“Now Zelophehad, son of Hepher. . . had no sons but only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hogliah, Milkah, and Tirsah.  They went to Eleaser the priest, Joshua son of Nun,  and the leaders, and said, ‘ The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our relatives.’  So Joshua gave them an inheritance along with the brothers of their father.” (Joshua 17:3)

Richard Hawkins (my father). Had four daughters whose names were Nancy, Prudence, Holly, and Margot, as well as a son named Richard.  Each of these received a rich inheritance from their father that would serve them all their lives.  They received humor, and caring, and self confidence, and a knowledge that God is somehow at the center of everything. 

When I first read about Zelophehad’s daughters I was pleased to find that small incident recorded in the Old Testament at the dividing up of the Promised Land in Joshua’s time.   It was good to see that the sisters were confident that the promise extended to them as well as to the men, and provision was made for the Promise to be fulfilled.

Zelophehad’s daughters inherited a perishable tract of land by the Promise of God, but centuries later Paul wrote, “Flesh and blood can not inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the. Perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:50) He also wrote, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the Promise.” (Galatians 3:29)

My father could not make me belong to Christ, but his character would and did open portals through which I could grow toward Christ.

In writing to Timothy Paul wrote, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded, now lives in you also.(2Timothy 1:5). Paul didn’t take credit for bringing the Gospel to Timothy.  Paul witnessed a faith that came from Timothy’s home, from his mother and grandmother, and Timothy became like a son to Paul.

Our father did not preach to us girls or to our brother, but he showed us a joy in life that we loved and wanted for ourselves.  Saying “Yes” to Christ brings His Spirit into our own, and attracts and even leads others to Him. Zelophehad’s daughters’ inheritance simply points to the imperishable fruit of God’s kingdom in Christ.

Love in Him,

Prue

The calendar has turned, and so has the weather. Beautiful cooler days have replaced our summer of gasping at the temperatures and hibernating inside. The feeling of fall has brought wonderful home made displays of pumpkins and exotic gourds, not to mention Halloween paraphernalia onto front yards and doors. It happened almost overnight, and the joy of the season seems more evident this year than the last two years. It bodes well for the holiday season that lies ahead.

The ancient Greeks lived in anxiety that the springtime might not return in any given year, for their gods were capricious and arbitrary, and the people lacked faith that spring and summer would surely return and their fall harvest would come.

For the Hebrews, however, the Word of God told them, “As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:22) And, the psalmist wrote, “The land yields its harvest; God our God blesses us. May God Bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.” (Psalm 67:7)

The harvest is the culmination of a spring and summer’s worth of labors, and holds the promise of well-being for the future. One of God’s strongest blessings in the Old Testament concerns the harvest: “You will be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.” (Leviticus 26:10) The promise of abundance and well-being accompanies God’s covenant with Israel.

When Jesus looked out at the fields of grain in Samaria he compared it to the spiritual harvest of faithful souls: “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. (John 4:35)

Though we’re not all farmers, we all can plant and harvest spiritual seeds in our lives with our families, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. The action of a single woman who anointed Jesus’ feet has resonated for over two millennia in the Scriptures. (Mark 14:9)

Celebrating the harvest is a display of thanksgiving and joy for God’s provision. In the midst of uncertainties, pumpkins on the lawn remind us of a goodness that never leaves, a Spirit that endures and looks up and makes us glad together.

Love in Him,

Prue

My roommate in college was a psychology major. She once told me that “maturity is really just knowing when to trust your intuitions.” I thought that it sounded good, but I couldn’t match that idea to my life. Ever since then her definition has come back to me and I begin to think I understand it.

If “intuition” is the discernment between “true” and “false”, based not on tangible evidence but purely on an inner “sense”, then it must be a channel by which the Holy Spirit of God communicates to us. If God is Truth itself, then through His Spirit we have some access by our intuitions to discern truth and falsity in our own lives. Such knowledge would lead to maturity if it is coupled with faith in our God.

ST. Paul wrote about our “inner being” and coupled it with faith: “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Ephesians 3:16)

Throughout the Bible it is the “inner being” that is in play in each of the stories of God’s people: “Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness”. (Genesis 15:6) Moses, Joshua, David, and Jehoshaphat, among others, all knew and believed that their battles were always the Lord’s, and those battles were victorious.

Experiencing the voice of God in our inner being is a gift of the Holy Spirit of God, and as my friend suggested, can lead to maturity: “We will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching. . . Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14)

Maturity in Christ means praying our love for Him, remaining close to Him, and imperceptibly becoming like Him in the eyes of God. Jesus is our older brother, like us and like our Father God, the one whose life gives our lives meaning and purpose, and the bridge between us and God.

At some point in every relationship we pause to ask ourselves “What are we doing together?” When we ask this of our God in our inner being, we are answered in our intuition, and grow in maturity.

Love in Him,

Prue

Once when my nephew Jim was showing me his back yard vegetable garden I asked him, “When you’re planting in the spring, are you thinking about what you’re going to plant next year?” He answered simply, “Always!” I smiled because my father, his grandfather, did the same. He would come in from planting radishes and say, “ Next year I’m going to put up bean poles in that spot, and we’ll have green beans.” We loved the radishes and the next year we loved the green beans, but I wondered why it happened that way. Both of them had fruitful gardens for years.

In the Bible God makes it clear that He has plans for His people for years into the future. He tells them that regardless of where they find themselves, even in exile in Babylon, He is still their God: “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 29:5 and 11).

These famous words have been a comfort and a stay for generations of believes who have felt disconnected from the life and future they had expected to live, and for those launching into an unknown future adventure.

Though their external circumstances were radically different from those in their home in Israel, God’s people received the all important message of reassurance that their invisible God was actually still with them. The rock upon which they had built their lives was unmoved by their exile, and their relationship would grow ever deeper as they discovered more and more of God’s character.

Generations earlier , while they had lived in the Holy Land, David had written, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. (Ps.118:) When Jeremiah sent his message from God it resonated as the God they knew and they were able to believe in their “Rock”.

Jesus confronting the Pharisees quoted this passage in reference to Himself. (Mark 12:10), and Peter repeats it in his letter (I Peter 2:6), confirming that Jesus Himself is the Rock. He goes further: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (I Peter 2: 9)

Dad and Jim both trusted that there would be another year, another chance to grow another crop and that it would be good. God tells us that in His Kingdom that will always be true.

Love in Him,

Prue

St. Augustine once wrote in a sermon, “Behold, sometimes we are made glad by a certain inner sweetness. Yes, our mind has been able to catch a glimpse , for a fleeting instant, of something above change. . . .Now I have a sense throughout my being of something beyond time.” (Sermon 158)

When we pray we most often ask God for a change in our health or circumstances for our self or for a loved one or acquaintance. We seldom pray for our relationship with God Himself, for Augustine’s experience of a glimpse of something above change.

In a world so rife with change as ours is, it seems imperative if we are to retain any sense of balance or serenity, that we seek that inner sweetness and assurance that comes from a place beyond the media, beyond the worlds of politics and entertainment and all that drains our attention and energy. Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33). The Psalmist wrote, “I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. (Psalm 131:2)

We hardly think of ourselves as preparing for sweetness, but the psalmist and Jesus both imply that it’s possible to open ourselves to the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit of God, if even for a “fleeting instant.”

For the psalmist the pathway was casting off pride in ourselves, while for Jesus it is turning away from worry and anxiety in the world. In both cases, we need a “disconnect” in order to find the re-connection with our Savior. St. Augustine says that we are “Made glad’ by God’s spirit.

I believe that no set of circumstances can prevent the Spirit of God from delivering the sweetness; but when our spirits are full of either pride or anxiety, or both, there is no room for a “sense throughout our being of something beyond time.” More than three hundred years before Augustine, St. Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine, or nakedness or danger or sword?. . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.”(Romans 8:35-37) The secret to being a conqueror is to stay connected to your leader. When we immerse ourselves in the legions of difficulties of our world we shrink our strength to conquer, for we reduce our exposure to the One who knows both us and the battles and who loves us. Every soul needs the sweetness. Every soul needs the sense of something above change.

Love in Him,

Prue

When I was in junior high school my class took a field trip to a newspaper publisher’s building where we watched the production of a newspaper. At one stop we saw a tall machine that we were told was one of the most valuable in the building . It had only one function, and only one person was trained to use it. The function was simply to “justify” right and left the columns of the paper. We all stood in awe of the wonderful innovation that saved hours of man power from laboriously arranging the columns.

Today I was working at my computer and suddenly remembered that day. I was sitting at a machine much smaller, capable of doing a great multiplicity of tasks including justifying columns, all in my own home; and not seeing anything even remarkable about such a fact. The thing that had been an amazing wonder was now as ordinary as the automobile.

Does this mean that “wonder” is declining in our world? Are we all so used to being amazed by new technologies that we’re unable to experience real wonder any more? Is it simply out of style to be full of wonder at anything new?

Anyone who lives near or works with children knows that wonder is alive and well in human nature, but as we grow up and have frequent exposure to new technology, are we losing the capacity for wonder?

Webster’s Dictionary defines “wonder” as “a cause for astonishment.” Most of the great events in the Bible are accompanied by astonishment caused by the activities of God Himself: “Sarah said, ‘God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’”

“When the shepherds had seen the baby Jesus, they spread the word. . . and all who heard it were amazed.”(Luke 2:18)

The Exodus is accomplished by one wonder after another, and Jesus’ ministry is full of wonders: . “.at least believe the evidence of the works themselves. Truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.” (John 14:11-12)

Since the time of the Resurrection no one has plumbed the depth of the meanings of the Resurrection, but millions of souls have grasped it and found there the one wonder that answered their hunger and desire.

Love in Him, Prue

President Harry Truman famously kept a sign on his desk that read “The Buck Stops Here.” When I listen to the news or read the newspaper I feel as if our whole world is wondering where the “buck” stops, who or what is to blame for every natural or man—made disaster or even difficulty. Consensus doesn’t rear its head, and everyone is left unsatisfied.

Almost three thousand years ago the “Teacher” and author of Ecclesiastes ( attributed to Solomon) wrote, “This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.”(Ecclesiastes 7:29) It seems like an accurate description of the condition of human civilization on planet earth today, in search of many schemes.

Witnessing the conflicts among and within nations throughout the world makes the first century appearance of the Son of God on earth even more astounding when you consider that the light He introduced, and the change in the spiritual realities for everyone, have never left, but have spread all over the world. From the original apostles to Saint Mother Teresa, and countless others, including John and Charles Wesley, the question has been radically shifted on the world stage from where the “buck” stops, to What is God’s love like?

In all the centuries since Jesus’ walk on earth the Holy Spirit has been at work in the lives of people and nations, for as Mother Teresa insisted, “People are hungry for God.”

I once watched on TV an episode in her life when Mother Teresa was asked by a young man if she would allow him to use her name and develop a logo to use in her behalf in raising money for the Missionaries of Charity. She responded that she would gratefully receive any amount he wanted to give, but that she could not accept professional fund raising in her name. The young man thought that she misunderstood him and failed to grasp what a wonderful offer he was making. In the end, she said with a smile, “God bless you, but, No.”

Pursuing the “buck” and looking for where it stops is the way of the world, but there is another way for Christians who have hidden Christ in their hearts: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them ( those of the world),because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”(John 4:4).

It was , however, to the world that Jesus was sent , and throughout the world that He preached and sacrificed His life. Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but will have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

Truman was accepting responsibility for his administration as President. Jesus accepted responsibility for the rescue of our souls. All “bucks” stopped with Him.

Love in Him,

Prue

The story of the Exodus is the story of freedom in every sense. It’s the story of a helpless people who cried out to God, and beyond all hope and expectation were entirely released from the bondage of slavery to a foreign power. This freedom required courage and obedience from the people, but no particular labors, and the sacrifice only of a lamb.

Simple obedience to the direction of God through Moses produced ultimate freedom.

The combination of obedience yielding freedom seems contradictory, yet this pattern is the great prototype of life in the Bible.

Today we tend to think of freedom simply as securing our “rights” to unrestrained willfulness , as license to pursue our impulses, but Biblical freedom is much more. It is the freedom to enter and share literally the divine life of God Himself.

A Millennia after the Exodus, St. Paul wrote, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”( Galations 5:1) It’s Paul’s relationship with Jesus that has informed him about freedom. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart , and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:29)

Th take on a yoke suggests an additional bondage, but Jesus says his yoke is “easy” and “burden light”. It is a sweet thing to accept Jesus’ “yoke”, for it is given and received with love. This is the key that unlocks the freedom that was displayed at the Exodus, the freedom St. Paul says comes to us from Christ. His yoke is the obedience of love, the joyful obedience of a child toward his or her parent, conscious of the parent’s love.

The Bible reports that Moses was the Meekest man on the face of the earth in his time. (Numbers 12:3) Through his humility, his ability to put his own interests aside, God communicated with His people The humble acceptance of God’s Spirit in our lives unleashes divine freedom for us. Human freedom cannot compare to the freedom God has to give us. It is a better life, a more joyful life, and an accessible freedom right here on earth in the midst of our circumstances; a freedom that even the prisoner in his cell can experience and claim as his own today. The obedience of love produces freedom

for our spirits.

Love in Him,

Prue

The Queen’s Laughter

Queen Elizabeth II visited Houston in 1991 when I was living there, and I went to City Hall to see her. She and Prince Phillip were seated on a covered platform out doors overlooking the reflecting pond .

The cheerleaders from the University of Texas performed with great enthusiasm and many leaps and somersaults. The marching band played “Home on the Range”, and at precisely the line, “and the skies are not cloudy all day. . .” , the sky clouded up and it started to rain. I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the coincidence, and saw that the Queen was laughing out loud, and the Prince was trying hard to stifle a laugh.

People scrambled to avoid getting soaked, though it was a brief shower. I scrambled, too, and found myself closer to the platform with an even better view of the royal couple. I was grateful for the shower and for the whole experience. It was worth all the trouble of fighting the traffic and finding a parking place and devoting the larger part of the day to the visit, and more.

Simply the laughter of the queen made it more than memorable. The shower and the laughter brought renewal and refreshment from what might have been a tedious obligation for the queen, and a routine ceremony for the crowd.

“I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.” (Ezekiel 34:26) That day the shower was indeed a blessing for me, and apparently for others as well. It fulfilled the proverb,”In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” (Prov. 16:9), and joy and pleasure was the fruit of the rain.

The passing of Queen Elizabeth has signaled a sea-change in people’s minds, as if an historic age has come to an end and we are reminded that the future is unknown. It helps to remember that God’s promises still hold and that His supply of showers of blessing never runs dry. As He blessed England with a gracious Queen, so He blesses all His people who seek Him.

Love in Him,

Prue

Holy Spirit Reading

Everyone reads the Bible differently from everyone else. Some read it critically; others seeking direction or guidance; still others for entertaining stories. Some read to disprove the Bible or at least parts of it, and others read it for the beauty of its metaphors and language.

There is another kind of reading that carries us far beyond the others. It’s “Holy Spirit” reading. It’s reading the Bible daily for no purpose at all except to become familiar and even close to God, It’s reading even the tedious passages with a mind to receive the Spirit behind them.

I once told the students I was teaching to imagine having lunch in the cafeteria with a friend five days a week, but never seeing or talking with that friend any other time. Imagine how God must feel when we “check in” with Him occasionally with our prayers, but never make any other effort to connect with Him.

One day while reading the Bible for pleasure, I came across this passage: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘ See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.’”( Exodus 7:1) It occurred to me that God was giving Pharaoh ( and Moses, and all readers) a glimpse of Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for Aaron would deliver the sacrifices, but where was the Holy Spirit? I couldn’t help remembering that Miriam, their sister, had led the singing after the crossing of the Red Sea, and had displayed discretion and help at the birth of Moses when the Egyptian princess found him.

The prophet Micah says of these three, “I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.” (Micah 6:4) While Moses became God-like to Pharaoh, God gave a glimpse of His triune Self in the three siblings He sent to Israel.

It would be many generations before Jesus would tell His followers to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” (Matt. 28:19), but in these early people we see a vision that will give us an even greater understanding of our God, and a pathway to closeness to Him.

When we do “Holy Spirit” reading, the Person of the Holy Spirit knows and is present. If every hair on our heads is counted, then every moment spent in His book is counted, too. It is a win-win activity. It produces patience, order, and contact with our Creator. God shows Himself in many ways, most fully, perhaps, in the Bible.

Love in Him, Prue