Tag: love

Inequity of Circumstance

Why are some children born into poverty and some into wealth? The baby has no say in the matter. Furthermore, the wealth of the parents is no indicator of their love or of the child’s happiness in life. There are plenty of stories of abuse across all financial spectrums and plenty of stories of selfless love.

When those of us in comfortable positions look at those in desperation, we are still tempted to ask, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” (John 9:2) And when those of us in desperate situations see those in ease, we are still tempted to ask, “Why do the wicked prosper?” (Job 21:7)

Perhaps our relative wealth has little to do with our sinfulness or our wickedness, or our righteousness or faith. Perhaps we are only given the answer that Jesus gave his disciples:

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. John 9:3.

Or born wealthy so that God’s works might be revealed. For wealth is not something we are to use for our own benefit but for the benefit of others. We are told to welcome the stranger (Hebrews 13:2). We are told to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and care for the sick (Matthew 25:25-26). We are warned about amassing treasure on earth (Matthew 6:19).

We are all so guilty of judging others based on their appearances and judging ourselves in the process. We are tempted to use wealth as a measuring stick. We conform to the culture’s concept of success, eager to impress and have others think well of us. Or maybe that is just me. It is a constant battle to not covet financial success.

I have never been wealthy. Nor have I ever been poor. I have always had two coats. Perhaps one of them was for me to give away.

I suspect that whatever financial situation we find ourselves in, God’s call to us is the same.

“Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-30.

We are not to judge based on wealth or circumstance. Jesus tells us not to judge at all (Matthew 7:1). It’s a tall order. We see an inequity of wealth or circumstance, and we want to ascribe a cause, place blame, or credit. But, perhaps, each of us was born the way we were so that God’s works could be revealed in us. It may involve a healing of our body, a healing of our heart, or a healing of our mind. I suspect that if we all had everything we wanted in life, we would find little need to turn to God.

What do you need today? If you are in a dire situation, I pray God sends you someone to help. If you have plenty, I pray God uses you to help another. That is the body of Christ in action. We show our love of God by loving others.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8.

We love. No matter what our circumstances may be; no matter what someone else’s circumstances may be. This is how we reveal God’s works.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Fences

My yard helpers and I are putting the new fence around my garden in weekly installments. The old fencing was bent and broken, and I wanted easier access to my plants. The deliberate slowness of installing this fence, not a normal trait of mine, has left me with time to contemplate why I want the fence, what its purpose is, and how best to achieve those ends.

Fences generate emotions in me, probably in you as well, often conflicting emotions based on which side of the fence we are on and who is manning the gate. I’ll talk about the gate next week. This week I am wrestling with the fence itself.

Why do I need a fence? The answers seem obvious. I need a fence to protect my young plants from bunnies and ‘possums and my neighbor’s dog when she escapes her invisible fence. I need a fence to delineate where the mowers are supposed to mow and where they are not. I need a dedicated space where I can nourish the soil and protect the plants and give my seeds and saplings the best chance to thrive and bear fruit.

We need fences in our life as well if we are to bear spiritual fruit. We need those fences so we can dedicate certain parts of our day to God and God alone. Thirty minutes without the phone or computer or television to meditate on His Word and converse with Him in prayer. A small space that nourishes our soul and protects our faith and gives us the best chance to thrive and bear the Spirit’s fruit.

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

Fences make good neighbors and we dream of the white picket one. Therapists tell us to develop boundaries for better personal mental health. Groups have fences that delineate membership, some invisible, some difficult to articulate. And at least one researcher has found that playgrounds without fences lead children to huddle around the adults, while playgrounds with fences encourage them to explore the entire space. Yet, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and that is the problem with fences.

When I was a freshman in college I applied for an exclusive organization. To be accepted I went through two rounds of written essays and a weekend of personal interviews. They took fifteen freshmen from a large state university. During one interview I was questioned about my decision to join a sorority since they were so exclusive. Often one’s view of a fence depends on which side of it they are on.

We struggle as Christians with fences, specifically a fence around the kingdom of God. Some would build it so sturdy and small that few (if any) would be allowed in. Some believe there is no fence at all. Most believe the fence around the kingdom is of God is there, but disagree on its purpose, its porousness, and its permanence. We sometimes worry about which side of the fence we are on.

I can cite Bible verses to support almost any position on fences. You probably can too. These are the ones I keep returning to:

It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates, twelve angels. Its gates will never be shut by day – and there shall be no night there. Nothing unclean will enter it… but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21:12, 25, 27.

A holy space, separated from evil by a high wall, with open gates.

While I am building my fence in my backyard for my garden to thrive, only God gets to determine the fence around His Kingdom. I can’t claim to tell you what it is, but I do encourage you to turn to God in prayer, to seek him out and find him, because if we are to enter, we need to know who is guarding the gate.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Sun Rise

The sun rises through the trees and fills the day with light. The mist on the ground evaporates and the sky brightens to a glorious shade of blue. The sun has risen. Risen indeed!

What a joy to watch the darkness disperse. What a blessing to see leaves that looked gray in the dark slowly become a radiant shade of orange in the sunlight. Look what God is showing us He can do.

The leaves on the tree cannot block the light forever and soon even those will fall. The clouds in the sky cannot dim the sun forever. Soon the light will break forth from behind the clouds and stretch across the sky.

There is no stopping the light of God. There is no hiding the love of Christ.

Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12.

His beauty and His love are everywhere, surrounding us as completely as the light of the sun surrounds us during the day. Often His love is hidden by anger and hate or dulled by clouds of gloom and despair. But He knows us too well and loves us too much to stay hidden forever. And when His presence breaks forth in our lives, what a glorious thing! This is cause for rejoicing!

I have had my moments of darkness, my nights of sorrow and despair and anger. I have nursed the fear that they would continue forever. But God (the two words that change everything), God breaks through with light and hope, with love and joy, just as the sun breaks through the clouds and shines through the leaves that would hide it. He relieves me of the burden of my sinfulness; He dispels the gloom of a fallen world; He shows me a better way.

I have experienced it myself and seen it in the lives of others. Deep in darkness, the light bursts through. We see where we have been wrong, where we have hurt others and ourselves, where we have not acted in love. God burns it all away in his light and shows us a path of love instead. And when we turn to follow Him, I think all heaven rejoices just as I rejoice.

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:6-7.

I face the rising sun and let it warm my skin as it dispels the darkness. It’s a new day, the day the Lord has made. No matter how cold and dark the night was, I will rejoice in this day and be glad in it. The sun has risen and a glorious day awaits.

Christ is risen; He is risen indeed!

Change

The cucumber plants have died. The pepper plants are dying. It’s time to call the summer garden done and begin preparations for fall.

Change is never easy. The end of something you loved, successful or not, is a loss. The days are over when I can fix or improve this year’s harvest. It was what it was and now I must move on.

This year, that moving on involves work. My fence is broken down and torn apart in places. My soil is diseased and in need of restoration. My body tells me to stop bending over the fence to harvest and develop a means of easier access. So, I have called in my garden helpers, and we will slowly reconfigure the garden. It is too much to do in a day. And I have at best one morning a week to give to my garden. And I have some time before I need to plant again, so I am in no hurry.

This seems to be the way most change happens, slowly, over time, a little bit at a time. Not all change is good, but not all change is bad either. This tearing down of my garden feels destructive. I’m ripping up dead plants, pulling out supporting cages, and tearing down protective fences. This can’t be good, right?

Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured. I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. Isaiah 5:5.

But the garden is such a glimpse of a larger reality. I know that all this destruction will enable my garden to produce more and better fruit in the future. I know that this destruction is not permanent. Like re-breaking a bone before you can set it properly, sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better.

We know it’s true, but it’s hard to see when our lives are being ripped up, our support pulled away, and our defenses destroyed. It just feels like destructive change. It feels like judgment.

Perhaps it is judgement, in the sense that I know my garden can produce better fruit than it did this past year. This year’s harvest was fine. I loved the few tomatoes I got, the random cucumbers, the scanty basil leaves, but I know the space has produced better in the past. If I want it to produce better in the future, some destruction needs to happen.

Perhaps God knows that you are capable of oh-so-much more than you are producing right now. Not that what you are giving to the world right now is bad or unappreciated, just that God wants your life to be abundant and your garden to be fruitful.

I am the vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes to make it bear more fruit. John 15:1-2.

The problem, of course, is that the promised benefit is in the future. Right now, all we sense is destruction and judgment.

If, however, our desired goal is a closer relationship with God and if difficulties, change, and disruptions deepen and strengthen that relationship, then we can see them as pruning, as ensuring an abundant future. If our desire goal is a comfortable, easy life, we will not see the beauty in overturning the garden.

The transformation of my garden will take a while. I hope you will continue to join me by reading along. I can’t promise it will be pretty, but I am confident that God will bring something good out of all of it.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Just Enough

I am new to growing figs, but I was encouraged to grow them by the baskets full of figs that friends have shared in the past. Too much to eat, too much to process, too much to share. For some reason, that has not been my experience.

My tree is producing figs and they are delicious! Sweet and pithy, they dissolve in my mouth, and I love having them available. But they ripen one at a time every few days. So, if I share a ripe fig with you, it is the one and only ripe fig I have that day. Tomorrow I may have another one, but if I don’t eat it soon, it will become overripe.

As grateful as I am for each and every fig, I also feel a little, well, disappointed. I don’t want to share the few I have and yet I would like to have enough to share them with others, let others share my joy, perhaps brag a little. And there’s the rub. I want a big harvest partially so you will be impressed by my big harvest.

See how God has blessed me! Oh, yes. God definitely gets the credit. I can not make a single fig appear, or a tomato or a cucumber or even a basil leaf. But there is still pride in showing off how much God has blessed my gardening efforts, and some embarrassment when those blessings seem a little scarce and far apart.

Am I now seeking human approval or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10.

Sometimes, God seems to give to us abundantly and sometimes only just what we need for today. And it is tempting to think that this has something to do with us, with our efforts and attitudes, with our righteous living or poor decision making. But it could have more to do with God than with us.

Perhaps he gives us abundance so that we can share, just enough so that we can trust in His providence, and not quite enough so that others can be generous. Perhaps a limited supply is the blessing.

So, God has blessed me with a few ripe figs, and I am grateful for them. I don’t have enough to make fig preserves or take a basket to my friends, but I have one for today and one for tomorrow and what more, really, does anyone need?

Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11.

In this culture where more is better, we may confuse abundance with blessing. It may be tempting to think that riches signify God’s approval. God may give us riches for His purposes, but He may also call us to sell all that we own (Mark 10:21). He may tell us to take nothing with us (Luke 9:3). He may even turn our idea of blessing on its head.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12.

These ripening figs are a gift. An underserved gracious gift from a loving God. I will be grateful and not complain that there is not more. I do not need more. He has provided what I need, my daily fig.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Hidden by Weeds

I did a little long-overdue weeding of my cucumber patch and look what I found – a cucumber hidden by the weeds, over ripe and rotting on the ground.

My first thought was anger at myself for having missed it when it was green. If I had kept the weeds at bay, if I had been more diligent in training the cucumbers to the climbing cage, if, if, if. We’ve all done that, or, at least, I hope I’m not the only one who does that. But who knows why I missed it. It doesn’t change the fact that I did. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, didn’t.

It’s got me thinking about other kinds of fruit that could be hidden under other kinds of weeds.

I’m in the middle of a rather large purchase of lake front property right now, and it has me anxious. I know, do not be anxious about tomorrow, but I really want this to happen and am missing my husband. I am riddled with concern that I am messing it up or forgetting something vitally important or making a huge mistake or biting off more than I can possibly chew. I am letting the weeds grow up.

As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go along their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Luke 8:14.

Or it rots unseen.

When I am anxious, I tend to be short with people, easily agitated, impatient. Love and gentleness may be present in my life, but it is hidden when I am anxious. And if I don’t tend to these weeds now and let that fruit be seen, the opportunity to do so may be lost.

Because that cucumber when ripe would have been a blessing. I love cucumber sandwiches. I love to munch on crispy slices, plain or with a little basil. Cucumbers are a wonderful addition to corn salad or tossed salad. But the moment for that cucumber to be a blessing has passed. It was lost because I let it be hidden under the weeds.

Now and for the next few months I will be dealing with a host of new people, attorneys and landscapers, builders, surveyors, and the corps of engineers to make this lake property a reality. I will have many opportunities to bear the Spirit’s fruit and further the kingdom, or hide that fruit under the weeds of anxiety, the cares and pleasure of life. And if that fruit is hidden now, it may never have the opportunity to bless the person for whom God is growing it.

Perhaps this rotting cucumber is calling me to weed now and avoid the coulda, woulda, shoulda of missed opportunity.

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7.

I pick the rotting cucumber and add it and the pulled weeds to the compost pile. God can turn even our failures into blessing. And I head inside to spend some time weeding my soul as I have weeded the garden.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Not Dead Yet!

The vegetable plants are dying; even the weeds are wilting. As the temperature nears one hundred again, most of my plants have called it quits for the year. Enough already, it’s too hot.

I can relate. The afternoons have found me huddling in my house, air conditioner churning away, book in hand. Even the lake is little respite as the water is warm and the breeze even warmer. What did people do before ac?

I go to the garden while the sun is still low in the morning sky. Already the dew has evaporated in the heat. I water my dying plants and look for signs of life. My basil, oregano, and peppers still survive. The raspberry and fig seem undeterred. My poor cucumbers are almost gone. Almost.

Above the browning leaves and dying stalks, amidst the weeds that grow no matter what, a lone cucumber plant is holding forth. Like a character in a British comedy, I hear him cry. “I’m not dead yet!” Okay, mostly dead, or that is, alive.

What a reminder this little plant is to not jump to the ending too soon.

Yes, it is mid-August, and the cucumbers will die off soon, but that is no reason to call them dead before they are. Unlike my tomato plants which have been dead from blight for a month now, these cucumbers still have life in them. Who knows, with cooler temperatures and ample water, they may still produce.

Having faith can feel naïve sometimes, like foolishness even (maybe especially) to ourselves. Any sane person would know that the cucumbers are on their last leg and there is no point in nursing along the dying plant in a fanciful wish that they will produce at this late stage. Any sane person would know that a dead man doesn’t just rise from the grave and walk again, not after he was true and fully dead.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18.

Because with God, nothing is impossible. Let that sink in a minute. Let that shake your cynicism, your world-wise skepticism. It’s not normal for a sea to part, a virgin to give birth, or the sun to move backward on the sundial, but can you say with assurance that God didn’t make it possible? Are you so sure that your constraints can be applied to an eternal, omniscient, all-powerful God?

I don’t know that God will cause cucumbers to grow on this hardy plant, but I believe He can. And in that faith, I will water and tend this little plant for as long as it is green. I will move forward with plans that may not come to fruition. I will work to be kind to those who hurt my feelings and gentle toward those who anger me.

And in those relationships that have been damaged by broken trust, unkind actions, differing agendas, I will hear the faint whisper of “I’m not dead yet.” Who knows, with cooler temperatures and ample water, they may still live.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 12:7.

What are you facing today that makes you want to throw up your hands and walk away? What hope do you harbor that wisdom would say is foolish? What are you bearing that is just too much, what plant are you watering in hopes that it will survive? Keep bearing, keep believing, keep hoping, keep enduring.

God is not dead, not even mostly dead. He is alive and well and active in the world. And with God, nothing is impossible.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Figs

School has started and summer draws to a close. My garden is winding down as well. The leaves on the cucumber plants have begun to wither and there are no more blossoms on the peppers. Soon it will be time to harvest the basil and freeze pesto for the winter. But my figs – they are telling a different story.

I have eaten ripe figs in early August, so I know that these figs may be ripening late, but what a gift! This is year three for my fig tree, the year they are due to bear fruit, and my little tree is loaded with green buds. As I slowly dismantle my garden, I know these buds will grow larger and turn purple, soft, and delicious.

The promise of fruit, the waiting as the plant grows, the excitement as the fruit appears, this anticipation is one of the great joys of gardening.

So often, our food needs are met immediately. We go to the store, get what we want, and eat it. Is it winter? That is no problem. Someone has shipped fruit and vegetables from a warmer clime or grown them in a hothouse. You can get almost any produce even on the coldest days. No waiting, no anticipation.

A garden reminds us that God did not create a world where our wants were met immediately. He created a world of seasons, of fluctuations in temperature and rainfall, of planting and waiting.

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. James 5:7.

It’s hard to be patient. It’s difficult to wait. How long, O Lord?

As children, we must wait to grow up, until we are large enough, smart enough, old enough, until we are mentally and physically capable. As adults we must wait (hopefully) for the right spouse, the right job, the right place to live. We wait to have children and then wait for them to mature. We wait for wrong doers to be brought to justice and good people to get a reprieve from their troubles. We wait for God to change the people around us and, if we are honest, to change us as well. We wait for figs to ripen.

While waiting, we continue in our daily tasks of tending. We water and weed the garden. We struggle at the challenges of the day. We help those around us. We aid those who are hurting and love our neighbors. We pray and meditate on scripture. We listen for God’s call to us and follow Him.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8.

And as we go about our tasks, the fig ripens. The child grows up, we find a soulmate, we find purpose in a vocation, wrongs are righted, and prayers are answered. We may even realize that we have been changed by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The day will come when these figs are ready to harvest. The day will come when we are ready to face the Lord. The day will come when God puts all his enemies under his foot. Until that time, persevere in your daily tasks, pray without ceasing, savor the joy of anticipation, learn the peace of patience, wait for the fig to ripen.

Because those figs would not taste good today, but in the future, they will be delicious!

Love in Christ, Betsy

Not a Bell Pepper

At the garden store this past spring, I bought two red bell peppers and one yellow bell pepper. This gorgeous pepper is not a bell pepper.

This has happened to me before. The plants look similar and are often returned by shoppers to an incorrect shelf. One year, the pepper we bought by mistake was so hot that we had to wash our hands after touching it. I think this is a Marconi, which is a sweet pepper, just not bell shaped. Of course, I won’t really know until I dare to taste it.

I am sure the plant had a little marker stuck in the soil to identify it. I even put those in the ground next to the plant. Only now, months later, it is not there. I can’t even blame the wrong plant on mislabeling. I may just have been too casual in identifying it. I may have assumed that since it was with the bell peppers, it was indeed a bell pepper. My bad.

You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16

That is not a bell pepper. Being close to plants growing the desired fruit does not make it those plants, any more than the weeds growing in my garden are peppers.

Going to church on Sundays does not make you a believer. If you are a believer, that is certainly where you want to be, who you want to associate with, how you connect with the larger body of Christ. If you are a bell pepper, you want to grow in the garden with the rest of the peppers.

But our presence is not the final word. God wants more from us than just proximity. He wants more than just the appearance of right living. He wants a man after his own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), a contrite heart (Psalm 51:17), someone who will love him (Matthew 23:37).

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:5.

And if we do this, good fruit will follow. Because a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (Matthew 7:18).

I hope this is not bad fruit growing in my garden. I hope it’s just not what I was expecting. The truth will be in the taste, but I will let it grow for now.

It’s not unlike God to surprise us sometimes. I think He enjoys leaving us little surprise gifts, much like any parent wants to surprise their child with a treat. Or maybe He is encouraging me to be more alert when picking plants. Maybe He is showing me a pepper I will like better than the bells. Maybe He is teaching me that good fruit can look different from what I expect.

The plant is healthy. The plant is producing. The fruit looks like good, albeit unexpected, fruit. It may be a gift. I don’t want to pull it and discard the gift. I certainly don’t want to be found fighting against God because it was not what I expected (Acts 5:39).

When harvest time comes, when the pepper is ready to pick, the truth will be known. For now, I’ll pull only the weeds. I know they are not bearing any good fruit. I will let the pepper grow and see what God has in store.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Garlic Harvest

The plants were brown and brittle; it was time to harvest the garlic. With no effort, I grabbed the stiff stalks and pulled the bulbs from the ground. Some bulbs were noticeably larger than others, although I could not see much difference in the stalks.

That’s the tricky thing about root vegetables. It’s difficult to know the health or size of the root because we cannot see it through all the dirt. I had an indication that the garlic bulbs were growing because the plants sent up those amazing stalks and pincushion flowers. But I wasn’t sure they were healthy until I harvested them. They may have been moldy from too much rain.

The first root plants I grew, carrots, were a huge disappointment. Beautiful fluffy leaves, tiny sour carrots. You just don’t know until they are uprooted from the ground.

It’s got me thinking about the thief on the cross beside Jesus. I don’t know but I would have to guess that there was little if anything about his life up to that point which would indicate a good heart. Nothing that was visible or readily observable. In his own words, he deserved to be there on that cross.

And we indeed have been condemned justly. For we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:41-43.

That tiny bulb of faith, invisible to those standing there, was of value to Jesus. The man’s bad deeds were discarded like the brown stalks of my garlic plants. It may seem a little unfair to the older brothers who bore good fruit and followed the rules. After all, Jesus tells us that we will know a tree by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45, Matthew 12:33). This man’s tree apparently bore bad fruit.

If we must be honest, though, our tree probably does as well. We tend to hold the standards we find easy to meet and dismiss the standards which feel unobtainable. But by God’s standards, we all have fallen short. All of us deserve to be punished for our attitudes and probably our deeds as well. Perhaps, like these garlic plants, we have born no fruit at all.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9.

And that, my friend, is the good news. God pulls up the brittle stalks we show the world and finds the hidden bulbs of our faith. Some are large, some are small, all are treasured.

As long as we have breath, we can call out the name of Jesus like the thief on the cross. And Jesus, who already knows you and wants you to know him, will respond. He, unlike us, can see through the dirt and grime of our lives and see what grows in the darkness. He sees that bulb of faith.

And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6.

All you need to do is to plant that first little garlic bulb. That prayer, that scripture, that calling out to Jesus, that instant of belief.

Today, you will be with me in Paradise.

Love in Christ, Betsy