Month: February 2023

Everything I need

I have the space, the tiller, the fertilizer and the fencing. I have the weed barrier, the seeds, and the plant food. I have the water source and the hose. I have cover to protect the young plants and supports to help the growing ones. Now all I need is to actually start the garden.

While cleaning out the garage, I found bags of fertilizer and plant food. I had not realized that Nick has used either of these. It’s no wonder the garden grew better under his care! Now I have some to add to my arsenal.

I have everything I need to grow a garden which will bear wonderful fruit. I just need to do it.

Because until I actually commit to doing it, all these tools aren’t worth much. They are like a rubber band lying on the counter. Unrealized potential.

I check my calendar. How much time do I need to set aside? Do I have to set aside a large block of time, or can I get the garden ready in stages? Till and add fertilizer in step one. Prepare and put down weed barrier in step two. Fence and border in step three. Plant the seeds and water in step four. Cleaning out the garage has taught me that this plan works better for me, but the seeds should be planted by early March, so I need to get moving!

Am I that intentional about growing my relationship with Jesus?

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness. 2 Peter 1:3

God has given me this day, this time, His Spirit, His Word. God has given me an active church, Christian friends, Bible studies and wise counselors. I trust the Holy Spirit to protect and support my growth. Now all I have to do is actually start developing that relationship.

I have been reading Robert J. Morgan’s book on Biblical Meditation. There’s all kinds of wonderful practices to deepen my relationship with God that I have never used. They seemed to have worked well for him. Now I can add them to my arsenal.

I have everything I need to grow in my relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I just need to do it.

Because until I actually commit to doing it, all these tools aren’t worth much. They are like a rubber band lying on the counter. Unrealized potential.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. James 1:22

What does this look like? Quiet time set aside intentionally for prayer may be step one. A commitment to studying the Bible daily may be step two. A good devotional book which challenges and inspires me may be step three. Time to listen, ponder, absorb and consider God’s role in my life may be step four. But I am already in my 60’s, so I better get moving!

Those seeds need to be put in the ground; God’s word needs to be written in my heart. Until that is done, I cannot expect to bear the fruit I so desperately want.

Do you want Love? Joy? Peace? Patience? Would you like to respond to difficulties with kindness and gentleness? Would you like to be known for your generosity, faithfulness, and self-control? I would. I know these things rarely spring into being in my life. This is fruit that has to be grown. (Galatians 5:22)

This is fruit that God grows in my life through the Holy Spirit as I abide more and more with Jesus. (John 15)

It’s time to get that garden growing.

Thank you for reading along as I begin year two in the Victory Garden. Thank you for subscribing or following. Thank you for sharing this with your friends. I look forward to good fruit.

Betsy

On Safari

Have you ever been on a safari? My friends who have been say they are amazing, life-changing experiences.

Once your plane lands, the safari company takes care of all the arrangements. They plan your travel, your rooms, your meals, your adventures. A High School classmate of mine who works for one of these companies tells about the amount of thought and planning that goes into making these experiences enjoyable, memorable, and as pain-free as possible.

A safari exposes you to a new world; encourages you to see the interconnection of people and nature; gives you an appreciation of vastly different cultures. Those who have been pause in silence while remembering the awe they experienced.

Of course, there is travel, expense, and discomfort involved in going on a safari. There is a fear of the unknown that holds many of us back. Talking with those who have been on the journey is reassuring. Talking with someone who works in the industry gives you a deeper insight into the daily wonders, and dangers, of living in a bush camp; of the efforts made to give visitors the best possible experience; and the importance of a healthy, supportive relationship with the local villages.

It may feel like a bit of a stretch, but often I feel I am on safari with God. I have signed up and gotten on the plane, but He is planning out all the details; He is setting up the adventures.

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Ephesians 2:10

This is my 52nd post. I was not sure I would make it – a year of weekly posts. That’s a lot of self discipline I didn’t know I had. But God has been there, is here, for every step of this adventure.

He has given me words, and ideas, and a garden, and a computer, and Christian friends. I have no delusions that this little blog is changing the world, but I remain convinced that God wants me to write it, and continue writing it. And that’s enough.

I don’t need to know today what adventures the Lord has planned for me in the future. I don’t need to plan them myself. Like the guide on a safari, God knows what places to avoid, where the best viewing is, and what experiences will benefit me. I will trust Him to lead me.

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Deuteronomy 31:8

He has exposed me to a world I knew little about. He has shown me how much more there is to know. He has deepened my sense of interconnection with the world, and given me an appreciation of vastly different cultures.

Of course, there is spiritual travel, emotional expense, and intellectual discomfort involved in trusting God to lead me. There is a fear of the unknown that sometimes holds me back. Talking with those who have been on the journey, with other believers, is reassuring. Talking with someone who works in the industry, with ministers and faith leaders, gives me a deeper insight into the daily wonders, and dangers, of Christian living; of the efforts made by the Church to give visitors the best possible experience; and the importance of a healthy, supportive relationship with the surrounding community.

But I have to pause in silence as I remember the awe I have experienced in His presence. Nothing can compare.

I will go before you and level the mountains. I will break into pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. Isaiah 45:2-3

Will you go on the God safari with me? It is an amazing, life-changing experience.

Betsy

If God asks…

As Lent approaches, I am thinking about what, if anything, I will give up, As a Protestant, how and if I observe Lent is a personal decision; it’s between God and me. The Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness to fast, and God instructed the Israelites to give up yeast before Passover. What, if anything, is God asking me to give up?

Years ago, I was in a Bible study and confessed that I was sometimes afraid of what the Lord might ask me to do. “What,” I pondered, “if He asked me to kill my child?”

Immediately, a friend chimed in, “He would never ask you to do that!” A pastor’s wife, she was voicing the theology most of us carry of a loving God who brings life, not takes it.

The problem is that God did ask someone to kill their child.

God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” Genesis 22:2-3

And Abraham obeyed this command, following it to the point of tying Issac down and taking the knife in his hand.

Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you. Genesis 22:16-17

We take comfort in God stopping Abraham from completing the act, bur Abraham did not know that He would. That, my friend, is radical faith.

Has God ever asked you to offer to Him something you hold dear? A relationship? A hobby or habit? Your reputation? Your profession? Your wealth?

I still hesitate in asking God’s advice because I am not sure I am ready to follow it. Mentally, this makes no sense. God is Creator, and all knowing, and the source of all truth and wisdom; why would I hesitate to follow Him? I regularly ask Him to do what I want Him to do (healing, peace, reconciliation, change). Why do I fear what He may ask me to do? Is this not the double-mindedness that James warns us of in his letter (James 1:6-8)?

What if God asks me to give up something I hold dear?

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Mark 110:21-22

It’s hard to give things up. Part of cleaning out my garage has been getting rid of stuff. A lot if it is not stuff I hold dear, but stuff Nick held onto. Even after three and a half years, I find it challenging and emotionally charged to rid my garage of his stuff.

My daughter reminds me that when we are asked to give up some of our treasure, it may not be about us at all. Perhaps God knows that someone else needs it more than we do.

In a study years ago, the teacher asked, “What are you holding onto so tightly that it hurts when God rips it from your hand?” Because God does not want us to value anything more than we value our relationship with Him. Not our reputation, not our family, not our money, not even our theology or our plans, and certainly not our stuff.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24

So, I hesitate to ask for God’s advice. Am I ready to follow it? His advice is not one of many various options from which I can pick and choose what I want. His advice, His word, is life.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. Matthew 7:24

What is God asking you to give up? Ask, but be prepared to follow.

Betsy

Why?

Cleaning out my garage has reminded me of a time in my life when I really wanted a bigger house. Every time I prayed about it, I could hear the Spirit asking me, “Why?”

Like an insistent toddler, every answer I gave was followed by, “Why?”

I wanted a bigger house because there wasn’t enough room in this one. Why? We had so much stuff. Why? Because we needed all these things. Why? But everyone I know has a bigger house! Why does that matter?

Why? The question kept probing until I had to come to terms with some deeply held and formerly unchallenged attitudes. It forced me to face some very uncomfortable truths about myself. Who was I trying to impress – God or my friends?

Before long, God seemed to pose this question before every endeavor I undertook. Why? I want to join this club. Why? I want to go to this party. Why? I want to volunteer here. Why?

I want my kids to do (fill in the blank!). Why?  

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. Matthew 6:1-2

Does this mean I shouldn’t have my name in the event program as a donor? Does this mean I shouldn’t decide to donate more just to be at the “gold level”? Why am I giving to this or that charity? Am I really committed to their work, or do I want to be a part of that crowd of people?

Why. It is the important question. Not why does God act the way He does, but why do I act the way I do? Self-examination can be scary. It forces me to identify what and who I really deem important.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews  4:12

Years ago I was in a bible study on idols and false gods. We talked about what idols look like in today’s world. Although I don’t worship the statue of Athena, I may worship knowledge. Many of us value what we have accomplished in this world, what we have made with our own hands. Have you seen Julie’s new home? It is spectacular! And the new stadium for our football team? Wow!! Very impressive.

Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their own hands, to what their own fingers have made. Isaiah 2:7-8

There is nothing wrong with beautiful homes and state-of-the-art stadiums. There is nothing wrong, and many things that are right, with donating to worthy causes. There is nothing wrong, and many things that are right, about treasuring your family and friends.

The question becomes, do you value these things more than God? Are you honoring God with these things, or honoring yourself? The question becomes, why are you doing what you are doing? Why am I doing what I do?

That is something only you and God can determine. Only you can answer those whys for yourself, as only I can answer them for myself. God and His Spirit will help you. He loves you so intensely. He desires your love in return.

No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Matthew 6:24

So ask yourself, why?

Betsy