Jesus Knows Our Pain

 

        It’s been a year!  Just about a year ago the first of the quarantine shut down’s occurred here in the States.  Since then there have many more ‘shut down’s and ‘closings’ including our school systems, visitations at hospitals and nursing homes, even being able to stay with someone in the Emergency Room has, in many places come to a complete halt.  It’s been frustrating and on some levels, frightening.

Add to these disruptions in our world, is the toll it’s taken on lives.  I have no blame to place, it’s just an element of life we’ve all had to endure.  I’m sure there are few families who haven’t had to deal with a death of a loved one somewhere in their family line.  If a family was spared, certainly they could name a friend or two who wasn’t!

We all suffer through tragedy.  That is a fact of life.  We all mourn when we lose a loved one.  It’s a wondrous thing to know that even in our grief, God was and is always with us.  I’ve read of families (pre-pandemic) who stood by their mother’s side as she passed over, or those who lost a father.  Still there are families who have lost their young ones, through an accident or other horrific event.  

How do we go on?  John 11:35 says “Jesus wept.”  Lazarus had passed on to glory and Jesus’ heart grieved the loss.  If Christ can grieve at loss, certainly we can.  But more than this, we can know that He knows how loss feels.  He knows and understands pain and mourning.  This knowledge and his love for us, enables him to comfort us in ways no human person can understand.  It just is.

But as humans, it’s important to remember that we are to share sadness together, just as we share happy times.  How we ‘share’ is unique to each person’s personality, but a card, a phone call, a meal, a visit, or other expression of love and concern can help dull the ache, just a little.

Even when we aren’t talking of death, pain is real in the lives of many we know.  Sometimes dulling an ache is simply in ‘listening’ to a friend’s heart, as they share their situation or distress.  We are a people who are supposed to ‘be there’ for each other.  Sometimes we get so caught up in our own world or situation, we neglect to reach out to others, even when we know there are problems.

Yet we live in a culture who often chooses to be private about the trials we bear.  While we need to respect that attitude, we always have the opportunity to pray, and otherwise just let them know, we’re available should they need us without intruding on their need for privacy.

How well do you know your church family?  Would you even be aware if someone needed you?  Do you know when someone is slipping away from the faith? Do you know when a family is disintegrating?  Knowing our brothers and sisters in the faith is a charge we should keep.  How well are we doing that?  

Let God Create Something New

 

       I heard a story about a cook working on a recipe 2,000 years ago and the mixture of the ingredients exploded leading to the invention of fireworks!  I have a son who loves to create new recipes.  Thankfully nothing has ever exploded and he’s a great cook and has created some amazing meals due to his innovation with ingredients out of his garden!

Other inventions gone 'wrong' include Penicillin, which at first was thought to be an antiseptic;  Post it Notes, which were created out of the desire to create a super-strong adhesive, but turned out to be a ‘low-tack’ one instead; Ice Pops which happened when powdered lemonade soda was left in a glass on the porch with a stick in it and froze; and even Coca-Cola, which every one knows is a super sweet drink, originally was thought to be a potent medicine!  There are plenty more!  This gives even elementary credence to the fact that something wonderful can be made out of what we might consider a mistake!

There are times in our lives when things seem to go extraordinarily wrong and everything goes in every direction except the right one!  It’s wonderful to know that God has the ability to use these mixed up ingredients in our lives to create something new and wonderful if we are open to new outcomes.

These experiences grow and change us.  They may change perceptions, or biases.  It may break us so much we feel like we are in a million tiny pieces, but God has the power to put those pieces back together.  (The Kingdom Heirs, my favorite Southern Gospel Group has a song called, “Pieces” which identifies this scenario beautifully!)

None of us want to deal with unexpected hardships and circumstances, which throw our world off kilter.  But when we remember that those ‘mishaps’ can create unexpected beauty in our lives, it’s easier to accept the hardships as another form of ‘growing pains’ we experience as children—-or even young ‘baby’ Christians.

These circumstances can also create new hearts within us to enable us to forgive when a situation has been especially difficult,  or strength and courage when we are sure we aren’t going to make it through, and peace when all we feel are twisted knots inside our stomachs.  This ‘new you’ that grows out of these trials ‘grow us’ into the strong Believer God wants us to be.

Our mistakes or trials in life (not that we want them), have the potential to chisel away the rough edges and allow God to mold us into a better form of His direction, so we can better serve Him.

Has there ever been a time in your life when your ‘life experience’ wasn’t at all what you’d chosen, but in hindsight is recognized as 'coming out of it’ a better person?  It’s likely we all have.  Be thankful for those moments, hard as they were.  God is good all the time, even when we can’t see just what it is He’s creating!

Our Lives Are Music

 

         Listening to the birds in early spring are a pure sense of joy for me.  Sometimes, it’s the solo of a chickadee, or a concert of wrens, thrush or the house finch and others that have filtered into the mix. They care not whether their note is perfect (although it probably is!) or whether they sing in harmony; they just let their sound raise to the sky!  It’s glorious and makes my heart sing!

Music is one of my favorite things, especially Southern Gospel music.  But I also enjoy Bluegrass, old country, and even classical.  It’s funny, because if I’m writing, my preference is classical!  The music can play and my head doesn’t sing along, and I can still be productive!

I was never part of a band in school, but envied those who were.  I am in awe of the person who can sit to a piano and play beautiful tunes, or the fiddle---  or the steel guitar!  It seems like the instruments are doing the talking!  

While I have attended a classical concert (on a very local level), I know little about what makes them work!  I was intrigued however, when a friend compared classical music with the working of the local church!  His point was each musical instrument is important and plays a powerful role in the overall finished pieced.  The harmony comes together from something small, like the tiny triangle making the high pitched, metallic, shimmery sound, or the strong performance of the violinist; each complimenting the other.    

Individually the instruments are not necessarily strong; and although they can stand alone, their power comes from the union of all the sounds coming together.  Shouldn’t this be the way we perceive our places within the local church?  No act of faith is too small, and none so large it is more worthy or honorable than any of the so called, ‘smaller acts.’  

God wants us to use the gifts he has given us to work in unity and in harmony, so that the corporate ‘performance’ is enhanced by even the tiny act of conviction and belief, within the framework of the church!  But sometimes we caught up in what we think others expect, or we think they see!  We may even ask God to change us because we don’t believe we fit the ‘mold’ of what others want us to be.

Knowing God wants us just the way he designed us, enables us to use the talents and gifts he’s given to further his kingdom, while we traverse this earth.  It’s important to know we can sing alone and can be incredible. But a ‘concert’ is usually so much better when everyone sings together.  The harmonies bring a quality that is often unmatched for the ‘larger vision” and bigger projects, and productivity is greatly enhanced.

Where do you fit in, ‘in the concert’?  Are you afraid of not ‘hitting the right note’— if asked to teach a Sunday School class, devotion, or sing in the choir?  Or do you ‘sing’ your best, regardless of what your service, —— and let God make the music in other people’s lives? 

Photo credit: free pictures of birds singing 

Who We Think We Are

 

        Some friends were discussing acne recently, and while I don’t recall any serious problem with it (thankfully) when I was a teenager, I know many did.  There were times, of course, when I would have one and I’d fret and pick it at it, and cover it with make up as much as possible, to hide it.  

Other people, however, had severe acne ‘break-outs’ that would cause shame and trauma because they were certain their complexion was the most important thing about them.  Any ‘zits’ would destroy their appearance and thus their confidence.  

It’s sad because as time has changed and such emphasis is placed on our outward appearance through TV commercials and other advertising, it forces our young ones to believe they are less than acceptable, if there are any physical flaws, even if it's only, their own belief.  One friend even commented that her second grade grand daughter was concerned about her weight!  And clothes are a huge deal, as well!  We have created a generation, that from an early age, wants designer outfits, high end shoes, unique hair styles, jewelry of all descriptions and more.  

As one friend put it, we’ve become a “popularity, beauty, physical appearance-based culture.”   In a slight way, this isn’t unlike Samuel when he was searching for a King for Israel in 1 Samuel 16.  He was in Bethlehem and and was certain when he saw each of Jesse’s sons, he’d surely found the right one.  

But God spoke to him and told him in verse 7:  "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  It wasn’t until the last one was called, that Samuel knew he’d found the person the Lord had chosen.  He was described as “ruddy” yet with a fine appearance with handsome features, a sheep herder, and young!  Not at all what Samuel had expected.  He’d found David!

Often we do the same thing.  When we go into a room, we gravitate to the prettiest, or handsomest person in the room.  It’s where most everyone else is, as well.  Usually this attractive person is also well-groomed, wearing nice, form fitting clothes with appealing features and mannerisms.  They are center stage with conversations going in all directions.  They have personality!  

The person who considers themselves a ‘wall-flower’ is laid back, out of sight, with only minimal confidence, hoping no one will notice them, because they don’t believe they can compete with the others holding center stage!

God has given us all a ‘different look’ with different personalities and different gifts.  Those who think they are the ‘least’ often has so much to give, sometimes even more than the one being lavished with all kind of compliments.  

I wonder; should we perhaps take notice, not of their outward appearance, but at their heart?