Just the other night I was at a neighbor’s home enjoying their company and a nice dinner. As we finished eating, the lady of the house mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and placed the first bunch in the oven. We sat at stools around the kitchen counter and talked and as the cookies began to get done, the aroma filled the kitchen and made our mouths water in anticipation. Fresh, hot cookies right out of the oven can hardly be beat.
There’s something about those kinds of things like cookies and homemade bread and a favorite recipe, that as they cook and you can smell the delicious aroma, you just know it’s going to be good. We move a little closer in preparation for the moment when our taste buds will be rewarded.
In the big Malls, the food vendors know of the draw the aroma their wares can have and try to position their stores, and the fans they use, to maximize the advantage. I think we instinctively know when something is going to be good and we seek it out.
A couple weeks ago, when I got up at 3am, there was a full moon and it was in the part of its lunar phase that it was just going down about then. I have a big window in my bedroom and it looks out over the back yard and the river. The moon was so big and so bright and it was just setting in the West right over the river. It was one of the most awesome pictures I have seen in some time.
There are other times in the early morning that I get to see some of the wonder of God’s creation that just leaves me breathless. The Northern Lights come to mind, and though we don’t get to see them much in this part of the country, when they do appear it is an incredible thing to witness. Maybe it’s a clear night with a billion stars all around or a fresh fallen snow with not a track in it yet. Sometimes I can get so overwhelmed with the scope and depth of this incredible world that I lose my equilibrium and my thoughts spin in wonder.
God’s creation is so amazing, I think of the Grand Canyon or the view from a remote mountain top. I think of the wild flowers that grow in the spring and the primrose that bloom in early summer. The bugle of a big bull Elk in fall, or the rush of streams in the spring. Watching an eagle dive in to the river and come up with a big fish is a sight to behold. Even a raging thunder storm can leave one in awe of the power of God.
As I thought of the cookies, and then all these other things, I began to think that maybe, just maybe, what we really have when we experience the beauty and incredible wonder of our Lord’s creation could really be like this delicious aroma for our souls. We instinctively try to draw a little closer. We scoot up a little nearer. I think God’s heaven is going to be so incredible. These creation experiences are just the Lord positioning his fans so the aroma of heaven tantalizes us. I can’t wait to sit at that table.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Which Direction?
Grownups always ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. Schools have career days where different adults in different professions come in to the schools and share about their business or job. I think that very few kids at that age can actually state with certainty their life career choice, in fact, many young adults in college change their major’s at least once or even many times. And what about the directions our lives take apart from the way we earn our living? Do we get to choose those directions?
When Karen and I were engaged and planning our lives together we both had ideas of how things would go. Both of our children were planned, our house, our church, our future plans. Audrey is deathly afraid of spiders. We didn’t plan that. Some people have coulrophobia, fear of clowns. When Karen got cancer our whole world was turned upside down. No one would ever plan that. You wouldn’t plan on losing your business or mounting up bills and medical expenses. You wouldn’t plan on going Home at an early age. So who planned that? God? Anyone at all?
I don’t believe God causes all the little details of our lives to happen. I don’t believe God points out certain people and directs that this one or that one will get cancer or have a fatal car wreck. I don’t believe the Lord causes some wives to be beaten or some children to be abducted or sexually abused. I believe the sinful world we live in as a result of fallen man is the catalyst for much of the despair and disease we see.
After losing Karen there were many dark, lonely times, and still are on occasion. What am I going to do now? How am I going to survive? How can I function? Can God even use me anymore?
I may have talked of this analogy before but sometimes when driving East from here, I cross the continental divide. One time, when I got to the top of the divide, it was raining very hard. I pulled over and just sat quietly for a few minutes, mostly because I’m a poet and I love those quiet, solitude, kinds of moments to think and reflect. It occurred to me as I sat there that all of our storms form out in the Pacific Ocean and travel from West to East. The rain falls where it may, and as I sat there it occurred to me that the rain that was falling on the West side of the divide, from where I sat, would begin the journey down the creeks and rivers and eventually end up in the Columbia river system and back to the Pacific. The rain that fell just a few feet to the East would begin its journey down the Missouri, and Mississippi river systems and eventually end up in the Gulf of Mexico. The thing is, the rain didn’t get to decide which side of the divide it fell on.
Sometimes the storms in our lives take us places we never intended to go. We don’t always get to choose which side of the ‘divide’ we land on. I know this with all certainty, Romans 8:28 All things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
Its ok to have goals and plans. Its ok to seek to better ourselves and our families. Just remember we are going to have storms. We are sometimes going to end up in places that we never intended. We may think we lost our direction, but if we seek the Lord and believe that all situations can work for good, we can go forward.
When Karen and I were engaged and planning our lives together we both had ideas of how things would go. Both of our children were planned, our house, our church, our future plans. Audrey is deathly afraid of spiders. We didn’t plan that. Some people have coulrophobia, fear of clowns. When Karen got cancer our whole world was turned upside down. No one would ever plan that. You wouldn’t plan on losing your business or mounting up bills and medical expenses. You wouldn’t plan on going Home at an early age. So who planned that? God? Anyone at all?
I don’t believe God causes all the little details of our lives to happen. I don’t believe God points out certain people and directs that this one or that one will get cancer or have a fatal car wreck. I don’t believe the Lord causes some wives to be beaten or some children to be abducted or sexually abused. I believe the sinful world we live in as a result of fallen man is the catalyst for much of the despair and disease we see.
After losing Karen there were many dark, lonely times, and still are on occasion. What am I going to do now? How am I going to survive? How can I function? Can God even use me anymore?
I may have talked of this analogy before but sometimes when driving East from here, I cross the continental divide. One time, when I got to the top of the divide, it was raining very hard. I pulled over and just sat quietly for a few minutes, mostly because I’m a poet and I love those quiet, solitude, kinds of moments to think and reflect. It occurred to me as I sat there that all of our storms form out in the Pacific Ocean and travel from West to East. The rain falls where it may, and as I sat there it occurred to me that the rain that was falling on the West side of the divide, from where I sat, would begin the journey down the creeks and rivers and eventually end up in the Columbia river system and back to the Pacific. The rain that fell just a few feet to the East would begin its journey down the Missouri, and Mississippi river systems and eventually end up in the Gulf of Mexico. The thing is, the rain didn’t get to decide which side of the divide it fell on.
Sometimes the storms in our lives take us places we never intended to go. We don’t always get to choose which side of the ‘divide’ we land on. I know this with all certainty, Romans 8:28 All things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
Its ok to have goals and plans. Its ok to seek to better ourselves and our families. Just remember we are going to have storms. We are sometimes going to end up in places that we never intended. We may think we lost our direction, but if we seek the Lord and believe that all situations can work for good, we can go forward.
Friday, April 10, 2009
How do I forgive
Last week, somewhere near Seattle, a father killed his five children and then himself. I think the children ranged in aged from 15 down to 3. He was apparently in some sort of insane rage over finding his wife with another man whom she told him she was leaving for. In the aftermath, the woman said that she had not entered into a sexual relationship with this other man to that point. Her marriage was obviously in turmoil and she felt it best to extricate herself from it. Of course her husband is now dead but would it be possible for her to ever forgive him for what he did to her children. How could she ever come to that point? I don’t know if she is a Christian. I don’t know if forgiveness is in her vocabulary. Are we, as humans, capable of forgiveness to that extent?
I see a woman here in my local community who seems to have a perpetual black eye. Every two or three months I see her, usually at the grocery store, and it appears that she has a fresh set of bruises on her face. It tears at my soul to see that and I know there are many studies and things showing why some women in these abusive relationships stay in them. That seems to be a different type of hurt-forgiveness cycle.
I am not sure if we, as humans, have the capacity for total forgiveness and absolution for the wrongs against us. Our heavenly father required a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and we celebrate that very, final, sacrifice this week, culminating with the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord.
Yes, we are made in the image of our Lord and maybe at some point in our maturity as Christians, we could reach a point of being able to totally forgive and forget. I don’t think I have reached that point yet. I have this cycle of growth and strength in my Christian walk where it seems I am stripped bare and that’s when I have the most growth, when I am left to realize how fragile I am. Like the Tamarack tree which seems at first glance, to be similar to all the other evergreen trees in the forest, but each fall it turns a bright yellow and then all the needles fall off and it’s left there seemingly bare. But it is one of the strongest trees in the forest. It will re-grow its needles, and add a growth ring to it trunk. It will continue to grow.
Maybe the Christians among us are like that. Seemingly, like all the rest of humanity around us, we then turn a different color from time to time and are left bare. Then we add a growth ring and are strengthened.
When I have trouble forgiving someone I find that the only, and best, thing I can do is to pray for that person. I have to take my eyes off them and off myself and the perceived wrong that’s been done, and place that person in the eyes of the Lord.
Whenever someone who I have had issues with in the past comes to the Lord, I sometimes jokingly say, Darn, I was really counting on hell-fire and damnation for that person. But seriously, that’s always a cause for praise. Praying for the person who we feel wronged us is so calming and healing that to not do that prevents us from growth. We can’t make a decision for Christ, for that person but we can find peace in our lives by praying for them.
I see a woman here in my local community who seems to have a perpetual black eye. Every two or three months I see her, usually at the grocery store, and it appears that she has a fresh set of bruises on her face. It tears at my soul to see that and I know there are many studies and things showing why some women in these abusive relationships stay in them. That seems to be a different type of hurt-forgiveness cycle.
I am not sure if we, as humans, have the capacity for total forgiveness and absolution for the wrongs against us. Our heavenly father required a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and we celebrate that very, final, sacrifice this week, culminating with the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord.
Yes, we are made in the image of our Lord and maybe at some point in our maturity as Christians, we could reach a point of being able to totally forgive and forget. I don’t think I have reached that point yet. I have this cycle of growth and strength in my Christian walk where it seems I am stripped bare and that’s when I have the most growth, when I am left to realize how fragile I am. Like the Tamarack tree which seems at first glance, to be similar to all the other evergreen trees in the forest, but each fall it turns a bright yellow and then all the needles fall off and it’s left there seemingly bare. But it is one of the strongest trees in the forest. It will re-grow its needles, and add a growth ring to it trunk. It will continue to grow.
Maybe the Christians among us are like that. Seemingly, like all the rest of humanity around us, we then turn a different color from time to time and are left bare. Then we add a growth ring and are strengthened.
When I have trouble forgiving someone I find that the only, and best, thing I can do is to pray for that person. I have to take my eyes off them and off myself and the perceived wrong that’s been done, and place that person in the eyes of the Lord.
Whenever someone who I have had issues with in the past comes to the Lord, I sometimes jokingly say, Darn, I was really counting on hell-fire and damnation for that person. But seriously, that’s always a cause for praise. Praying for the person who we feel wronged us is so calming and healing that to not do that prevents us from growth. We can’t make a decision for Christ, for that person but we can find peace in our lives by praying for them.
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