Is this a camel or a gnat?

“You [spiritually] blind guides, who strain out a gnat [consuming yourselves with minuscule matters] and swallow a camel [ignoring and violating God’s precepts]!” Matthew 23:24 Amplified Bible

“Action expresses priorities.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

How many stories are about unimportant things everywhere we look, social media, television and publications? They distract from self-reflection and, (dare I say it?) Repentance. Just the other day I was worried about cleaning my house for company. I thought of the story of Mary and Martha while cleaning at break-neck speed. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet while Martha complained about Mary’s lack of help with dinner preparations. I’ve never had someone come to visit my house. I’ve had them come to laugh and share. I’ve had them come to express grief or an accomplishment. I don’t think dirt and dog hair is what they were looking for. I’ve never visited others and looked at smudges on the mirror or dirty dishes. Gnat or camel?

New year priorities. Am I swallowing a camel while focusing on gnats? A daily meeting at the feet of Jesus, even if it’s only for a few minutes, puts away camels. Here are some of my gnats and camels:

Thankfulness for another day or grumbling about the weather

Boredom with the tasks at hand or thankfulness I am physically able to accomplish them

Fearing others or thankful for the Father’s protection and guidance

Focusing on what’s wrong with me or asking for Divine Help and encouragement

Dusty furniture or arms around a discouraged child

Lack of money or upward call for creativity and discipline

Stumbling over and over the same sin or rejoicing in my grace to start again

Musings

It’s so easy to fixate on matters that mean very little. The dangerous part is overlooking all the love, support, beauty, and meaning the Father provides. What a waste of life and space! The spiritual leaders of Jesus’ time missed the Son of God. They were too impressed with their importance. They strained out a gnat and swallowed a camel.

Prayer

Dear Father,

Jesus demonstrated the important things in life. He demonstrated love even when under attack, entrapment or shame. Help us to notice all the truly important things today with thanks.

Amen.

For the New Year

“When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you hung my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I heard you say a prayer, and I knew there is a God I could always talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw how you handled your responsibilities, even when you didn’t feel good, and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it’s all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I learned most of life’s lessons that I need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I looked at you and wanted to say, “Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn’t looking.”

Each of us influences the life of a child.

Author Unknown–The Storyteller

Prayer

Dear Father,

Bless all who seek You. Bless all who struggle. Bless the sick. Bless the peacemaker. Bless the grieving. Bless the hungry. Bless those who do without being asked, give without counting the cost, and love even when their hearts break.

And use us to do Your Glory.

Amen.

Author Unknown

“After listening to the king, they went their way. And behold, the star they had seen in the east went on before them until it came to rest over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great gladness.” Matthew 2:9-10

“When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I heard you say a prayer, and I knew there is a God I could always talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw how you handled your responsibilities, even when you didn’t feel good, and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it’s all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I learned most of life’s lessons that I need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn’t looking I looked at you and wanted to say, ‘Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn’t looking.’

Each of us influences the life of a child.”

Author Unknown

The Storyteller

Prayer

Dear Father,

Bless all who seek You. Bless all who struggle. Bless the sick. Bless the peacemaker. Bless the grieving. Bless the hungry.

And use us to do Your Glory.

Amen.

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” Romans 12:12-13 ESV

“If you’re going through hell, keep going!” Winston Churchill

Churchill rallied and encouraged Great Britain through the tragedy and losses of WWII. If there was Hell on Earth, World War II came close. The devastation!  How anyone survived…

Paul gives us specific and encouraging things to do when waiting in turmoil for healing, financial relief, grief softening, rescue, and withdrawal symptoms to ease our pain and fill our hearts.

We don’t just sit there in self-pity. Though the temptation is great and I’ve indulged in it too many times to count, Paul points the way upward. My sister had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and I was constant in prayer but rejoice in hope? That’s where the Holy Spirit prays, comforts and teaches.

The situation may not be what is desired. Some people die. My spouse died from a horrible disease. Some died in war. Some were from accidents and all were prayed over. That’s a personal hell and we must keep going, especially if we trust the Father and His loving character. It’s okay to wrestle over this. Jacob did all night long. Or we may be flat broke and we are still to contribute to the needs of saints. Another wrestling match for sure, but we always have something to give.

Be hospitable. When I was newly widowed I fostered an abandoned dog. Being with others at that time was too challenging. Entertaining others? Forget it! The dinner after the funeral was all I could bear. I was wrestling. The Father gave me one of His creatures to love, feed, and nurture amid grief. It worked! The little guy had a hole in his heart. I did too. I healed. He passed after three years with me but was he happy for those three years! Me too.

Keep going. You may feel like you’re in a water less desert but that is not true. Seek the promises Jesus made: Living Water. Bread of Life. Wine for forgiveness. Ask for prayer. Let someone love you (or in my case an abandoned pup) until your hope is realized. You’re being patient and doing something in hope.

Musings

Patience is difficult for most of us. It helps to focus on what Jesus would have us do. Sometimes it’s seeking help. Sometimes it’s prayer. Sometimes it’s finding knowledge. Sometimes there’s a specific Bible verse for the situation and we memorize it. Sometimes it’s reaching for another. Patience is made much more frustrating if we do nothing and will lead to self-pity.

Prayer

Dear Father,

Patience is needed in most of our situations and how disheartening it can be! But we are to do something while we wait and it always ends up looking up with Jesus’ help. Most of the time, patience educates and strengthens. Why do things that are good for us sometimes are so difficult? Because it’s building character: Jesus’ character.

Thank you for guiding us through patience without retribution or shame. Help us to persevere.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Drop the Shame of Being a Beginner

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 NLT

“Change is hard at the beginning, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” — Robin Sharma

Why, oh why do we feel shame if we are a beginner? Babies learning to walk don’t feel shame, some bumps and bruises along the way, and they fall down many times before they run. Learning to ride a bicycle was daunting in my childhood years, yet I persisted and soared through forests, bumpy dirt roads and grassy vacant lots. Then I tackled ice-skating. Ouch! I had no embarrassment or shame in learning to play a game, the computer, driving. I did as I got older and someone saw me struggling. The focus was taken off the activity and onto me. When did it become shameful to become a beginner? I made many mistakes as a widow. I’ve never been a widow before. When I became a manager, I made mistakes. I’d never managed before. Quitting destructive behaviors. I’d never done that before. In fact, destructive behaviors are quite easy to pick up. Well, except when I started smoking and had to smoke a pack till I was nauseous, dizzy and green.

We are all new at something for the rest of our lives. Old? Yep. You’ve never been old before. Married? Yep. Never done that before. And if you’re remarried, you’ve never been married to that particular person before. New job? Yep. New people and skills to sharpen our education. Grace, loads and loads of it, is needed in all beginning situations.  We’re all beginners at something.

What to do?

Musings

Show up!!!  Take a class, ask a friend or mentor for help, read a book, do an online search, ask God for wisdom and courage. You’ll still fumble at first. But every day you show up, you’re making progress. Sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly. Drop the embarrassment and if someone teases you, you can bet they’re new at something too. Say a quick prayer for the outlier and put you focus on Him. The One who does all and is all. Struggle. We all have messy beginnings and middles, but the ending will be something when we’re with the Father, Son and Holy spirit.

Prayer

Father,

We were new when we became a part of your family with failures, sins and regrets intact. You welcomed us any way with singing and celebration.

Being new at anything in this world is humbling, scary, requires patience, discipline and trust. Hold back our shame in being a beginner. Help us to accept that we all, from infants to the very old, are learning new things. Help us to be kind and understanding with the beginners in our lives. “Unless we become like children…”

Amen.

“For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of disaster.” Proverbs 24:16 NASB

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” Abraham Lincoln

I have fallen many times. I’m older and can see most of the trip-ups and face-down experiences in my life. I wouldn’t want to be young and have to learn those lessons again! Even worse, older and learning them again—sometimes I do.

“Those who stand for nothing fall for everything,” was said by Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of our country. And we fall, especially when we’re young. We’re beginners. Everyone is a beginner at something. There is hope: We are fortunate to have a “High Priest” to help us.

Nobody knows how to “do” relationships at first. Even the apostles had to learn the right relations. Peter fell. David fell. Until we become acquainted with ourselves in light of our salvation, we will be tossed and thrown by our experiences with others. No one has had a perfect relationship. Even our relationship with the Father is imperfect on our side of it.

Nobody knows how to love in the beginning.  We are inundated with books, films, and television with what love is supposed to be. Even more discouraging are the fantastical happy endings. I believe love conquers all, but not the way we may hope or think. The cross is the perfect example—no one saw that coming.

Our greatest lessons come from our relationships. Parental love looks so lovely in our minds, in media, and in photographs. Any parent will say they have learned more about love than they ever expected when they became a parent. It requires patience, a backbone, sleepless nights, numerous prayers, and compassion.  Their frame of reference was their childhood, which is not perfect and may have many stumbles and pitfalls. Doubled efforts are required. Growing pains are many.

And we get to learn over and over. Through our colleagues, boss, cashier at the grocery store, the delivery person, and especially those in our church families.

We fall and then our Father reveals to us what we need to work on first. I’ve ignored this to my own peril. But the Spirit speaks gently without judgment and will not intrude. Learn to pause, listen, and self-reflect. What is this situation telling me?

Holidays can be excruciating. With the music, the happiness, and celebration, if alone, widowed, or abandoned, the holidays mock us. They make us want to shut everyone out and lock up our hearts. There are good things about the holidays with their messages of hope and sharing, but if there’s been an earth-shattering loss, holidays are salt in the gaping wounds. We may fall. But our Father promises He will never leave us or forsake us, though the feelings say differently. Feelings are not always correct.

Musings

In the Father’s loving ways, we come to this: We feel the heat or we see the Light. And the Light loves. No one has sacrificed as much to love us. No matter what we’ve said or done, we’re loved and we can stand up from our fallen position in His grace.

Prayer

Dear Father,

Through Your Son, we can get up and start over. The Word tells us Your mercies are new every morning. Others can’t give us what we so desperately need: a Savior. Help us to reflect on the Bible characters and their fallen experiences with hope and resolve.

With gratitude,

Amen.