Dawnings

When I’m at the beach, I almost always go outside to watch the sunrises and sunsets even if no family member goes with me. I just grab my camera and go alone to the beach.  I love seeing the rays of light punch holes in the dark sky. I love the beautiful colors that begin to spread across the sky. I love the first glimpse of the sun when it seems to rise out of the murky waters. I love the gentle sea breezes and the shrieking of the shorebirds as they search for and find their first food of the day. I even like the noises made by boats as they head out to deeper waters. There’s just something extra special about the dawning of a new day—and/or a new year! Each one is full of promise, full of unknowns.

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) apparently appreciated the dawns, just as I do.  In one of her songs, Another Day Is Dawning, she mentions specific opportunities she anticipates in the new day, among them: making progress, praising God, serving others, witnessing to God’s love…Several times, she mentions her longing to spend another day with Him. If by that she means she wants to be aware of God’s presence with her and to enjoy Him, to feel His great love, to talk with Him throughout the day… then I feel a kinship with her because THAT is what I want, too! 

Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning.

Ecclesiastes 11:7, New Living Translation

Christmas Cards

Note: I wrote the following article in 1999, but it continues to express how I feel. Perhaps you, too, Dear Reader, can relate.

     

I always delay getting started on the annual project of mailing Christmas cards for I know it will take considerable time during the season of the year when extra time is hard to come by.

For me, the first and most difficult step is updating the names and addresses stored in my computer. Every year, I release a deep sigh as I realize how many changes need to be made in the Christmas card list. Some of our friends have moved; others have merely switched from a street to a post office box address or vice versa. In some families, marriages of adult children require me to change the names of the recipients from “Mr. & Mrs….and daughters” to “Mr. & Mrs.…and family” in order to include the new son-in-law. Sometimes I need to add the name of a new baby, but not so this year.

As I make the changes, I rejoice with those who have an address change due to the finding of a new job that required them to relocate; with those who moved closer “home;” and with those who, following retirement, moved into their much-dreamed-about house on the beach or in the mountains.

     
However, I find myself blinking back tears as I delete the names of those who have passed away since last Christmas. In several situations, a “Mr. and Mrs.” becomes either a “Mr.” or a “Ms.” I update those changes easily by pointing and clicking my mouse and then making a few key strokes. As I do so, I become acutely aware that the surviving spouse and family members find changes infinitely more difficult to make.

As I remove the names of the deceased, I pause to reflect on each one.  I recall some of the experiences we shared. I think about the special things they did or said. I think about the things they liked. I think about where they lived. I think about the circumstances surrounding their death. And I know that I miss them this Christmas. 

In the midst of missing them, I give thanks for the impact each one had on my life. Thus, preparing Christmas cards is a bittersweet experience. Mourning the passing of loved ones.  Celebrating the gift of life others continue to receive. Weeping with those who are undergoing difficulties. Rejoicing with those whose dreams have been fulfilled. Acknowledging that certain relationships have come to an end. Welcoming new people into our circle of family and friends.  

Despite feeling such a range of emotions, I am able to look at every name on the list and say, as did the Apostle Paul, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God” (Philippians 1:3, New Living Translation). And, again using the words of the Apostle Paul, I can confidently say to each family, regardless of their situation, that “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Romans 8:28, NLT), and “that nothing can ever separate us from His love” (Romans 8:38, NLT).

When I begin to give thanks to God for each person on the list, I see that all the steps involved in sending Christmas cards become a gateway to joy, and I wonder why I delay beginning the journey.

Give Thanks Every Day!

Give thanks to the LORD, 

for He is good;

For His lovingkindness 

is everlasting.

~Psalm 118:1, NASB

Look for the Beauty and the Blessings

With camera in hand, I walked through the gate to my neighbor's garden. "I doubt you’ll find anything to photograph here,” she said apologetically. 

I smiled, having already spotted several things that I wanted to photograph.

She enjoys her garden most when it’s at its peak--when it’s filled with soft pastels on her hydrangeas and vibrant colors on her geraniums and roses. Indeed, it is a delight at that time; but…I also love her garden in the fall when the blooms and leaves are aging and turning beautiful shades of brown before drifting down to the ground.

Just as I can find unique beauty in the garden every season, I also find beauty in whatever season of life I’m in. Even in late fall and mid-winter, there’s beauty to be found in the garden and in life.  Although I sometimes have to look more closely to find it, it’s there!

Dear Reader, will you take a close look at your life in order to see the beauty that surrounds you? If you don’t see much that delights you in your current season or situation, will you ask God to open your eyes so you can see the blessings that surround you? The beauty and the blessings are there! Look for them! Thank Him for every one you find.

Out of Great Darkness

Giving and Getting

Seemingly Small

I enjoy reading about how God uses seemingly small acts of obedience to accomplish far more than we ever dreamed would happen. The “back story” to the hymn, I’m a Child of the King, proves that.

Harriet Buell wrote the words one Sunday while she was walking home from church. She submitted the song for publication. It was printed in the February 1, 1877, issue of the Northern Christian Advocate.

Six years later, when Peter Bilhorn was doing evangelistic work among the cowboys in the West, he and his traveling companions were traveling up the Missouri River on their way to Bismarck. When they stopped at Blunt one Sunday morning to unload freight, a crowd of men and boys came down to the wharf. Mr. Bilhorn took his little organ and went on the wharf-boat to sing a few songs, including I’m a Child of the King.  

He thought nothing more of it, but that was not the end of the story, as Mr. Bilhorn discovered the day he sang that same song in Rev. Moody’s church in Chicago. Afterward, a man in the back of the house stood up and talked about having heard that same song in Blunt, Dakota, two years ago. Although he was then an unsaved man, the song set him to thinking. He decided to accept Christ and was studying for the ministry.

As I reflected on that back story, I felt amazed at the wonderful ways God had used each person’s obedience. The woman, whose heart was filled with gratitude over being a “child of the King,” felt compelled to express her thoughts and to submit them to an editor who chose to publish them. Mr. Bilhorn somehow discovered the song and chose to sing it to the crowd of men and boys. At least one of them chose to believe the Good News that was shared in the simple, yet profound, words penned by Ms. Buell, words  that had finally reached him after having been passed along from person to person.

Dear Reader, since we never know how God will use us to help spread the Good News to those who do not yet know there is a God who loves them and wants to forgive them of their sins and to bring them into His family, may we eagerly do everything, even the seemingly small things, that the Holy Spirit of God prompts us to do. God will take our little and make it much!

JOY

After reading the text of the online obituary for a 66-year-old woman I'd never met, I watched the video tribute created from photos provided by her family. I noticed how her face radiated joy in each of the photos, even in those I assumed were taken during her two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. Whether at the beach or other vacation spot or at home or attending the birth of a grandchild or interacting with her six grandchildren…, she seemed to radiate joy and love for others and for life itself. That made me wish I had had the pleasure of knowing her.

Along about the time I read her obituary, my daily Bible readings brought me to several passages about joy. For example, Galatians 5:22 says that joy is produced by the Holy Spirit within those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. Joy, along with eight other “fruit” (love, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity (faithfulness), tolerance, and self-control), will be as evident in the life of a believer as apples on a tree.

Reflecting on that prompted me to ask myself these questions, which you, Dear Reader, may want to ask yourself:

• As others look at my life, what “fruit” (evidence, proof) is there that the Holy Spirit of Christ lives within me?
• Is His “fruit” so evident that even those who don’t know me personally can see it and sense His presence?
• Can they/Do they see there is a distinct (and desirable!) difference in my life than in unbelievers whose lives are controlled by their “lower nature,” which leads them to “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5: 20-21)?

I had fun coloring this card a friend gave me.

God's Inexorable Love

As always when I read books by Elisabeth Elliot, I learn so much about what it means to be a Christian and how to live like one. Currently, I'm reading her book, God's Guidance: A Slow and Certain Light, published by Revel in 1997.

While writing about the importance of obeying God, she summarizes how God's chosen people (the Israelites) failed to trust Him and how they disobeyed Him time and time again. Even so, "In countless ways he bore with them, corrected them, punished them, goaded them, and brought them to the promised land. His love for them was inexorable" (p.45).

Note: I had to look up the pronunciation and definition of the word “inexorable,” whereupon I discovered that in’ eks(uh)r(uh)b(uh)l is an adjective that means “impossible to stop or prevent.” Synonyms are: relentless, unstoppable, inescapable, inevitable, unavoidable, irrevocable, unalterable...

That brought tears to my eyes, since I know His love for me (and for you, Dear Reader) is inexorable. As I reflected on that mind-boggling truth, I recalled the passage of Scripture our minister read and explained the Sunday morning many years ago when I re-committed my life to Christ.

In that passage, the Apostle Paul is praying that the Christians at Ephesus (and you and I) would know (experience; be fully convinced of) the great love God through Christ has for us. In a portion of that powerful prayer, we find these words: "may [you] have the strength to comprehend...what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:18-19, ESV).

Believing He loves us far more than we can imagine (or hope!) and responding gladly to that love makes ALL the difference. Because He loves us completely and constantly, we want to serve Him, to obey Him, to please Him... That's a far cry from keeping His commandments because we have to!