Category: Winter

When God lets us rest

Snow Day

I had seen her footprints in the snow but was not prepared to see her beautiful orange-red fur silhouetted against the snow. A red fox!

Foxes have lived by the creek on and off in the three decades I have lived here. Usually, I hear them screaming in childbirth or barking when I get too close. They are wary of humans and quick to hide.

The snow and cold has sequestered us southerners. She must feel safe roaming in the morning light. Of a generation that does not carry their phone, the fox is almost back in hiding before I get a picture.

Once more I am humbled by the wildlife that lives among us. Unseen as we rush about our daily tasks, they are there. Perhaps waiting for the silence of an early morning covered in snow; before the kids are building snowmen; before the dogs are barking at the edge of their invisible fences; before the cars are rushing through the streets.

Such beautiful animals, foxes. So much prettier than the coyotes or the ever-present squirrels. Perhaps their rarity makes them even more beautiful. Cardinals and blue jays are just as beautiful as parakeets and macaws, but so common we sometimes miss their glamour.

Perhaps it just takes this white backdrop to appreciate them.

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31.

During these days of snow when the newscasters advise us to stay home, I have immersed myself in the stories from Genesis, mostly the stories of Abraham and his family.

What a group of scoundrels! My apologies to those of you who think God only blesses right-living people. Abraham let another man take Sarah as his wife to protect himself! Jacob lied to his father and swindled his brother! Admittedly, this was well before God gave Moses the law or Jesus expanded it, but they knew their actions were wrong. The Bible makes it clear that they knew that they were wrong.

So, Pharoah called Abram, and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone.” Genesis 12:18-19.

This was after God had called Abram, after God had told him he would be a blessing (12:2).

In today’s world, the first families of our faith would need therapy, probably mandated by the courts.

Isn’t it an amazing gift that God should choose such people? Aren’t you grateful the tales of their misbehavior are included in scripture? Does that give you as much hope as it gives me?

God knows I have sin in my past. God knows when pride or greed nibbles at my soul even today. God knows that we live in comfortable mansions while people starve and freeze. God knows we do not always welcome the stranger in our midst. God still calls us. God still blesses us so that we can bless others.

Maybe that is the only reason God blesses us – so that we can share that blessing with others. It certainly can’t be because we deserve His blessings. We do not.

As it is written: There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one.” Romans 3:10-12.

And yet God has blessed me with a fox sighting this morning. God has blessed the earth with snow and rest. I am glad I can share this blessing with you this morning. God is so good.

Love in Christ, Betsy

The New Year

January arrives wet and cold. The ground sinks under my weight as I go out to the garden for the first time in weeks. Intrepid winter weeds dapple my brown yard with green.

Nothing is happening in my garden. It looks very much like it did after I planted the garlic in December. Only wetter. I should say that there is nothing happening that I can see. Because there is a lot happening where I can’t see it.

Underneath the cardboard, garlic cloves are fattening themselves on nutrients from the dirt and an abundance of water. Below the leafless branches of the fig and raspberry, their roots are growing thicker and stronger. They too are collecting and storing nutrients for the coming year.

Under my yard, hidden aquifers are replenishing their stores of water. Unfelt vibrations of the earth are pushing rocks and minerals to the surface. The ground is using this time of rest. The earth needs to lie fallow for periods of time, just as we do.

But I wonder if I do that, lie fallow and rest, well enough. Is just the winter enough of a sabbath for my garden? Is just an occasional “down day” enough for my spiritual life? I observe Sabbath during lent; should I do it year-round?

2 Chronicles 36:21 makes refence to the holy land making up for its lost sabbaths while the jews were in exile in Babylonia. As if God was imposing a stop in activity because his people would not take it willingly. A stop in agricultural activity and a stop in normal life. It echoes God’s promise in Leviticus.

Then the land shall enjoy its sabbath years as long as it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbath years. As long as it lies desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your sabbaths when you were living on it. Leviticus 26:34-35.

I am not going to make the leap that if we do not rest, God will make us rest, but there is some scientific support for the concept. Stress kills people. Inadequate sleep leads to poor decision making, unhealthy habits, and a weakened immune system. We need our rest.

The land needs its rest. Some say the pandemic was a forced sabbath for people and for the land. Almost five years later, I hope we taking regular small sabbaths, self- imposed rests for our mental and physical wellbeing. God made us and all creation to need rest.

Rest may look like nothing is happening, but we know that is not true. Rest allows us to absorb nutrients and strengthen our root system. Rest fattens the Spirit’s presence within us and prepares us for the coming year. Rest allows the rain that falls to fill our hidden reservoirs.

The rain has made my yard spongy and filled my creek. I love to see the water ripple over the rocks and swirl in the eddies. I love to think of how much life is carried in that water. Life for the dormant fish eggs lying among the rocks. Life for the resting trees lining the creek banks. Life for the growing plants who will benefit from the aquifers this creek fills.

On the last day of the festival, on the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’” John 7:37-38.

January arrives wet and cold. What a great time to rest and refill the river of living water in our hearts.

Love in Christ, Betsy

God Sparkles

The wet grass has frozen overnight and catches the morning sun like glistening jewels. Not the glare of sun reflecting off snow, not yet this winter, not this far south, just sparkling frost. I can’t capture it with the camera. But the sight holds me mesmerized for minutes.

Reflected sunlight. Just little bits of sun in behold-able sparkles. And isn’t God like that? Sometimes He is the glaring sun that makes us shade our eyes and look for a hiding place. But more often, I think, He reveals himself more gently. In the moisture left from the rain, in the chilly weather that allows the plants to rest, in the reflected light, in a sparkle the camera can’t quite catch.

I drink my coffee – beans from the earth, water from the skies. I look out my window – glass made from sand and rocks eroded by the weather. I snuggle into my sweater –an animal’s wooly fleece. I am protected in a house of bricks made from clay. My home is heated by gifts from God’s earth – gas, or coal, or water-generated power.

How accustomed I have become to all God’s gifts, how readily I take them for granted. How rarely I take the moment to thank God for them all.

In the moments I stand and watch, the warming sun steals the glittering frost. As if God’s appearance in this moment was for this moment only and not a thing to be captured and held onto. I want to build a tabernacle to this moment when I saw God in the sparkles in my yard. Perhaps that is what I am doing as I write this.

Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah” – not knowing what he said. Luke 9:33.

But it is not the sparkling grass that I need to admire. Not the sun or the rain, not the coffee beans, the glass, or the sheep’s wool. All these just point to the gracious provision of a loving God. Provision that is not based on my worthiness or even my gratitude, but on His love for me, for you, for all of us.

Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Luke 9:35.

I turn from the window, refill my coffee cup, and head to the chair beside my Bible. Listen to Him. And isn’t that the real gift? That God gave us Himself in human form, spoke to us in a voice we could hear and understand? I turn to Matthew five and listen to Jesus’ words. Comforting, inspiring, challenging, words which call me know Him, to hear and do.

It’s a new year – 2025 – but these old words are still the ones worth listening to. Jesus’s voice is still the one God tells us to listen to. And His words still carry more life-changing wisdom than the millions of words written since then. I’m not a big resolution maker. God is in charge, and He may have other plans. But I can resolve to listen to God’s Son more. To hear and do.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25.

Listen to Him.

May God bring you blessings and joy in 2025. May you build your house on the rock and withstand the storms.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Merry Christmas

Thank you for taking a moment amid all the celebration to join me in the Victory Garden.

Years ago, a favorite pastor reminded us that the Lord who lived for nine months in Mary’s womb, lives eternally in those of us who call him Lord.

Take a moment and let that sink in.

***

The Spirit of God lives in us.

And I wilk ask the Father, and he will give to you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. John 14:16-17.

And just as any mother must take care of the life growing within her, we need to take care of the holy life abiding within us. Feed, nurture, listen to that being’s needs, desires, urgings.

The baby Jesus left Mary’s body, but His Holy Spirit leads ours into an ever-closer relationship with God and Jesus, into an eternal life with our God.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through the holy Spirit that dwells in you. Romans 8:11.

And just as Mary brought Jesus into the world, we are privileged to bring His love into the world around us. The Holy Spirit has come upon us (Luke 1:35), and we are bearing the fruit of His presence, extending His kingdom with our obedience to his calling.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit from God, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19.

The Spirit of God lives in us who profess Jesus as Lord. Hallelujah. Christ the Lord is born today. Where meek souls will receive him, the dear Christ enters in.

Merry Christmas!

Love in Christ, Betsy

Buried Garlic

The cold damp air stings my cheeks. Soon it will start to rain, that miserable 40-degree cold rain that signals winter in the South.

The garlic needs to be planted this morning, before the rain, before Christmas. I poke holes in the cardboard and bury my unwrapped cloves in the dirt. The scent of wet dirt fills the air and competes with the tang of the garlic.

Poor little garlic cloves. I have separated them from their families, stripped away all their protective layers, and buried them in the cold, dark earth alone. Do they know this is the only way they can grow and reproduce and expand their presence in the world? Probably not. If they feel, they feel vulnerable and lonely and exposed. Perhaps they are scared and doubt that what held true for previous generations will still hold true for them. Will God turn them into big, beautiful garlic bulbs?

Life can be scary sometimes. Occasionally, we are led to do things in direct contrast to what we want to achieve. It makes no sense to us. Sometimes, to become a beautiful gift to the world, we must strip ourselves of our protective layers and sit alone in the dark for a while.

Think of the nine months when the creator of the universe grew in Mary’s womb, subject to her diet, her sleep patterns, her movements, and her health. Think of the caterpillar hidden in a confined cocoon. Time and God alone will make the transformation, create the growth, enable the blessing to break free.

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Matthew 17:1-2.

Sometimes what we see is not all there is, even within ourselves. God can transfigure even garlic cloves into what they have the potential to be. He transfigured Jesus to show His radiant glory, and He can transfigure us to share that glory with others. He can turn us into our best selves, if only we take the time to be alone with Him.

I was in a centering prayer group for years until it disbanded. Now, I have found a new one, and I marvel at the blessing it brings. Just to sit in the presence of God in silence for twenty minutes. No demands, no wishes, no praises even, just silence in the presence of the almighty and loving God. I sense His Spirit within me needs this communion. I sense I need this vulnerable and exposed time alone with my Savior.

Some of you may feel your life is on the spin cycle. Perhaps the washer is shaking with the load. Turn it off for a few minutes. Just stop and sit in silence with your friend Jesus for a little while. It may feel scary. You may doubt that God will do for you what He has done for previous generations. You may feel vulnerable and exposed.

Have faith, dear friend. Just as the garlic needs this time in the dark, you may need this time for God to transform you into your best self, a gift to the world.

And the one who is seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5.

Christmas is a week from today. Too often it is marked by stress and activity and chaos and travel and eating and drinking. Take a moment to strip away your protective layer, poke a hole in your veneer, and sit alone in the dark with God. You may not see the results for a while, but God will use that moment, and any more you give Him, to make you into something new.

Love in Christ, Betsy

The Unknown and the Constant

I took advantage of the warm sunny afternoon to prepare more of my garden for the coming months. The recent freeze had killed the weeds which still grew along the edges of the tomato garden, and I wanted to extend the cardboard under the fence before the weeds grew back.

The weather was perfect. Bright sun elevated my spirit, cool weather kept me from overheating, birds twittered from the hedgerow, commenting on my progress. A wonderful way to spend an hour before the big game started.

How different gardening has become in the years since my husband passed. Nick never touched the garden once hunting season started. Now, tomatoes grow into October, and I spread the winterizing of the garden over months. Nick tilled every spring, an arduous task that I am learning how to avoid. If I can improve my weed prevention techniques, perhaps I can maintain a no-till garden.

I wonder, though, if perhaps the old ways were better. My creeks will flood again. They do so every ten years or so. I depend on it to refresh the garden soil. If the garden is covered, how will the soil be replenished? Perhaps I will need to vary the methods, pull up the cardboard around the plants and use weed cloth, let the garden go to grass every few years and till it. Maybe I will need to have a fallow year. (What would I write about!!)

It seems the future of my garden is full of unknowns. Even if I did all the research for best practices, the weather is different every year, the soil is different, my availability is different. My garlic was to be planted in November after the first freeze, but we didn’t freeze until December, green grass still covers my yard, and the garlic bulbs sit by the door. They need cold earth to propagate. I may have already waited too late, but I will bury the bulbs soon no matter the weather.

Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:14-15.

I have lost two friends suddenly in the past month, as well as the mother of another friend. Life is one way, and then that way changes. The patterns I have established for my life change, not because I want them to, but because the world around me has changed. Just like my garden is different now. I adapt. We all do. The option to not adapt is there, but the results aren’t pretty.

Maybe that is the beauty of our faith in an Eternal God. He is our constant while the world around us changes. He is our north star when we are lost, our point of focus when we are spinning. He is with us, not only here and now, but also as we change from this life to the next. What a gift! What a blessing to have an eternal God beside us, before us, behind us, and through the gift of His Spirit, within us.

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness is to all generations. Psalm 100:5.

Christmas is in two weeks. It won’t look like what it used to look like for me. Maybe it won’t for you either. It’s okay to miss the way things used to be. It’s okay to adopt new patterns. It’s okay to change them around every year based on the situation at hand. The point is to keep our focus on God, on His incarnation as Jesus, on His presence as the Holy Spirit.

What a beautiful Christmas gift!

Love in Christ, Betsy

A Moment of Calm

Silence. My home has been buzzing with family and friends and cooking and cleaning and taking down and putting up. And amid all this chaos, I have been given a moment of calm.

I drink my coffee and marvel at how the frost sparkles in the sunlight. How big the birds seem all fluffed up against the sudden chill. When was the last time my grass was still green in December? Does this mean we will have big snows in March? What freedom to let my mind wander and wonder and leave it all in God’s hands.

The melody drifts through my thoughts. He has the whole world in His hands. He has you and me, brother, in His hands. There is plenty to do; there always will be plenty to do; but we can be calm and rest in the confidence that God has this.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 26:33.

I find it so easy to be caught up in the drama of the world. Little personal dramas of those I love. Political dramas which may or may not affect my life in the coming years. International dramas in which I have no role at all. If all that fails, there’s football.

At some level, I think I like the stress, the drama, even the chaos of family and friends and coming and going and taking down and putting up. Relationships are important. Purpose is important. I have a role – mother, grandmother, hostess, friend. I want to do my best in those roles.

But this moment of calm, what a gift!

In this moment of calm, I remember that my first relationship is to God the Father, Son, and Spirit. My primary purpose is to share His love with others.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33.

Advent has begun. For many of us that signals an increase in activity. Church services, performances, luncheons, parties, family gatherings, decorating, shopping, cooking. Advent can be an emotional time as well as we long for Christmases past with people who have left us or remember situations we’d rather forget.

The Church tells us that advent is a time of quiet preparation, a time when we contemplate Christ’s incarnation. Imagine what it must have been like to move from creator of the universe, able to speak worlds into existence, to helpless infant, unable to speak at all. He considered a relationship with me, with you, with that annoying person down the street, important enough that He would give up everything to tell us He loves us. Amazing.

I am taking this moment of calm to let that thought soak in. Do I love anyone enough to give up all my abilities, all my possessions, all my identity to tell them I love them? How sad that even after doing all that, some refuse to believe Him.

What an amazing gift – His birth, His life as a human, His presence. How can I begin to thank Him for that? What could I ever give Him in return?

By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35.

As advent begins, dear friends, take a moment to sit calmly with God. All those other things can wait for a while. Let you mind wander and wonder. Think on the beauty of the world and the incredible gift of God’s incarnation. Let go of the chaos for a minute or two. God is good. God has overcome the world. God loves you. God loves every one of us.

God is with us. Christ be with you.

Betsy

Spring is coming!

The frost has turned the brown ground gray, but green shoots are peeking through. Spots of yellow dot the creek banks. Spring is coming.

The seeds in the packet rattle as I shake them.

Will I do this? Can I do this?

I look at my garden, still brown and gray. I can almost see the sugar snaps growing there. Can you see them? Tall and green, reaching for the sun, covered with white blossoms and dangling peas. Can you taste their crisp sweetness?

Shaking the seed packet again, I make my decision. I’m planting these seeds. It will take effort on my part to prepare the ground for a garden. It will take commitment to produce this fruit in my yard, to enable God to produce this fruit in my yard.

But I can see sugar snaps growing where there is only barren ground. I can taste their sweetness. I will do my part to make this vision a reality. I will give God the space needed to turn these seeds into plants, this barren ground into a garden.

Because while vegetables can grow anywhere, a garden is an area intentionally set aside to nurture the growth of fruit.

And I wonder if God could grow His fruit in my life if I only gave Him the space to do so.

You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last … for I have chosen you out of the world. John 15:16,18.

I look at my life and see worries and frustrations and petty jealousies, worthless activities inspired by a desire to impress others. Could kindness and patience and self-control grow here? Could God grow those things in my life?

Picking up my Bible, I make my decision. I’m planting His seeds. It may well take effort on my part to prepare my life for His presence. It will take commitment to enable God to produce this fruit in my life. But the vison of His love, His peace, His joy growing in my life is just too wonderful to deny.

I want God to turn the barren and frosty ground of my life into a verdant garden bearing sweet fruit. I can almost see me joyful and loving, reaching for the Son. I can almost taste the sweetness. Can you?

Where to start?

I look at my garden, forlorn in the back yard, resting from winter. There is space there waiting for sugar snap seeds. There is space in my life waiting for God’s word.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, He (Jesus) got up and went out to a deserted place, and there He prayed. Mark 1:35.

One year, our ministers challenged the congregation to read the entire Bible in 90 days, the Big Read. The suggested reading path would take 30 to 45 minutes a day, out of 24 hours; the equivalent of an episode of Ozark or Cupcake Wars. Could I spare the time?

What are the things that crowd my day, your day? Are you caring for your kids? Your parents? Your spouse? Yourself? Is your work schedule demanding? What are your priorities? That’s really what it comes down to – what is important to you, what is important to me. 

As for me and my household, we will worship the Lord. Joshua 24:15b.

I can dedicate space in my yard for the sugar snaps. I can dedicate time in my day for Bible study, prayer, and praise. And I am so excited about the expected results!I can almost taste the sugar snaps. Already a smile covers my face, and His warmth is melting the frost.

Betsy

The Heron

The recent rain had filled my creek with water, awakening the dormant fish eggs hiding beneath the rocks. Enticed by the new life, the heron came to visit. Oblivious to me, the majestic bird concentrated on the water in the creek, looking for a snack sized fish. I hope she found one. I did not have the patience she showed as she stood for long minutes. Watching and waiting. At the beach, when I have fewer tasks at hand, I have seen them stand for hours on the beach waiting for the sunning fisherman to throw a fish back.

I remember when I saw my first heron, back in a hidden cove on the lake. I thought something had escaped from Jurassic Park. When I see them in numbers large enough to flock, my heart thanks God for bringing these graceful and impressive birds back from the brink of extinction.

What a gift to see them in my yard! What a gift to see the hawks and eagles who have returned to our area. What a gift to see the bluebirds and blue jays and cardinals and chickadees and robins who never left. What a gift to hear the little sparrows chattering away and the mockingbirds singing medleys of their favorite tunes.

By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches, Psalm 104:12.

Sometimes I stand in wonder at the wildlife that surrounds me. This is the 21st century. We have computers and cell phones and wifi and AI. But in my yard, I am surrounded by birds and bunnies and squirrels and chipmunks. Racoons and possums and skunks outnumber the people living on my street. Deer and coyote wander through my yard, and foxes have raised their kits here. I know there are mice and moles and voles and a million insects in my yard. I have even seen an armadillo amble across my yard, nose to the ground.

Why do I think this is my yard?

Has not God created every one of these creatures as surely as He has created me? Has He not given this earth, this patch of green, for them to live on as surely as He has given it to me? Does He not care for them as He cares for me?

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew6:29.

These animals around me call my yard their home. I have grown so used to them being here that I rarely stop to greet them or acknowledge their presence. Only when something unusual happens do I stop and stand in awe, if I happen to be looking and see it.

When the hawk swooped down on the squirrel, when the young bunny approached my docile old cat, when the duck made a nest in my flower bed, when the mother fox barked at me as I neared her hidden kits. Then I stop and give thanks for the vibrant community of animals living in my yard.

Perhaps this yard is more theirs than mine. My efforts run more toward limiting their possession of the space than encouraging it. I feel sometimes as if I am carving out a space for myself in their yard. I know that we as humans need to be good stewards of the land and be kind to all living creatures, but sometimes it feels egotistical to think that these animals in my yard are in any way dependent on me. Sometimes it feels just the opposite. I am amazed at what they teach me. Look at all the different species of birds and mammals and insects that call my yard home! Look how well they share the space, how peacefully they (usually) interact.

I hope you get to go outside today and stand in awe of God’s creation, both plant and animal. The beauty, the variety, the differing functions and personalities, the amazing world that lives in a yard, that surrounds us. What an awesome world; what an awesome God!

Betsy

Lent

While some of you may be celebrating this evening with dinner and flowers, I plan to have ashes smeared on my forehead. As a widow, Valentines Day has lost its appeal, but Lent still calls out to me.

My parents observed Lent, so I grew up observing it. We weren’t Catholic, but I sense they recognized their and my need for self-discipline. What were we leaning on, what had we become dependent on, what were we using to fill the holes only God could fill? What had become a habit? If I could loosen its control on me for 40 days, 47 if you count Sundays, then wouldn’t that be a good thing?

I would give up chocolate, or alcohol, or red meat. Sometimes I’d give up computer games. When the urge came upon me to succumb to temptation, I would pray and distract myself with reading the Bible or devotional books. Instead of making me feel holier, it made me twitchy and restless. How dependent I was, and often still are, on these earthly pleasures!

Lent commemorates the period after Jesus’ baptism when the Spirit led him into the wilderness to fast for 40 days. If that were not enough, satan came to tempt Him at the end. All that fasting was training Jesus, strengthening Him to be able to resist satan’s temptations. If Jesus needed to be trained to resist temptation by fasting, don’t I?

I need training to resist temptation. I need practice. I need to put those muscles to work.

Now, disciple always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11

Last year I observed the Jewish Sabbath for Lent, and I am going to do that again. I’m not going to follow all the Hasidic regulations, but I am going to “do no work” and “keep it holy.” (Exodus 31:12-17)

I have found that training my brain to think only thoughts about God and His glory is even more challenging than not eating chocolate. When I clear my mind of thoughts not related to God, sometimes it looks like a barren field, like my garden this time of year. There’s not much left growing there. What a sad and sobering revelation. Am I prepared to spend eternity in the presence of God if I can’t spend an entire day there?

Twitchy and restless.

God is showing me the gaps in my training, my need for discipline, the distance I need to travel to truly be His disciple.

Then he said to them all, “If any of you want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23.

I think I want to be a disciple of Jesus. I think I follow Him. I know I believe, but even the demons believe (James 2:19). Could I really take up a cross if even a day of rest seems a burden? I need to practice this art of resisting temptation. I need to practice giving up chocolate and alcohol and red meat so perhaps I will be strong enough to give up divisiveness and quarrelling and self-righteousness.

I cannot resist these temptations on my own. I get all twitchy and restless. Only God and His Spirit can give me the strength to abstain from worldly distractions and unholy thoughts.

Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. James 4:7-8.

I don’t want to be double minded. I want to have the mind of Christ (I Cor. 2:16). I want to submit my self to God, cleanse my hands, purify my heart, and draw near to God.

I may be losing chocolate, computer games, and Saturday TV, but look what I am gaining!

Happy Lent!

Betsy