Category: Faith

Be ♥ Ready

I’ve entitled today’s post: Be ♥ Ready because I think we often forget that that’s a calling we have — as believers, as mothers, as family to:  be ready!  The Lord has given us different mandates to be ready… to make ourselves ready.

Readiness will bring gladness and rejoicing!  “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” –Revelation 19.7
And though, we may not know when that day will come, we do know that it will come.  We are commanded:  “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”  –Luke 12.40

We have opportunity, while it is called today, to seek the Lord, to know Him and make Him known.  We have opportunity to study, to learn, to yield, to obey, to repent and do what He’s designed and called us to do.  And as we “work out our salvation” we will be growing in grace from glory to glory.

Do you have hope?  Do you have joy?  Do you have a ready answer?

Maybe you’ve thought long about this and do have hope and joy and a ready answer — praise the Lord if you do.  But maybe you’re not sure of the hope in you… maybe you’ve not entertained this question literally or in your mind.  Today would be a good day to sit down and write out the hope that’s in you.  Maybe your walk with the Lord is young… maybe you’ve not experienced questions of others or haven’t ever articulated your faith.  I’d say it’s very important to collect your thoughts, to write out your testimony, to make sure your faith, as it were.

In 1Peter 3.15 we read: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”

Many think it’s hard to witness or articulate to others who Jesus is or what Jesus has done… but it’s really very simple… it’s as simple as giving an account of where you were and where you are today and where you’ll spend eternity.  If we run out of things to share, the simplest thing to remember is to tell about Jesus.  Learn to love to tell the story of what Jesus has done for you, His love and His atoning sacrifice.  Some accounts are as simple as: whereas I was born blind, now I see.

A plane had engine trouble and crashed near our home over the weekend and while the pilot did sustain some injuries, they did not prevent him from communicating as he was being pulled from the wreckage.

He was so lucky, many were saying as they surveyed the damage.  Many asked if we feared having our home in such a location and on and on the questions and statements flowed.  At the time, and surely at the end of the day, all I  could continually consider was the matter of being ready… ready to do whatever the Lord calls us to do and ready to meet Him face to Face.  Surely, early that morning, that pilot did not think:  Hmmm, today I’m going to have a brush with death. And we certainly didn’t think, Hmmmm, this morning, we’re going to watch a plane go down.

But every day, things come up, things happen that should be reminders to us to be ready… to be ready to enter our eternal home, be ready to serve another, be ready to give a witness of what the Lord has done for us.   For even a portion of what the Lord has done for us could not be told.

Hebrews 9.27  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

Be ready… be ready to run, be ready to answer, be ready to give, be ready to serve… be ready to proclaim.   You never know what a day may bring… and were you to know that today would be your last, would you be ready to meet the Lord?

Savouring the Moments

The symphony of birds, buds and blossoms along with the soft greens seem to sing, Springtime’s here; another season’s underway!  With the passing of time, the Lord is teaching me to savour the moments, to watch for the signs of the seasons.  I can’t really recall if , or what, I’ve written much about the passage of a season that taught me this, but it was the slow dawning of the reality that the childbearing season was slipping away that first began to teach me to savour the moments.

I think I’ve told you how (early on) women–mothers–would tell me, “…it goes so fast: before you know it, they’ll be all grown up…” and to those comments I would nod in agreement… as if I understood.  And, I suppose, to a small degree, I did.  Actually, truth be told, I didn’t.  Not really.  And, further, I recognize that I still don’t really know the whole of it.  But what I am realizing this:  time really does seem to pass exponentially faster with each passing year.

On Saturday morning I received a text message on my cellphone.  Three simple words.  Tears filled my eyes as I read and reread those three little words.  Those three little words were packed with such hope and elated joy.  I pictured the smiling face of the one who sent me the text.  I pictured the thrill that must’ve gone into the typing of the three little words.  I closed my phone — savouring the moment and what the three little words would become.  The text read:  She said yes.

Several of us received the same text.  We knew this by the flood of texts that followed.  It’s just what happens in a big family, I guess.

As I savoured the moment, I was grinning with tear-filled eyes.  Standing there, looking out the window above the kitchen sink, I was thinking about that son’s little boy self and how he ran and played out in the yard, roller skated down the lane, did ‘canon-balls’ in the pool, shot things with his airsoft gun and found things to light on fire in the back yard.  As I lingered, I thought of the several years he’s loved this girl… I thought of the many times she’s stood right in the same place, washing dishes or having a cup of coffee or tea in the kitchen.  I thought of her little girl self… her adorable little girl self.  And then, her parents came to mind and suddenly it wasn’t just our boy and bright hopes for tomorrow — it was their daughter and all the memories of her little girl self and times gone by in her life and theirs… many savoured moments, I’m very sure.

Later, walking around our yard and then standing under the lacy green leaves hanging from the giant weeping willow tree, I looked up to see where the branch had broken off — the branch that had, until just recently, held the old tire-swing.  I knew one day that that branch would break and the tire-swing would inevitably have to be put away or maybe even possibly would be hung on from different branch… I just never thought it would be this soon.  I looked at the branch on the ground and the place where the rope had been nearly completely encircled by the bark of the branch where it had hung for so many decades — the process unnoticed, but further embedded with each passing season.  In the theater of my mind, I saw some of the childhood faces of the many, many seasons of the tire swinging from that tree.  Savoured moments.  More so, now.

The interesting thing about savoured moments is that at the time the moments don’t seem all the glorious.  I sometimes think that savoured moments become so — not because of their impact or influence at the time, but later.  Silly things, embarrassing things, surprising things,  simple things, everyday things.  Later on… down the road a bit… that’s when moments become meaningful and it’s those meaningful moments we savour.  Those simple, everyday, unremarkable (at the time) moments that somehow capture our hearts and become the stuff memories are made of — the moments we treasure — the moments we savour.

In the last couple of days I’ve had more time to reflect on those three little words… I’ve thought of the inevitable hardships, trials, heartaches ans sorrows they’ll necessarily face.   I’ve thought of the memories they’ll make, the home they’ll make together — the joys and laughter they’ll experience and the hopes and dreams they’ll share; and I marveled at the thought of the surprising ways of God they’ll surely encounter as He writes their story.  And so for all these things, I can only say, Praise the LORD and pray they’ll savour the moments that come with the passing seasons along the way.

 

It’s easy to forget some things.

It’s easy to forget some things — many things — really.

It’s especially easy to forget things in a moment of panic, in the tyranny of the urgent or after a long span of time. Or, in an obituary. Or at a memorial service.

I’m thinking you know what I mean.  Attending numerous funerals and memorial services through the years has kept this thought pretty fresh in my mind.  Time has a way of softening rough edges in some relationships — sharpening them in others — and has a way of distorting things when the accumulation of days, experiences and memories ceases.

It’s sometimes necessary to overlook things at that point.  You find yourself reasoning in your head: Look, the guy’s dead — let it go already.  Or, Okay, so he was a creep — he’s dead, pay your respects and move on.

You may find yourself glancing around the room of family and friends gathered to remember, gathered to grieve, gathered to console, gathered to laugh at the wonderful times, gathered to show support, gratitude or devotion.  Whatever the case, it’s interesting: all that goes on at such a time as a memorial service — or in the writing/reading of an obituary.  So much could be/must be/needs to be said.  And, usually, so much is forgotten overlooked when recounting the story of a life.  And, I suppose, in a sense, that’s how it should be — if tact or the preservation of personal dignity are the criteria for why what’s shared is (or isn’t) shared in the memorial and/or obituary.

Every now and then, however, the rest of the story is told.  You’ve probably experienced this from time to time — when someone dies and there’s a painful side to the relationships the person was involved in — or other self inflicted woes and regrets.  So, in those times, the honest and open, yet tactful, acknowledgement of basic realities brings healing to the ones closest to that individual.  Sometimes, the brief recounting of some of the struggles helps those who are grieving to make some sense of the tragedies or helps to bring closure to disappointments or whatever.  Somehow, being able to say: here’s how it went, here’s how it felt and now we go on, brings the beginning of healing — a turning point, perhaps, so that what was can be acknowledged and what can be can begin.

Interestingly, this past springtime  has brought many deaths — many opportunities to reflect on lives and the accomplishments, beliefs, decisions, etc., etc., of each of  those individuals.  The words preached, the sprinkling of laughter and tears, the memories shared at the different memorial services still play back in the theater of my thoughts — it seems almost daily,  the poignant memories, testimonies, etc.,  continue in the forefront of my mind.  I think that must be why the Scriptures tell us that is it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of mirth or feasting — for it seems to me that much instruction is found in the house of mourning.

Over the last couple of days you’ve no doubt been hearing, as I have, the many different accounts and tributes to the life of Chuck Colson, I read a very thoughtful and insightful article by Tim Challies. Brave one, he.  I’m linking to it — bcz he’s succinctly detailed some errors while remaining respectful.  O, sisters, there’s much we must learn — and, in this case, much we must discern from a life of significant influence, but also, a life that added a dimension of conflict and compromise regarding Biblical truths and, what I call, pragmatic faith: Faith that goes along to get along… and, yes, you guessed it: that’s not really true faith at all.  We’re seeing it (probably experiencing it) all over!  We don’t want to offend our neighbours, our family and friends.  We don’t want to come across as holier than Thou, we don’t want to be embarrassed or cause trouble.  But!  O, sisters, we must realize that hell is filled with un-offended neighbours, family and friends.  May we have courage to speak the Truth.  In love. With tact.

More than ever, we must be circumspect regarding what’s being taught as Truth and may the Lord help us be witnesses of His Truth.

Edit:
I know I took a real risk sharing as I did and commenting as I did regarding a couple of the errors in a life so influential and powerful.  I want to reiterate something that I think might’ve been lost and that is that he did do marvelous things and his contribution is significant and I don’t doubt his sincerity/faith/salvation/etc., etc. for one moment.  I only want to emphasize the tremendous impact of a life and how imperative it is to NOT compromise or live pragmatically/compromising regarding Biblical Truths.  When “religious” beliefs are in conflict with the Bible, we mustn’t err on the side of compromise, we must adhere to the Truths of the Word — and this will often NOT be popular and others will be offended.