I Don't Really Want To Go There....

   Wow, this may be a tough day, or week, or whatever time, when a word from Psalm 2 becomes my focal word for this time. This word is "wrath" and it surely does not denote a happy time or circumstance.

   So why does that term stick out among all the others in that Psalm and the other readings of this morning?

   Wrath is a bad word. In my mind I see it as extreme anger or displeasure, and its consequences are not pleasant to look on. It sounds like a word used by Jonathan Edwards, one that he might use in his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God", and well he might have, I can't remember.

   But I remember it in a phrase used by our pastor in his message yesterday. He used the term "passive wrath of God", a phrase that I had not encountered before. He defined that as God letting us do our own thing and suffering the consequences.

   Thinking about this term leads to a self examination of my life. Is the emphasis on what I have done, or what I plan to do, or any of the other "I" projects that are in my pipeline, or is it on what God wants of me? Do I even know the difference?

   The only way to be right in all of this is to spend some time in God's presence and seeking His will for my life. Not asking Him to bless "my plans", but asking for His guidance in determining His plans for this day, or week, or whatever.

   I don't want Him to just leave me to my own devices and take the consequences. I'd rather skip all of that and get it right the first time.

   Wrath is not a pretty word, either active or passive, and I prefer to not go there.

Surprises, Blessings and Donuts

   It is scary sometimes, how the mind puts things together. Take this example, that actually came to me yesterday, but continues to be on my mind this morning as I read this portion of the Psalm passage for today:

   "Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!" (Psalm 144:15)

   The other day, while Mayre Lou and I were running an errand with Lucy, our second grader, in Blacksburg, we decided to stop in the local donut shop to pick up some treats for breakfast the next morning. It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the shop was almost ready to close for the day. After selecting several different kinds, to please the various tastes of the household, we purchased enough to make a dozen, and the boy behind the counter said "That will be $6". At that point I realized that I only had $2 and wondered out loud what I should do. The boy said "That will be OK, you can have them for $2 and we'll call it even". Surprise and blessing number one.

   We decided, on the way back home, that we should hide the donuts and let Lucy surprise the family with them the next morning, when we would already be on the road back to St. Simons. Of course, it was easy to hide them from the other two kids, but the parents found out, and we told our story of the bargain. The next morning Lucy brought out the treats, surprising Drew and Caroline, making the breakfast special for that whole household. Surprise and blessing number two.

   I can imagine the look on the face of the sales clerk in the donut shop, when, that same day, Doug stopped in and gave him $4 to pay the remaining cost of the sugary treats. Surprise and blessing number three.

   A surprise and blessing for Mayre Lou and I that we got a bargain.

   A surprise and blessing for the family that got to eat that same bargain.

   A surprise and blessing for the sales clerk as he was given money that he was not expecting.

   God surprises me with undeserved things in my life each day. Maybe I should not be surprised, but I know I am blessed.

   Besides, we "borrowed" two donuts from the box and had them in the car on the way home. Not a surprise, but definitely a tasty blessing.

 

 

Help Me to Notice and to Care

   Yesterday we drove home from Virginia after a few days with the family up there. As is our custom on a lot of long trips, we rented a book on tape from Cracker Barrel to make the trip go a little faster. It was a pretty long book, and, in fact, we did not get through it before we got home. This book was a story of justice, and our question, when we had to turn it off, was "would justice be served?"

   Would justice be served or would evil triumph in the end of the story? I'll have to hear the rest of the book to find out the answer to that question, at least in the plot of the author, but I think I know the answer in the real world.

   I am reminded of the certainty of God's justice in the Psalm that was mine to read this morning. From Psalm 140:

   "I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy."

   God is a just God and He will work it all out in the end, even when we do not see it happen in front of our eyes. Ultimate justice is His. Not the author of some book, but His.

   Is there something in the whole justice thing that becomes part of my responsibility also. Not ultimate justice, but a need for me to do something?

   Bill and Gloria Gaither have written a song that contains these words:

   "Where a child is hungry, where men have no homes. 
Where the powerless are yearning to breathe free.

    May we fight for justice, till there's justice for all, 

    and become what God meant us to be."

   If God points out injustice that is possible for me to help right, then it is up to me to act in some way. First of all I have to have eyes to see and ears to hear that injustice crying out. Then, realizing that it is God that is doing the pointing, I look to Him for my part in this story.

   God help me to see, and care.

Presents or Presence?

   As I sit here this morning, after reading the Psalm portion for today, the thought comes to me that there is a correlation between what my 3 grand kids here in VA look to me for, and what God must desire from me in these early morning times.

   The most prevalent questions that I get from these little ones each time we get to be around each other are:

   Papa can we....?

   Papa will you....?

   Then it strikes me. They do not want me to go out and buy them some present at the store, or go out some place where they can experience a new thing. They just want me to give them some attention. They just want me to spend some time with them.

   And, of course, it is not hard for me to oblige them in that. I love them and want to be around them as they share their lives with me.

   Is that not also true with God? If I come to Him in these moments before everyone else gets up, not looking for presents, but just His presence, is that not what He desires as well?

   God has blessed me far and above all that I could ever imagine, but what I look for in these times is just His presence, to know He cares for and loves me. That may be selfish on my part, but I truly believe that it is what God desires also, my acknowledgment of Him and my love.

   So, what will my answers be to the two questions above, when those 3 get up this morning?

  Papa?

   You bet!

   What do you want to do?

How Quick I Forget, Then Proceed on My Own

   In the Psalm reading from Psalm 106 this morning:

   "But they soon forgot his works;
they did not wait for his counsel."

   How fast I am to forget and how fast to rush on to my own decisions. I can sit here all day, reading about the way the Israelites were blessed by God's mighty hand, and how they immediately forgot all of this, complaining and murmuring, and then do the very same thing. Maybe this is why all the Old Testament history is there for me to read.

   I can acknowledge His blessings with real gratitude. I can read what He tells me when He says for me to wait on the Lord, and then go out and do something that seems right to me.

   It is hard to wait sometimes. It is much easier to ask God to bless what I do and then go out and do it, hoping that it is the right thing. The harder thing is to put the request out there for guidance and then listen. The answer might be yes or no or wait, but I need to listen for it.

   Is the reason that I do not wait that I don't trust my heart in listening? Or maybe I don't want to hear the "wrong" answer? Or maybe I don't listen, except for the one answer that seems right to me?

   Regardless of how I catalog my shortcomings in this area, they are there, and the admonition is to remember who it is that cares about me, and be willing to wait, expecting an answer that will be right for me and that will come in God's time frame, whenever that is and however long it may take.

   Wanting to go my way in my time is my strong suit, not all this listening and waiting.

   Help!

Anticipation

   I have often written before about not overlooking the day I am in, instead looking with anticipation to the next days on the calendar. I try not to do that too much, but when I think about going to see any of my grand kids, the days leading up to that appear small indeed.

   We don't get to see any of them enough, and the older we get, the more difficult it is to travel long distances and live out of a suitcase. Seeing our kids, now mothers and fathers and getting middle-aged, is great and we enjoy those times a lot, but the ones growing up so fast without us near, those are the ones that tug on your heart.

   So, tomorrow we go to VA for a couple of days. We had Drew down here for a week or so, back in July, but did not get to see his sisters at all. Summers seem so short and so busy for all of them, that there is just not that much time to squeeze in a week with everyone of them. We just do it as we can, and, before their school begins at the end of next week, we'll get a couple of days to play. Some one-on-one time with each can fill our tanks for another period without pre-teens around.

   With one grand son away at college, a grand daughter a junior in high school, an eleven year old in Arkansas with his sister of seven, and those three in VA, eleven, nine and seven, we'll turn around one day soon, and all will be adults.

   So, I break my own rule and anticipate anyway. We all have to have some things to look forward to in our lives, and it is a long time till Christmas.

   Hit the road.

What Am I Hungry For?

   I woke up this morning with a song running through my mind, or at least a part of a song, so I looked it up on the internet and found the lyrics and music. It is here: (Note: Skip the ad on the video, I could not figure out how to get it off)

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1u-U-JIlW4&feature=related

   And the lyrics contain these words in the chorus:

             You are the one that we praise
             You are the one we adore
             You give the healing and grace
             Our hearts always hunger for
             Oh, our hearts always hunger for

   Then I read in Psalms 107:

   "He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.

 And there he lets the hungry dwell,"

   So, the question surfaces in my mind and heart, "What am I hungry for?" What  causes me to wake up in the morning and get going?

   It is true that sometimes my life seems like a desert or a parched land, devoid of much meaning and life, but God reminds me that He can turn that barren landscape into springs of water, water that gives life, His life.

   More words from the song becomes a part of my prayer for this time:

             Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
             Spirit we long to embrace
             You offer hope when our hearts have
             Hopelessly lost the way
             Oh, we hopelessly lost the way

   Only God can satisfy this hunger in my soul, and for this I give Him this morning time. The words that I wrote down as I began this morning, my answers to the hunger question for me were:

   Friendship, fellowship, guidance, purpose and You

   He was here this morning, and for that I am glad.