Catherine had been an army nurse during World War II when I met her late in her life. She had been present in Paris immediately following the liberation. She told of wearing her uniform in the city, and people stopping her to give her flowers or food gifts , thanking her and hugging her . She told of flowers showered upon her from second and third story windows as she walked by.

When she finally returned to New York, and stood in line for a ticket to a Broadway show, the whole line gave way and insisted that Catherine take the first place. I have stood in line on Broadway, and I could hardly believe her account.

“Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords:

His love endures forever.

To Him who alone does great wonders.

His love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1-4)

The end of World War II, with its great victory for the allied nations, was a source of rejoicing for all the victors. It’s clear that the rejoicing was expressed in gestures of love and affection for everyone in uniform who participated.

When my father returned from the army wearing his uniform he went first to the administrative offices of a school district in a town two hours from home. When he returned to the car where my mother and his parents were waiting he had a job as a principal in one of the elementary schools. He had no connections in that school district or city except his uniform.

The joy and gratitude for deliverance from war, fear, aggression and heartache is accompanied by an outpouring of a love, just as the joy and gratitude of discovering and rediscovering that the redemption Christ has achieved for us is true and real puts us in touch with a love in us that lasts. It’s a healing gift that brings peace and renewal to our lives, regardless of our age or circumstances.

My father never went to Paris and was still in training when the war came to an end, but he experienced the gratitude that leads to peace and the love that endures forever.

Love in Him,

Prue

On Monday all the stress and tension of weeks and weeks of dry heat was relieved in a night and a day of rain that brought almost eight inches of water to our rein gauge in a steady downpour. The temperature plummeted. It was as if the growing things sighed a sigh of release and contentment. People barely complained of the inconvenience of the rain in the pleasure of the relief.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.” (Isaiah 44;3-4

Thousands of years ago the prophet of God spoke to his people about the character of their God words that evoked His qualities to people who could recognize and understand the refreshment and renewal of rain on the earth. In spite of the colossal changes in civilization since these words were written, our own generation can glimpse the character of our God and the thirsty spirits of our spiritual ancestors in this passage. It is a link to both them and our Savior God for us.

“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 55:10-11)

Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water (from the well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life, (John 4:13), and again:

“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.” (John7:37)

Nothing could be more alive than the earth that has just been visited with fresh rain. Nothing, that is,except the soul who has believed in Christ and witnessed to that belief.

Love in Him,

Prue

“Shema”, meaning “hear”, is the Hebrew word used by the Jewish faith to designate one of the most famous passages of scripture: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God , the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:2-5)

These are words spoken by Moses to the Israelites just before they were to enter the Promised Land. In everything the people experienced and lived through, they never forgot the words, though they sometimes wandered far from obeying them.

When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, he answered with the Shema, and added, “The second is like this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. . . There is no greater commandment than these.’” The man who questioned Jesus responded, “Well said, teacher,. . . these are more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(Mark 12:32-34). Jesus answered, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” To understand the Shema and to live it in our lives is to be close to God’s kingdom and to His son.

Those words of Jesus ended all argument toward him and dispersed the crowd. The primacy of Love in the kingdom of God was indisputable to scribes and Pharisees questioning Jesus. They had not forgotten Moses’ words from centuries ago.

Jesus’ ministry on earth was to prove to be a living out of the Shema. In all his miracles, Jesus displayed the love of God. The healings, the feedings, the walking on water, stilling the storm, restoring the dead, all demonstrated deep love for his “neighbors.”

Jesus’ unconditional, intimate prayer to his Father God: “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you,. . . yet not what I will, but what you will, be done,”(Luke 22:42) is the most profound demonstration of Shema in all the history of salvation. It culminates Jesus’ time with his disciples on earth just before his death on the cross.

That same evening Jesus included the disciples in the Shema: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that your joy may be complete. My command is this: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’”(John 15:9-12)

Love in Him,and Shalom

Prue

In one episode of theSherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett, the great detective managed to find and rescue the kidnapped young son of a wealthy nobleman. The nobleman had been overbearing and almost rude to Holmes until Holmes had said to him, “Your Lordship, I’m not unaware of your need for privacy in this , but at stake is the life of your son.” At the end when Holmes opened the envelope containing his fee, he exclaimed, “This is a king’s ransom!” His lordship answered quietly, “You have given me hope and a future.”

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11)

When God spoke these words through His prophet, the people of Israel were in exile in Babylon and utterly uncertain of their future. God didn’t send a direct message of Redemption or Salvation, but a deeply felt message of loving care for His people. He told them that regardless of their living in an alien and unfamiliar place where customs and beliefs were different from their own, he was still with them. Though they were not in the Promised Land, they were definitely in the hand of the Promiser. It is a love letter to His own, and carries new promise of hope and a future, as He promises personally to be with them.

The world we live in today changes so rapidly that it begins to feel almost alien. Long familiar institutions, including the church itself , the government, and many social “norms” are shifting and changing and making us uncomfortable and insecure, but the constant in our lives is the presence of God in Christ. It’s for times like this that Jesus said “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) That is His Kingdom, which is His dwelling place and home. Again God tells His people that He is with them, regardless of the appearance of chaos in their world. These words, and the words of Jeremiah were preserved for our generation to receive as well.

When Jesus spoke of giving us God’s Kingdom, he knew what the price would be, and that he would be paying it. Today in the midst of confusion his voice says “Don’t be afraid”, for he is with us in truth and in power. He knew what was at stake and he knows what we need today. He has paid the King’s ransom for our hope and our future.

Love in Him,

Prue

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