A Mother's Day reflection of an empty nest

Recently I was pulling weeds in my flower bed and I saw an empty nest in the tree. I have been thinking about that little empty nest a lot. In light of Mother's day, and the fact that I am a Mother, I was thinking about my own nest.

Last Mother's day I still had a bird in my nest. Daniel was still living at home then. So this is the first Mother's day that I have had an empty nest.

At first it was very hard. I know we hear the phrase..."Give your children roots and wings", but it's easier said than done. Until that time comes you think it's all going to be fine. I mean, you have been preparing them their whole life for this right?

But then you wonder....

What if their wings aren't strong enough?
What if they're not ready?

Well ready or not, that day finally comes.

He moved out last July to get his own place and to get ready to make his own nest. Which he did last November. I felt at first like he took a piece of my heart with him.

As I reflect on that today...

That's okay. There's still so much of my heart here in my nest... So much I have learned. So much left to learn. Yes, some of my heart is gone... but most of it remains. Remains with which to continue to build on my nest with my sweet husband.

So I can continue to give some more of my heart away.

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages...
I am in a ship tossed about.
My cargo is ...
Grief... unbearable
Questions... unanswered
I see you...
From a distance.
Oh God my rock,
My grief is so great...
I may drown in it.
The water is overflowing...
Spilling over the ship.
I'm coming closer.
I can see you are near but...
I'm afraid I will crash.
Crash onto you, The Rock.
Dear God I'm crashing...
I crash my ship of grief
Onto The Rock of ages.
My ship breaks open.
Spilling its contents...
All over the rock
But...
I do not drown.
I am saved...
Delivered.
I find refuge...
Shelter.
I climb on.
I hang on.
I gain strength.
Oh Rock who bore me..
Rock who formed me.
I will live upon the rock.
The Rock of Ages.

Written for a grieving family, dear friends. May God be your Rock during this difficult time.

Based on Psalm 18:2:

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

Wait, Who wants to do that?

Wait... who wants to do that? Waiting is hard isn't it?

One reason it's hard is we live in an impatient world. We want it, and we want it now!

We want things fast... slim-fast, instagram, quicken loans, etc. This is the society we live in. The microwave doesn't even seem fast enough!

 Micah 7:7 says, " But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me."

" Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD." Psalm 27:14

" I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined to me and heard my cry." Psalm 40:1

1. Wait. ( for the Lord). In all of these Scriptures above, it doesn't say wait ON the Lord, it says wait FOR the Lord!

2. When you're waiting, God waits with you.

" Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him."  Isaiah 39:18 (ESV)

So He waits that He may be gracious. You will be blessed if you wait for Him.

Wait... for His timing... wait for His purpose.. He is working even if you don't see it!

3. God still hears you.

Wait.... and in your waiting know that He still hears you. In two of the verses above it says that God hears your cry and your prayer.

" ... Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words." Daniel 10:12

Don't lose heart dear Christian, He hears you...

4. God will give you strength to wait.

" Those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary." Isaiah 41:10

Don't lose hope. God will give you strength to wait. A renewed strength for the journey ahead. Who knows but what in this journey of waiting, when you can't seem to put one foot in front of the other.....

He may give you wings!

We are all Farmers

If you watched the Super Bowl last Sunday night you may have seen a great commercial.  I'm not much into football, so I mainly watch the commercials. My favorite commercial was "God Made a Farmer". I think that commercial touched the hearts and struck a chord with many people all over this country.

But why?

Why did it sink so deep into our psyche?

I cannot speak for everyone, but I have some thoughts...

I believe we love and miss Paul Harvey. It was so great to hear his voice again. The first thing you saw and heard was an old rustic looking church, then Paul Harvey's clear voice ringing out the words..." God created and then He needed a caretaker...a farmer to tend it." I believe that even if people don't go to church, they loved to see an old church; the nostalgia of it. I wonder sometimes if people aren't just a little tired of all the glitz and glamor in some of our churches? The slick Madison Avenue kind of church.

We long for the little church in the wild wood.
That makes us think of our childhood.

Then, we saw the slightly smiling face of a farmer... looking like he had a secret. The rugged and wrinkled face of this man was a welcome sight to many people who have grown tired of the "pulled tight" look of the Hollywood face. Just the realness and friendliness of his face was so welcoming.

We long for people who are friendly and real when we are surrounded by phonies.
We would love it if he was our neighbor.

Then, we saw the rugged hands of a hard working farmer. The faceless image spoke volumes of someone who has worked hard from sun-up to sun-down. It was refreshing to see someone who in this society of the "entitlement mentality" didn't mind to work hard for his livelihood. We as a nation wanted to see that! I would go so far as to say, we NEEDED to see that!

Then, at the end, he said we are all farmers. Many of us are...

The Mother who works with her child, teaching that child right from wrong.

The Father who gets up early and goes off to work, day in and day out.

They are both planting a seed into that child.

The teacher that teaches lessons in school and lessons in character, waters the seed.

The Pastor, the Sunday School teacher, who teaches the lessons each week and preaches the sermons, they are also planting a seed.

The Christian friend who speaks a word into the heart where the seed has been planted; he or she waters the seed. Someone may come behind and harvest.

Oh yes...

We are all farmers of some sort.

God give us more farmers!

It's time to cancel your daily rehearsal!

Recently I posted a verse on facebook that says:

"Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night." Revelation 12:10 This verse made me think of how Satan is tireless to accuse us. To bring our sins up to God. He does the same thing to us. He whispers in our ear ugly reminders of our past sins. "You'll never be good enough." Or, "How could God love you after everything that you have done?" Sound familiar? This causes us to have rehearsals... You don't have to be a singer... a instrumentalist. or an actor to hold regular rehearsals. You can also hold regular rehearsals as a Christian who doesn't forgive and forget... yourself! If you have come to Christ and repented, confessed your sins to God, why are you holding this regular rehearsal? Will this change anything? Will mulling this over again and again change the past or it's circumstances? More importantly, are you God?  Who are you to not forgive yourself when God has forgiven you? God has said in I John 1:9, " If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Not just some unrighteousness depending on if it's not too bad, but ALL unrighteousness! Planning on rehearsing today? I believe I would cancel that!

Be Still

Still carrying over my thoughts from yesterday about being still before God.
I love Steven Curtis Chapman's song, " Be Still and Know"
Here is the song of Steven singing it along with the lyrics.
Listen... Be Still and Worship.

 

Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is holy
Be still, O restless soul of mine
Bow before the Prince of peace
Let the noise and clamor cease
Be still

Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is faithful
Consider all that he has done
Stand in awe and be amazed
And know that He will never change
Be still

Be still and know that he is God
Be still and know he is our Father
Come rest your head upon his breast
Listen to the rhythm of his unfailing heart of love
Beating for His little ones
Calling each of us to come
Be still

Shhhh, Be Still, and Be Very, Very Quiet

I have not made any New Years resolutions this year other than to read God's Word and try to do what it says! But...

I am being drawn to two words I believe by God's Spirit.
They are "Quiet" and "Still"

I believe that the Lord is trying to tell me that I need to be quiet and still before Him.

We all live in a harried,hectic world. I especially found myself very busy during the holiday's. The Lord got my attention when my feet were knocked out from under me with sickness. I was having fever and chills and I had to be still. I also had to be quiet because frankly I couldn't talk!

During this down time is when I began thinking and listening to the Spirit's still small voice. I had been to busy to listen before.

So, during this time of the New year, a time of reflection, I want to focus on really doing these two things...
Being still before the Lord.
Being quiet before the Lord.

I am not finding this to be an easy thing for me. I don't have a very long attention span. In fact, the Lord is really going to have to help me with this! I have found several verses to help me focus my attention.

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10  "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..." Isaiah 30:15 "The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever." Isaiah 32:17 "But let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God." I Peter 3:4 I believe that this last verse will be the result of the sitting still and being quiet. "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3 The verse in I Peter says that a quiet spirit is precious in God's sight. I want to be precious in God's sight and please the Lord. So, I will be trying to sit still... and Shhhhh... be very, very quiet.