Birthday Cake

The cutting of the birthday cake of our four year old neighbor was a big occasion, and Jack and I were happy to be invited to the ceremony. Michelle, the birthday girl, sat in a high chair while the rest of us sat around her at the dining room table. The cake was decorated with gum balls and candies and flowers made of icing. When Michelle blew out the candles , a chorus from her older brother, Jeffrey and sister, Lindy, went up, “Michelle, can I have a gum ball?” asked Jeffrey; “Michelle, can I have a rose?” from Lindy, and the requests didn’t stop there. “Yes”, said Michelle, “Yes”, over, and over again until the decorations were nearly depleted. She seemed delighted to say “yes”, and never once complained that they were taking all the “good” parts from her cake. I was impressed at her unassuming graciousness. Nothing was denied. Everything was cheerfully handed over.

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No”. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ. . . was not “Yes” and “No, ” but in him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:18-20)

As extraordinary as a little four year old’s generosity was, the words of St. Paul express an almost unknown level of graciousness toward all humanity, “As surely as God is faithful.” This faithfulness is limitless, and Jesus describes it in several passages: Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move. (Matthew 17:20-21)

The faith that Jesus expressed to his disciples was not a faith in an empty void but a faith in the person of the Christ. Jesus told those who asked about the works that God requires: The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent. ( John 6:28)

This is the childlike belief that Jesus extols in Matthew, Luke, and Mark: He said to them (the disciples) “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

If a four year old child can be free with her birthday cake, Is it possible that our God is not true to His promises?

Love in Him,

Prue

Sitting in our veterinarian’s waiting room with our cat secure in his carrier, I started a conversation with the woman next to me, who had a very large male rottweiler sitting quietly on the floor at her knee. He was on a loose leash, and when he turned his face to me, I could see that he was blind. The woman noticed my surprise, and said, “Yes, he’s blind, but he hardly notices his blindness. He was trained in German and in English and in sign language, but he’s retired now. We never knew him when he wasn’t blind, but he’s so confident, that he can still run. He runs to our voice, outdoors; and inside, he has memorized the furniture and has no trouble moving around. He’s a wonderful companion, and we’re even fonder of him than of the smaller female, who keeps us running all the time. Of course, she’s much younger.”

I was awed that this big, beautiful, obedient dog could still run and not even “notice” his own blindness. Apparently, his training had been so thorough that he had complete

confidence in the voices of his newest owners. It had created an affectionate bond with them.

Throughout the Old and new Testaments God seeks a loving bond with His people. He delights in David: I have found David,son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. (Acts 13:22) Isaiah the prophet quoted the Lord:As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55: 9-11)

Everywhere we look there is evidence of the character of God in our fallen world. The word of God observing the rain and snow; the word explaining the great difference between God and man; the dog who overcomes his blindness through an obedience that brings him mobility and new life, are only a few. God sought David for the love that David would have for God, and for David’s ability to embrace unreserved obedience to Him.

The rottweiler’s ability to obey enabled him to overcome a potentially debilitating blindness. I believe that God seeks that ability in all of His children, and when He finds it, there rejoicing in Heaven.

Love in Him,

Prue

One of the many specific commands that God gave the ancient Hebrews when He was first shaping them into a unified nation, was the command about their clothing. They were to wear tassels attached to the hem of their robes for a very special reason: Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments , with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember. . . to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. (Numbers 15:37)

More than a thousand years after this instruction was given to Israel, Jesus of Nazareth was walking in a public area when a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years saw the blue cord on the tassels of his garment, and touched the fringe of his garment and immediately her flow of blood ceased. (Luke 8:43-44)

God had not promised healing from the tassels, but consecration and connection to Himself. For all those many years, His command had stayed buried in the minds of His people so that the very connection that God sought with His people would survive through generations. Jesus’ identity as His son would be recognized by the humblest of His people.

This incident in the New Testament is full of insight into Jesus’ character as well as the power of God’s earlier action in the creation of the unified nation to be His own people. In spite of the wandering away, the turning back; in spite of the times of faithlessness and of exile, the light of faith was never extinguished. Sometimes, the light was very small and hard to find, but it was never lost.

The woman who touched Jesus’ garment was afraid to be discovered, and Jesus’ response, “Who touched my clothes?” shows that the seed planted in the law of God bore fruit in the woman without Jesus even knowing her need. At last Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go In peace, and be freed from your suffering.”( Mark 5:34)

For over a thousand years before God presented His son to the world, some souls in Israel retained a Spirit that would waken at the footsteps of Jesus. I believe it happens to us as well. The woman was healed for her lifetime. In the risen Christ we can be healed for eternity.

Love in Him,

Prue

Davy Crockett’s alleged violin is kept in the Witte museum in San Antonio, Texas. Some times it is loaned to the Alamo or other museums for demonstrations or simply as an historic artifact. Perhaps the most curious thing about the violin is the story that Davy placed the rattles from the tail of a rattlesnake inside the body of the instrument. In some recordings that have been made using the violin it is said that one can hear the rattles moving against the wood.

I have sometimes wondered how violins came into being in the first place. They are made of a wooden box, often spruce and maple, but not always. The strings were originally made of catgut, while the bow hair is made from a horse’s tail. Without the tree resin that is rubbed across the hair, the bow would not make a sound when it is drawn across the strings. It seems like the most unlikely combination of elements to produce such exquisite variations of sound. I have seen paintings of angels playing the violin, presumably because the sound is so sublime.

There must have been divine inspiration in the making of such an instrument, for Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father. . .. (James 1:15)

In the Old Testament the account of the building of the first tabernacle is a detailed picture of God’s provision for this structure , the predecessor of the great temple built by Solomon. In this earlier version, the hand of God was intimately involved in each detail: See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel. . . and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom,, understanding. . . and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in artistic crafts. And He has given to both him and Oholiab. . . the ability to teach others. (Exodus 35:30-34)

I’m convinced that the thing we call “talent” in individuals who have great abilities or who make great discoveries, is in truth a manifestation of the creative Spirit of God displayed in such persons. It is a gift, sometimes abused, but available to be used for His Kingdom.

Davy Crockett’s legacy is enhanced by the artifact of his violin. It helps us imagine the man who died at the Alamo; but there is no physical object known to exist today from Bezalel’s inspired work, though the search continues. His legacy lives in the lives inspired by the gifts recorded in Scripture, spiritual gifts of beauty and skill originating in his God and our God.

Love in Him,

Prue

The man didn’t ask for pity. Instead, he asked for the power he recognized in Jesus, to be applied to his leprosy: A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will: be clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. (Mark 1:40-41)

Jesus was constantly looking for faith in the people around him. While this man did not prove to be obedient later, when Jesus had told him not to spread the news, the man clearly displayed faith in Jesus’ God given ability to heal him. The man’s faith opened Jesus’ heart to pity him and then to extend his hand to a dreaded leper. The unnamed man believed that Jesus could heal him, if he would . Sometimes we believe that Jesus cannot help us, when all he is waiting for is for us to display the glimmer of faith that this man showed : “If you are willing.”

I believe that Jesus’ willingness is from his Father God. At Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but what You will.” in the face of his own death. (Mark 14:36).

Being rooted in God’s will, the things that Jesus “wills” are the things that God wills for us. They are the things of the promises in both the Old and New Testaments: The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9), and Take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

In the first century while Jesus lived as one of us, he sought out faith among the people of Israel. Sometimes he seemed discouraged: I have not seen such faith in all of Israel! (Matthew 8:10), but in his last evening with the disciples he assured them that they had a secure place in the very heart of God: The Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. (John 16: 27)

When Jesus was asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” He answered,

The work of God is this: To believe in the one He has sent. (John 6:29)

I believe that Jesus is willing to make us clean. He is willing to companion us, and even befriend us. His time on earth was spent seeking those who would open their hearts to him and be changed. It’s never easy, but when we do that, we,too, may ask, and hear him say, I will!

Love in Him,

Prue

We pray to Christ as our God, Christ prays for us (as our Priest), and He prays in us as our head. (St. Augustine)

Lent has launched, and we are starting on our forty day journey into the wilderness of our lives. The intersection of naturall and supernatural receives a nudge in Lent as we look around for a way closer to the One who rose fro the dead.

In the past I have given up desserts, alcoholic drinks, chocolate, and T.V. I believe that all of that did help remind me to pray and to read the Bible, but this year I believe that the biggest nudge my spirit can receive is much simpler: more and more regular prayer. In the lives of saints like St. Augustine, it’s often in prayer that God spoke to them, until their lives were prayers themselves. St. Thomas Aquinas was said to have remained silent for the last year of his life, neither speaking nor writing, but wrapped in prayer.

I don’t aspire to be like St. Thomas, but I do believe that internalizing Lent might be more meaningful than skipping dessert. I have decided to “clean up” my prayer life by not allowing so many diversions to keep me from praying at least daily, and perhaps twice daily in a purposeful way that does not include hasty prayers while I’m doing something else. I will never abandon those, but the deeper ones need more attention now.

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. . . Do not be like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:6-8) Jesus said this just before he gave his disciples the very words to have in their mouths and in their heads, the words that have become known as the “Lord’s Prayer”

Equally as valuable as this prayer gift is the prayer that Jesus prayed at Gethsemane: “Abba, Father, he said. “Everything is possible for you . Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

In these two prayers, the son of God gave us a blueprint for our relationship to his Father and our Father, as well as for our relationships to one another. These prayers have been the wellspring for preachers and teachers, and even just for friends praying for one another. On battlefields and in hospitals and sick beds at homes world-wide, these words have advanced the kingdom, and we may go freely to this well every day.

Love in Him,

Prue

Today is Ash Wednesday, when we are reminded of our own mortality by wearing the mark of ashes on our forehead. It’s a solemn ceremony that ushers in the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday reminds me of the day that Ezra read to the Israelites who had returned from Babylon, the scriptures that they had neglected before they had gone into exile. The realization of the yawning gap between the people they had once been, and the people they had become, was overwhelming, and there was much weeping and distress. Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

Lent, of course, is a fast, and not a feast, unless you think of the period as a deepening and a clarifying of our relationship with Christ. In that sense, Jesus is saying to us exactly what Nehemiah said to the people: Put aside your grief, fear,distress, and the church has put aside forty days of renewal and hope as we inch closer to the Resurrected One. Ash Wednesday is the opening to the path that reunites us with our God, and with the conscious knowledge of our unique relationship with Him, we have strength that comes from Him, a strength that is delivered in joy, even as we grow in our awareness of our own mortality.

Nehemiah’s message is a preview of the Gospel itself. It’s the announcement that though we are unable to rescue ourselves, and are dismayed at our own weaknesses, there is One who is capable and willing, and even desiring, to deliver strength to us, and the strength is wrapped in joy.

Christians have the advantage of knowing the end at the beginning of Lent: the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Nehemiah is delivering the message to his people, that, though they have seen a corner of the truth about their losses, God has declared them still to be His people, and in that there is nothing but joy.

Easter will be a great feast for us, us Lent is a movement toward that feast, with the growing reminder that the One we celebrate is our strength, and it is not a despairing strength, but a joyful one from the strength of Christ Himself. The Joy of the Lord is your strength.

Love in Him,

Prue

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day!

On the map, Possum Kingdom Lake looks like a large dragon sprawled out in at least three directions with a coiling tail which is the Brazos River. P.K. Is a deep, cold lake shaped in the early 1940’s from canyons near the river bed. It supports a wealth of wildlife, including birds, fish, deer, and audads, a curly horned “sheep” that looks like a goat.

In the summer, the lake is alive with boaters, fishermen(and women), skiers, swimmers, rock divers and just plain vacationers. Not many people live year-round near the lake, which makes it very quiet in February. Sitting on the deck overlooking the lake seems like witnessing a primeval landscape, even though there are modern houses on two sides, the lake stretches out before and I watch a small flock of ducks swim back and forth, and I marvel at how they can handle the cold water. From certain angles from the deck I see only water and cliffs and unimproved land. It’s as if I’m witnessing a stage in creation itself. In Proverbs, the Person of Wisdom says about witnessing creation: I was there when He set the heavens in place, when He marked out the horizon on the face of the deep. . . and when He marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was constantly by His side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing in His presence, rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in mankind. (Proverbs 8:27-31)

It amazes me that the delight in creation still exists on our earth. It’s as if there is a veneer of despair surrounding earth, sky, water and air in the minds of many, but beneath the despair there truly exists the indescribable joy of all of these, still renewed from creation itself. From the only true “Good” in the universe, the six days of creation were undiluted goodness: God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:31) For an omniscient and omnipotent God, His project, that pleased Him well and brought Him joy, must have some of His own character about it, for us to be able to share the joy and recognize His hand in the sky, water, air and land that He designed.

I believe that the sweetness that God Himself experienced at producing life on Earth, is still available to His creatures, and, in fact, that He intends it to be available. It doesn’t require a lake in February to share His delight in mankind. A chair by a window , with a Bible on your lap, can take you there as well, just remembering His joy at creation.

Love in Him,

Prue

The Silent Command

“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use.” ( Emily Post, 1922)

The American Emily Post was the ultimate authority on human etiquette for not only the United States, but also for much of the rest of the world from the time she published her first etiquette book in 1922 until her death in 1960.

Emily Post received hundreds of letters asking advice on manners for all occasions. In one letter a British man wrote that he had planned on attending his uncle and aunt’s fiftieth wedding anniversary when very unexpectedly he had received an invitation for the same date to tea at Buckingham Palace, where the queen gave occasional receptions for her subjects. The writer wondered which event he should attend.

Emily Post wrote that an invitation from the palace was not entirely an invitation, but was actually a command. The head of state, the queen herself, was entitled to command her subjects as part of the larger “family” of the nation. The uncle and aunt must wait.

Throughout the Bible, God makes many invitations to His people. Those who perceive them as commands drop everything else and obey; some never do: After Elijah had thrown his cloak over Elisha, Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant. Elisha had kissed his parents goodbye. (I Kings 20-21)

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Both Elijah and Jesus were extending invitations that were also commands. Only some souls recognize the command inside the invitation, because only a few souls recognize the person of our God in the invitation. Eleven of the disciples recognized the call and the command. Since then there have been souls in every generation who have heard, recognized, and responded to the invitation/command. What does it take to be one of those? At the very least it takes recognizing that the One who invites has a right to command, and finally, it takes a willingness to respond. With Peter , Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid.”, and Peter was able to accept both the invitation and the command. I believe Jesus is still commanding every one of us, “Don’t be afraid.”

Love in Him,

Prue

My father’s sister grew up on the family farm, and there were remnants in the house of the lives of previous owners. One such “remnant” was a small spinning wheel which, though it had no use in her lifetime, was a reminder of an earlier generation. After Aunt Edna left home the wheel was moved out and she never knew what became of it; but Edna one day found an exact copy in an antique store, and purchased it as a memory of her childhood wheel. Much later the spinning wheel came to belong to me and now shares my living room with contemporary and antique furniture.

The spinning wheel is like a magnet to children. Each one wants to try the use the treadle. I must have explained it to dozens of little ones and it never ceases to fascinate. I like it as a reminder of the past, of my Aunt, and of the farm.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. ( Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

This charge to Israel is for the people to enlist their memories to preserve their relationship with the Living God, the author of their freedom from bondage and their arrival at the Promised Land. The memories could be born anew in each generation by following this advice. In a mostly illiterate community these activities would convey history and give context to the present.

Once a five year old boy looked at my spinning wheel and, walking slowly around it, he said, “Where do you get parts for something like this?” I almost laughed out loud, but then I became conscious of the enormity of the gap between past and present generations.

The only book that truly fills the gap is the Bible itself: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. . . ( Second Timothy 3:16) It’s the quiet time, like the time spent at the spinning wheel, that opens our spirits to God’s words for our lives. Hanging copies of the law around our houses, and talking constantly of the law will no longer suffice, for God has sent His Word,revealed in His Book Time spent in reading it can bridge every gap in our lives. And new”parts” will appear every day.

Love in Him, ,

Prue