Category Archives: Firmly Rooted

Milestones

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It was only a year ago when he was blazing a trail for himself into the unknown, my firstborn starting over, in the shade of the mountains along the Rio Grande, a modern pioneer into the frontier-land of the West. At least it felt that way when he packed his clothes and stepped onto a plane that would take him 1,760-and-a-half miles away, leaving all his belongings behind to be boxed up by the movers.

This morning I thought of how far he has come in just a year: how he has carved out a place for himself among his colleagues at work, made friends and grown hobbies that keep him busy most nights, and how the aching loneliness and chafing of everything-new has weathered through the months into belonging, and now he is home. The old has gone, the new has come.

I wanted to call him and remind him how it was then, and celebrate with him the good that it is now, but I knew he would just brush it off; that living-in-the-moment energy of youth simply accepts what is, and doesn’t think back to what was, or consider how different it might have been. That perspective is reserved maybe for people who have lived longer– long enough to see hard changes and understand the value of learning from where you’ve been, long enough to regret the past and appreciate Grace. Remember the old, and celebrate the new.

I don’t want to forget those milestones of growth, of choices made that changed everything, of turning, because they remind me that God is at work in my life for good, and He is faithful to His promises. Milestones keep me thankful, and I can’t ever stop remembering and thanking Him, or I might forget where I have come from and where I am going. The old has gone, the new has come, and remembering that will keep me on the right path. “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4) 

It’s what Yahweh told His people to do when they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land and He made the water pull back from their feet: pile up stones of remembrance to build a memorial and in the future when the children ask what they stones mean you can tell them how God helped you there, how you stepped from wandering to being home. Purim, Hanukkah, Passover…all feasts to remember God’s power to deliver, to change the way things are and make them new. “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.” (1 Corinthians 11:26) Remember the milestones, because they are what have shaped you and they will mark your path as you go.

You can lose your way in the Dark so easily, slide into the half-truths of the Deceiver before you realize… and that’s what milestones are for, to mark the way by pointing to the One who saves. Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) So we pile up stones of remembrance, and celebrate how He has marked our lives with His salvation, all the times He showed Himself to us more clearly, opened up the door to a deeper understanding of who He is. Don’t ever let me forget just how amazing Grace is.

 

 

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'” (Jeremiah 29:11)

 

“The wind is strong and the water’s deep,
But I’m not alone on these open seas,
‘Cause Your love never fails.” (Your Love Never Fails, Jesus Culture)

…what ducks?

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“Truth is only understandable if spoken with understanding love.” (Ann VosKamp) So Christ spoke the Truth that He had come to save His people from their sins in the only language we could understand: pure Love, poured out red from hands and feet… so we could see it, touch it, share the agony of death with the immortal Creator. “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people–an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.” (Luke 22:20) The stuff of life that He made to flow through our veins from the beginning, spilled out from His own to wash away our brokenness. Love shouted with His dying breath, “Father, forgive them!” and we saw it with our own eyes, written in flesh and blood and dirt…a language we could understand.

And as we follow in His footsteps, I see this, that if we want to speak Truth into a deaf world, we will have to use the language of love that understands pain, knows betrayal and confusion, plumbs the depths of repentance and grace. What good is it if we are plastic-perfect saints, all clean cut and smiling, the kind of people whose ducks know how to line up straight and tall? That is not a language that makes any intelligible sense to the dying, though it does make us feel a whole lot better about how far we have come.

Someone said in our Small Group how shocked they were to see the people in the Bible as they really were, pulled out of the prim pastel Sunday School pictures and into the real world of sweat and grime and sin. And I thought how it really is shocking to confront our humanity in all its grittiness, and maybe we have lost the sense of who we are in our modern world. Covered as we are in this veneer of wealth and education and civility. Underneath it all, we are still humans created out of dirt, run-aways fighting for survival in a world that no longer bows to our rule, people just trying to meet the deepest emotions and needs of our hearts any way we can. We may as well admit it, because that is the Truth and where we will find Someone who can help.

We have come a long way in scientific explanations and technological conveniences and polite ways to express our conflicts, but maybe we are not better off for the masks. Truth makes more sense to people if it is whispered from someone who labors alongside and weeps with them. Truth rings loud and strong coming from the wounded and the weak, from marriages in process and parents looking for wisdom…from people who need God just as much as everyone else in the world. And maybe it’s okay that sometimes we can’t even find our ducks, if it helps us use the plain and simple language of love to tell people the Truth that Jesus is the Savior of us all.

 

“Everyone needs compassion,
A love that’s never-ending–
Let mercy fall on me .
Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a savior,
The hope of nations…
My God is mighty to save.” (Mighty to Save, Hillsong)

 

“One reason we do not understand holiness is that we do not understand grace. The ultimate degree to which holiness flows through your life will depend…on your willingness to yield to the nature of God in humble surrender. You possess no holiness apart from God.” (Russell Kelfer)

Making Love Real

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We have been given everything in abundance, and it was all free gift, but it will cost us our hearts. “Owe nothing to anyone–except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” (Romans 13:8) This gratitude that is our only right response to the Giver will bend us to carry the burdens of others, will push us into uncomfortable places, and pull us out of ourselves till we begin to look like Someone else more and more. It’s what happens when our hearts become completely God’s. It’s the way love really works.

It’s the way His real Love works in us.

 

 

“That thundering question of Where is God? Is best answered when the people of God offer a hand and whisper: Here I am.

That thundering question of Where is God? Is best answered when the people of God tear everything else away and take the time to show it: Here’s His love for you – beating right here, right here in me, right here for you.” (Ann VosKamp)

All Things New

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These last days of Winter drag long and slow. It feels like swimming against an undertow and it takes every bit of will to pull out recipes for dinner, make progress on this quilt, study for the next lesson, vacuum the floor, when I would rather just hide away with a book and ignore the phone. I feel like I am fading away in this middle-grey land of almost-March, and I know at times I am only going through the motions and it is bound to show. But there’s a restlessness deep underneath. “Awake, my soul…wake up and live”…the Spirit calling me back from this dull slide into lethargy. And I know it is only a season, and this too will pass, so I plod along through another day, and watch and wait for the change. Sleeping Beauty, waiting for her Prince to come.

At some point through the years, Advent and Lent connected in my head– parallel seasons of remembrance and waiting– waiting for God’s coming into our darkness; waiting for God’s deliverance from our darkness. And the restlessness itself is preparation for His coming, because we so quickly go to sleep in this world: “This is why it is said, ‘Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” (Ephesians 5:14)

This is what Lent is for, to wake up numbed and heavy hearts, to welcome in the restless urging underneath that wants More. Not an exercise in self-discipline, or giving up some habit that I should probably give up anyway. It is a season of turning, preparing my heart to recognize God’s deliverance in all the dead and darkened places of my life; God with us, Emmanuel, and now Christ within us, Savior. And the Holy Wind rushes through dusty rooms, whispering Resurrection Life…“for the light makes everything visible….,” stirs up a holy discontent until all we really want is for everything to be made new. Who says that the Prince who can awaken us from our sleep is only a fairy-tale?

So I will keep pressing on in the dull days of this season, and weep over all the silent cold places in me…the earth itself longing hard…because there is hope buried in the ground and Your purpose is working where I cannot see it, Your Voice calling my name. “My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.” (Song of Songs 2:10-11) Spring is coming to the world and Christ is risen indeed, our heavenly Prince come to set us free from the curse of sin

 

 

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 8:1-2)

 

“I can hear you,
You’re calling my name; 
The ocean between us erased.
And salvation, 
It pours down like rain, 
Flooding my walls till I break.

I give my life to you, 
My heart to you, 
You’re all I need– 
Come and make me new…” (Give My Life to You, Elevation Worship)

 

 

 

A Few Loaves and Fishes

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Today marks one year of writing and sharing with you. Because this blog does not enable comments, I have no real way of knowing if anyone is reading, out there….but in some ways that is part of this step of faith. I lay my words down at His feet purely as offering, and entrust them into His keeping.  Where they go and how they might be used are completely up to Him, but I pray that He is blessing them and making them multiply, the way Jesus did with the little boy’s lunch, and I pray that hungry souls will find their needs met in Him abundantly.

Nevertheless, I do thank you for joining me here….especially the dear sisters (and brothers) who have offered a word of encouragement along the way. Your timely upbuilding often helped to deflect the Enemy’s darts. You have kept me going more times than you know.

So on this snowy cold day in January I find myself looking back over a year, amazed by all the unexpected paths we take when we follow the Good Shepherd, and humbled as ever by His unending grace for each day.

 

“Peace be still,
You are near,
There’s nowhere we can go
That You won’t shine redemption’s light.
Our guilt withdrawn–
As You rise, we come alive;
The grave has lost, the old is gone,
And You’re making all things new…”  (All Things New –Elevation Worship)


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Who Knew Obedience was Radical?

			
						

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I keep seeing this same book title in the catalogs this month– whether it is just that popular, or whether the words startle me that much every time I see it– and it still catches me with that breathless, weight-in-the-stomach feeling you get when you peer over the edge of a precipice. A Year of Biblical Womanhood….”In a year-long experiment the author tried to follow the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible.”


Every time, my head wonders startled, “Is there any other way to get through a year?” And then I wonder which instructions she was looking at. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience”? (Col. 3:12) Or maybe “…let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” (1 Peter 3:4) Certainly “do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3) Definitely “do not be anxious about anything…”  and “rejoice always.” (Philippians 4:4, 6) So much rich truth in there, for all of us who belong to Christ, and is it really that new an idea to put it into practice? What other model for womanhood would a girl want to live by in this year?


I suspect the book has nothing to do with any of that– it could be merely another fad diet plan that claims to be Biblically based– or maybe it is a call for Christians to get serious about their faith, give up some religious ideas for some radical obedience. We can only hope so.


It brings to mind the old classic In His Steps, written around the turn of the 20th century by Charles Sheldon, and ranking as one of the best-selling books of all time thanks to a publisher’s copyright mistake that was perhaps after all, divinely orchestrated.  In the book, a pastor and his congregation are confronted by a homeless man about their lack of justice for the poor, and they take up the challenge to put their faith into action– for a whole year they will face every situation with the question, “What would Jesus do?” and follow in His steps. In the century since, the phrase has become little more than a trite Christian slogan, but in its original form, and in the hearts of those who earnestly sought an answer, it had the power to change lives…to transform a whole town with the power of God.


For me, there is no question that hanging onto God for dear life is the best way to navigate a year.  So when we were looking for a new study for the Wednesdays this Winter, Becoming A Woman of Strength sounded perfect to me. I don’t consider myself a strong person– I feel like I have always known I cannot handle this life on my own. There will be a lot of days that will be too much for me, this year, but there is Someone who can show me how to best live as a woman here in this world.


Sarah Young writes in Jesus Calling that the way to achieve the victorious life is through living in deep dependence on God, and it is in our problems, weakness, and neediness that we learn to rely on Him. Another paradox of the Kingdom, that failures in life accomplish the real success. That’s the real Biblical model of womanhood maybe– to depend on God in our weakness and discover His strength.


So if you are poised on the edge of the precipice, wondering how to live in this year; or if you are challenged by the faith-adventure of following in His steps; if you are looking for a year of becoming the woman God designed you to be, join in our (lifelong) experiment of studying the Bible and putting it into practice. Radical?….possibly. Life-changing?…hopefully. But unquestionably the best way to find answers.


 


“Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in Thee, the divine Treasury in whom all fullness dwells.” (from The Valley of Vision)


“I will not show you what is on the road ahead, but I will thoroughly equip you for the journey. My living presence is your Companion each step of the way. Stay in continual communication with Me, whispering My name whenever you need to redirect your thoughts. Thus, you can walk through this day with your focus on Me. My abiding presence is the best road map available.” (Jesus Calling, Sarah Young)

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
At the Crossroads of a New Year

			
						

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The kids poke fun at me, but every Christmas Night since they were small, I have requested that we sit down as a family and watch Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s just Mom’s silly old Christmas tradition to them, but every year as “the most wonderful time of the year” draws to an end and the New Year looms up close, this message is one I need to hear and remember: that an ordinary life of self-sacrifice and love can make a difference in our home, our town, our world.


When you look back on the year past and see only the small everyday necessities of keeping everyone clothed and fed and getting along…when you wish you had more time to pursue your hobbies or read that pile of books… or when you long to see far-away places and accomplish something that matters in the world, like George Bailey did…maybe feel like life is passing you by… or maybe it isn’t even worth anything any more…this is when you need to see through God’s eyes, how one life well-lived has a ripple effect that only Heaven can measure. Like George’s guardian angel said:“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”


We gather around the table with my sister’s family after Christmas, and share a goal for the coming year, tell the others how to pray for us. I wish I could say I was working on a graduate degree, writing a book, traveling halfway around the world, opening a Bed & Breakfast, or really any significant goal at all, but I’m coming up empty right now. It’s a strange place to be, for a person who sets goals and makes plans as naturally as setting the table. But life continues to present a maze of unpredictable circumstances and chaotic detours into the necessities of the everyday, and I feel like I am still waiting to discover who I am going to be when my kids grow up. So I tell the truth, that in the coming year I am just living and listening for God’s voice, and I need wisdom and direction. And I think of George Bailey and the reminder that not everything worthwhile is exciting or even visible. And the Spirit whispers,  “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.” (Matthew 25:40) The apostle Paul takes up the refrain with “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.” (Colossians 3:23-24)


Fact is, in this New Year, whether you are a planning goal-setter, or a big dreamer, only God knows what will fill up the hours and days to come. And only He knows what is worthwhile and meaningful in the long run. I will carry this annual reminder from the old classic film, as I go into the coming year, to keep on doing what is right and good in my little corner of the world, for Jesus’ sake, and let Him make of it what He wills… wait to see what unexpected doors of opportunity He will open in 2013.


 


“Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.” (Clarence in book inscription, It’s A Wonderful Life)


 


“But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28


 

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Merry Christmas

			
						

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Life changes: children grow, people move on, circumstances shift– but God’s Beloved Son who came at Christmas remains unchanging. May the light of Christ shine in your heart and in your home this Christmas Day, and in the coming year.


“Hallelujah, we’ve been found

A child is born to save us now

Hallelujah, light has come

A Savior who will set us free

A promise for those who believe.”

(Barlow Girl)

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
For Unto Us A Child Is Born

			
						

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The Christmas Story became earthly-real to me the year I gave birth to my first child, a son. By Christmas he was only two months old and neither of us knew what we were doing yet. But I understood what it is to grow a child in your own body, and how you know him after nine months in a way without words, and how your life is intertwined with his in ways you barely understand yet.


I thought about Mary traveling in her ninth month, knew the heaviness of her body and the discomforts of her burden, but any mother would bear those willingly for the sake of the little one to come. The delivery of a child in the stable became startling fact, and the making do with little in the cold rough night felt the ache of a mother’s heart to provide for her child. Was she hungry? Was she tired? Did she wonder if she would survive the delivery, alone in a cave? Shepherds, animals, straw, the night-time pastures, the crowded streets of the rural village– all lifted right out of the gilt-edged storybook and into this created world of dirt where it could be touched and smelled and remembered by a mother’s heart.


And in the night, when I was awakened yet again by the cries of a newborn, in the dim light of the nursery we would rock, and I would look at the tiny face and think of the Savior who came like this: so small and weakly dependent on someone to care for every need, to love Him. And I understood how Mary’s heart poured out to her baby as only a mother’s can, and how those tiny fingers entwined with hers day after day. A child, innocent and dependent, who would carry His mother’s heart and her sin to the cross someday– something no mother should have to face, and yet earthly grim and unflinchingly real. A Child dependent but so desperately needed here: innocence in exchange for our guilt, grace poured out from heaven for our wrenching pain and chaos. As the prophet foretold hundreds of years before, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful…Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)


This is the miracle of Christmas, new again every year in its mystery and wonder, that God came down a Child. That the Eternal entered into the flow of time to be with us from the beginning of life to the end. That the omnipotent God became a fragile and needy newborn. How can a mother’s heart help but worship at Christmas-time, when she sees her own children and thinks of the Christ-child? How can a mother’s heart help but make sure there is room for Him in her home, and call her own children around the manger to see the Child that is born for us?


 


“The God who needs nothing, came needy. The God who came to give us mercy, was at our mercy. And He who entered into our world, He lets us say it in a thousand ways– that there is no room at the inn.” Ann VosKamp


 


“Who, oh Lord, could save themselves,

Their own soul could heal?

Our shame was deeper than the sea;

Your grace is deeper still.


You alone can rescue, You alone can save,

You alone can lift us from the grave;

You came down to find us, led us out of death–

To You alone belongs the highest praise.” Matt Redman

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
The Light of the World

			
						

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It was just another kids’ Christmas program with barely-audible childish voices tumbling over rehearsed lines, and last-minute melt-downs among the nativity figures in the back, when they caught a glimpse of the crowded auditorium.  A stray baby in a stiff red dress escaped from the manger scene and toddled around in the aisle beneath the fond gaze of the audience.  And when the music played, enthusiastic little voices joined in the song, not always with the correct words or notes, but with the appropriate amount of gusto to please the director and delight the assembled parents, friends, and grandparents.


Just another adorable Christmas program until the very end, when a clump of children lined up at the mic, and the littlest one stepped out in her red-knit hat with the flower on it, and piped up in her tiny voice: “We praise You, Jesus, for being a light in this dark world.” As clear and perfectly enunciated as that truth could possibly be, and suddenly it was worship. Hearts hushed as rosy cheeked innocence announced that Christ was come to shine in our darkness, the darkness that has overtaken those grieving families this week before Christmas, the confusion and fear of every parent’s nightmares that rise up in the dark when least expected. The auditorium stilled and the little voice rang out like a bell, and spirits lifted in prayer, knowing how desperately our world needs the light of a Savior. We praise You, Jesus– “Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.”


In the face of tragedy and war and abuse and violence that affects the littlest and most innocent ones, we celebrate the birth of a Baby who is named Prince of Peace. Amid a society so carefully made independent of age-old beliefs, we declare the Advent of Emmanuel, God with us. “Come and behold Him, born the king of angels…Oh, come, let us adore Him.”


And when we hold our candles on Christmas Eve, passing the light from the Christ-candle throughout the darkened auditorium, till it glows with hundreds of tiny lights, our hearts will weep and rejoice together: “We praise You, Jesus, for being a light in this dark world.” Not just at Christmas-time, but forever and ever. “Highest, most holy, light of light eternal, born of a virgin, a mortal he comes…O come all ye faithful…let us adore Him.”


 


“Lord God, as Your plan of salvation unfolds before me this Advent, may I be still and silent before the miracle of the Christ Child. Amen” (Branches of the Tree, Jeff Stone)


“…how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding….those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:27-28,31)