Short in stature, poor in income, but gigantic in spirit, St. John of the Cross lived and wrote in the sixteenth century some of the greatest spiritual books in the world. “The Dark Night of the Soul”, and “The Ascent Of Mount Carmel” are spiritual classics that in over four hundred years have never been out of print. They are two of Medieval Spain’s deep and significant contributions to Christian understanding.

St. John’s writings focus on the interior life, especially the life of prayer. While I can’t plumb the depth of his understanding, St. John of the Cross left many traces of his practice of prayer: “Christ obviously, as one who knew so well his Father’s will, would have told them (the disciples) all that was necessary in order to obtain an answer from the Eternal Father. . . and in fact, he only taught them the seven petitions of the “Our Father”. . . and he did not teach numerous other kinds of prayers and ceremonies” ( “The Ascent of Mount Carmel”)

St. John took Jesus’ words seriously, and spent many hours in prayer. “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. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling 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)

Frequently, fellow priests from their monastery found John sitting outdoors on a rise overlooking fields and vineyards, wrapped in prayer. Sometimes he stayed there for hours, gazing at the landscape and praying. He wasn’t in a room or a closet, but he was alone with God.

It was this that got my attention, and I wondered if sitting alone in our back yard would qualify as a “prayer closet.” I found that it can sometimes. However, it’s limited to good weather, and so I tried the “indoor model’ for prayer,and it reminded me of Christ’s words.

When people saw St. John gazing, they said that it was as if he could see heaven, or at least the pathway that surely led to there. Creation itself can give us a path, for God knows why we have come to the place we seek. When we go into a room, or sit by a stream and open the Bible, or gaze quietly until a prayer reaches our mind, no one in heaven wonders why we have come there. For St. John, gazing and praying were part of his lifestyle. More than 400 years later, they can be part of ours, too.

Love in Him,

Prue

Tender Mercy

On the day my new-born granddaughter came home from the hospital, I was visiting, and happened to be holding the baby when the doorbell rang. Without even thinking, I went to the door and met a neighbor who was bringing a lemon pound cake in honor of the birth. I have never seen a face so transformed in such an instant as this neighbor’s face when she saw the new-born on my arm. “Oh!” She said, “I never dreamed I’d get to see her!” I never dreamed I could really see the baby, and here she is!” The woman’s whole demeanor changed; her eyes widened as if she couldn’t get enough of the baby’s sleeping face.

“For unto us a child is born,” (Isaiah 9:6) God’s strategy for bringing human beings back to Himself after the fall in the Garden, was hidden in the swaddling clothes of a series of infants positioned in time and place to fulfill God’s plan to restore His people to Himself: Isaac, a child of promise, Moses, a child rescued, Samuel, an answer to prayer, John the Baptist, a miraculous birth, and Jesus himself, both an ordinary, and a divine baby.

God knew that the continuity in the birth and growth of the children would be the glue to hold His nation together, and ultimately the whole world would be able to receive Him through His son. It wasn’t through armies and force, but through the most tender and vulnerable that God came to His people: “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms, but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.”

Hundreds of years later, Zachariah spoke of his baby son John, who would become “The Baptist”: “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God.” (Luke 1:76-79)

The neighbor at the door was transported just by the sight of a lovely new-born baby. I believe that the spirit of joy and elation at the arrival of a new-born is close to God’s heart. He uses it to describe His infinite attraction to and love for His people. He shared that Spirit with the world in the chorus of angels who sang for the shepherds. No one could miss the love and tender mercy of our God toward children.

Love in Him,

Prue

In visiting my brother and his wife on the East shore of Maryland one year, I went to a small Methodist church on the Sunday after Christmas. The congregation had a custom of telling “Jesus stories” before the service began. A microphone was passed around to those who raised their hand and they told of an incident that had occurred the previous week.

Attendance was low on that Sunday, but two or three “Jesus stories” were offered. One woman apologized because she wasn’t sure that her story “qualified”, but it had “seemed important” to her: “I was driving Greg (her son) home from the bus station for Christmas break when he just said to me, ‘ You know, Mom, there are some sins that God can’t forgive.’ I slowed down the car and thought hard. I said, ‘ Greg, I don’t know what this is about; I don’t know what has happened, but I do know that there is no sin in the world, large or small, that God won’t forgive.’ Then I drove on home. That’s all, but it seemed important to me.” She handed the microphone to the next Jesus story teller.

The woman’s story seemed important to me, too; I felt as if I had received a sermon before the service began: “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them, and in whose spirit is no deceit. . . Then I acknowledged my sin to you, God, and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘ I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” (Psalm 32:1,2,5)

If there were a single recurrent theme in the Bible, it would be this, the turning away of sin from our spirits by the only One who could ever do such a thing, and who then charges us to follow His example: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times.’” (Matthew 15;21)

Many people talk of forgiving ourselves, but the woman and her son thought only of God’s forgiveness. I believe that self-forgiveness is a myth that enables us to avoid acknowledging God’s claim upon our lives, for once we have experienced His forgiveness, we are compelled to offer the same to others who may have sinned against us. Why? Because He is our Father, and invests forgiven life into us, and we experience the need to share it. The freedom it affords to know you are forgiven cannot be contained in one soul. It will always seem too important.

Love in Him,

Prue

As a child, I disliked eating eggs so much that my mother, who thought that eggs are always “good for you,” was frustrated when I refused them. After witnessing her frustration, my Aunt Mildred, who was visiting, said to me, “The only reason you don’t like eggs is because you’ve never had egginacup” (all one word). I was intrigued and asked her what that might be. She said, “I’ll show you, and you’ll really like it!” She took over the stove and cooked one slightly soft boiled egg, removed it, peeled it and cut it up into a coffee cup. She sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and served it to me warm with a spoon. I had never eaten an egg with a spoon, or used a coffee cup before, and the whole process seemed entirely new to me.

Aunt Mildred was right. I did like the soft boiled egg, and I did like eating it with a spoon. It wasn’t until she left, though, that I noticed that there wasn’t much difference between an egginacup and a fried egg that you eat with a fork.

What had changed? First of all, I had met another adult who was interested in my eating preferences . Second, Aunt Mildred introduced a whole new style of eating an egg, and third, she didn’t suggest that it was somehow “good for me,” but that I would enjoy it.

When Jesus appeared on earth, he brought a new way of living, a change in the ingrained patterns that had prevailed among his people for generations. St. Paul wrote,”I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19)

These words of Paul express the opening of a new relationship to God, that Paul himself experienced. The risen Jesus had said to Paul, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting: it is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 9:5, KJV)

The new life of Jesus opened Paul’s spirit to the Holy Spirit of God, and transformed Saul into the “great apostle Paul, of Christ” God did it for the sake of us in the world, for His son, and for Paul himself, for this is the new life in Christ.

Aunt Mildred changed me for the sake of my mother, as well as for me and my growing up. The love of family is at work in each member. It is at work in our lives through Christ ,our brother, and God, our Father. They offer us supernatural egginacup.

Love in Him,

Prue

Preparing for a mission trip to a small rural village in Mexico, our church team was told that we would have adequate supplies of bottled water in the van we took, but we must not under any circumstances offer water to the citizens who would be working with us, or we would certainly run out of water, and be mobbed whenever we drove onto the site.

On my second or third day I returned to the van for a tool and met a tiny dark eyed girl, about three years old, who looked up at me and said, “agua?” I smiled and answered “No agua!” She asked again, and I answered the same. One more request, and she walked away. There was not another person in sight at all.

As I got the tool from the van I remembered Jesus’ words: “And if anyone gives even a cup of water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you that person will certainly not lose their reward.” (Matthew 10:42) I quickly rationalized what had happened, but the scripture got louder in my mind. I knew that I had had an opportunity to “give one of His little ones a cup of water,”and I had refused. There were cups in the van and I could have easily poured water into one of them and given it to the child. Later,, I thought that obeying God and obeying people is not always the same.

I believe that I was forgiven for missing this opportunity, and I also understood that God has greater claims on us than we usually acknowledge: “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1John 4:4) I wondered how many times I had missed His Spirit in deciding what to do or not do.

Giving the little girl a cup of water would have had none of the consequences I was warned to avoid. I wasn’t going to drink the water myself, and there was no one to come rushing after her for a drink. I had put my mind on “automatic” in order to follow our instructions.

I believe that God never works on “automatic”. While He respects our commitments to earthly authorities, at the same time He looks to see if we remember Him. In every step of my spiritual growth, I think that I have “arrived” until another event shows up. Some of them are quite painful, but all of them are full of grace. “Where sin abounds, there is grace, even more abundant.” (Romans 5:20)

Love in Him,

Prue

Wait

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

and in His word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord

more than the watchmen wait for the morning,

more than the watchmen wait for the morning.” (Psalm 130:5)

After I had promised not to tell anyone, I told one of my sisters that our nephew’s wife was expecting her first baby. I drew the wrath of some of the rest of the family, and lost my credibility as a trustworthy sister and aunt. I couldn’t wait. When I read the words of the psalmist I knew that I had a long way to go before I could say with him, “I wait for the Lord more than the watchmen wait for the morning.” Psalm 130 continues with amazing assertions about God: If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.”

Though these words were written long before the resurrection of Jesus, they express an absolute assurance of forgiveness in our God, as if the psalmist might have been one of the disciples who witnessed the risen Christ himself, for it is through Him that we receive the priceless gift of forgiveness: “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love, and with Him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”( Psalm 130:7&8)

The words of this psalm warmed my heart, and I felt as if I knew that all would be well. Of course the resolution was quite predictable, when my nephew’s wife delivered a lovely, healthy baby girl, my sin was wiped from everyone’s memory. This week the new family sent us a video of themselves with the newborn, and the joy was palpable.

The anticipation, the tension, the apprehension, before she came into the world, disappeared when she arrived. The many feedings, the loss of sleep, the diaper changing, all looked like pure joy and pleasure for this young couple. It was certainly a joy for me to watch.

With Christ there is indeed “full redemption.” It can’t be fully comprehended, but it can be believed, for the Old and New Testaments both extol this undeserved gift to all of us.

My slate ws wiped clean when the baby was born. When we wait on the Lord, we say with the psalmist, “With you, Lord, there is forgiveness.”

Love in Him,

Prue

In the year 1611, in London, England, a contingent of book publishers protested to King James I that if he allowed a new English version of the whole Bible to be made available to the public at large, they, the publishers, would be driven out of business; for who would buy any other book if he could own the Words of God?

Their protest was futile, as King James was delighted with his new English Bible and eager to have it distributed to “every shepherd’s cottage” in the land. He believed that a common Bible would increase unity among diverse Christian denominations in his realm, and improve the peace. For centuries the King James Bible was the standard for English speaking Christians. It became the publishers’ “best seller”.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your thoughts. 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 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)

It’s sometimes hard to believe that a supernatural God has given humanity a book full of natural and supernatural characters, as a way of revealing Himself to us. Each character testifies to that very reality. God speaks in the Bible over and over the words His people need to hear, and in the New Testament Jesus tells believers about the nature of their God and the share we may have in His nature: “Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”(Luke 12:32) Without even understanding the full implications of these words, we are encouraged by their benevolent, kindly message; and, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to Her.” (Luke 1:45) There are “no strings attached” to these affirmations, just the tender reassurances of a parent to a much loved child. They are only a few of the ways the Bible draws us to Christ and to God. They are gentle, but persistent ways that God embraces and engages His people.

Written by many authors, the Bible testifies to a single God, whose character, manifested through many persons over many years, opens the way for us to engage in the dialogue with the One beyond the words. We may indeed read other books, and still own the words of God.

Love in Him,

Prue

“The Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you.” (1 Chronicles 9:10)

These are the words spoken by King David to his son Solomon, just before turning over the throne of Israel to his son. David had spent the last few years of his reign collecting materials and workmen to build the temple in Jerusalem. In the quote above, David located for Solomon his source of success in the very large and unfamiliar task ahead. He assured Solomon that, though he, David, would not be present, David’s Source of strength and understanding would be with Solomon without fail. Solomon would never be alone in this project.

It is stirring to read about the building of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, and to perceive the realization of God’s promise to David, but it is even more stirring to observe the growth of God’s relationship with His people in the history of Salvation.

Many years after these events the prophet Hosea wrote, “When I (God) found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.” (Hosea 9:10) God had said to Abraham, “Don’t be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward,.” (Genesis 15:1) Even at that very early time God made it clear to that very early ancestor of the Hebrews, that Abraham would never be alone. Abraham was like “grapes in the desert” to God.

When I read that, I understood that, not only will God be found by us if we search for Him, but in fact He searches for us. It seemed like a revelation to me to find in the Old Testament, a glimpse of the God of Jesus, who gave us the story of the lost sheep: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine . . . and go after it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.” (Luke 15:4)

God doesn’t let one sheep go off alone. Not only will we find Him if we search for Him, but in both the Old and the New Testaments, it is clear that God has no intention either to be alone Himself, or to leave His people alone. We, like Abraham, or like the lost sheep, are “grapes in the desert” to God. We are irresistible to Him, as He desires to be irresistible to us. We are never alone.

Love in Him,

Prue

Before the Biblical Abraham could receive a promise, before he could form a household and envision a future, he had to “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land that I (God) will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) Abraham had to detach himself from all the people, places, and things which were familiar to him, and receive an entirely new direction in life that left many unknowns. Abraham is unique in his capacity to exchange the very framework of his life, his home, his relatives, his land , for a voice and a reality that was not shared by anyone around him.

As Abraham responded to God’s voice, and apparently without previous experience or evidence, accepted His God’s promise, Abraham found himself in a relationship; one that grew and gave shape to his life. He wasn’t on earth to see the total fulfillment of the promise: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing . . . and all people on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2&3)

Nevertheless, the impossible birth of his son Isaac in his old age and the old age of his wife Sarah, fulfilled for Abraham, God’s most unlikely promise . The final fulfillment came hundreds of years later. The total fulfillment is realized in the person of Jesus, who said to Abraham’s descendants, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56)

My grandmother told me emphatically that our “home town” is always the place where we were born. I never lived in the city where my mother gave birth to me, so I remained puzzled. When I read of Abraham’s journey, I knew that “home” is not a geographic place, but in truth “home” is a Person, a Person worth leaving everything in order to follow Him.

The leaving is the first step in finding “home.” It demands an unshakable faith that the One who accompanies us is real and worth the journey. “Home” is the One who inspired the hundred and fifty exquisite Psalms in the Bible. “Home” is the One whose Son agreed to shoulder the sins of the world in order to bring all of us “Home”. Home is a Person who loves and inspires us, and out of love , keeps us home for eternity.

Love in Him,

Prue

“Did you see the way his mouth was open when you brought Scuffy (our cat) into the clinic? I was sure he wouldn’t live through the night,” said Stan, our veterinarian, the next day. “He had every symptom of the last stage of kidney disease, but this morning he’s standing, and hungry; his fur is glossy and his eyes bright. He’s probably the healthiest animal we have here right now!”

“You must have done a good job with him, Stan,” I said.

“I didn’t do a thing!” he answered. “Someone Else worked on that cat.”

“When I found him lying in the driveway in the rain, we all started praying a lot.” I said. “Well, your prayers are answered,” Stan replied. “You can take Scuffy home.”

This incident made a deep impression on our daughter as well as on Jack and me. When I told it to others, though, the reaction was mixed. One woman laughed to think that a cat would be miraculously healed, or even that we would pray for an animal.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very airs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” ( Matthew 10:29)

Jesus talked to his people about sparrows to reveal to them the tenderness of God toward his people and toward toward all of creation, including sparrows and cats.

It seems to me that God’s mercy toward us is higher, wider and deeper than we’re able to imagine, and so we try to telescope it into our own ways of imagining God and Jesus, while He is constantly asking us to drop the telescope and find him in our real world, and in our own souls. “Don’t be afraid” is an invitation to open more doors in our characters to receive the Life that is lived by God Himself.

Last week we discovered a nest of cardinals in our back yard. One of the new hatch-lings had fallen to the ground and we returned it to the nest that contained four other hatch-lings with tiny wide open beaks. I found myself praying for them, as their very survival seemed fragile at best. The nest was in a small youpon tree and very accessible.

I was reminded that despite their brilliant, eye-catching color, the cardinals have survived and thrived for many millennia in a changing world. The God of the sparrows was their God as well as mine, and I and all my species are worth many cardinals in “our Father’s care.”

Love in Him,

Prue