Category: Focus

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Just do it, Listen, Look, Praise, Prayer, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Why Meditate on Scripture?

https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/biblical-meditation/ has a terrific article well worth your time to read. Here is part of it: Meditating on the Scriptures is vital practice for maturing in the Christian life. As one anonymous writer said, “The Bible is not meant merely to inform but to transform.” Throughout history, godly leaders have commended the transforming effects of meditation. Consider this beautiful description by Thomas Brooks, a seventeenth-century church leader:

Remember that it is not hasty reading but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most but he that meditates most that will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.

I used to tell some fellow Bible students that I was not impressed if they could recite all the books of the Bible, even if they could recite those books in backwards order. To me the best accomplishment was if one could LIVE a single verse. I cannot attempt to come close to living a verse if I am unaware of the heart of God towards me. I get closer by trying to understand Hesed, loving kindness, mercy, grace and compassion. All of that for each of us. Knowing I can not do anything to make God love me more. Knowing God will never choose to love me less, motivates me to want to become more like Jesus. I have gained this knowledge from reading the Word of God, sitting with those concepts over decades, trusting to believe this even about myself.

Have you tried meditation? The practice has gotten a bad name from Christians who are motivated by fear. Understand that this is sometime that God has called us to throughout the Bible. Do your own study on the concept. Practice it a few times. Then try it a few more times. Be still and listen for the voice of the Lord to your heart and soul. I think you might find this a way to stir your soul into a deeper walk.

For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1: 6-7 NRSVUE

The love and care God has extended to me has changed me as a person.

35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
    and your right hand supported me,
    and your gentleness made me great.
36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
    and my feet did not slip. Psalm 18:35-36 ESV

What has your meditation on the Word of God done for you? Have you learned more about the character of God? Have you allowed the Spirit of God to make changes in you? What might the future hold if you made it your practice to meditate upon the Word and upon the character of the Trinity? Are you willing to give it a try?

Read and then spend sixty seconds of quiet in the Presence of the Living God. Then two minutes. Then five. Move along to ten as you are able. It truly is a practice. Not something we accomplish and then stop.

Posted on in Aging, Faith, medical treatment, Music, Prayer, Yield, Challenge, Illness and Health, Surrender, Obedience, Rest, Focus

Strength

Walking with my neighbors who are so ill has brought me to a new place of asking the Lord for strength. On Monday she and I sat through 2 hours of appointments with 3 different medical and financial persons in the Oncology office. She has decided she will forego treatment. Her pancreatic cancer is Stage 3. Stage 4 is when it moves to any other organ. With treatment there is only a small percentage of a chance to prolong her life. The pain of her death will be brutal, but the treatment would be brutal also. She will turn 83 in a few months. Now she is praying for courage to tell her husband who is still hospitalized and desperately ill. She said when she saw him over the weekend his legs were like tree trunks. She did not know skin could stretch so far. She has watched his treatment and declared she does not want to become like him. By the time you read this she will likely have told him.

It was difficult to sit with her through those appointments and watch her make her decision. I was exhausted last evening. This morning I read several things about strength and finding strength. I am praying that as you read this writing you will be strengthened in your life.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 NRSVUE

“Grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit.” Yes, please Lord God my Father.

Help me truly be rooted and grounded in love. Help that love to overflow to all those around me who are in need.

“According to the riches of Your glory”, grant this I pray. Help me abide in the love of Christ.

Are you weary today? Perhaps soaking in the above Scriptures and this song will help to sustain you.

I first heard this song at a retreat. In times like this it comes back to me.

On February 4 and March 23 the selections from Amy Carmichael in Edges of His Ways were both about strength. This morning the selection from Just One Thing by Rick Hanson, phd was entitled Find Strength. He wrote:

Strength comes in many forms, including endurance, losing on the little things in order to win on the big ones, and restraint. Inner strength is not all or nothing. You can build it, just like muscle. Appreciate how your strength empowers your caring, protectiveness, and love. Tell yourself that you are strong. That you can endure, persist, cope, and prevail. That you are strong enough to hold your experience in awareness without being over whelmed. That the winds of life can blow, and blow hard, but you are a deeply rooted tree, and winds just make you even stronger. And when they are done blowing, there you still stand. Offering shade and shelter, flowers and fruit. Strong and lasting.

I will with God’s help.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8

Happy are those
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
    or sit in the seat of scoffers,
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees
    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper. Psalm 1:1-3 NRSVUE

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint
    and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
    and the young will fall exhausted,
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 NRSVUE

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Listen, Look, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual growth, Yield

Everyone

Today on the Calm app they quoted H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something.

I often tell people, “Remember we are all broken. Some just hide it better than others.”

We are not so unalike. I was recently asked to read my poem Called Forth from the Cave to a group. The stanza “We’ve got to touch, we’re not so unalike,” keeps ringing through my soul.

I first learned of Ubuntu through the book about Joy from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dali Lama.

“Ubuntu is a deeply rooted African philosophy that embodies the interconnectedness of humanity. Originating from Southern Africa, the term comes from the Bantu languages, often expressed as “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”—meaning “a person is a person through other people.” This guiding principle emphasizes community over individuality, recognizing that our identities and actions are shaped by our relationships and interactions.”

We are interconnected whether we recognize it or not. We are all human beings. I had a license plate frame made that reads, “We are humankind. Be both, human and kind.” As wars rage on and unrest grips our country as well as so many places around the world it is more important now than ever before to remember our human link to others. In high school speech class the instructor reminded us to look at our audience as we spoke and remember they put on their underwear the same way we do, one leg at a time.

I challenge you today to remember the above truths. We need each other. We each need kindness. There are many things we can do to practice kindness with one another, even total strangers. Remember, if you see someone without a smile today, give them one of yours!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Look, Memories, Nature, Praise, Rest, Thanks

Glimmers

Remember those? Things that make you pause and be glad. Little things throughout the day that have you stop for a breath and rest momentarily? Here are some recent ones I experienced.

Grass is an impossible shade of green (after several days in the 70s and lots of spring rain)

The honeysuckle bushes are leafing out, a sure sign of spring

This sunrise with glorious shades of pink and gold

A truck center named Rush (my maiden name)

The Sandhill Cranes are in large numbers in Nebraska where we once saw them migrating.

It has been said that if we look for glimmers and for things to be grateful for we will see more and more of those things throughout our day. Have you tried this practice?

My granddaughter gave me a manicure as part of my Christmas gift (five of them actually). The first one was a couple weeks ago. My nails are still shiny and I think of our sweet conversation and her love each time I notice them.

The tulips I planted when we first moved in are emerging again. Each year I say I am going to dig them up. They never get to bloom because the rabbits eat them. (I think it is rabbits? Perhaps white tailed deer?) This year I decided those tulips are just a spring salad for some critter that likely needs the leaves more than I need the flowers. I hesitantly think, MAYBE. I am learning to smile when I see the mowing job the critter has done. It proves a Glimmer of life I do not get to witness, but I see the results from their presence under that front tree.

Watch today for things that delight your eyes. Even if it is just a momentary thing it can be important for your health.

Posted on in Aging, Art, Book quotes, Faith, Focus, Just do it, Obedience, Poetry, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Trust, Writing Life

Give or Take?

Listening to another podcast by John Mark Comer he quoted an author reminding us that the second half of life is about giving our life away. Well, duh! Shouldn’t those who read the New Testament know that? No, we do not always remember that! Especially as noted in the quote below.

In a culture that pushes us to focus not on what we can give, but on what we can take, what we tend to take is everything for granted. Andrea Gibson

That is so true. So sadly true of Americans.

Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back – given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Luke 6:38 Message

That is what I trying to do with getting music out of the file folders into the hands of others, printing books and poetry at the lowest cost I can. Giving my life away in texts, emails, personal relationships.

How are you doing this?

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back. Luke 6: 38 NRSVUE

I am not looking for a reward in my giving, though there is a promise stated here. I have simply found that I cannot out give my God.

Poem by me Healed Wounds 1982

I have been told so many things
	and dealt so many blows
But now my heart begins to sing
	an old song, soft and low.

He’s taught me by His words and ways
	the first few miles of loving.
I’ve many lessons yet to learn
	but first I must begin.

Our culture and sophisticated ways 
	just keep us from each other.
Barriers come into play
	where open meadows belong.

My soul is crowded about
 	by specters of loneliness.
The risk of vulnerability has become
	more inviting than the haunt of isolation.

It is as though I am breaking out
	of an ancient inner prison.
I must get close to as many as will let me.
	The risk is not to be counted.

We’ve got to touch,
	we’re not so unalike.
We are all made in His image,
	but we are not our own.

Like calls unto like
	deep calls unto deep,
and the power of His Spirit
	is knitting us together.

The pleasures of His bounty
	are not to be hoarded – but shared.
How can we assume to participate in His Spirit
	behind a crumbling wall of self?
Jesus walks through walls.

In some ways I am scared
 	of investing my small bits
But I tremble at the thought of just
	burying them in Jesus’ name.

Father, You have called me to this.
	as I slowly crept out from that cave.
You alone can put me over,
	to you I belong.

Show me how to be Your child,
	how to represent You well.
I look for help to no other,
	teach me as You did Your Son.

You alone have made me worthy,
	You alone will see me through.
Help me with Your love and mercy,
	deep compassion, grace and truth.

Now I stand before You yielded,
	make me into something new.
You have plans, now please reveal them,
	train me how to touch and move.

Give me holy eyes to see with,
	holy ears and holy hands.
Help me learn to only speak when
	I have heard what You command.

Others may not understand,
	few will ever know.
I’m willing to live by Your plan.
	You are my final goal.

My intimacy with You
	will affect those in this realm.
I’m burdened by this bounty
	I’ve collected from Your stores.
Instruct me how to give it away
	so I can discover more.


MAKE IT A WAY OF LIFE!

Posted on in Faith, Focus, Look, Music, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

God’s Unquenchable Love

In the move to make worship easier for all our church uses a printed bulletin each week instead of the Book of Common Prayer and a hymnal. Last week in the Eucharistic prayer I was struck by these sentences.

Your redeeming work continued when through the Virgin Mary, you became incarnate in Jesus Christ, so that through him we might experience the depth and width of your unquenchable love.

No, I do not understand all of that language and do not presume to explain to you what I do believe about it. I do know that the love of God IS unquenchable and vast beyond our comprehension!

Have you tasted that unquenchable love in your life? Can you recall that moment and stay with it as the days of Lent unfold?

And again we prayed:

Send your Holy Spirit we pray, into these gifts of bread and wine and send your Holy Spirit into us, that we may RECOGNIZE each other as members of the same body, Christ’s hands and feet and heart, sent for the healing of the world.

Nothing is too difficult for our God. Help me Father to let you open my eyes to the wonders of your redeeming work. Help me recognize your people as members of the same body you have created for the healing of the world.

From one of my favorite artists

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Faith, Focus, Listen, Obedience, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Trust, Yield

Strength

I was given a prayer request for strength. This person was in the midst of two part time jobs, raising teenagers, deeply concerned about the unrest in Minnesota and other cities, and having hot flashes. She was right up on the edge of burnout.

I was later reading Amy Carmichael’s Edges of His Grace and Amy quoted this:

Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. Psalm 68:28 Darby

I sent the quote along to her. So many of us are on the edge of burnout. We need the strength of God and renewal in the strength that only God can offer.

Looking into this further, one footnote said: Septuagint and Syriac and most Hebrew manuscripts say Your God has summoned power for you.

Yes, Lord, she and I both need more of that precious power You have summoned for us!

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. But you refused Isaiah 30:15 NRSVUE

Lord, you know we are hurried and worried and preoccupied with too many things.We need to be still. Return to you. Rest and trust in you. Help us to not refuse to do these things.

We more inflow and deliberately return to the Giver of Living Water

Send forth your strength O GOD; establish, O GOD, what you have wrought for us. Psalm 68:28 BCP

Above, the Book of Common Prayer quotes this Psalm slightly differently. And below the Names of God Bible says:

Your Elohim has decided you will be strong. Display your strength, O Elohim, as you have for us before. Names of God Bible Psalm 68:28

Your Elohim – Your Elohim, the Supreme One, the Mighty One – and this Mighty one if yours. Ponder that for a moment. Yours. Your God has summoned power for you.Your God send forth strength to you. God has worked things into shape for us. Will establish what God has wrought for us. God has summoned power for us.

I was uncertain how I would get through this past week. I had many pressing matters and needed strength for each of them. This verse helped me turn to the Lord and ask for the strength I needed for each situation. I remembered with longing that Sunday was coming and that I could rest on that afternoon. I was carried in heavenly strength through the week. Left to myself I would have crashed and burned early in the week.

It is an amazing verse and even more amazing gift that is given to us. Sit with this verse. Ponder the meaning in the particulars of your life. How can you apply this verse, this truth to your life? See how Elohim loves you!

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Music, Obedience, Poetry, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender

Howard Thurman Quote

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. Howard Thurman

This one made me think. Twice. Howard Thurman went to his rest in the Lord in 1981. He was “a nationally recognized theologian, distinguished religious leader, and prolific author of over twenty published books. His book Jesus and the Disinherited was considered his most indispensable work.” I read his Disinherited and was moved. He wrote, “It is a man’s reaction to things that determines their ability to exercise power over him.” So reminds me of Viktor Frankl.

There are a few things that make me come alive. Some have been sitting in a file folder for decades. When I was diagnosed with the heart aneurysm I got scared but I also got busy. There was poetry the world had never seen that I wanted to release to others. There was the urge to publish a book with some of these blog posts. The aneurysm is still there, but I have decided to let it be there. Was likely there for decades without my knowledge.

Now that a new year has begun, I am aware I will not live forever, with or without the aneurysm. My husband has a pacemaker and reminds me how many years are left on his battery. He assures me he has no intention to get the battery replaced when it stops working. That sort of knowledge keeps me on my toes. If and when he dies, (he thinks it will be before me), I am certain I will be knocked down for a couple months at least if not longer. Therefore, if I intend to get some of these things done, I better get them accomplished before that battery expires!

Last year a friend offered to take one of the praise choruses I heard and wrote down years ago and work with it. She put it on staff paper so people might have it to play and enjoy. Indeed, she did just that! This year I asked if she would be willing to take on the other 4 or 5. She again said yes! This afternoon I am going to her house to work on the timing on one of them. I hope to be able to post them on this blog for you to enjoy at home or in your local church. Truly an amazing and skill musical talent she possesses!

Dana and I are working at preparing my poetry for publication through Amazon Direct Publishing. This will include some of the newer works. I have a new appreciation for what an editor does. I have read every single one of my poems and found many errors that we printed previously. Yikes. There will be a few new photos in the new book, two by my musician friend mentioned above.

Stephen Ministry has been calling to me and I was commissioned last Sunday at church. I will eventually be assigned a care receiver to meet with. That person will need me about an hour a week. I will also be praying for that person and receiving supervision during their care. It is a ministry I feel compelled to give myself to. I, too, benefited from it when I recently felt overwhelmed.

The prayer team at church need leadership. That has been a call upon my life for decades. I did not say no. Please pray for me to hear just what the Lord desires as I try to arrange a meeting with them and provide leadership that will feed and encourage them.

What makes YOU come alive? Would you be willing to take that aliveness and let the world use it? None of us knows when the Lord will call us home. Please do not leave things left undone that you might be able to accomplish now, this month, this year!

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Journal, Just do it, Listen, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Surrender, Thanks, Trust, Worship, Yield

Recriminations and Breathing Room

For a week or perhaps 10 days, I got all complicated about my disciplines. We were having new flooring installed in the sitting/sewing room and in order to do that we basically dismantled the room. There was yarn and all manner of sewing things moved into the office. Writing in that space became more difficult as I could barely move my chair. Somehow that overflowed into my morning disciplines. Suffice it to say I lost my focus. It was easy to heap recriminations upon myself. But not productive!

The flooring is now installed. The contents of the room have been replaced and in their original order, sort of. I will have straightening to do for many hours in the future. When we moved the yarn holders (think cloth shoe pouches that hang from the closet pole) yarn and crochet thread went all over the place.

This morning, when I sat down in my prayer chair, I realized I’d left my tablet some place. Remembered I had used my iPad in the living room. I went to retrieve it and there was no charge left. Even the attached keyboard failed to have any power. So my approach to prayer centering was greatly disrupted. That was not all bad.

Looking for a way to firmly connect with the Spirit of God, I remembered all the times I did that without any electronic devices. Just me, the Book of Common Prayer, my Bible, perhaps a dictionary and a desire to know, and be known by my God. This was a masterful reset. I know I stepped away from my disciplines, not deliberately but a little shift here, a little shift there, a little anxiety here about Bob and the dog walking in icy weather, distraction by A B and C, and next thing I knew I was walking an unproductive path.

The meditation I listened to via my smart phone spoke about finding some breathing room. And that is what I have done this morning. I have some breathing room and a path forward to better union with the Trinity.

So hopefully, now I have regained some perspective. I once again have a renewed awareness of how easy it is to abandon the way of life that is so very good for me. I found myself stumbling about with the way of self in the world. It was not fulfilling. Just frustrating and like sawdust to my soul and spirit.

Father, thank you for showing me myself clearly. Help me above all else to hunger for and maintain my connection to you. You are the source of life. You are living water to me. Keep me and direct my ways to the glory of your name. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict says, “Always, we begin again.”

Posted on in Book quotes, Faith, Focus, Obedience, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Object Lessons

I do well with object lessons in front of me to remind me of God and the path I am supposed to be following. Lately I have been studying to be a lay minister through Stephen Ministries. I wanted to draw on my textbooks a giant ear. Over and over in the lesson material we are taught the importance of being willing to listen without judgement or giving advice.

I wondered where I might find an ear as a reminder. Around October I can sometimes find plastic hands or other body parts. This search begin in January. And then, of course, Amazon was happy to supply my desire.

They sent two cellophane packs of soft ears. One side is bright red (reminiscent of blood). The other side is generally representative of a left human ear. The ear is extremely soft and not very pleasant to hold. Then I realized it would adhere to the window with no glue.

What am I going to do with all of those ears, you ask? In March I will attend my first St. Timothy’s Stephen Ministry Leader meeting. I will take them to share with the others who also serve in this ministry!

You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger James 1:19 NRSUE

Quick to listen. Are you? I am not very quick to listen, but I am trying to do it better.

Whether you look up the 331 references to the word listen or the 347 ones that say hear, the Bible makes it clear this is an imperative trait for humans. We are rarely quick to listen, yet all of us truly want to be heard.

Even more important is the lesson that we should listen to and hear the words of God. In Deuteronomy Moses presents the people with the commandments of the Lord.

Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Deuteronomy 6:4-6 NRSUE

This evolved into a Jewish prayer that you have likely become slightly familiar with, be it through television or New Testament study.

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31 NRSVUE

I have read that the Jewish people are told to recite this at least twice a day. I think I should, also. Hear the truth about God. Listen to God and obey. Listen to our neighbor, always and intently. We have our work cut out for us! Will you modify your behavior accordingly?