So Jacob served seven years to have Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. (Genesis 29:20) The love of Jacob for Rachel is the seed of the creation of the tribes of Israel. His love enabled him to endure seven years of labor, the imposition of Rachel’s older sister Leah , and an additional seven years of work for Laban, his wives’ father. Surely it was a deep and enduring love.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, (John 11: 5) When Jesus saw Mary weeping . . . he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him ? . He asked. . . Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved them!” (John 11:33) The deeply real and personal love Jesus felt for Lazarus’ family led to the stunning miracle of the raising of Lazarus and ultimately to Jesus’ own death and resurrection.

Later, St. Paul would write, “Now Faith, Hope, and Love abide, but the greatest of these is love. (1Corinthans 13:13) The “greatness” of love is expressed throughout the Old and New New Testaments, but often in our world the idea of love is associated with weakness instead of greatness. Wherever that happens, we miss the truth, for the apostle John wrote , God is love.

In many of his letters, St. Paul expressed the greatness of love: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best. . . (Philippians 1:9)

The passages concerning love are vital, as they refer to the very character of God: we love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:20) If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. (1 John 4:15)

The dictionary defines love as “an intense feeling of deep affection,” but the Scriptures point to something much more than feelings. They point instead to a joyful, life-giving Person who shares His spirit with those who believe. Love is, indeed, a Person.

Love in Him,

Prue

One of the sweetest things about the approach of autumn is the changing light. Shadows become longer and the light shining on roofs and sidewalks is milder and gentler. You can sometimes see a haze over the fields when you look for hay bales. With the change of light comes the sense that my familiar yard has turned into a new haven that’s both cooler and different from its June to August self. The fledgling birds are on the wing now; they land jostling and pecking next to their parents at the feeders. Stepping outside becomes a pleasure again.

Nature is so renewing that it is also inspiring, as God has intended from the beginning of creation: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of His hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech , they use no words, no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 95:1-4)

St. Paul asserted that one of the greatest messages of God in conveying His own character to humans is through His creation itself: For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what is made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:2) Though we all find nature entertaining, Paul points out that it is much more than that, because all of nature is a display in some way, of the character of God Himself. The Psalmist agrees: Where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. (Psalm65:8)

It’s great to enjoy the refreshment and pleasures of nature, but to know that each natural thing also speaks to us of its creator, and that the speaking is one of the reasons for its creation, increases our joy. The joy of experiencing the change of seasons with the anticipation that it carries is not an empty event , but a strong message from our God to rejoice in it as a gift from Him.

People who lived thousands of years ago knew this and wrote about it, but we still sometimes think that we are alone, and that nature holds no message; but Jesus said,

Consider the lilies of the field.

Love in Him,

Prue

Four daughters and a son is a fairly large family, and I am the middle of the five. When we were growing up, my father was heard to say from time to time, “Your mother is the most beautiful woman in the world.” When I was four years old I knew without a question that this was certainly true.

One day my older sister told me that here would soon be a contest in Atlantic City, and that the most beautiful woman would be crowned “Miss America”. I worried about this for some time, thinking that Atlantic City must be at least one overnight away from our house, and that there must be many reasons why Miss America would have to be away from home.

My mother was standing at the kitchen sink when I looked up at her and asked, “When do you have to go to be Miss America?” “What?” she said. I repeated the question. “I am not going to be Miss America”, she said. “Even if I wanted to be Miss America, I couldn’t , because I’m married. I’m marred to your father and to you kids!” “Oh,” I said, and turned to walk out of the kitchen and out the door, and across the back yard, feeling a wonderful euphoria that the most beautiful woman in the world is my mother, and she will never leave because she is married.

I believe that at one time or another, every Christian experiences a similar anxiety. Everyone believes that our God is the greatest, most beautiful, all powerful God ; but each one has times when we wonder how God could possibly be concerning Himself with our personal lives when there are crises happening all over the world, not the least of which is in the land of Israel: God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews13:5), and, Surely I am with you always, to the very end of he age.” (Matthew 28”20)

Those stone tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain were in reality a wedding ring for Israel; and the ladder that Jacob saw in a dream, with angels ascending and descending, was really a wedding ring for the one who would be named “Israel”. The rock that was rolled away from the tomb in Jerusalem was the greatest of wedding rings, sealed with the blood of the groom.

We, too, can experience the euphoria of assurance that we are forever loved by our most wonderful God.

Love in Him,

Prue

Recently when Jack and I were buying smoothies to take to our daughter’s house when our granddaughter wasn’t feeling well, we waited for our order. When another customer carried her own large order toward the door, Jack moved quickly across the room in order to open the door for her. A woman waiting next to me looked at me and said, “You’ve got a good one!” while Jack returned to his place. I thought there was envy in her eyes as he made his way back.

The experience left a big impression on me. I thought of the hunger there is in the world for simple attentiveness and courtesy: Be kind and compassionate to one another…

(Ephesians 4:32) Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Then . . . I (Paul) will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the Gospel without being frightened in any way by those who appose you. (Philippians 1:27-28)

For thousands of years these words have been preached from pulpits around the world. Missionaries have carried them to every continent except Antarctica; and today we need these words and others from Scripture, more than ever before. St. Paul’s message of unity and of faith in the Gospel rings as loudly as when it was first written to the fledgling church in Philippi.

That a such a simple courtesy as opening a door for a woman laden with packages was a surprise, seems like a reflection on the busyness of our lives which becomes so great that the humanity of each other gets obscured in our many distractions. Here Paul doesn’t tell us quite how to disentangle ourselves from the teeming world around us, but Jesus gives these words: When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. . . for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. ( Matthew 6:6&8) These words precede the gift of the Lord’s Prayer to the disciples. Clearly the exit from modern confusion is in our room where we pray. It takes time to develop a regular prayer life, but Jesus indicates that his Father keeps appointments with us when we seek Him alone. When we substitute prayer for further engagement in our busy world, we find the haven that renews and clarifies our lives. It becomes second nature to help another, and to open a door for them, too.

Love in Him,

Prue

On the last day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a laud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39)

The very first gift given to humanity after the resurrection of Jesus was the gift of the Holy Spirit. This passage is part of Jesus’ preparation of the people to enable them to accept the gift when it came. Even so, only some people accepted it when it did come. The gift of the Holy Spirit, breathed upon the disciples and later bestowed upon the gathering at Pentecost, signaled a new relationship between God and human beings. In this passage Jesus describes it as “rivers of living water” flowing from within them, a picture of God Himself in the lives of believers.

Before his death, Jesus told the disciples a great deal about the gift he would be giving them “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

(John 14:26) He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. . . the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” (John 16:12)

Luci Shaw is a famous poet of Christian themes. In the poem Open she celebrates the life-giving power of the risen Christ on the evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection.

Open

Doubt padlocked one door and

Memory put her back to the other.

Still the damp drought seeped in,

though Fear chinked all the cracks and

Blindness boarded up the window.

In the darkness that was left

Defeat crouched in his cold corner.

Then Jesus came

(all the doors being shut)

and stood among them. Luci Shaw

Christ is the one who gives the gift that changes each believer’s life with the arrival of living water.

Love in Him,

Prue

In April I took a misstep on a wooden strip of flooring in my house, and fell backward onto the hardwood floor. I was briefly stunned, but was quickly helped up after feeling fairly sure that I could stand and even walk. It happened in the evening, and so we waited until the next morning to visit my doctor, who ordered x rays and said that, unlikely as it seemed, it appeared that nothing was broken. The x rays confirmed in the report that “nothing was broken, and nothing displaced.”

It wasn’t until this week that I read Psalm 94:18: When I said, “My foot is slipping, your mercy, O Lord, supported me.” The words leaped off the page, and then I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving in the next verse of the psalm: When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. I experienced consolation and joy when it was confirmed that none of my bones had been either dislocated or broken. Even at the time it happened I thought it was a great blessing, but reading the Psalm was like hearing confirmation that God is at work in my life. I marveled that the message came from so long ago, and that the psalmist, so very different and distant from me, yet had an experience that could resonate in a person in the twenty first century, and more than resonate. The scripture identified the source of grace in God’s mercy.

I don’t believe that the scripture and my foot slipping were coincidences, because I do believe the scripture comes from the Holy Spirit of God through human beings. The Psalms in particular touch the intersection between our holy God and our humanity.

A British Puritan preacher in the 16oo’s wrote this: There is as much difference between heavenly comforts and earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten and one that is painted on the wall! (Thomas Watson, 1660)

The Bible itself is the banquet that is eaten. It’s message of God’s mercy reaches a crescendo with the coming of Christ at the Last Supper: Take, and eat, this is my body. . . Drink from this, all of you. This is my blood. . . (Matthew 26:26, 27). For thousands of years the meal at the table of Christ has remained the same, and hungry souls have sought it out to be a bridge to the one who invites us to his banquet. We live in a time when the banquet is more available than ever before. When our foot slips we have only to “open the book” in order to find his invitation, and find God’s mercy.

Love in Him,

Prue

Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in Heaven. (Lamentations 3:41)

Our hearts are located somewhat left of the center of our chests. They are the pumps that receive and deliver life giving blood to all the other parts of our bodies. For thousands of years the heart has been poetically associated with our very lives and with all of our loves. When the author of Lamentations wrote “Let us lift up our hearts,”heis suggesting something that he believes is entirely spiritually possible.

What does it mean to “lift up our hearts”? Is it simply to focus attention on the idea of God, or is there more?

Every time I water drooping flowers in the garden, and then see them with lifted up faces from their drink, it gives me real satisfaction. I imagine that God, too, experiences a satisfaction when we lift our hearts and hands to Him. The difference is in the shower. My shower of water is vital to the lives of the flowers, while the lifting of heart and hands to God is vital to our spiritual lives. Our “hearts” are the repository of the Holy Spirit of God. When we respond to His Spirit it is a reaching out to God for His life giving Spirit to renew the Spirit that He has already planted in us. Lifting our hearts and hands is simply responding to God’s heart and hands in our lives .

The prophet of Lamentations was writing at a devastating time in the life of Israel, as the nation had been smashed, the temple and much of Jerusalem destroyed and the people sent into exile. His cry to “Lift up our hearts” is sent to a people who identified themselves with the God of Moses, but had gone astray.

And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. ( Romans 8:27) It is the Spirit who helps us to lift up our hearts, for God alone knows the workings of our hearts and minds and hands. Jeremiah himself, the likely author of Lamentations, experienced the Holy Spirit at a young age. When he broke through his lamenting to say “Let us lift up our hearts to God,” it was clearly inspired by God. It’s a short passage in the midst of deep grieving and lamenting, but it is a ray of light in the darkness.

Like water on the flowers, the Holy Spirit helps us to lift up our hearts and hands to God.

Love in Him,

Prue

Once there were three men who had each had a close friend who had died. The friend was happy in heaven, but the three men were very sad. The first one said to himself, “I have become so sad that I have forgotten how to be happy again. I used to walk with my friend in the woods. I’ll take that walk again, and I’ll build a fire and have incense, and say the prayer that my parents taught me. Maybe God will help me to be happy again.” And so, he did all those things, and when he was finished praying he stood up and thought he would certainly begin to feel better very soon.

The second man said to himself, “ I don’t know how to use incense, and my family never taught me a special prayer, but I know the path in the forest and I can build a fire.” He, too, took the walk and built a fire and prayed a prayer, and thought that he would feel happier soon.

The third man sat by a window in his house and looked down at his hands, which reminded him that he could pray, and this is what he said: “ Father God, I don’t know any path in the woods. Even if I did, those trees have all been cut down by now. I don’t know how to build a fire with incense, and my family never taught me a special prayer. I have nothing at all, but a sad heart. I wonder if a sad heart would be enough for you to touch my life and make me happy again.”

When that man stood up he was happier than the other two, for he discovered that Jesus’ words , Blessed are those who mourn, for you will be comforted (by God Himself) were really, really true. ( Matthew 5: 4)

Grief comes into the life of everyone, and we all struggle to escape it, but among the beatitudes of Jesus is this short one which has been a sustaining message for thousands of years. We can help ourselves to recover from great loses, but the one who surrenders himself is the one who receives the renewal that we all need. Believing that loved ones are happy in heaven is not enough to remove the sense of loss and sometimes regret, but Jesus makes clear that his Father and our Father is able to supply for us the peace and hope that restores our joy. The apostle Paul wrote : For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future. . . neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)

I believe that with God’s help we can all become like the third man.

Love in Him,

Prue

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

He said to them, “When you pray, say. . . (Luke 11:1)

When the disciple asked Jesus to teach all of them to pray, that disciple had just witnessed Jesus himself returning from prayer to his Father. Like the companion of a prince, the disciple, whose main desire was to obtain an acquaintance with the King himself, asked the King’s son for a way to approach his father. Perhaps surprisingly, Jesus responded instantly, not with rituals or preliminaries, like, ”First you must find a place to be alone,” or “First you must clear your thoughts, or make a sacrifice, or enumerate your sins.” Instead, Jesus gives the disciples actual words, the very words his Father wishes go hear from them. It is an utterly unique gift given by the son to shape for his friends a spiritual position by which to approach his Father. It has lasted for over two thousand years and will undoubtedly last until the end of time for the whole world.

Jesus spoke often of his Father, disguised in parables as the owner of a vineyard, or as the father of a prodigal, or the master of a great banquet, and others; but in this prayer, a direct and simple response to a disciple’s request, Jesus began by addressing his Father as “Our Father”, an address that would resonate all the way to Jesus’ resurrection, when Jesus told Mary Magdalene, “Go. . . to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 29:17) In a way, these words put a seal upon the Lord’s Prayer, as well as on much of Jesus’ other teachings to the disciples, and also to us.

The Lord’s Prayer has been my “go-to” prayer when I am at a loss as to how to pray. I’ve given it to others some times, when they say, “I don’t even know how to pray!” It is Jesus’ personal answer to such a cry, and, while all prayer is the language of hope, simply by being directed to the One who fulfills all hope, this prayer is immediate enough and personal enough for everyone seeking God’s presence in his or her life.

The Lord’s prayer is an invitation to join the family of God and Jesus by acknowledging God’s Fatherhood of us. It is an invitation to all hope. In spite of all the differences among Christians, the Lord’s Prayer is still the very language of hope throughout the world.

Love in Him,

Prue

In a world wrenched by wars, conflict, misery and discontent on virtually every continent, it’s easy to think that God has closed the book on His unending grace. I can think, though, of times of undeniable grace occurring in surprising places.

When we were fostering a little girl in our home, I had to take her to a pediatrician for a physical. The doctor talked with me at length about the child’s past and the care we were giving her. She, the doctor, also gave me advice after the examination. When I stopped at the window to pay , the receptionist said,”The doctor said there is no charge.” I was surprised, and felt that I had received a remarkable grace.

It happened also when Jack and our daughter were rehabilitating animals that had been hurt or were sick. When we took a wounded squirrel to the veterinarian, he gave us medicine and advice and took time to examine the animal. When I tried to pay him, he said, “I don’t charge for the wild ones.” I felt again the simple grace of unselfish generosity.

In the Book of John, the very defining characteristic of Jesus the Christ, is this grace that can sometimes be seen in our ordinary lives: The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:17)

Through all the noise of an election season in America, the evidence of grace may still be found. Grace, the free and undeserved gift of God to us of salvation itself is like the sharing of food from a mother to her child. Without paying attention, we can miss the life-giving power of the gift of such favor: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24)

Some days we fail to experience even a glimmer of grace in our world, but the apostle Paul wrote, also in his letter to the Roman Christians, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more . . . so also grace might reign to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20)

The world doesn’t always recognize grace, or even accept it, and grace is sometimes hard to find, but Jesus promised, “ I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. ( John 14:18) The surprising presence of Christ in our lives is pure grace.

Love in Him

Prue