A Day is Like a Thousand Years

Where has the time gone?  I find myself asking that question from time to time--especially at "back to school" time!  Everyone proudly shares  those first day of school shots of their children as they head out the door for another year of school.

Where has the time gone?  My children are adults now! Where has the time gone? What happened to all those babies baptized at church? They're in high school! What happened to those former coworkers and classmates? They're retired; they're grandparents; they're old[er], just like me!

It would be easy to get depressed, I guess when I think about everything I thought I would have done by now, everything I would have accomplished and learned and achieved! I keep chastising myself that "you've got another book to write."  There are organizations that need and desperately want volunteers to serve--things to do and learn and achieve!

But wisdom tells me "be gentle with yourself." Life is hard, but God is good. "Breathe." God is in the details. "Pray." God is in the questions and the answers. Tomorrow is another day - a gift just waiting for me to open and explore and share. Wisdom also tells me, though,  stop wasting time and energy worrying about "if only" and "should" and "didn't."

Life is fleeting.  We (I) had better be and do the best we can each day. Each day is a gift and life is just waiting for us to live it - as we toil, as we rest, as we strive and as we slow our pace; as we seek God and His wisdom; as we question and discover truths.  As we forgive and as we repent; as we pray another day to fight the good fight--another opportunity to know where the time has gone and that we spent it well.

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare" (2 Peter 3:8-10 NIV)

Blessings on your journey,

Mary

We Have Found the Messiah!

"The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, "What do you seek?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter)" (John 1:35-42 RSV).

We never really are told what Jesus did from the time he was 12 and his parents found him in the temple talking and asking questions of the elders, until he began his ministry. I imagine he learned Joseph’s trade and helped support the family, and then himself as a carpenter. All of the apostles needed to ply their trades as they traveled around with Jesus, some with their families, so they could support themselves. I imagine that they were viewed by some in the same way we would view day laborers today! Isn’t that amazing? These rough, strong, rowdy, impulsive and rowdy men were tasked with spreading the Good News to all the world!

Then we come to Peter, the Rock, upon which Jesus builds His church – note I didn’t say the church! My bible notes indicate what scripture later relates to us: Peter was anything but a rock in his early years! He was, in fact, unstable and impulsive—hardly the type of person one would look up to and model their behavior after! But my notes go on to say the Peter was chosen by Jesus because of what he would become through God’s grace. That is quite daunting! To think that Peter was molded and shaped, taught and re-taught all the lessons Jesus needed him to learn so that he could become the pillar of the church after Christ rose and went to heaven!

And God does that with each of us! I’ve had several conversations with friends lately about this topic. All of us have things we’ve experienced in our lives that were unpleasant, painful, even almost unbearable! But each of us has said – some with substantially more grace than others – that if going through it all again was what was required to be where we are today – we would do it! Not that I am so devout, good, strong, righteous, or by any stretch of the imagination the kind of role model I should be for anyone! But that if I needed to be refined and molded and broken over my lifetime to feel the almost tangible presence of God’s grace in my life, then yes, I would do it all again!

Andrew “got it!” And he wanted to share “it” with his brother! He was bound to be overcome with excitement and hope and overwhelmed with the realization that he was chosen by The Anointed One! Each of is chosen too. We have the responsibility and the privilege to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, and to bring others to Him. And we are able to do so, not because of our own ability, skill, talent, education or training. No. We are able because, through God’s grace we are who and what the world needs us to be right now, today. We are Christ’s disciples. We are to be the rock of another’s faith. We are to be Jesus to a fallen world.

This year as I wait for Christmas, I am waiting to discover who God will make me! I long to know and become what He has planned for me next! I rejoice that I feel his tangible and unquestionable grace as if it were a living, breathing being! I embrace it! I rejoice in it! I am both convicted and washed clean by it.

I hope you spend today experiencing with joy and anticipation what God is doing in your life, and how He is shaping and molding you to become who and what you were meant to be. And that you will rejoice in his grace and love, the vehicles through which we are transformed.

Blessings on your journey,
Mary

LIfe in the real world

Angela's post at Free Spirit Haven about her "life in the real world" being more fulfilling than it had in the past really hit home with me.

I haven't spent as much time on my blogging as in the the past. At one point I had become almost like a slave to posting, posting, posting on multiple blogs. But at some point I realized God wanted me to expend my time and energy in my "other" life more than in the blogosphere.

Like Angela, our family has had some struggles and challenges. Like Angela, our family is stronger because of it all--individually and as a family unit. God is so very good to shape and mold, refine and fine-tune us continually. He longs for us to seek Him and His will. He longs for us to be conformed to His vision of us. When we don't make a concerted effort to sit with Him, to read scripture, pray, spend quality time with Him alone, we risk missing His message(s) to us.

We all need to take time to reorder our priorities once in a while. It's easy to drift off track. I rejoice with each of you that our God is a loving and gracious God with a heart that can hold us close even when we forget to seek Him, honor Him, thank Him for our manifold blessings.

Thanks, Angela, for the reminder that we must place God first, our families next and then everything else "falls into place" according to God's divine plan.

How about you? Are your priorities in order?

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another" (John 1:16 NIV)

"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:10 NIV).

Blessings on your journey,

Mary

Monday Manna

Welcome to Monday Manna. The purpose of this meme is to get together and get to know Christ more through His Word. The first and third Monday of each month, anyone who wishes can post their thoughts on a verse Joanne introduced at her blog the Thursday before. It doesn't have to be a long post -- just a few thoughts, a picture you feel helps express it, a poem, a short story, a devotional. Today's verse is:

You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. (Acts 22:15 NIV)

In context:

"About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?' " 'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. " 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. "'What shall I do, Lord?' I asked. "'Get up,' the Lord said, 'and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.' My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. "A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see him. "Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard." (Acts 22:6-15 NIV)


I think had I experienced anything close to this dramatic (and traumatic) I would certainly be telling the world what had happened to me: "I was blind, but now I see!" and "Jesus spoke to me and told me to get ready for instructions on what I would be assigned to do."

It can so often be challenging to apply scripture to our daily lives in this modern world. It's been a long time since Jesus walked the earth, and I'm pretty sure that if someone today announced a similar experience to the world, they would not be taken seriously.

Can you imagine Paul's utter confusion and dismay growing into fear and disbelief at what just happened? Jesus had just told him to make a complete 180 turn in his life. Not only that, in order to obey, Paul was potentially risking his own life!

All those relatives and friends of people Paul had ordered killed were probably more than willing to stone him right about now, that he dared to show his face.

But he obeyed. In spite of his fear. In spite of his probable belief that his certain death was emanant. What he had experienced was just too amazing to keep to himself. What had happened to Paul was so inimaginable that it could only have been Christ speaking to him. To be struck blind and then healed was so far beyond description or understanding that Paul really had no choice but to do what Jesus bid him to do.

Annanais goes on to tell Paul, 'And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.' (Acts 20:16)

What are we waiting for?