Sweet Simplicity

June 8, 2015.

Shoelaces

Ah, the simple solutions can be so easily missed.  Mom’s shoelaces were too long, and I kept forgetting to buy new ones that were a reasonable length.  It took a trip to Hawaii and a pair of scissors in my sister’s hands, to solve the problem.  Yes, I will admit that I did not even think of this as a solution; no, not even once, over an entire 365 days of Mom wearing those particular sneakers.   I was humbly reminded of the fact that I was looking in the wrong place, and an obvious answer was written all over those laces – cut them shorter, so Mom could be safer. 

Walking through Paul’s fruit of the Spirit, (Galatians 5:22), I am reminded  that God’s word has so many helpful solutions to everyday problems, and while shortening shoelaces is not one of them, loving well has a preeminent place.   And in case this gets missed, the fruit of the Spirit has an awful lot to do with community - it’s mighty hard to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control all by one’s self. I suppose one could argue that this fruit can be applied to oneself- we should love ourselves, be kind and patient with ourselves, etc, but Paul concludes his exhortation with the words:  “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.” (Galatians 5:26).  That “one another” phrase is a key to the entire sweet list of spiritual fruit.

Just as I was looking in the wrong place for a solution to the shoelace problem, sometimes we are looking in the wrong place for answers to our spiritual problems.  Dwelling on the fruit of the Spirit has been refreshing for me - God has the best, and sometimes the simplest of solutions.  Go to His word; seek godly counsel; expect an answer.  Considering love, it has meant looking back to its first use in the Bible, describing human love.  We find the story of Abraham and Isaac, and God’s request for Abraham to give up his son, his only son, Isaac, the son he loved.  (Genesis 22:2).  What a picture of God’s amazing love for us- He gave up His Son, His only Son, the Son he loved, (Jesus), for us to be forgiven; for us to know the truest picture of love we could ever find.  This is the love mentioned in the fruit of the Spirit. 

I can apply this love; this self-sacrificing love, in everyday matters.  I can show love rather than gritting my teeth at an inconvenience in the grocery store, or choose love rather than hot anger when I am slighted, or let love guide my thoughts about those around me; people for whom Jesus died.  It is really that simple, without being simplistic.  My sister’s practical, simple, easy solution means my mom is much safer now, and I am excited to dive into joy, with love leading the way - next on Paul’s list.  Will you join me?

"It's alright. Let her keep them."

May 13, 2015

It was a lovely gesture; this giving of a flower to my Mom, on Mother’s Day.  There were half a dozen to choose from: blushing pinks, subtle yellows and flashy reds. Most, if not all of the moms had been in the morning church service, but we went in the evening, as I had been at work earlier in the day.   As Pastor Pernell presented the vase to Mom, for her to choose a flower, she just took the entire vase into her hands and said, ever so graciously and so happily: “Thank you.”

A moment I will not soon forget, I felt heat climbing up towards my face.  I tried to explain to Mom that she was to choose one.  Thankfully she did not hear me, with her nose in the sweet bouquet; nor did she hear the answer to my unspoken question:   ”It’s alright; let her keep them.” 

Even now, I have tears in my eyes.  Mom was blushing, and her cheeks matched the hue of the flower in her hand.  I could hear church family smiling; no, they were not laughing at her, they were smiling.  Incredible to me, that we could all share in that precious moment; it felt like a foretaste of heaven, and I am so very thankful.  Oh, the kindness of the Lord, not to let me spoil it with a feeling of embarrassment; there was no shame to bear and only love to be seen and heard.

Over the next few months, I hope to focus my heart and my mind on the fruit of the Spirit, giving a month of meditation for each one, in the order in which Paul has written:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law.”  (Galatians 5:22, 23)

How timely it is that May, this month of new beginnings, has love as its focus.  

Poiema

May 8,2015.

Mom and I have been working on art projects.  When I first arrived home to live with her, she decided she wanted to paint her cat, Angel.  At 89 years of age, she did need a bit of help with angling the box “just so,” in which Angel was crouching.  Other family members added some shading and texture so now it hangs on our wall, and it’s a sweet reminder to me of what Mom can do.

At 90 years of age, she decided to paint a picture of the home where she was raised.  We only live two kilometres from there so we drove over and took some pictures.  This time around, she needed more help with depth perception, colour choices and keeping the windows straight, (which was my job but I won’t be hired any time soon)!  She wanted me to add my signature to hers, at the bottom of the painting.  I told her: “Not this time around, Mom.  It’s mostly your work.”

Now, at 91, she has started a new project.  Painting Evangeline, the heroine of Longfellow’s poem, is a labour of love as Mom is 100% Acadian, (and so am I, for that matter)!  We found a simple drawing, but Mom has not been able to keep her focus.  By the time she looks at the picture and then turns to her easel, she loses her moorings and ends up erasing everything and starting again.  Now, I have picked up the pencil, and we are doing a work of art, a handiwork; together.  The Greek word, “poiema,” has the idea of this “handiwork,” and Paul writes it into an amazing verse about Christ working in us so that we can then work out of love, for Him:

“For we are His workmanship, (poiema), created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

We get our English word, “poem,” from this Greek word and it is so- our lives are a poem, a work of art, written by God and yet we are implicated in the writing of it; we as believers have choices to make.  Will we participate in the work God has already prepared beforehand, for us to do, or will we relinquish that precious gift and let the poem be an unfinished work of art?  Paul ends the phrase by admonishing us to “walk in them;” be busy at the work you have been called to do.

Mom and I will both sign the painting, when all is said and done, and I wouldn’t miss out on that for all the world.

Even though I am in a bittersweet frame of mind, thinking back to Mom’s beautiful paintings over the years and looking now at this canvas filled with my feeble strokes, I am grateful, as we are creating this poiema together.   I have been reminded that the canvas of my own heart has been transformed by the power of the gospel; a work of art attributed to the Creator of the universe.  I don't intend to miss out on the unfolding of the rest of the painting, on the rest of the poiema, for all the world.

Hiding Places

April 13, 2015

Hiding in Plain Sight

Ever play hide and seek with a younger child?  They love the chase and the hunt and the search, but they don’t want to lose sight of you.  They actually want you to be hiding in plain sight.  I can’t help but think that God is the same way with us.  After all, He can see everything and knows everything about me.  So, while I may run from Him, I can’t hide.  And for this I am grateful.

You see, when I was lost in sin and didn’t even know it, Jesus came looking for me. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."(Luke 19:10).  He has been chasing me down ever since and on those days or in those weeks and even months when I am hiding from Him, He already knows my favourite hiding places and comes looking for me there.  

It may be at my workplace, where I am so busy, busy that I can’t think of Him; and he sends me a believer who reminds me of my truest love.  Perhaps it is in my home where cooking and cleaning and preparing and…swallow up my time, that very precious commodity.  How lovely when my God stretches time so I can stop, rest, and think upon His word.  Even in the place of corporate worship, my heart can run to my hiding place - withdrawing from those around me and dwelling on less-than-helpful thoughts that can be banished in a moment of praise and adoration.

And let’s not forget Jonah, hiding in the belly of a ship.  If that wasn’t far enough away from God, he ended up in a most unlikely hiding place- the belly of a very big fish.  But, oh how sweet – God found him even there!

Corrie TenBoom’s “The Hiding Place,” is a marvellous and moving story of her life in captivity at the Ravensbrük Concentration Camp, after being taken by the Nazis because her family hid many Jews in their home, displaying the love of Christ to these refugees.  Corrie was ultimately freed and her book reminds me that the best place to hide in plain sight is in the embrace of my Saviour.

Are you hiding from God?  Hiding from the one who loves you more than life itself?  Hiding from the one who sent His only Son, Jesus, who gave up His life that you might have eternal life?  Run to Him, my friend, since you are simply hiding in plain sight.

“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”

Psalm 17:8

First days in Haiti

Barren lands and rice fields; azure ocean and mountainside slums; French and Creole - Haiti is a land of many paradoxes.  But the greatest paradox I’ve seen is the HATS-Haiti compound at the edge of a canal, sitting next to villages where there is no evening light and I am reminded that Jesus is the Light of the world; that He, and He only, can bring a nation out of darkness.                         

Seeing “tap-taps,” crowded markets, rolling mountains, azure oceans, welcoming smiles and children

On the way to HATS-Haiti Orphanage                                            Mountain slums

          

                        

                                                            

Market                                                                                   Gemima

Hearing children singing, roosters crowing, goats “baa-ing”, a rice mill grinding and generator working

                                

High school student singing                                           goat

Tasting fresh mangoes, “mini” bananas, pumpkin soup, rice with sauce and veggies I can’t pronounce

                                       

Mini-bananas (called “figs” in Haiti)                           Papayas

Smelling food cooking, charcoal burning, and yes- sweaty smells from working in the intense heat

Touching children’s braids, hugs from a child, kissing the cheeks of our cooks, net-covered bed             

       Children at HATS                                                               Mosquito net

Feeling joyful, thankful, useful, humbled

In Haiti, people will build “with another” level in mind; in case they want to add another floor.  I am reminded  that we, as Christians, need to build with another level in mind; meaning to not only lead people to Christ, but then teach them and grow them- to become disciples.  HATS is striving to do so, as they teach the next generation about the gospel; even as they learn their reading, writing and arithmetic.  It is our privilege to be here and so, we’ve been painting; a lot.  Lovely colours are being rolled and brushed onto the walls of a church built by Haitian contractors.  Another team will paint the outside and those who are waiting for the colour scheme, with bated breath, will see it tomorrow.

church

Am I willing?

Am I willing to be led, to be taught, to be shown what God would have me do?  I am on my way to Haiti, to get a "birds-eye-view" of  H.A.T.S.~ Haiti (Hands Across the Sea).  This orphanage, with a Christian school for 400 children from the community and a community outreach program, has been supported by my home church for several years.

Emmanuel Baptist Church of Clare is sending me to the southern hemisphere!  Exciting?  Yes! Will the children touch my heart?  Without a doubt!  Does God want me to work there?  Again, am I willing; willing to do whatever He puts in front of me?  Praying as I go- for a teachable spirit, a heart of humility and a joy unspeakable and full of glory.

In my previous post, I talked about the will of God.  I am so certain He will make His way very plain and I want to delight in all He has in store.  Whether I am speaking to children in Canada or Haiti; in Benin or the Dominican Republic- I want to speak of Jesus and Jesus only.  Whether I am working on a computer or ordering supplies; whether I am singing or praying, I want it to be about Jesus and Jesus only.  The only Saviour; the one true God; the Redeemer and the Keeper of my soul; the One who died and rose again so that my sins are forgiven.

"God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."

(1 Corinthians 1:9)

March 2, 2015.

Buoys and the Will of God

How can I know the will of God?  Is it some obscure, uncertain nebulous cloud?  Is it discovered by sheer circumstantial evidence?  Or is there something far more concrete and stable?  If I am actively seeking the will of God, seeking what delights his heart, then I will surely see enough of the path ahead to make my way; and humility is the gateway to that path.  He leads the humble in justice, and He teaches the humble His way.” (Psalm 25:9).  Many translations use the word, “afflicted,” rather than humble.  Afflictions have a way of bringing us nearer to our God, so that we are humbled and ready to listen. 

Pastor Pernell mentioned that, when he counsels people, he now asks them:  “Do you truly want to DO the will of God?”  So often, we already know what is best; we already know where God would lead us.  Are we willing to go?  I am reminded of Abraham’s servant, who was sent on a mission to find a wife for Isaac.  As the servant recounts his story, his comment is so striking: “…being in the way, the Lord led me.” (Gen.24:27).  In other words, he wasn’t just laying around the house, waiting for God to send a lightning bolt answer to his query.  No, he set out, at his master’s request.  He was already on the way to doing the will of God. 

A harbour and a set of buoys make for a helpful analogy.  As the buoys line up in a certain manner, to bring someone safely into the harbour, so it is with several “buoys” as related to the will of God; markers, if you like.  A number of questions need to be asked, when there is truly an uncertainty as to God’s will:

1)       Am I daily reading the Bible, so that I am actively being taught and being shown His will?

2)     Am I willing to ask the counsel of mature Christians, who are not afraid to speak the truth?

3)     Am I expecting God to answer prayer?

4)     Am I mindful of the circumstances that God surrounds me with, as I seek His will?

5)     Am I willing to DO what He shows me to do?

If I can honestly see that these “buoys” line up, then I can have confidence that God is showing me the way forward; leading me safely into the harbour of His will.