God, I'm here!

There is a line in the Anne of Green Gables movie (can’t remember if it’s in the book) where Anne and Marilla are talking about prayer.  Anne, being an orphan from various homes and asylums, did not pray.  She told Marilla that if she really wanted to pray she would go out into the middle of an open field, gaze into the sky with her head back and arms open, and simply “feel a prayer”.  Although viewed in a negative light in the time-frame of the movie’s setting, I have always felt that was an amazing statement.  I really relate with that.  Silence.  We need silence and time alone with God.  Being still, listening to God, is as important as any other aspect of your worship.  The aloneness of an open field, the silence of voices and pressures, the sun’s rays a caress from God, face and posture open to God, your thoughts entirely focused on God.  And FEEL a prayer.  Commune with God.  Listen for his words or replies.  Let your heart soar on wings with worship and praise, let it release your worries and requests to float up to heaven.  
 

     Look at the key elements here.  Do you need the field?  No, but it would be nice.  Do you need the sun’s rays?  No.  Do you need the upraised face and open posture.  Not really, but you do need an open heart.  What are the key elements?  You, God, and focus.  Silence is very helpful, I am a teacher by day and mother and wife by night, there is not a lot of silence in my life.  But you can create silence.   Mentally block out the rest of the world so your entire focus is on God, only God.  And let your heart soar to heaven.  Just whisper in your soul,

“God, I’m here!”

Unexpected Blessings

    I teach in a public school.  There is an unlikely blessing that you find at a school at the right time of day.  A blessing from the girl’s bathroom.  I always say a little prayer of thanks when I enter a stall and find a raised toilet seat.  I understand, you are wondering how I could consider a raised toilet seat in a girl’s bathroom a blessing.  Well, I know it is clean.  The wonderful and brave people who clean the school after we all have gone home to our families leave the toilet seats up when they are done cleaning them.  So when I find a raised toilet seat, I know it has been freshly cleaned, that is a blessing.

    I have wanted to write on this topic for a long time, but the joy of the toilet seat is often forgotten before I have time to sit down and write.  I have wondered, how can this joy of the sanitary toilet seat, this special little blessing, be a message to us all?  Well, we are like a toilet seat.  No offense intended.  When we wake up each morning we are fresh and new.  With repentance we are wiped clean, sanitized, and ready to face the world.  When we open our eyes, we have not made any mistakes.  We have a new chance to do things right, to do things with God.  Unlike the toilet seat, we have choices in our actions and words (the poor toilet seat doesn’t get to choose anything, it just has to wait for someone else to come in and clean it again).  

    God has given us free will.  That means we get to decide.  We decide our words to others, we decide our actions, we decide our reactions.  The way our day goes is up to us.  We choose to have a good day, we choose to have a bad day.  Thing after thing can go wrong (by wrong I mean - not go the way we intend it to go) but the kind of day we have is in how we handle all of these things that ‘go wrong’.  The choice of what kind of day we have is in how we greet and speak to others, it is in our attitudes and emotions.  What kind of day we have is in who we follow.  Are you going to follow the voice that is telling you all the bad and negative things (that is Satan’s voice) or the voice that leads you down God’s path (the Holy Spirit).  I can guarantee, no, not me, God can guarantee that if you follow the Holy Spirit's voice, that you will have peace!  God says it over and over in His Word.

Isaiah 54:10

For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain.  My covenant of blessing will never be broken.” says the Lord who has mercy on you.

Psalm 85:8

I listen carefully to what the Lord is saying, for He speaks peace to his faithful people.  But let them not return to their foolish ways.

Psalm 29:11

The Lord gives His people strength, He blesses them with peace.

Isaiah 26:12

Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.

John 16:33

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, for I have overcome the world.

John 14:27

I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.  So don’t be troubled or afraid.

    We also must remember that when we think things have ‘gone wrong’, those ‘wrong’ things may just be leading us to something greater.  We tend to think that when something doesn’t follow our plan that it ‘went wrong’.  Our plan is not God’s plan.  We need to face everything that has ‘gone wrong’ with a positive attitude and listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Only God knows where he will lead us!  

    Sometimes I head to the restroom at lunch and still, once in a while, chance on to a seat that is still up.  We don’t have to rely on chance.  We can rely on the Holy Spirit to remain clean and fresh and at peace all day long!  We can also choose to recognize and acknowledge our sin or mistakes, repent, and be sanitized, and start anew.  ANYTIME ANYWHERE.  We don’t have to wait for Jesus to come along and choose to scrub us down, he will come whenever we ask.  Whenever we call out to him he will arrive with his scrub brush and sanitizer.  The Holy Spirit will guide our reactions and actions and words if we let him, and if we are listening for him.  God has allowed us to choose the kind of day we have through our choices.  What choices are you going to make?

Love and Forgive

Sometimes we just have to get along with other people.  Wait a minute, ALL the time we have to get along with other people.  It isn’t always easy.  Some people need clean; others don’t care if they live in a mess.  Some like order, others like chaos.  Some like peace, others like drama.  This is why empathy is so important.  We need to be able to see situations and events from another person’s point of view.  You need to be able to understand where a person is coming from that has a hand in their actions and personality.

God talks about this a lot.  It is important to him that we live in peace.  When we want to scream and pull out our hair because someone does something that drives us crazy, we must remember to love one another and find a way to show love and understanding.

Colossians 3:12-17

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.  And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Romans 12:16

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.   Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.  Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.   When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

2 Timothy 2:23-24

Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights.   A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.

1 John 4:7-21

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.  Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.  We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.  And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.  We love each other because he loved us first.

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?  And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.

John 13:34-35

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.   Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

You are Beautiful!

Sometimes I just can’t get over how beautiful this creation of God’s is.  This world he gave us is astounding and amazing and breathtaking!  I just spent the last half hour trudging through snow drifts all over my yard.  There is one as tall as I am.  There is one that is chest high and about 8 feet wide (by the wood pile), there are tons of drifts rolling across our backyard.  There are a few I crawled over and rolled down because I knew that if I walked over them I would more than likely get stuck when my leg crashed through them!  It is beautiful!  It is dazzling!

Then I think to the fall.  The amazing colors God sends through everything.  The tall grasses turn a reddish orange, the trees range from deep burgundy to bright yellow and every shade in between.  The crops ripen for harvest.  The air is crisp and cool.  

In summer the skies blaze blue and the air smells sweet and the sun warms your skin.  Water sparkles and invites you in.  The trees and grasses are a brilliant green.  Spring we welcome life back to the earth as the grass begins to grow and trees begin to bud and sprout tiny leaves of a soft, and somehow gentle, green.   In each season, God has painted sunrises and sunsets that call for utter silence…

I also know there are breathtaking places that I have never even seen.  Crystal waters, towering mountains, awe inspiring waterfalls….  God has given us this beautiful earth.

Don’t worry; I am getting to the point.

The other day I was gazing out my second story office window, looking out to the horizon, and I said,  

“This world you have made is so beautiful Lord!”

In my mind, I heard God’s reply.

“You are part of it.”

You are part of it.

God made this beautiful world – look around you at the beauty of his creation, and remember…  He made YOU.  Each and every one of you reading this are a part of this beautiful world that God created.  God created this world, and he created you.

You are beautiful!

God says so.