Call It What It Is

Last week, my family and I toured the High Line in NYC. It’s an old dilapidated elevated train that was to be torn down until a community group came to its rescue. It’s now an exquisite park with gorgeous foliage and sweeping views of New York City.


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The most recently completed section, the north end, is starkly different from the rest of the park in that its restoration intentionally left what the park architects call a “self-seeded landscape.”
 weeds
When my husband saw the unkempt disarray, he joked, “That’s what we’ll call our backyard weeds now – our ‘self-seeded landscape.’”
But no matter what you call it, you can’t change the truth, and the raw truth here is that the “self-seeded landscape” is really just a mass of weeds.   

We tend to do that with our spiritual weeds too – our sins. It’s part of our culture:
  • Politicians don’t lie – they “mis-speak.”  
  • Pastors don’t commit adultery – they “display a lapse in judgment.”  
  • People don’t steal from the government – they “fudge” their taxes.  
  • Professionals don’t stab co-workers in the back – they utilize “career strategy” to get ahead.
People may claim they made a mistake, but a mistake and a sin aren’t the same thing. A mistake is accidental. Sin is intentional. To call sin a mistake is to minimize our responsibility.
As wives and moms, our tongues and our tempers may cause us to sin. Losing these may seem more like a mistake than an intentional transgression, but self-control is a fruit of the Spirit and when we lose it, we need to address what we’ve done for what it is and take appropriate action.
Jesus didn’t die for our mistakes. He died for our sins. <<click to tweet>> A huge price was paid, and we mustn’t ever minimize our sins. Instead, we’re called to acknowledge our behavior with biblical accuracy. Take personal responsibility, confess and repent, and when necessary seek forgiveness.
Of course, it’s best if we can avoid spiritual “weeds” in the first place. But if one of those “weeds” sprouts up, don’t admire it. It’s destructive and deadly.

Call sin what it is, and eradicate it!  





Break My Heart

http://www.etsy.com/listing/70232215/break-my-heart-with-what-breaks-yours


60 years ago a man named Bob Pierce prayed these words in a prayer: “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” Dr. Bob Pierce founded World Vision after traveling to China in 1947 when his heart was broken with the needs of one little girl.
Yet I think there are other things, personal things, that break the heart of God. As I continued to mediate about this lyric, God whispered: You can love people around the world, but can you love the person sitting next to you?

Ouch!

What breaks God’s heart? Not just the children dying in poverty. It breaks God’s heart when my attitudes and actions represent the enemy more than they represent Him. I believe God is not as grieved by sinners who act like sinners as He is by Christians who act like sinners.

Please join me over at Laced With Grace today for more on what breaks God’s heart ~ and how not to! 

Getting Rid of the Rubbish


I was so proud of myself.

Spent a day digging, sorting, and clearing out stuff.

Stuff that I don’t wear.
Stuff that the kids have outgrown.
Stuff that has outlasted its usefulness.
Stuff that’s just collecting dust.


I bagged it, washed it, and carted it to the car to be donated to Ditto, the thrift shop that raises funds for my kids’ school.

Felt like a real accomplishment.

The problem is Ditto’s hours of operation aren’t in sync with my hours of operation ;D  I can’t seem to get there before their closing time.

And so I have been driving around with my discarded stuff for a week. I went through it – did the inventory. I identified and separated it. I even moved it. But I haven’t really gotten rid of it. I plan to, but it’s still there hanging around. Moving around. I stopped short yesterday and heard a symphony of shuffles as the stuff shifted around.

In order for me to actually get rid of this stuff, I have to make real change. I need to change my habits, to rearrange my schedule, to move out of my comfort zone.

And so it is in life. Just like the challenge of getting rid of physical clutter, it can be difficult to get rid of spiritual and emotional clutter. There are changes I think about, but never actually get around to making. Behavioral changes like exercising more or getting up earlier for quiet time or writing that encouraging note. Heart changes like forgiving or becoming less judgmental or being quicker to listen, slower to speak.
I’ve taken inventory, considered what I need to dispose of, even recorded it in my journal. But identifying what needs changing doesn’t actually create change. It may be a first step, but if I fail to take the next necessary steps, these wishes remain just that – wishes.

“The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?
“The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.” Romans 7:21-25 MSG

Well at least I’m not alone! I’m so grateful for God’s Word, and these words penned by Paul which reveal his and our earthly weaknesses. If I stopped reading at Romans 7, I’d be “wretched” (v.7:24) but thankfully Paul continues on. In Romans 8, he states, “There’s no condemnation… The Spirit helps us in our weakness… In all things, God works for the good… Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?… Nothing!”

When our perspective shifts to the eternal, Jesus empowers us to do that which we in our own strength are powerless to accomplish. He frees us from our accumulated baggage that encumbers.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matt. 11:28-30





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Do You See What I See?

Betsy, as promised, here’s the story…

At training camp last week, I entered the primitive shower stall ever-so-gently, trying not to waken my sleeping cabin-mates. And there it was. A cricket on the floor of the stall. Shudder!!

Have I ever mentioned – I have a thing about crickets. I absolutely LOATHE them. If they stay outdoors in their proper habitat, I can manage, barely. But should they dare to enter MY habitat, they become an endangered species.

It all goes back to the summer of ’79. A rainy summer it was, that first year my friends and I rented a summer cottage (think – converted garage) in the Hamptons. By summer’s end, we had enough of the rain, especially since it brought crickets and their incessant chirping inside. I learned to ferret out their hideaways, anticipate their jumping trajectory, and have my flip-flop poised, ready to trounce. I became a serial cricket-murderer.

[by the way, one of the kids at training camp told me that when he first heard the term serial murderer, he wondered why anyone would want to kill cereal. But I digress, sorry]

Now toward summer’s end, I developed a fierce case of bronchitis. When my friend, Donna, went out for the evening, I rested on the couch in the living room. Delirious with fever, not quite awake or asleep, but somewhere in between, I see it. Sitting on the coffee table beside my bed. Staring at me with its hideous eyes. Antennae quivering. A giant, white albino cricket. And I do mean giant – it was the exact length and width of the coffee table. Frozen under my sheets, I sense it poised, waiting to pounce at my slightest movement. My lungs constrict as I ponder its possible trajectory.


Ah! Lights flash in the driveway. A car door thud, followed by the crush of gravel underfoot. The screen door creaks and Donna enters the room. Courageously, I shout a warning, “LOOK OUT FOR THE CRICKET!” Baffled, she asks, “What cricket?”


What cricket??? Is she blind?


My arm pointing to the offender, I shriek, “THE GIANT ALBINO CRICKET ON THE COFFEE TABLE!” And then with a huff, I turn my back to both Donna and the cricket.


In my mind’s eye, I saw both Donna and the imaginary cricket, so I pose the question:

How can she miss what I can see so clearly?


Which, in my illustration-grappling mind, translates to “Why doesn’t everyone see things my way?”


Ok, so that time, it was a fever-induced hallucination. But there’s many a time that subconsciously we picture ourselves as “the smartest person in the room,” so why isn’t everyone listening to ME? And though we may not say it, we wonder – Can’t you see my brilliant wisdom?? Can’t you see the situation or the solution as clearly as I do?


Be it is a colleague at the office, a fellow team member with a differing leadership style, someone in our circle of friends or a family member, somewhere along the line, it is certain that we will encounter a thorn in flesh, and when we do, we need to get over ourselves.



When I have that prideful attitude, I’m wrong even if I’m right. In his letter to the Phillipians, Paul says it this way:


If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.


Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.







Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever…

The Christian life is not a “my way or the highway” life. Before insisting on our way, we need to consider others better than ourselves. Who knows? God used a donkey to speak to a prophet. Imagine what can He do with me when I set aside my own agenda.

Stains and Devils

There’s an unwritten (though oft spoken) rule in our house. My husband coined it, and my kids swear to it. The rule is this:

When something is spilled, it is either I who has spilled
or someone else has spilled on me.

I have learned to face the ugly truth:
I am a mess-magnet.


If you hear a crash in a restaurant, you can be sure that I am sitting nearby. When my dog hears me squeal “Oh no!” she makes a beeline for wherever I am, knowing that she might get a lucky mess to slurp off the floor.


This week, I exchanged an ill-fitting Christmas gift for a pretty new coat. I have always had black coats, yet for some reason, this pale pink faux shearling caught my eye. My daughter said it’s the ugliest thing she’s ever seen (she hates pink), and my husband thought it looks like pigskin, no not football pigskin leather, but a real pig’s skin. Despite their blistering fashion critique, I loved it.


I wore it the next day. As we were returning home, my husband asked me if I knew that there was blue ink all over the front of the brand new coat. The blood drained from my face when I saw the mass of squiggley road-map-blue lines staining the front of the coat. “That’s why you always have black coats,” said my astute husband.


So to deal with the crisis, I sought wise, experienced counsel.


Unfortunately, the trip to the dry cleaners confirmed my worst suspicions.


There was no hope.



But wait….

On my laundry room shelf was a product that had worked for me before (remember I am Stains ‘R Us).

Carbona Stain Devils
Good Christians everywhere avoid this product because of its name. Who wants a devil in their house?
But unlike that other devil, these devils remove stains.
Using #3 – the ink/crayon devil, I carefully followed the instructions, blotting out the ink and voila! No more stain!
Can you hear the Hallelujah chorus in the background as I jump around the laundry room?

And can you figure out where I’m going with this?

“God’s Stain Removal Guide”

After King David’s sin was exposed, he was filled with remorse. He cried out to the Lord asking for cleansing and renewal, asking for his stains to be removed. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin…. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” Psalm 51:1-2, 10


Though a murderer, David’s sins were no greater or worse than mine or yours. All sin separates us from God (Is. 59:2). But in His love and desire to be reunited with us, God got into the cleaning business.


He set up a sacrifice system under the law to cover sins, but then, Jesus came and paid the cleaning bill in full.


For our possessions, there are stain-devils to remove all kinds of stains, even blood.


But for His precious possession – us – He used His blood to remove our stains and to overcome the devil.


The stains on my pink coat rendered it useless, good only for the garbage heap, but with the cleansing, it is now a useful, functional asset to my wardrobe. When we’ve been cleansed and renewed, we become useful, functional assets to His kingdom.


“…Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Eph. 5:26-27


(Ooooo, He removes our stains and our wrinkles! )


It’s a good thing for a mess-magnet like me that God is in the cleaning and renewal business. It may have appeared that there was no hope for me, but that wasn’t the truth. He longs for us to be restored to Him.
So, my friend, how has He restored and used you?

Susan



A Bird in the WHAT?

There she sits, Momma Bird, who built her nest atop my front door wreath. Not too smart, Momma!

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The front door is a busy place in our house. Outside, my husband and son worked for weeks building the front walkway (an awesome job they did, by the way!). On the inside, a bustling family, complete with dog and a staircase just a few feet from the front door. Every time we are near the door, Momma senses danger and flies away to a nearby tree. Now you and I know that she is not really in danger, but from her point of view, there is grave danger. So, my question is – why, with the safe haven of a giant oak nearby, did she pick such a potentially dangerous place to build her nest?

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Reminds me of someone we read about in the book of Genesis – Abraham’s nephew, Lot. When Abraham and his nephew moved to Canaan, Lot “moved his tents near Sodom. The people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.” More than once, Uncle Abraham had to come to his rescue. Yet Lot remained camped at the edge of sin.

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In our lives today, we can behave like Lot. Listening to music or watching movies or TV shows that chip away at our sense of moral conduct. We engage in conversations that steer towards gossip rather than honest caring sharing. We purchase items with money we don’t have. It may not seem like the outrageous sin of Sodom, but when we are camped near the boundary of unrighteous behavior, our consciences become dulled. When we are entertained by the things of this world, we diminish our sensitivity to things of God. And that is a dangerous situation to be in!
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Our Momma bird has become less fearful of danger. Where she used to fly away at the slightest whisper, she now remains perched even when we come close to the door, acclimated to her environment.
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The moral of the story: While we are to be in the world, we are not be of it. Be loving, but not compromising. Life in the spirit is a battle, and as any good soldier will tell you, don’t camp near the enemy!
“Sin is crouching at your door and you must master it.” (Gen. 4:7)
“Let us be alert and self-controlled.” (1 Thess.5:6)
Susan

When must we NOT show mercy?

This is the first, but surely not the last, you will read about my gardening experiences. I find so many illustrations about the Christian life when I am tending my garden. Maybe that’s why it all began in a garden.

The truth is: I have a love/hate relationship with my garden. Oh, how I love the blooms, the fragrance, the sheer beauty that shows its face each spring. Oh, how I hate the seemingly endless care that it requires. And to be honest, I’m not the most gifted gardener. But, I try.

Today, I was attacking an overgrown hydrangea with the pruning shears. Perhaps “attacking” is too strong a word, but I think the hydrangea would disagree. From the plant’s point of view, I seemed just vicious, showing no mercy. But in fact, I was saving its life. There were shoots of dead wood, and if left intact, they would have a negative impact on the rest of the plant, as well as the other plants in the garden, especially the peony next door.

At times, I feared I was too aggressive, but I’ve had this hydrangea a long time. We’ve been through this before, and from past experience, I know that this seemingly harsh treatment is very beneficial. My hydrangea rewards me every summer with a bounty of blooms because with the life-sucking shoots gone, its energy can be directed toward new life.

As Christians, we are instructed to show mercy. Jesus says “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Matt. 5:7). Mercy is the very hallmark of the Christian. But there are times when what appears to be mercy isn’t. When a friend or loved one is engaged in dangerous behavior, they need boundaries and consequences, not an enabler. When sin is crouching at our door, it needs a swift kick right out that door. When envy or bitterness or resentment start slithering under our skin, we need to uproot and remove it. Just a few verses after Jesus teaches about mercy, He says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (Matt. 5:39) Oooh, well, that doesn’t seem too merciful to the eye, does it? No, but sin is like gangrene. It may start small, but unless it is amputated and removed, it will spread causing death and destruction.

So the truly merciful thing to do is nip it in the bud, just like my hydrangea.

Susan