consider praying before every endeavor. Please comment.

March 11, 2014

Springing Forward–>Divine Pruning, Post #19

Welcome to the 2014 first full week of Lent and Daylight Savings Time. Although it’s not officially springtime yet, the warm sunshine on my face this past weekend caused spring fever to rise within me.

All around my yard this weekend I noticed how much all my dead-looking plants and bushes need pruning back, so that they sprout back out and flourish.  It reminds me of what God is doing in me, in us, as we prepare our hearts and minds for Easter.

Divine pruning sure is a hard concept to grasp. I do liken it to the annual pruning back of the crepe myrtles, roses, and lantana in my yard. After the hardest freeze of the winter, all the dead growth is cut off, so the bushes or trees are almost level to the ground, ugly and barren. By waiting just a few months, they completely bud back out and blossom, many times even more beautiful and healthier than before.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…” (John 15:1-2 NIV 1984)

 So often we don’t understand why God divinely prunes us down to our raw, barren nakedness. These times are the toughest on us. Many of us normal people, and even some of the most Godly, inspiring people in my lives, have at one point or another been stripped of everything except our faith.  By trusting in God, He knows we will bud back out and blossom, even more beautifully and more healthy than before.

God also has to divinely prune us to bear more of His Fruit of the Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit IS love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV 1984).

Notice the verb “is” instead of “are” after the word “Spirit.” That means that all nine fruit are one, not separate. We strive through the Holy Spirit for all nine. What a high calling, impossible to do on our own without Him.

I am my mother’s daughter. We share a deep love for flowers and plants. Growing up, our yard was always immaculately landscaped. Mom even planted a rose garden in our backyard, which expanded until we had more than 100 lovely roses, taking up more than half the yard.

So vividly I remember a wrought iron placard she had staked at the entrance trellis of the rose garden. It was a quote by Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858-1932), English devotional writer and poet:

“The kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of the birds for mirth, one is nearer God’s Heart in a garden, than anywhere else on earth.”

Mom’s rose garden was a small paradise, although I didn’t realize it at the time.

One of my chores growing up was to “deadhead” the roses after school. I didn’t realize what a gift it was to inhale the fragrance and witness the beauty, without getting pricked by thorns, as I carefully clipped the dead roses and left the blooming roses. By me pruning off the dead growth, I was allowing space and freedom for the rose to bloom again, bigger and better than even before. What a sweet analogy for our faith.

In each room in my home growing up was a daily bouquet of freshly cut roses. I didn’t realize that all houses didn’t have this blessing. One of Mom’s ministries was to take roses to our church’s members who were hospitalized or home-bound. I know people were blessed by this outreach.

Mom depended on my chore of  “deadheading” the roses for them to grow, bloom and bless others. I know I took this gift of fresh roses, this ministry for granted. Such valuable life lessons were taught in that garden.

May our souls continue to rise with spring fever as we divinely prune within.

Elisabeth Elliot, in her classic book Passion and Purity, so beautifully and poignantly writes,

“There is no ongoing spiritual life without this process of letting go. At the precise point where we refuse, growth stops. If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unwilling to allow it to be used as the giver means it to be used, we stunt the growth of the soul…” p. 163.

Reflect:

–To what are you holding on too tightly?

–What or whom in your life is stunting your growth and needs divinely pruning?

Renew:

–“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43 NIV 1984)

—“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”(John 15:16-17 NIV 1984)

Recharge:

—-What is your plan to divinely prune those people/items out of your life?

— How will you bear fruit this week?

Resource:

Elliot, Elisabeth.   1984. Passion and Purity.  Grand Rapids: Revell.

March 4, 2014

Making Excuses: The Moses Diagnosis, Post #18

One of my supervisors years ago told our non-profit organization’s staff meeting that when we met adversity, we shouldn’t make excuses, that we should instead accept responsibility. Even after Sept. 11, 2001, when the world was in an uproar and the economy was in limbo, we tried not to make excuses. We worked hard to meet our fundraising goals in an adverse climate.

I have remembered that sage advice ever since and thought more about its practical application. In essence, make solutions, not excuses.  It’s not easy to do, though. I’ll give you an example.

Moses is one of my favorite people in the Bible. He was prophet, lawgiver, and dynamic, influential leader.  He was tending sheep with his father-in-law Jethro  when he looked over and saw this ususual flaming bush that would not burn up.

“When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.”  (Exodus 3:4 NIV 1984) Wouldn’t you?

So God talks with Moses and tells him to bring His people out of Egypt. What do you think Moses said after the dynamite,  pyrotechnic bush display in the sheep field?

Moses starts making excuses!  He asks God basically “why me?”  After God reassures Moses that He will be right there with him, Moses asks, “Who do I say sent me?”, another question of doubt and insecurity.

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14 NIV 1984).

By this time God probably assumes that Moses is feeling better about his assignment, so God gives him more training on exactly what to say to the Israelites. Nope, Moses isn’t done with his excuses. Moses’ doubting questions, like “What if they don’t believe me?” turn into plain excuses. Here comes my favorite.

“Moses said to the Lord, ‘O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.’

“The Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’

But Moses said, ‘O Lord, please send someone else to do it.’

“Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and He said, ‘What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well…I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.’” (Exodus 4:10-14a, 15b NIV 1984).

Whew. Moses actually had the audacity to tell God to send someone else.  He was the king of excuses. Now when I find myself making excuses for something, even without verbalizing it, I call it the “Moses Diagnosis,” and I try to shift toward making solutions.

Moses, of course,  did accept God’s assignments over and over, from leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt to the plains of Moab, across from Canaan; to delivering the 10 Commandments to the people from Mount Sinai; to raising the resources–too many resources– for the Tabernacle.  He was used powerfully by God throughout the Bible as one of the greatest prophets and leaders.

He was close friends with God, which is so sweet. “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” (Exodus 33:11a NIV 1984).

And toward the end of Moses’ life, it was said of him, “And so Moses finished the work.” (Exodus 40:33b NIV 1984).

Wow. I so want that—both for the Lord to speak with me as a friend AND for me to finish the work, the assignment laid out for me. What about you?  May it be so in us that we accept and complete our God-given assignments with integrity.

God can use any of us to do His work, even with our insecurities. God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.

Let’s work hard to make solutions, not excuses.

Reflect:

–For what are you making excuses in your life?

–Are you thinking someone else will do the assignment that is given only for you to accomplish?

–Please comment below on what you are thinking/feeling after reading this post on “Making Excuses: The Moses Diagnosis.”

Renew:

–“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.” (Prayer of Moses, Psalm 90:17 NIV 1984).

–“After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he [Jesus] was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.” (Matthew 17:1-3 NIV 1984).

Recharge:

—-Please work hard to Make Solutions, Not Excuses.

–If you aren’t part of a Christ-centered church, I encourage you to go on Sunday.

–Please open your Bible and feel encouragement from it daily.

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