Learning Love

           Tomorrow is celebrated as Valentine’s Day.  Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the traditional pre-Easter Lenten season.  My thoughts have been turning to the theme of love that these days represent.

            For over 38 years, I have been loved by and in love with a remarkable woman.  My wife, Beth.  Before either of us really knew what was happening, we found ourselves enamored with each other.  At our first meeting at college, our friends left us talking together and it was much later that we realized they had all left us.  We were married when we were 20 years old and have been blessed with a marriage and mission together that we could never have planned.  I have learned love (and am learning love) by being loved by Beth.  She is always my champion when no one knows better that I haven’t earned that honor.  She has shared our ministry together in ways that few will ever know.  She raised our three sons with love and devotion.  Lately, she has loved me back to health after heart surgery.  In all those ways and through all these years, she has loved me.  I am so grateful that God brought us together and kept us together when love was so new to us.

            I was about 9 years old when God’s love got through to me.  I remember the conviction that came upon me.  It was real.  I needed a Savior.  Someone asked me once, what a 9 year old could do that would be so sinful.  I was as lost and hopeless as the greatest of sinners.  I knew He had forgiven me and died on the Cross for my sins because of His love for me.  God had come into my heart.  He showed me His love.  I had been changed.  I remember not wanting to do anything that would hurt the one I loved.  I had been changed and am being changed by His love.

            Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday.  Two days which remind me that I have learned love by being loved.  I have been changed by the love of God and the love of my wife.  Love someone today.  You may never know how much they are learning about love by being loved by you.  Let God love you and love through you!

Perfect Peace

"You will keep in perfect peace (Shalom) him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

The following two thoughts flow from living with Isaiah 26:3 and reflect a bit of my spiritual journey to understand how to practically live in and be kept in perfect peace.  

Thought One:  God gives peace as I deliberately (by my will, choose to) trust Him.  What do I trust Him for?  Just to make my life circumstances better?  What does "not perfect peace" look and feel like in my life?  What choices do you need to make today to trust Him in a way that He keeps you in perfect peace?   Teach me how to trust You, God, without conditionally holding my trust in You hostage to my circumstantial outcomes.

Thought Two:  I trust in His character and nature.  They are not defined by my circumstances nor do they predict my circumstances.  In my prayer and worship, I affirm by a choice of my will His nature and character.  When I find myself in “not-peace”, I discover I have become focused on the circumstances or possible outcomes rather than on His nature and character.  At that time, I can begin to affirm (with my tongue) His attributes (not His promises to me) and that brings a proper focus and the potential to receive His peace.  Shalom.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9, NIV)

I have been meditating on a quote I had been given that is attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."  It reminded me of several scripture passages concerning harvest and planting.  I decided to share the passage above from Galatians.

We live in age that expects harvest all the time, not just seasonally.  You boss does, your kids do, your parents do, your teacher does.  We expect our politicians to, our grocery store (why can't you get good fruit in the winter?), our bank accounts, our diets.  We expect results…NOW!

  

I guess a harvest is a reasonable expectation for your life.  Most farmers plant with an expectation of harvest.  But they expect the harvest in due time.  We must expect that God is the Lord of (and Scheduler of) the Harvest in our lives.  Not our impatience or the impatience of others.  What does "at the proper time" mean in your life today?  Should that be my goal today?  Can I only take joy today in the harvests I have or others bring me?  Maybe today I should focus on the "seeds" I am called by God to plant today and trust God for the harvest "at the proper time."  Where is your focus today?