Unfettered Blessing

One day this week as Jack and I drove home from a shopping trip, we saw in the sky a strong rainbow that seemed to reach the earth, and a fainter second one next to it. We hadn’t had any much needed rain, and it didn’t start to rain, but the bow was there. When we reached our driveway I shouted to a passerby to “look up” as he walked by. He thanked us when he saw the rainbow.

I wondered if it would be better to have the rain than the rainbow? I thought the rainbow brought its own kind of blessing, a surprise of color and light that brought pleasure just at the sight of it. We certainly needed the rain, and it would bring some needed relief, but would I have talked to a stranger about it, and seen his eyes light up?

The rainbow brought the memory of a promise and a reassurance of God’s provision. “And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.’” (Genesis 9:12)

Is the hope and reassurance as valuable as the H20 coming onto my front and back yard and to all the parched area around? I believed at that moment that it is, that the reassurance echoed in my mind and filled me with the reminder of our God who surely knows our need for water better than I do, and can and will supply it: “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” (Psalm 54:4)

The blessing of rain could have brought anxiety for more rain, or for the danger of flooding, but the blessing of the rainbow brought joy and peace, a blessing with no strings attached, a truly unfettered blessing.

When God declared His creation “good”, He bestowed an unconditional, unfettered blessing upon all of His creation. Since earliest times some individuals have recognized and responded to this blessing: “The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly.” (Psalm 65:8)

The rain would have been a great blessing, but the bow was an unfettered reminder, just as Salvation itself comes to us unfettered, a free gift, a free blessing. It is even better than rain on a thirsty ground.

Love in Him,

Prue

“The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” (Deuteronomy 30:14) These are the words of Moses as he prpares the Hebrew people to enter an entirely new life in the Promised Land. He continues to outline the blessings that await their obedience, and the curses of disobedience. The people receive every blessing for at least a whole generation, but succumb to the behavior of surrounding nations in subsequent generations, calling forth the curses.

I have heard it said that it was “only natural “ for the Hebrew people to pick up the sins of surrounding nations, for the Hebrews were new to the agricultural life of owning property and simply copied their neighbors who held festivals and prayed to many gods of fertility and harvest. It was “only natural” for them to accept this “help”.

In his book The Silver Chair, part of the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis presented a scene of four loyal Narnians who were faced with a witch who had gone very far toward overtaking Narnia and enslaving its people. The witch employed magic to hypnotize the Narnians,and three of them had succumbed when the Narnian Marshwiggle (a human like creature accompanying the three young people on a quest to find one of them, a lost prince.),took a decisive and dramatic action by stamping out a mesmerizing fire with his bare foot. His action cleared the air and emptied it of the magic of the witch. She had attempted to convince the children that there was no other reality than her own kingdom; no supernatural life but hers, and that their memories of Aslan, the Christ-like figure in the story, were all false. All four young characters knew and loved Aslan, but only one, the Marshwiggle, had internalized the spirit of Aslan to be able to take action on his own belief, and willingly burn his foot in the process.

Puddleglum the Marshwiggle, said, “I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can, even if there isn’t any Narnia.” At this the witch resumed her original shape as a serpent, and a battle ensued in which she was destroyed.

Moses told God’s people that they had only to look within and remember that God’s presence had been with them for forty years. He urged them to internalize their memories and their history with God. For the few who did just that, who resisted what was “only natural,” the ultimate reward was entrance into a supernatural world of eternal life. To be “only natural” is never enough. God calls us to be like Himself.

Love in Him,

Prue

Marriage

When I was about four or five years old I believed that my mother was the most beautiful woman in the world It was easy to believe, as our father told us four girls and one boy, that this was the case. Whenever Dad heard us stalking about someone being “pretty”, we heard, “Your mother is the most beautiful woman in the world.”

One day my oldest sister told me about a contest that would be held in Atlantic City for the most beautiful woman in America. She would be crowned “Miss America”. This news troubled me so much that I looked for an opportunity to find y mother alone, and my chance came when she was standing by the kitchen sink before anyone had been called to breakfast.

I asked her, “When do you have to go to be Miss America?” “What?” she said. I repeated the question. She turned to me and said, “I’m not going to be Miss America. Even if I wanted to be Miss America, I couldn’t . I’m a married woman. I’m married to your father and to you kids.”

I said “Oh”, and walked out the back door, across the back porch, down the steps and across the back yard when a feeling of euphoria came over me. The most beautiful woman in the world lived in my house and was my mother, and she could never leave because she was married. What joy!

Childish as this story is, I believe that every christian has a similar but different experience. We all believe that our God is the only source of good, all beautiful, all gracious, all powerful, and all knowing. But every Christian also has times when he or she cannot believe that God could possibly be concerned with the minutia of their personal lives. Surely the larger world is the place where God acts and lives, not my sandbox or garden.

The Bible answers this the same way my mother answered me: “I cannot leave you, for I am married to you! That ladder that Jacob saw reaching to heaven (Genesis 28), was, in fact, a wedding ring. The stone tablets Moses brought down from the mountain containing the ten Commandments were really a wedding ring, (Exodus 34), and the rock that was rolled across the tomb in Jerusalem was a wedding ring engraved with the blood of Christ. (Luke 15)

Both Testaments remind us of God’s enduring, committed love for His people , and declare”His love endures forever.” (psalm 136), and “Surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Love in Him, Prue

One of the most difficult trials to face I life is the opposition and disapproval of good people, especially those we esteem and even love. “It is not an enemy who taunts me—then I could bear it; it is not an adversary. . . but it is you, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to hold sweet converse together; within God’s house we walked in fellowship.” (Psalm 55:12-13)

In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar the darkest part of the assassination was Caesar’s recognizing his friend Brutus as one of his murderers. He exclaims, “You, too, Brutus? Then fall, Caesar!” and he dies.

In the times in which we live, the many kinds of strife affect our friendships and even family relations. Political and social positions press in on every side and make us cautious with our acquaintances about expressing opinions that might not be shared with our listener. In the end, our relationships suffer and result in an isolation and loneliness. Psalm 55 continues: “My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant. His talk is as smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.” (Psalm 55:20-21)

With all the means of communication and social media, there have never been more words flung about than there are today; yet tensions seem always to be rising across the globe. The psalmist has only one conclusion: “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you.” Jesus, too, has much to say about this: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6)

This God, whom Jesus knew so well, is the same God today as He was in the first century. Though humanity struggles to change and “advance”, God remains the same, and His promises remain as well. His admonition “Don’t be afraid”echoes throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. As a Father, God speaks reassurance to His children, so that we may find our way through the upheavals of our times. His words have reached souls for thousands of years. They are worth reading. Strong as some of His actions are, you can quickly discover that He is truly not an enemy.

Love in Him,

Prue

Sleeping between freshly washed and ironed sheets is a pleasure, and so on Fridays I wash and iron them and call it “laundry day”, even though it’s usually only the sheets that I wash on that day. Since I was a child, Fridays have always been “laundry day,” and when I asked my mother “Why?” she said only that it was the most convenient day for her to do laundry. I believe that her own mother did laundry on Fridays as well.

Recently Jack told me that he had read that the average American family washes their sheets approximately every three weeks. I was amazed, as I thought that I had been living a cultural norm all my life.

I came to see clean, pressed sheets as a luxury I had taken for granted, an actual indulgence that was utterly unnecessary, but at the same time very hard to surrender.

Socrates famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” How many other behaviors of mine have I not examined? How much of myself do I really know?

In The Interior Castle St. Teresa of Avila mentions the “room of self knowledge” as one of the most important places for a soul to spend time. It is close to the place where God Himself dwells in us. Jesus said “. . . “you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). The better we understand our own real motives and desires, the closer we are able to come to experience the real presence of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives.

Best of all, we can share this self knowledge with the One who loves us and who already knows the workings of our hearts, and who waits patiently for our prayers of acknowledgment and of discovery of our own motives. In the process we discover that we really do love an invisible God, a thing that seems the very least likely.

I still wash and iron the sheets every Friday, but now I think with gratitude of the privilege, and of the mother and grandmother who, though not present, are the inspiration for the work. The sheets, like all good things on earth, remind me to pray.

Love in Him,

Prue

One of the sweetest blessings of summer is answering the doorbell and finding a neighbor at your door begging you to accept produce from his or her over-abundant garden, or even sharing from another friend’s garden. The tomatoes are still warm from the sun and so are the cucumbers and summer squash. Even at the farmer’s market you don’t find produce this fresh, and you know you will taste the difference. It is grace upon grace on your dinner table.

In spite of the many pressures and the tumult raging in the local and world news, God succeeds in conveying blessings on is people that are undeniably sweet : “You show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fullness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

I believe that fresh cucumbers at the front door are nothing less than a preview of the “pleasures forevermore” that the psalmist wrote about. They are a concrete example of unmerited grace and favor: “But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” (Ephesians 4:7), a preview of the fullness of grace that awaits every believer.:” Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.”(John 1:16)

In spite of the growing opposition to his message, Jesus speaks of God’s gracious favor to his people: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32); and when he says to Peter, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17) he commissions Peter to extend the grace Peter has received to those around him and to all those who will receive Peter’s ministry.

In the Christian churches everywhere the grace of the Eucharist or Communion is still conveyed today. It is as if God cannot help extending grace to each, as His very nature is made of gracious love.

St. Paul wrote, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” (Romans 5:20). It is the pattern of our God, the underlying truth that we so often miss. The increase of grace is an article of faith. We have many clues and much evidence, and some of the most delicious is summer vegetables brought to our door by a friend.

Love in Him,

Prue

Jesse was a six year old foster child who lived with us for a few months while his mother waited for an insurance claim. His brother Jason had died in a car-bicycle accident. His oldest brother, Justin, was placed in another foster home. One night Jesse asked me how it was possible for Jason to be happy in heaven. “After all,” he said, “We’re not there and Mom’s not there. He doesn’t know anyone there. How can he be happy?”

I told him that God lets Mary love on all the boys and girls in heaven. “But he doesn’t know Mary!” He’s never met her!!” he protested. I was silent as I watched his body relax and a smile cross his face. His eyes lit up as he said, “Do you think, do you think that God makes it so that when Jason looks at Mary he sees Mom?” “Yes”, I said, “I’m sure God does that for Jason.”

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.” (I Corinthians 2:9) I had run out of answers, but Someone Else knew what Jesse needed to hear. The message had a healing effect, and Jesse embraced his school work and decided to become a professional swimmer when he grew up.

“Unless I go away the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go I will send Him to you. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” (John 16:5&14)

Jesse didn’t know anything about a Holy Spirit. The thought of Him would have meant nothing to the puzzled and grief-stricken boy; but Jesus’ promise of sending One who would deliver what “no eye had seen, or ear heard or mind conceived what God had prepared.” was fulfilled in the mind of a child.

Jesus’ disciples could not have been more puzzled or grief stricken than young Jesse over their separation from the one who called them “brother”. They had to wait for the resurrection to receive the joy and consolation that answered their need, but God “revealed it to us (and Jesse) by His Spirit.”

Love in Him,

Prue

Praise

Yesterday morning people stopped and stared when they walked past our house, and some wore a big grin. Why? Because the night before a wind took down half of a very large old ornamental pear tree in our front yard, and they recognized the chore that it will mean. It happened within a week of finding that our clothes dryer is irreparably broken and the air conditioner in our car has failed while it is 100+ outside. It was not quite a “perfect storm,” but it felt like one.

“The Lord is my strength and my joy; my heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him.” (Ps.28:7) “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. . . For He spoke , and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. . . The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.” (Ps. 33; 6,9,11)

Praising God in my thoughts at a time of adversity refocuses my spirit from dismay to hope. It grounds me in confidence and a strength that comes not from me, but from the One I’m praising.

Praise at such a time reminds me that underneath the adversity there is another reality that pervades our lives, a reality that promises good and blessing and help. It’s not as if praise is a code that unleashes the power of God to solve my problems, but that it reminds me of this other reality, one not of stress and angst, but of joy and peace: “You who fear the Lord, praise Him! For He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; He has not hidden His face from him, but has listened to his cry for help.”

“Yet you, O Lord, are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.”(Ps. 22:3)

Many of David’s Psalms express undying praise for the God he knew so well. Many of the Psalms concerned times of severe adversity; indeed, life threatening adversity, and some of these have the sweetest message: “Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.”(Ps. 34:3)

Praise brings people together in the presence of the Lord. It is a fellowship to be sought after between a human being and a holy invisible God. Praise provides the strongest footprint as we work our way through car repairs and dryer replacement and missing a tree. When we “ exalt His name together”, we “enthrone” our God.

Love in Him,

Prue

Change

There are two stories in the Bible that are particularly puzzling. The story of Moses in Numbers 20, and the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:4 describe actions that seem insignificant compared to their consequences.

Not long before entering the Promised Land Moses was told by God to carry his staff and to speak to a rock and that God would then send water from the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock with his staff (as he had been instructed in a similar situation almost forty years earlier), and said “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water from the rock?” As a consequence God banned Moses from ever entering the Promised Land, the very object of his life’s work.

Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of land and brought part of the proceeds to Peter for the work of the church. Both came to Peter separately and affirmed that their gift was the whole sum of the sale, and both died at the scene.

The God of the Old Testament had not changed in the New Testament, but something had changed. For the first time ever, Moses took credit for bringing water from the rock, for doing something the he knew to be God’s doing. If Israel was to survive the people had to know their God and His care and response to them. The forty years in the wilderness were threatened by Moses’ action at the moment of finding water for his people. It was time for a new leader, Joshua, to take the people into the Promised Land.

Ananias and Sapphira entirely missed the meaning of the Christian message. They failed to understand that there was no rule at all compelling them to give the price of their land to the church; instead a Spirit invited them to be a part of the body of Christ It was the Holy Spirit Himself. Peter said, “You have not lied just to human beings, but to God.” (Acts 5:4) Ananias and Sapphira did not recognize the Holy Spirit at work in “ordinary” people like Peter and the other believers. Since the Holy Spirit had been given following Jesus’ resurrection, only a relative few perceived that what Jesus had shared with God was now available to all believers. This knowledge was priceless and a came changer for life on earth. In the fact that the Holy Spirit of God cannot be fooled lies much of the hope of all humanity.

Love in Him,

Prue

In the story of the Vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16 the workers who labor the shortest time receive the same pay as the workers who worked all day. The latter protest to the owner of the vineyard, who answers “Are you envious because I am generous?” Jesus compares the vineyard to the Kingdom of God, and owner to our Father God.

In some ways this parable echoes the story of the Prodigal Son, and the voice of the older brother: “Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you. . . yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.” (Luke 15:29)

At some time or other we Christians almost always misunderstand our work in the vineyard or in our Father’s house. We misunderstand God’s motive in calling us to serve, and forget that He knows that the closer we are to Him, the happier we are, and that work in His fields is a gift of love to us.

Who would be most grateful to the owner of the vineyard? Who would appreciate the work the most? Surely it would be those who worked the shortest shift, for they knew that they hardly deserved their sweet reward.

God knows that He is our happiness. The father of the prodigal says to his oldest son,”My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” (Luke 15:31)

When we begin to think that we have some qualities that merit God’s favor we lose sight of the love that is the very heart of God and that supplies all the merit we can possibly have. Just as a good parent doesn’t judge one of his or her own children according to the services the child renders, so God loves unconditionally His children.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 1914) It’s hard for us adults to see in these words a path for our own spirits, but they are some of the strongest words of Jesus ministry. How hard it is to be child-like toward our God. Almost everything in the world conspires against a child-like spirit. We struggle to be competitive, mature, intelligent, gifted, but seldom childlike in prayer and in relationships. Jesus describes the Kingdom of God. Can we find it in our own vineyards?

Love in Him,

Prue