Amnesia

Deuteronomy 4:9 – “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons”

Have you ever known any one who experienced amnesia? Personally, I have not. I cannot imagine what it would be like to not remember certain parts of my life or have blanks in my story.

However, aren’t we like that in our spiritual life? Don’t we often forget what God has done in our life in the past?

You remember Moses and the children of Israel? God performs all these miracles right before their eyes and what happened over and over and over again? Amnesia.

God performs 10 miracles that gives them their freedom and off they go into the desert only to find themself, literally, between a rock and a hard place at the Red Sea. Woe is me! Woe is me! Why did you bring us out in this desert to die, Moses? Weren’t there enough graves back in Egypt? What have you done?

Now, had I been Moses, I probably would have given up right then and there. But no, he was a better person than me. He stopped. He listened. He obeyed. And off go probably a million people on dry land to watch and see the mighty Egyptian army drowned in the Red Sea.

And then, these same people, who plundered the land of Egypt without lifting a finger and whose shoes did not wear out, forget that God is able to provide all their needs and start complaining because they have no water. Did they think God would get them this far only to let them die of thirst?

Oh, I could go on and on with this series of events that occur like a bad Groundhog Day movie. But I won’t. I think you get the picture.

We can point fingers all day long and shake our head at the seemingly ridiculous way that these people forget over and over again. But what about me? What about you? How many times do you find yourself shaking your head thinking “woe is me – how am I ever going to get through this”? For me, more times that I care to admit.

Then the Holy Spirit gets ahold of me and my heart. He starts sweeping the floor of my heart and cleaning out the cobwebs in my memory and leads me to the place where I can remember. He reminds me of all the times that God has taken a seemingly hopeless and crazy situation and, somehow or another, turned it all around and worked it all out.

You see, that’s the kind of God I serve. I serve the God that doesn’t forget, doesn’t give up on me when I do, and tirelessly pursues me until I stop and see things His way.

We all get stuck between a rock and a hard place from time to time. But that is the time when we need to take heed of ourself and keep our soul close to the Father. These are the times to not forget that God is faithful. He never forgets….and neither should we.

The process…of popcorn

“And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” Mark 1:17

Popcorn. Crisp little pieces of corn cook so that they burst inside out. With the right amount of butter on it, popcorn is nearly irresistible. But how long does it take to prepare popcorn?

Believe it or not, the time can vary from 2.5 minutes to 12 minutes! I was astounded! Now, of course, the quicker method is by using the microwave. That boxy piece of equipment has made cooking speeds crazy fast. And sometimes, I’m not so sure that is the best thing. Oh, it’s great for warming something up very quickly but cooking things in it just doesn’t have the same effect as choosing a different method of cooking.

The popcorn cooked in the microwave had a rating of 3 to 5 out of 10 compared to the popcorn cooked on the stove in a Whirly Pop pan had a rating of 9.5 out of 10. Now, seeing that, I feel the need to run out and buy a pan and pop some popcorn! I’ll wait the 3 minutes (after the pan warmed up, I’m sure) that was required to produce 9.5 out of 10 popcorn. Lather that stuff in some butter and I’m game.

The whole point of that little science experiment is to show this – sometimes we need to wait to get to the end product.

Let’s take a look at Mark 1:17. I’m not sure about you, but I have read this verse many times and never really noticed the word “become.”

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines become as this – “To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state or condition, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a new character”.

Knowing that definition, look back at the verse. It seems to me that Mark, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, was inspired to remind his reader that Jesus knew and understood that it was a process to become a fisher of men.

When you compare this verse to the other account of Jesus calling His disciples, He says, “I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) Now, there is no contradiction here. The end result is the same – being a fisher of men. It’s just like when 2 people you know tell the same story of their child learning to ride a bike. One might mention the terrified look on the child’s face when the other one failed to mention it all together. The end result is still the same.

What struck me when I read this verse was that we live in an instant gratification society. We want it now! We don’t want to wait. We don’t want to have to do anything to get it. We want what we want and we want it now.

I believe that when I came across this verse, again, Jesus was speaking to me that I need to become. I need to recognize that there is a process in how He is molding me and making me for His honor and glory. I am being invited to walk alongside Him and to learn to recognize when He is at work around me and to choose to join Him where He is at. You see, I think too often I ask Him to join me where I am at and not look to see where He is at. There is a difference there. It is as different as a kernel of dried corn and a kernel of popcorn.

But it is a process of becoming. It is a process of moving from one state to another. It is a process of assuming or receiving a new character, new qualities. It is not instant gratification. It is not the fairy godmother waving her wand and turning my rags into a beautiful, jewel encrusted ball gown. No. That’s not how it works. Jesus isn’t a genie going *poof* “what do you need?” *poof* “what do you need?”

Jesus is interested in me (and you). He is interested in developing a relationship that allows me (and you) to become a useful vessel for His will. And He wants to love me (and you) all the way through the process. If He were to give me (or you) everything you would ever need in one overwhelming swoop, well, I (and you) would be so consumed that we would be paralyzed to act. Jesus doesn’t want that for either of us.

So the next time you step into the kitchen for that delightful treat of a buttery bowl of popcorn, remember, it’s a process to get exactly what your heart desires. Don’t rush it. Let the process run its coarse and don’t rush things. It’s worth the wait.

Sabbath moments

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, And thy faithfulness every night” Psalm 92:1,2

This weekend, I had the opportunity to go and visit with my kids at college. We were sitting at dinner on Saturday night and they began talking about their Main Event messages. Now let me explain. They attend the Baptist Student Fellowship on their campus. Tuesday nights is Main Event night. It is a time where they all get together for a service.

This particular service that they were talking about was about having a Sabbath Day of rest. Now, this day of rest doesn’t have to be on Sunday. It can be any day of the week. It needs to be a time where you rest from your activities that consume your day and you just have time to be with Jesus for a while. And physically rest.

To two college students neck deep in papers and tests and over shadowed by activities in all the organizations they are a part of, this sounded like a pipe dream. A whole day to do nothing but rest is outside of their scope of reality.

And if I was going to guess it is outside of yours and mine reality as well.

So, let’s take a moment and see if we can break this down into tolerable chunks that we can digest. What if I, because I can only speak for myself, what if I were to take my time in the morning more serious? What if I were to focus my attention, my thoughts, my actions on spending QUALITY time with God instead of checking Him off the list of things to do today? What if, instead of a Sabbath Day, I took Sabbath moments?

A Sabbath moment. A moment in my day, or moments in my day, where I rested in Jesus. What if instead of hurrying through my Bible study in the morning I just sat there for a moment? Doing nothing. Just listening. Just absorbing. Just appreciating, for a moment, the beauty of the sun lighting up the sky or my dog sleeping on the couch. Just breathing in and out the fresh air that God has provided for me this morning. Focusing, for a moment, on His lovingkindness that consumes me at that moment. What if….

And what if at night, before I drift off to sleep, I review my day and thank Him for His faithfulness throughout the day? What if I took a moment to say thank you and to remember all the ways in which I saw His hand at work in my life? What if I took that Sabbath moment right before I went to sleep to remember how abundant His blessings were in my experiences of Him that day? What if…

We live a life of chaos and busyness and hurryness and time crunching and deadlines that we need to take more Sabbath moments. Maybe you need to take one right now. Maybe lunchtime. Maybe while the baby is sleeping. Maybe you need the day. Maybe 10 minutes will do. Whatever the case, take more Sabbath moments. Take more time to rest in Jesus. Take more time to praise Him for all He is and all He does in your life. Take the time. Trust me, it is time well spent.

Rest a while

“And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” Mark 6:31

This last weekend, my husband and I took some time away to go to Colorado to see the aspen trees. My, oh my, were they amazing! We hiked for 9 miles one day. My knees and hips were killing me during the last 3 miles of a 2000 foot descent.

Now, those of you that know me, know that I love to talk. I can be very chatty at times. And this weekend, on this mountain, I was the chattiest of all time. I was asking random questions, trying to start random conversations by unique observations….and nothing was working. My husband was silent. Oh, he would respond if necessary. But the conversation never caught on.

I remarked later that he was very pensive on our hike. He was quiet despite my attempts to spearhead a conversation. He told me that sometimes he just likes to be quiet. Sometimes he just likes to hear the silent. He is so busy with his job that the quiet of the forest was a welcome venue. I hadn’t thought about that. I was so excited to be alone with him without his phone dinging with a new email every 30 seconds that quiet was beyond my realm of reality. I was too focused on myself to be able to think about what he needed from this trip.

Now, the next day after this incredibly long hike, we needed rest. In fact, our rest actually lasted 2 days. And it was lovely. Oh, we went and did things and saw more beautiful sights, but we did so without purpose and allowed ourself to stop and rest along the way. It was very nice.

I learned some things this during this weekend away.

1) Don’t hike downhill 3 miles with a 2000 foot elevation change. It is killer on the hips and knees.

2) It is okay to be quiet sometimes. It’s actually part of a communication technique – to be silent. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” James 1:19 I am not normally slow to speak, aka quiet. I am working on that.

3) It is okay to rest. Being a mom and the first born of my family, I am not good at resting. I have too much to do. Too many things need my attention. But here in Mark, Jesus reminds me that in the midst of my chaos, I need to come away and rest. I think that the reason I have so much trouble with resting is that it gives me time to think. And when I have time to think, I realize the mess that I often make in my life. I realize that my relationship with Jesus isn’t what it ought to be. Resting, despite what it appears to insinuate, requires action and choice. It requires that you make the choice to purposefully lay aside all the stuff you think needs to be done and focus on you for a while. And that focus often brings into view more choices and decisions that require you change your mind and refocus your view. All being done while physically doing nothing.

So, I want to encourage you today to take a few minutes to rest and be quiet. Listen to what Jesus is saying to your heart. Let Him show you where things are not quite lining up and where you are doing a good job. Grab yourself a lovely warm drink (mine would be coffee – decaf in the afternoon, I am getting old…) and just be.

Oh, and don’t descent 2000 feet in 3 miles on foot if you can help it!