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Invitation to the weary

I hope that many of the thoughts offered here cause you to hear God’s voice in new ways. I hope that the Scriptures we read together speak directly to you when you read them — you know, when you read something perfectly suited to whatever is going on in your life at the time and you think: It’s as though this were written just for me!

Scripture was written just for you. And for me. It is the voice of the Almighty Lord of the universe speaking to His children. Sometimes my mind stretches to its utmost, trying to absorb that reality — and it is still too big for me.

Scripture opens up in a new way when I read it with this in mind. The following guest post from Mary Jane Smith looks at one verse that is so familiar, we tend to forget what a tender, amazing invitation we’ve been given. I hope your heart and soul hear these words of Jesus. He offers this invitation every day.

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An Invitation

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NASB).

Over the years I have received invitations to many and varied events. Those for a black-tie gala to fund a charity I support were beautifully engraved. Most often, invitations have been specific to an occasion . . . birthdays, baby showers, weddings, or retirement parties. Still others have been spontaneous, with a phone call or note saying “Meet me at our favorite place for coffee” or “I just tried a new recipe, come over and we will sample it together.”

Some invitations are much easier to decline than others, aren’t they? Like the multi-colored flyers saying that you could be one of the “winners” of five lovely prize choices – all you have to do is be there and “scratch-off” the winning number. Right!

I love to receive invitations (for the most part), and it hurts my heart if I must decline one from a dear friend because of a conflict in my schedule. If that happens, I contact that friend immediately and let them know I am not available for that particular date. If possible, I make arrangements to get with them and debrief with them about their special happening (hopefully with photos involved, as well).

An invitation is actually a request to share in the life of the one who issues it. Of all the invitations ever given to mankind, the most loving and grace-filled is the one Jesus gave us in Matthew 11:28 (NASB). It should be given our full attention. Over the last two millennia, His invitation has been read or spoken aloud countless times.

I wonder how often this particular invitation is casually “tossed in the trash container” with no response provided? Or maybe it is “declined” immediately with an excuse that it is not a convenient time. It might be set aside to be pondered later—after one has had a chance to review all the options. How often do we accept this invitation?

Yet, God’s grace is infinite! The invitation Jesus provided is “open-ended” – it will stand until God removes His Spirit from this world. Is it not remarkable that His love is so encompassing that the invitation is given again and again? It repeatedly provides us the opportunity to accept His immeasurable gift.

Holy Father, Thank you for sending us your precious Son to be our Saviour. Also, thank you for the invitation Jesus gave us to lay all our burdens on Him so we might have complete rest in Him.

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In This Place (wherever you are)

So I’ll just admit this right up front: My head is not organized today. There’s a lot swirling around in there that I just can’t seem to file in neat and orderly form, so I hope you’re up to spending a little more effort in reading my thoughts today. You may need to sort things out more than usual.

Or, hey, maybe we’ll both just depend on the Spirit’s teaching here. That might be the most reliable plan. I’ll type and you read and — Lord, open our eyes and ears to whatever You’re saying to us today.

Genesis is difficult reading, did you know that? There’s story after story of God’s interaction with the people He’s created, but there’s also so many things set in the culture of those times that I just do not understand. And as I read, all these questions pop into my head that currently have no answers. But then there are also those gems that grab me, shake me, and say, “Pay attention. This is you!”

There’s the story of Jacob. Sometimes he’s the good guy, sometimes the bad guy. In Chapter 28, he’s on the run because he’s cheated his brother and his brother is now scheming to kill him. (No, this is not yet the part that applies to me.)

He’s on his way back to his mother’s country where he hopes to stay until his brother cools off. One night he has a dream. He sees a stairway that reaches up to heaven, and angels are going up and down the stairs. The Lord stands at the top of the stairway and He speaks to Jacob, confirming the same promise He had given to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!” (Genesis 28:16-17)

Now that is the verse I cannot forget. The Lord is in this place — and I was not even aware of it! How many days do we slog through, failing to see God right there with us?

Jacob thought he stood at the gateway to heaven. We stand IN heaven now, through Christ ushering us into God’s very presence. We are living in that kingdom. In my 24 hours, or 1440 minutes, or 86400 seconds today, how many of those are soaked with an awareness of the Lord being present in this place in my life? How often we miss the awesomeness of His presence!

The second thing that I must write about today (because if I don’t write these things now, I cannot concentrate on anything else) is Mr. Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. Sold into slavery by his jealous older brothers. All alone in a foreign land. He has no contact with his family. Even when things do seem to be turning around for him and he lands a great job with a boss who likes and trusts him, he ends up in jail as a result of doing the right thing. He sits in jail for over two years. Again, because he did the right thing. One man could have saved him, but he forgot Joseph. I wonder what young Joseph is thinking during those years in jail.

Fast forward a number of years, after Joseph is finally released and has become second in command to Pharaoh himself. He has a wife and children. And he named one son Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my grief” (Genesis 41:52).

Fruitful in a land of grief. Ah, Lord, may I have the grace to say that. May I have the open eyes to see that. To see Your presence at every step of my journey, in every land through which I travel, in lands of grief, lands of pain, and lands of laughter and joy. May I see Your gifts bestowed every day because You are here in whatever place I am in right now — I am living right here in Your kingdom.

And that is tied to the third thing I must share with you, a recent blog from an Everyday Servant. He begins with a plea that I’ll bet you’ve prayed yourself: “Please God, save me from today!” It will take you less than a minute to read, but I hope all these jumbled thoughts come together today and remind us all that the Lord is in whatever place we are today.

http://everydayservant.com/please-god-save-me-from-today/

Blessings on your day in His awesome presence.

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Back to the basics for the New Year

Making New Year’s resolutions today? I’ve done my share over the years, but until the end of the year I don’t even remember them. In this guest post, Mary Jane Smith suggests we stick to the basics — God’s basics.

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Packing Up

II Cor. 5: 17  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”

The Christmas season is by far my favorite time of year.  Especially here in Florida, I miss the four seasons of Ohio – but I certainly do not miss the cold, rainy, snowy winters there!

Today as I started my day, I thought back to my Holiday decoration and the pleasure I receive from the sparkling white lights and the ornaments collected over my lifetime.  Some are treasured ones passed down from family who have long ago gone to be with Jesus.  Some are lovingly hand-painted and were given to me this year.  Each one represents a time and a story from my life and special people and events that touched my life.

I sigh as I realize as quickly as it came, Christmas is over for this year, and I must face the “take-down” process . . . the boxing and storing of precious items to wait for another year to be brought out and carefully placed again next year.  As everything gets put away, I remember when I was younger, this was my day to make my resolutions!  I no longer sit down and “make a list” like I did back then.

However, I do meditate on what Jesus has brought me through during the year.  Only He knows what I will face as the New Year dawns.  I review areas of my life that need attention and pray for His guidance to either alter or change areas completely as He points them out to me.  My goals have become less dramatic as I age.  I am no longer focused on “making a living”, so much as “making a life” that pleases my Father.

As I look around the living room, now clear of the Holiday decorations, it is back to basics.  This reminds me that God wants us always to go back to His basics — prayer, Bible study, and worship.  If I continue to stay connected to my Father through prayer; remain immersed in His Word; and faithfully gather with my church family to worship, I will not need to depend on resolutions to make the New Year a better year.

God already knows what the coming year holds for each of us.  So, for a wonderful New Year all we need is to stay connected to our Father and walk the path He directs regardless of the circumstances.  We will be able to look back and like Paul, we can say . . . “the old has gone, the new has come.”

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Trees by the Water (A reminder)

This is a re-post (with minor changes)  from the first year of this blog.
More importantly, at the threshold of a new year, it is a reminder to myself of where I want to be and to Whom I owe the life I’m living.

Trees by the Water

Just a short personal story to explain this photo, a small portion of which I use as my photo ID across the web.

I was vacationing with friends. When we arrived at our rented vacation home, the bedroom situation wasn’t quite what we had expected, and we found ourselves short one bedroom. There were tiny ripples of disappointment and frustration throughout the house. I was road weary and just wanted to settle in. I took the couch in the library as my bed.

On top of the weariness and disappointment, I had too many noisy voices in my head that day. I was in the process of trying to sort out whether or not to leave a long-time job. Confused. Doubtful. Arguing with myself, going ’round in circles. I was torn between old ways and habits of thinking and new paths I felt called to follow …

Did I mention how tired I was?

Not too many weeks before, the Lord’s promise in Jeremiah 17:7-8 had seared itself into my heart.

“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD
and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.

They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.

Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.”

This was the life I wanted to live!
I had made the decision to put all my eggs into one basket — into God’s hands.

But that night on the couch in Roque Bluffs, I was so weary. Under siege by doubts, discouragement, and self-criticism, I was at the point of giving up on what seemed like an impossible new life. When I went to bed that first night, darkness had fallen outside — and seeped into my mind and my heart.

But when I opened my eyes to morning light, the first imprint on my brain was the view you see in the photo. Without putting on my glasses or even lifting my head from my pillow, I saw green trees outlined against a shimmering stretch of silver sea.

Trees by the water.

I had a perfect view, from my bed on the couch. No other bed in the house had that view, that I needed, on that day.

God said, “Trust me.”

I slept on the couch for a week, waking each morning to the view of green trees by the water and the reminder, “Trust me.”

And, if you look verrrry closely at the photograph, there I sit at water’s edge… learning to be a tree planted by the water.

　

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He knows what He’s doing … even when I do not

I like having my ducks in a row.
But sometimes I can’t even find all my ducks.

I like knowing The Plan — what the goal is and how we’re going to get there, a neat and direct road map.
But sometimes I feel as though I have no idea where I’m headed and I’m just hacking my way through the thick underbrush.

I like lists. Even more, I like scratching things off my list. Knowing I’ve accomplished and I’ve progressed.
But sometimes all I can see is that I’ve taken two baby steps forward and five giant steps backwards.

I have been reminded constantly this week that God uses everything in our lives for our good. “Every crumb,” someone else wrote.*  Yes, even the evil meant to harm us.  The weakness that frustrates us. The failure that we lament. The thorns in our lives that we think limit our growth or our ministry and we wish God would remove. Those thorns in our lives are often our own shortcomings, the areas in which we are weakest, or wounds that do not seem to be heal.

C. S. Lewis  wrote, “Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you.”**

I would like to add that the mysteries of our lives — the whys and the why-nots are no mystery to our Father. He is working through all of it, even though we feel as though all we get done some days is hack through a few more inches of underbrush. God has a much bigger view of what is happening to us on those days.

These two Scriptures are so familiar that I fear the words often flow in one ear and out the other, and the heartbeat of God found here never has a chance to settle into our brains and then reverberate into every part of our souls. As you think about these words today, ask God to hear His heartbeat of love for you.

And we know 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).

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago (Ephesians 2:10).

 

 

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* I am sorry that I cannot remember where I read this. If that Someone Else was you, please know that your words were part of God’s message to me this week. Thank you.

** From The Problem of Pain