Month: February 2024

Say only what helps, each word a gift. Ephesians 4:29 The Message

The warm weather and the promise of spring makes me think of how much I always have enjoyed being around water. Growing up in our small town, we were fortunate to have Lake Seminole about eighteen miles from our childhood home. Our Daddy bought a boat during our growing up years mainly because our Mama loved water as well, and she loved to water ski! They named the boat after each of us girls, The San-di-kay.

During the summer months, Saturday and Sunday afternoons would find our family, our relatives, and lots of friends at the lake. Our Daddy was the “Captain” of the boat which meant he pulled skiiers all afternoon. It didn’t matter who you were, if you got in line on the dock, he’d drop off a couple of skiiers and pick up a couple more!

Our Mama spent countless hours in the water teaching all of us to ski. She’d float around with us while Daddy circled around with the ski rope. Her instructions were simple: Keep your skis together, lean forward, and let the boat pull you up! Most importantly, if you fall, drop the rope!! If you get up, stay behind the boat, don’t try to cross the wake! Before she was finished with us, every one of us was slaloming, skiing with her, and crossing the wake!

The wake is defined as the wave a boat generates as it moves through the water. It is also said that the wake is the path you leave as you move through the water. It’s fun to cross back and forth across the wake once you become an accomplished skiier, but it can be treacherous and daunting for a novice. Many a new skiier has tried and fallen.

A wake can also be applied to our life when we think of it as the path we leave as we move through life. The results can be positive or negative, but each of our throw out some kind of wake. If we are breathing, we leaving a wake. If you are a skiier, you know that when you look behind you, your ski has left a wake of its own. Behind the wake of a boat, people are either skiing and having a great time or they have fallen and are in need of help.

What is the wake we will leave behind us in this life? Think of the people we most enjoy spending time with and describe them. Are they grumpy? Are they bitter? Are they negative? Probably not. The people who leave a wake like Jesus would do are celebratory, passionate, kind, loving, caring, and compassionate.

In our daily life, we need to be conscious that our wake will affect everyone we meet. We will either leave them better off, worse off, or unaffected. Phillippians 2:3 reminds us that we should do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but, to the interests of others. In you relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Jesus.

Our wake will be affecting people long after we are gone. and we may never know what the wake will look like. Everybody that we come across daily is fighting a battle of some kind, and we may be the one person that crosses their path who is able to speak a word of encouragement, concern, or caring. Don’t let them down.

It’s not always convenient to leave a wake that shows God’s graciousness and love to others. Graciousness is like our clothes; we have to put it on each morning and wear it all day. Thoreau says that it is not until we are lost that we begin to understand each other.

During the next thirty days of Lent, remember we are leaving wakes for others wherever we go! Be conscious of the impact our wakes have on those around us!

Dear Lord, thank you for guiding us as we make our wakes through life. We trust you to direct us on this remarkable journey.

There is more to come: we continue to shout our praise even when we are hemmed in with troubles because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for what God will do next! Romans 5:3-4 The Message

It never seems to fail that every time I have to be somewhere at a certain time, things just don’t go as planned. Lately, the thing that has caused me the most frustration is road construction. The “improvements” on Johnson Ferry Road have resulted in many unexpected delays, and I especially love it when I round a curve only to see the signs that announce, “Lane closed ahead” and “Expect delays” It seems that some warning before the actual closure would be helpful!

This happening caused me to ponder the nonsensical verbage we use in our daily lives. For instance, why do we call the morning commute to work and the evening commute home, “Rush Hour”? It’s interesting to think of “rushing” through traffic when no lane is open and nothing is moving!

Just like road crews who put up “Expect Delays” signs, sometimes we all feel that God has put that same sign out for us in our lives. You will “expect delays.” For some reason, February has always been the month our family dreads because in hindsight, we remember so many “delays” or frustrations that are associated with it. It seems the shortest month of the year should be the easiest, but nothing ever happens as we expect! The good news is that so far, the delays have been followed by unexpected blessings.

There are three things I try to remember always but especially during this month! First, Jesus never said that following Him would be easy. When we attempt great things for God, it just seems that we can expect delays and even difficulties. Sometimes delays help us to develop and mature. Sometimes delays enlarge our capacity for receiving and strengthening our committment. Think of Abraham and Sarah, for instance, they had to wait twenty five years for Isaac to be born, so why should we think our answers should be instant?

Next, we have to persevere in order to receive. It is so hard for us to patiently wait because we are accustomed to having everything we want instantly. We just google it or use an app on our phone to speed things up, but we can’t use a shortcut when it comes to perseverance. God needs us to push through the pain to get to the gain on the other side. Keep on asking.

Finally, the end result of our faith during our delays is inheritiing a larger territory. The children of Israel had to wait forty years before entering the Promised Land. Although their faith was tested, God delayed the entrance, but He never denied the request. God uses time to qualify us for His best blessings.

As we remain persistent in prayer even when we are dealing with delays, it’s only a little while before we realize that our breakthroughs, healings, and miracles are on the way! Trust God’s timing!

Prayer:

Today I declare that all obstacles in my life are not fighting against just me, but they are going aginst the God of the universe who gave me my life mission and purpose. With this truth, I will continue to move forward with boldness and anticipation knowing that with you on my side, God, I have the majority and nothing can stop me from seeing Your vision come to pass in my life. Thank you, Jesus, that my freedom is here, that my moment is now, and blessings are upon me. Amen (copied)

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:14

The Super Bowl is history, Taylor made the game, and the Chiefs are once again champions! Now, Valentine’s Day is upon us, and this year, we have the unique opportunity to celebrate Ash Wednesday on the same day! This rariety offers us a chance to celebrate the people we love while celebrating the greatest love of all. Love is used as a verb during these events showing love in action.

One of the most meaningful parties in the kindergaten school year was always the Valentine’s party. It was a fun process for the children to create their own box in which to receive the Valentine cards which were sent to them from their classmates. Each child had their own list of the names of every one in the class which they would use to address each valentine with TO: on one line and FROM: on the other. Besides being fun, it was a great lesson in writing, letters, and spelling. The delight on their faces as they read and opened each Valentine was always fulfilling for them and us teachers. The love and acceptance they felt was so touching.

The gift of Ash Wednesday coinciding with Valentine’s Day this year is somewhat like a giant Valentine from Jesus to us. Ash Wednesday gets its name from the burning of the Palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday processional. The ashes are made into a paste and mixed with olive oil to make the paste used to draw a cross on the forehead. The ashes remind us that dust we are and to dust we will return.

The journey of Lent before us is a time to build up our relationship with God. We have forty days to discover and walk through the ways and the degree to which Jeuss loves us. We prepare our hearts for the incredible offering of love that Jesus made on the cross for each of us. It is said that the greatest grand gesture of love in the history of the world was when Jesus stretched out His arms for you and for me on the cross. Love is a verb!

The one time of the year when chocolate takes the shape of a heart is the time we celebrate love. It’s heartwarming to see real love in action. The kind of love that isn’t self centered or self indulgent, but rather the kind of love that is sacrificial and selfless and only meant to be given away.

Chocolate filled heart boxes are everywhere as signs of our affection for those loved ones in our lives. Consider the ashes of Ash Wednesday as God’s committment of love and sacrifice to us.

This week we have a chance to recommit our time, energy, love and passion to the things John Wesley thought would honor God. He said, Do all the good we can, by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can, in all the times we can, to all the people we can, as along as ever we can.

It’s so fitting to celebrate Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday together this year. No one’s life is all chocolate, even those who we are sure have it all together. No one’s life is all ashes even though we can sometimes feel that way. Our lives are a blend of both chocolate and ashes just like wheat and weeds that grow together or sheep and goats that graze together. God has joined us together and His love is abundant enough for us all.

As we start our 40 day journey and pilgrimage, it is an individual journey for each of us. As we celebrate Valentine’s Day by biting the chocolate ears off the bunny, remember the ashes on the forehead and that Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday are pretty compatible. May we taste the chocolaty sweetness of the abundant life God offers even as we wash the gritty ashes of our messy life away. copied

This year, let’s make love a verb!

The believer replied, “Every promise of God proves true; He protects everyone who runs to Him for help. So don’t second guess HIm – He might take you to task.” Proverbs 30:4-6 The Message

February is here and with it comes what I like to call, the month of speculation. We speculated on whether or not the Ground hog would see his shadow this year, (he didn’t, so now we speculate on an early spring), we are speculating on who will win the Super Bowl, and we are speculating on whether Taylor will make it back from her tour in time to be at the big game. The half time show and commercials this year come in a distant second to the hype and speculation over the romance of Travis and Taylor.

The dictionary says that when we speculate, “we form a theory or a conjecture about a subject with no firm evidence.” It is so easy to play let’s speculate when a topic or thing comes up and no one really knows the answer, but we are all eager to participate.

For instance, our regular pool gang has been guilty of playing let’s speculate. There is a chance for this game whenever a certain guy who comes to the gym regularly decides to get on his phone to have a loud conversation, while walking around and around the pool deck. The behavior is so bizarre that when he is in there, we play let’s speculate! We ask questions such as, “Where do you think he was raised? Who has to talk on their phone constantly in public? Why would someone come to the gym only to walk and talk on the phone? Why would someone expose everyone to his conversation? Why would someone be totally oblivious to the annoying looks he’s getting?”

We could make a full length mystery movie at this point just from the ideas we have speculated. Sometimes the speculation becomes more and more outrageous. In our game, this guy has become everything from a frustated business man, to an illegal business owner, to a spy who spends all his time on the phone as his cover. The truth is, nobody knows the answer to any of our speculations.! We are just guessing and will never know the truth!

In this world of today, it is so easy to speculate about things of which we will never find answers. Things like: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why can’t this world find peace?” “Where is God in all this?” “Why is Satan so powerful in this world?” “Will my life be better tomorrow?” “What will life be like for Christians in the future?”

The disciples questioned Jesus about many things to which they had no answer. Instead of answering, He told the them not to waste time speculating on things of this world but rather to be about the business of spreading the gospel.

If we liken this to a court room, we see that speculation occurs when a witness offers their opinion or makes educated guesses about what transpired; however, the witness may not testify about a matter of which he has no personal knowledge.

Jesus is like the witness in a court of law in that a witness is someone who can testify to what he or she has experienced or knows first hand. The witness here is not council for the defense or the prosecution but rather our Saviour who knows all. In Jeremiah 29:11, He says, for I know the plans I have for you, plans to take care of you, not abandon you, and give you the future you hope for. For this reason, there is no need to speculate! God’s got this!

Don’t waste this month in speculation, rather use this time enjoying God’s promises to us!