Fragility, a gift?

Pondering this thought: Fragility, a gift?

I have never given it too much thought about how it does appear that if I am not in God’s word, I see a direct reflection in my actions and attitude. And then I am read an excerpt from “Jesus Calling” devotional, Sandra Young – Author. When I first heard the timely message, tears began to swell in my eyes, as the truth of God’s love began to harken to me once again to “come away with me”. I began pondering this concept of being fragile as a gift from God. This morning I woke wide awake at 5:00 a.m. and felt Gods’ tender tug to wake up and get into his word.

I must admit I have never thought of fragility as a gift, but more like a weakness and something to overcome. How does one run and grow a business, oversee workers and run a household being fragile?

Someone told me yesterday that “they saw “God” in me every time they spoke with me”. I am glad they cannot see into the darkness of my thoughts and heart, I feel so far away from God sometimes. Many times I don’t act any different than some of the worldly people I know.

I abhor the darkness of my flesh, but at the same time, when I see that, I also see Gods mercy and love, and I know that if he can save a wretch like me, then for sure there is hope for others. I do not condemn myself, but rather I glory in Gods’ forgiveness thought Christ Jesus.

I guess that in my fragility, I see my need for Christ and His ability, His strength, His direction, His… everything. In my weakness and submission to the obedience of reading God’s word, I come to the place more often of recognizing that it is not me that creates success for my business, peace in my home and good relationships with others, it truly is Christ in me the hope of glory. So why is it that I go through the seasons of stepping away from the discipline of reading God’s word daily? Why is it that I must continually learn this lesson? Perhaps it is my flesh that needs reminding, not my spirit at all. Perhaps my flesh needs to be put in its place and shown that it cannot manage all the complexities of life without the sweet and loving correction of the Savior, Jesus.

The old cliché, “Christians aren’t perfect…”, well actually there is no one on the earth that is perfect, and there is forgiveness for everyone. Jesus said to his disciples when asked “what is the work we must do to inherit eternal life” “Believe on the one in whom He sent”, in other words, believe Jesus is who he says he is and trust in his ability to save the most wretched soul to the person who thinks their own good works qualifies them. Mercy and Grace is there for all who want to accept it. Forgiveness is the paper it is wrapped in. Open your gift of eternal salvation through Christ, just ask, no special words are needed, no special formula to follow, just a heartfelt talk with the Savior, and a true acknowledgement of your desire to know him as the Savior.

In our weakness (and fragility) He is made strong. I trust you today LORD to be my strength.

Are you serving the real Jesus of the Bible or one that you have imagined him to be?

How do we keep ourselves from setting up in our minds and hearts a false Jesus, one that is not represented in the scriptures? How do we have the mindset of knowing the Messiah in the power of his resurrection and the son of man in his humanity without remaking him in the image of our mind? A fewScriptures come to mind quickly, “study and show thyself approved” and “mercy triumph over judgment”.

It seems to me that it comes down to a matter of the heart, something that God is always interested in. Is the church trying to remake the gospel into its own water downed version to accommodate the culture of the day? This isn’t new! Jesus was not accepted as the savior of the world when he announced who he was. And I dare say with trembling fear, it will be that way in the near future when he returns. Only those who are ready (in heart and soul) will see him. I am thinking of the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 were taken and 5 were left. I am also thinking of the many times Jesus said, “Those who have eyes to see let them see”, and “those who have ears to hear, let them hear”.

After just reading a few pages about God’s goodness and God’s severity, it leaves one thinking that the two appose one another, but indeed, they do not! God of the former covenant (Old Testament) and the new covenant (New Testament) is the same God. There are things revealed about his character in the former covenant that seem odd or strange to our human minds, but they come from a position of a Holy God, full of mercy, grace, goodness, justice, righteousness, faithfulness, etc. If you want the savior of the New Testament, Jesus, then you must embrace and accept the same God that is revealed in the former covenant also. John 1 tells us that Jesus is the word (the whole word, not just the New Testament part). Whether or not this is an easy thing to understand and accept or it is difficult to understand and embrace, it is Truth.

One huge difference I see between the former covenant and the new covenant we have in Christ, is the complexity that our sins have been washed away by the uncorrupted blood of the eternal God though Jesus his son, not just temporarily covered by blood of lambs and bulls. I do not understand it all, and I would question anyone who had all the answers to an infinite God, that I am sure of! I am not a biblical scholar so I cannot go through all the differences of the former covenant and the new covenant, but this is the one that compels me to run to the mercy and grace of God for forgiveness. God of the Old Testament and the New Testament is the same God. He is Infinite, holy and in his goodness he also is sever, in his grace he also requires justice, in his love He also demonstrates correction. Great is the mystery of God, and anyone who would try to explain it away in a book, or a sermon only belittles the greatness of our God. ONLY God knows the wholeness of who He is, we can only touch but a small sampling here on this earth, and that by faith to believe He is who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do. What is revealed for all to know is revealed in his Word.



Because the mind cannot understand the complexity of God, does not diminish who he is, in fact it seems to me that in order for God to be God, then I will not ever get to the end of who He is or fully understand everything about him. He is the Infinite one, the Great I AM. In his goodness, he calls all mankind unto his own, some answer the call and some do not and this too is a great mystery. If God has called you and you have answered, then praise him, live for him and give him all glory and seek to know the God through a covenant relationship with the sacrificial lamb Jesus, who is revealed to us in the former covenant and the new covenant.

With the Master in mind,

Chilon

Technology, Help or Hindrance?

So, here i sit, in a car waiting, as many other moms and wives do and i pull out my iPad and start watching Kandee Johnson videos on uTube.  What the heck?  in my car with a little Star Trek like touchpad techie thingy and i am watching a video, no strings attached?

 I begin thinking that there are so many things i could be productive with, and then i look all around me, i have a "smart" phone, much smarter than i am, i still don't know how to work all the whichamacallits and that drives my husband into teaching mode, which drives me crazy if i haven't asked for help.

OK, so i am ranting... what is it about having the latest gadget that makes me think that my life is going to get more productive and more simplified; i mean i sync everything from my work documents to videos i take of my family to the contacts in my phone, i should have a very streamlined life.  I have  computers in almost every room, x- box, Roku, apple TV, multiple of screens everywhere you go, books online, ebooks everywhere.  Everything imaginable at the end of my fingertips and my life is screaming silently to slow down, light a candle and enjoy the natural occurrence of a day.

I love the scripture "Be Still and Know that I am God"

Stillness, it is something that we in the 21 century need to learn to master, before we truly do spin out of control.

Over and Out!

CGA

Much to Say - New Habits

Developing a new habit is sometimes a monumental occurrence.  Beginning again, like working out is like starting over, completely.  

I have all this stuff i want to say on the inside and trying to get it to the fingertips and type it out and make some sense of it all is the hard thing.  In reading a published book, authors make it look easy, but i do wonder about the behind the scenes daily grind of writing for the discipline of it all, the research that it takes, editing, re-writes, changes, and then final copy.  It all sounds like work to me and the "romance" of being a writer is completely blown out of the water.  

I think i will start with the baby steps, and not concern myself with capitalizing every "i" and making sure that every sentence is grammatically correct with all the proper placed verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns and participles; present and past.  How about i just string some sentences together and let’s hope for the best.  If i have a few run on sentences, please don't call the editor, it's not her fault.  I take full responsibility for all things lovely and all things a little clumsy.  If you can handle my conversational way of writing you will enjoy my musings.  If not, please indulge me a little; i promise i will begin to talk about some substantial things.  

I have been accused of being a little wordy in things that needed less.  You know less is sometimes more, and more is just more for the sake of "more".  There are times when i ramble about the current political climate and then other times i rant about food, the process of what large companies are doing to the masses of food produced.  And again other times I talk about what it is like in my life of growing a business, having a family, being a wife, mother, friend, and the list goes on. 

I am a crusader for justice of all kinds.  Things that don't balance make me go over the edge, which i haven't really determined where that makes me land, but of course others say it so it must be so, right?  Hmmm, well not necessarily.  

I’m a country girl at heart and I love to wake in the mornings from the birds chirping, but I love being close enough to the city that I can enjoy a play, ballet, or local theatre without a whole lot of travel time.

Being at this place in my life gives me a great view of life’s happenings and allows me to see things differently,  without the anxiousness of having to compete in business, but just doing it with excellence because it is what I enjoy;  knowing that my kids are going to be okay even though they make decisions that I don’t always agree with and understanding that some of the beauty of marriage is going through the hard stuff so you can get to the sweet spot, and not give up in the mess of it all.   In this season of my life I don’t see the beautiful young woman I used to see in the mirror, my reflection has aged a bit although I can tell you first hand, when I walk away from the mirror, inwardly  I feel about 21 (but much wiser).  And when I walk away from the reflected image, I see a grace, stirred up in all areas of my life.  A grace I don’t deserve, I didn’t do anything to get it and I certainly don’t do anything to keep it other than just believe the one that gave it to me has a delight in loving me and giving me good things. 

“It is for freedom sake that Christ set us free”, the apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:1

Things that make me go Hmm

I read posts on LJ and FB and sometimes i even go to my twitter account and read all the well meaning opinions out there and i can't ever get past these few things:

~ Why have we condensed a life lesson into a 40count line of advice? AND why do we have an expectation that a life problem can be solved in a byte of information. Christ was made perfect (not lacking anything) by what he suffered (Amplified version.) Who or what makes us think that suffering is not part of the equation of our perfection in Christ? Yes of course i love the word BALANCE too. And we should all rightly divide and correctly apply the word of the Living God to our lives, but there is no getting around this one scripture about suffering. NONE!

~ Posts from those who call themselves of the body of believers, Christians, Followers of Christ, etc, etc (you get the picture) have such a callous way to excuse their rudeness and then hide under the banner of "i'm just being honest with how "I" feel". Since when does vomiting our opinions on others constitute as feelings? When did accusing your fellow sojourner become acceptable in the body of Christ? I love what the word tells us about Daniel, that he let no idle words fall to the ground. If "they" will know us by our love for one another, then why isn't the world scrambling to become part of who we are....

we don't have too go to far to see why... listen to what comes out of our mouths, watch where our eyes go, what are the thoughts in our minds; are we bringing them captive into obedience to Christ, or are we letting our mind wander, and gossip to yourself?

In soberness and in humility we should all take an account of the person in the mirror before giving an account for someone else's life or intentions. And we should fall on the ground and be thankful for the forgiveness and mercy found in our savior.

Get back up and walk forward again today, what is forgiven is forgotten with Christ, today you are a new creature and have a treasure in your jar of clay. Be, Walk and Act like the royalty you are! Don't do as the world does, dare to be different, you'll startle yourself for sure :)

1Corinthians 4:1-3 NIV Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry we do not lose heart. Rather we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

My Dearest M

I don't like good-byes, you know that don't you?

I never have, I can remember crying as a child, a teenager, a young adult and into my middle age. What is it about a good bye that haunts me? What are the questions that go unanswered in my soul that make me hate good- byes. Will we see each other again? Will we embrace as friends ever again? Will we share stories of our children growing up? Will we share the communion of a meal again? Will we talk face to face and share a snapshot of life together again? Good bye is so final; does it mean that we will never share the same space and time together again, or that our time will only be spent in memories of a walk on the beach or picking wild flowers for our hair? I miss you my friend, I miss the imprint of your life on mine, I miss your insight and your wittiness. I miss your smile and your gracious southern way. I miss your unrelenting mother's heart and I miss the splendor of your beauty.

In Christ there are no good-byes, though I may not set my eyes on my earthly friends again, there will be a day when we will no longer say good bye, but hello and hello forever. Today is a day that I honor my friend MKD and rejoice in the day of her birth.

I love you Mel as David loved Jonathan, you are my sister and my friend and you are forever in the imprint of my soul.

Happy Birthday my sweet southern sister – September 20

Your friend,

C

 

P.S. – I DIDN'T FORGET J

 

 

Come just as you are