Go Forth

  In Genesis 13:17, God said, "Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee."  He was talking to Abraham at the time, but I believe He tells us that same thing today.  This day, God has given to me.  So, my motto for today is: 

Arise. 
Go forth. 
Be happy.

Laugh more. 
Stop complaining. 
Stop envying. 
Live for the day. 
Love what God has given me, not what He has given someone else.  

The Story

     There is a song we sang in church as I was growing up and it was, "I Love To Tell The Story."  It is a beautiful song, and one of my favorites.  The refrain goes like this: 
I love to tell the story, 
’Twill be my theme in glory,
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and His love.

     Yet, if I had to summarize the story from Genesis to Revelations, how would I do it?  Let me try in a very simple form.

S avior ---This is God's Son, the One who died for me.

T ell the world-- We are commissioned to tell the world about Jesus. 

O pen your heart -- We are to open our hearts to the love of Jesus, and also love one another. 

R evive us again -- We are all sinners and have to repent daily.  

Y ahweh ---This is the One true God, the great I AM- The Beginning and the End.

Impatient

        There are times, I believe, when we all need patience.  We want what we want, and we want it now or at least I do.  I've heard it said, "Don't pray for patience, because you might get it!"  And some say God does not have a sense of humor!  

        When it comes to being impatient, we often create a lot of problems for ourselves.  Our impatience often causes us not to have faith in God who, by the way, is in control of all things and who knows what is best for us.  So, when a door closes maybe, we should "nail a board over it"  so we can see the one that is opening for our best interest. 

       What else can I say about being impatient and what it could cause?

 

 I-rritability could result

M-oods could be altered negatively

P-ity parties could make us depressed

A-ttitudes could change to the worse

T-empers could flair

I-llness from stress could get us down

E-xperience jealously  

N-arrow-out better opportuinties

T-ake temporary gratification  

     Look at the example given in Numbers when the Israelites complained about their impatience to get into the promise land.  They were rebellious, so God sent snakes among the people.  They doubted God and His Word.

     Look at another example given in Genesis of a man who was patient.  Jacob fell in love with Rachel and agreed to work seven years for her hand in marriage.  On the day of the wedding, Jacob was deceived and given the hand of Leah, the older sister.  In order to marry Rachel, Jacob agreed to work seven more years.  That is, indeed, patience.   Jacob was finally rewarded, not only with having Rachel for his wife, but doors of opportunity were given enabling him to acquire much wealth. 

     Regardless of our situations, we must remember that God is in control, and we need to continually maintain our faith in the working power of our Creator, Lord, and Master.   

A Lump Of Clay

      We know that in the beginning God created man, and He created him from the dust of the earth.  We are told in Genesis, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;" then later as Adam and Eve are being cast from the garden to work by the sweat of their brow, God says, "... till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." 
     In creating man, God became the master Potter giving life so that man would know and love Him.  "He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."  Our work is to tell others about Him. 

                  A Lump Of Clay

I was just a lump of clay until the Potter came my way.

I watched as he picked me up and gently lifted me toward the light.
A sparkle lit his eye and twinkled bright.

I heard him say, “Oh, yes! I have a special design for you.
You’ll no longer be a hardened rock. I have much more for you to do.”

“How?” I thought. “I have no life or spirit.

I’m just some ugly dirt with no heart or merit.”

The Potter began to mash and unfold.

Then he quickly started to roll and mold.
I felt a warmth inside me spread and glow.
My hardened core felt soft as dough.
How wonderful ! The gentle strokes of this master Potter.
Here and there, he added tenderness with drops of living water,
smoothing it carefully into my very core.
I knew I would never be like I was before.
I felt soft, yet strong.
I wanted to feel like this my whole life long.
When all was finished, the Potter blew in a breath of air.
I had become a sculpture, not beautiful, but fair,
with blemishs here and there.
I was in awe, but I didn't want to have a flaw.

“Masterful Potter,” I finally spoke,
"Why did you not make me beautiful like some other folk?”

“Your work will not be by appearance but by perseverance,” he replied.

 “But, why? I cried. "Can't you remove these bumps and lumps?"
 

Ever so kindly, he shushed me, “It won't matter what other people see.

You’re beautiful by design. Please don’t pine.
Your heart is pure. Your course is sure.
Those bumps are there to make you strong; they belong.”

The Potter continued smiling and began to say,
“You were once just a lump of clay.
In due time, your design will do the work that's mine.
You’re unique, a work of art, a masterpiece from my heart.
You were just a lump of clay till I, the Potter, came your way.”

Conversations

     Sitting here in “A Friendly Shade”  I couldn’t help but laugh as I remembered parts of a conversation between 2 sisters; one who loved the outdoors and the other preferring the indoors.  Not one to remember the exact way it was told to me, let me just say, it might have gone like this:    

      Coming inside from working flower beds, the sister asked her avid stay-inside sister,  “Do you have any root conditioner?” 

     The sister, busy mopping her floor, replied, without looking up,  “Sure,  there is probably some L’Oreal or Gardenia on the shelf in the bathroom.”
     “Are you mocking me?”
     “No!  I thought you were going to wash your hair.”
     “I am planting roses and need stimulator for their root system”
     “Oh.  Well, why didn’t you say so?”
     “I did!  If you went outside more often, instead of having such clean floors, the kind you could eat off of, you might know what I was asking about.”
     “You are right.  Some days you can eat off my floors and actually get full.  You might even have your choice of green peas or bread crumbs.” 
     “Well, do you have any?”
     “Any what?”
     “Root conditioner or stimulator?”
     Smiling sweetly, “No, I don’t keep any of that kind of stuff.”

      That was a loving conversation between two sisters who accepted each other for who they were.  Thinking further, I remembered another conversation, but one in which the instigator tried and was successful in changing someone to suit their own agenda because the listener did not adhere to her principles and accept her current life; she wanted more!  The conversation went something like this:

     “I have been out wandering about seeing the world and here you sat doing nothing but tending this garden.  Don’t you want to be wiser and see more?”

    “But, I have all I need.  Look around, I can have any of the wonderful fruits from all these trees except  the fruit from that one tree in the center of the garden.  I was told I would die if I eat from it.”
     “No!” the intruder firmly replied.  “You will not die.  You can have it all.  See how lush and robust it is.  Imagine how juicy and tasty it must be.”
     The woman fell to the temptation.  She looked at the fruit and found it pleasant to the eye.  It was then she began to desire that which she knew in her heart was forbidden.  She reached up and took the fruit in her hand. She desired it's lush sweetness, and she tasted.  That one bite led to a deeper desire for more.  She even took the forbidden fruit to her husband and tempted him.  She wanted him changed, as well.   

     Most all of us, at some time in our lives, blame Adam and Eve for the labor imposed upon us today.  We think, “If they had not taken that first bite we wouldn’t have to go to work every day.”   But isn’t that what we do today.  We are just like Adam and Eve.  We continue to dabble in the first taste of sin that leads to more.  It is then our conversation goes like Adam and Eve’s to God in Genesis 3:10,13   Adam -  “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. ..And the Lord God said unto the woman, ‘What is this that thou has done?’  And the woman said, ‘The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.’ ”