The Fight is On

 

          There’s always a lesson in the garden, and continually I am listening for God’s voice in the garden.  He is so faithful to speak if only I take time to look and listen.  These days I see that the fight is on!  January, the cold month of winter, keeps its rough war against flowers in the garden.  Yet, all through the month roses have been fighting on and even blooming!  Never before have I had roses blooming in January.  They look a bit stressed, but their color is vibrant and bright.  An analogy has come home to my heart this week.

          Reading the book of Judges has been put off recently because it is such a sad book.  Israel had been rescued and redeemed out of Egypt, and had seen the miraculous wonders of God’s hand for them. Yet Israel failed to obey God and take the new land.  Chapter 2:12 says they forsook the Lord God of their fathers and they followed other gods all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.  Down a few verses to verse 17, it says they turned “quickly” from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord.  Oh how quick we are to turn from God’s way!  The next chapter is what has come home to my heart this week.  Chapter 3:1 - 2 says the Lord left nations in the land that He might test Israel by them, that “Israel might be taught to know war”.  

          Resisting war and always wanting to run is not God’s way.  I am one to run away rather than fight or confront.  I am willing to walk away and let someone have their way if only it makes for “peace”.  God’s way is for us to learn to war, to put on all the promised armor Ephesians 6 talks about, to fight the enemy of our souls. I cannot outrun or out-hide my enemy. I have to press forward and fight to take ground.  I have to fight.  Fight the assaults on my mind.  Fight assaults that want  to overtake me such as insecurities,  depression, fear, failures, etc. which are constantly being speared toward my mind especially in human relationships. I’m talking about fighting the war in my mind and heart against these thoughts, not fighting people. There is no true peace when I walk away without fighting those darts that assail me. My only peace is at the feet of Jesus, and He said I will have tribulation in the world.  John 16:33 and Matthew 10:34-36 tell me that in this world I will have to fight and war.  I have put on the armor of God for protection, but God wants me to put it on to fight as well and press on.

          These roses are a clear picture to me of fighting back, and they are beautiful to behold in the dead of winter!  Against the continual dreary fog and cold of winter they provide a bright bold color that encourages my heart to fight back and take ground, too.  May we continually remember that God wants us to stand and fight for His ground in our hearts and lives.  Let us not make deals with the enemy.  Let us not settle but press on for higher ground.  May our Lord help us as we fight in His name for His glory.  May we not settle until our peace is only in Jesus.  

                                                                                                                       K.C.

          

The Star

 

          Throughout the summer plants and flowers take turns being the star of the show. One will shine and show off especially beautiful petals while another is fading off.  There are many favorites but this is one of my most favorites, the mandevilla.  With its long tendrils, vines, and continual blooms throughout the summer warmth it is so dramatic and striking that it takes the prize.  Right now, the freezing snowy weather is striking my mandevilla down for the winter, although it lasted through the fall months in the sun room.  It is just a special star in the garden with brilliant almost fluorescent petals that draw your eyes.  

          People like to be the star of the show, too.  Each of us sometimes get in the rut of thinking that we are the center of life.  So many verses in God’s Word tell us that God cares for us, He loves us, He died for us, He saves us, He fills us, He walks with us, He never forsakes us, He answers our prayers, He protects us, He feeds us, He guides us, He plans for us, and the list goes on.  Sometimes God does so much for us that we start thinking that we are the star.  Recently God abruptly literally stopped me in my tracks.  It’s like He spoke out loud to me!  “You are not the star.  You are not the center.  You are not what life is about.  I am.  I am worthy of all praise, honor, and glory.  I am the Star.  Worship Me.  You need to rearrange your thinking.  You need to repent of your self-centered thinking.  My work in the world is way bigger than your little life.  Let go of your hurts and worries and look at Me.  I am the Star.”

          There was an immediate relief in my heart and mind!  A gigantic burden slipped off.  A clarity in vision and purpose filled my mind.  Life isn’t about me - it is about the Star and about His plan.  Sometimes we get so focused on our little life that we get tunnel vision.  It was invigorating to have God stop me in my tracks and refocus my vision.  It also took worries and frets and fears away, putting them where they belong - on Him.  Repenting released my heart in an amazing way!  What a wonderful and strange God!  God is nothing like us.  God is in another category!  And oh, how glad we are!  God is the Star!                    

                                                                                                                  K.C.

Unexpected Expectations

 

          I’ve been cleaning up the raised beds and pots of sad leaves and debris.  Rains have come and flowers have said good by for the season.  Expectations of withered leaves and bare branches have taken over.  It’s always with some sad thoughts I tuck away the beds for winter.  But one dreary day my attention was drawn to something purple in the side flowerbed.  Low and behold the old fashioned bluebells were blooming once again!  They had died off and now had grown back!  Now that was the unexpected expectation!  I had expected everything to be totally done and dead, but here they were growing lovely as ever!  That made me walk around the yard to see what other treasures I could find.  A lone nicotiana blossom stood to cheer me as well as a few tiny roses that were giving it their all.  The unexpected blossoms were a delight, especially considering that my bleak winter expectations had taken reign in my mind.  Bleak expectations can really darken and hamper our minds. 

          Are you giving space to bleak expectations in your life?  The times are sobering, serious, and scary.  Between a pandemic, politics, and worldwide catastrophes, we are living in trying days.  During these last few months the  Lord has been nudging me to quit reading so much news and instead to focus on Him.  To expect not the expected but the unexpected.  Looking for God’s work in others, looking for His presence, looking at His promises, and looking for His blessings in the darkness have been changing my outlook.  God is asking me to expect His goodness that is bringing everything together for the return of Jesus Christ.   Psalm 62 is a great challenge to meditate on.  “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.  He only is my rock and my salvation;  He is my defense;  I shall not be moved.  In God is my salvation and my glory;  the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.”  Along the way, God is shining His light in this world, and He wants us to raise praises to His name!  When His promises and glory are reigning in my mind and heart, the whole world, as well as people, will look different.  We are to be set apart, redeemed, and heavenly minded people.  Letting God be God, I am open to see the unexpected because our God has a habit of doing the unexpected.  Let’s not live with dark negative thoughts that hamper us from singing the praises of our Lord Jesus Christ!  

                                                                                                                                             K.C., 

 Jj '

Redirected Desires

                                              Starting with washing windows.

Then the labor of love.

         

The finished sunroom !  Come for a cup of tea or frosty glass of lemonade.

These summer months have been great for the mandevilla, 

but not so great for us as it get over 120 degrees !

          

          Many years in the making.  A lifetime.  You know, those dreams you possess for years and years that are so illusive.  Being the gardener that I am, I’ve always wanted a greenhouse to start seedlings in, to relax and escape in, to create in. Alas, now that life’s years have passed, I dropped that desire only to have my husband pick up the project.  I do wonder sometimes about God’s timing.  Instead of a rustic greenhouse for plants though, he built a lovely retreat where we can relax, read, or just gaze out the windows.  It is like God wanted this sunroom to be a cozy place of friendship and relationship rather than a place of labor. It is way lovelier that I ever imagined!  

          I’ve been thinking about this exchanged and redirected desire.  God redirects us through different stages of life.  After a lifetime of varied and continually changing relationships, I am focusing on rest.  Restful relationships that abide and relax.  Relationships that demand nothing except the desire to be together. I’m not sure there are human relationships like this, but one thing I do know:  God desires this kind of relationship.  From Genesis on, God has made it abundantly clear to us in every way possible that He is looking for times to walk together in the garden or abide together in the quiet of the vineyard.  Times to sit at His feet or to follow in His yoke.  It is these times that we listen to God’s voice of love, tenderness, correction, mercy, or direction.  

          There is a desire in my heart for human relationship like this as well.  This week visiting with an old friend only emphasized this.  We talked together about Jesus which strengthens the intertwining triangle of friendship.  I not only long to abide with Jesus but with others who love Him as well.  Don’t you?  What a marvelous gift from our Savior who calls us together to be His family!  With these thoughts I invite you to come to my sunroom for a refreshing visit together with Jesus.  

                                                                                                                                          K.C.

Finishing Well - My Job or His?

 

Taking over the path!

There is a sneaky acorn squash hiding below the zinnias.

Flowers, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers criss-crossing in a jumble!

          And there you have it!  Another summer is ending!  The last hurrah!  Flowers and veggies are pouring forth their last efforts before the race ends.  Winter is approaching, nights are getting more crisp, days are getting shorter.  With these last few weeks of summer have you noticed that your garden tends to just take a big breath and poof!  Vines take over, stems go criss-cross, and flowers go gangly!  There is more green than bright color at this stage.  It is like the garden takes one last go at making a big effort to finish well.

          Lately I’ve been thinking quite a bit about “finishing well”.  It’s a phrase we are starting to often hear especially since we have retired.  It must mean we are aging.  (Read my frown between the lines.) What does this phrase really mean?  Inside of us is a drive and desire to finish well in this life.  And I know it probably comes from Matthew 25:23, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your Lord.”  Yes, we want to do well for our Lord Jesus.  But I have been thinking about this in a different light and from a different perspective.  It seems that the focus is on me, the pressure to perform well, that I do well.  It almost seems prideful with a lack of humility.  In the last few years there have been quite a few big names of Christians who have fallen pretty hard and low.  If these have fallen who am I to think I can finish well?  What makes me any better than these sad people?  

          My soul is so needy that unless God reaches into my heart and strengthens me with His amazing powerful Spirit, I am sunk.  I cannot finish well.  So from here on out I am changing my thinking.  Philippians 1:6 says it great, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” So my soul is singing the praises of our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ!  For it is only His work in and through me that will finish well.  When I abide with Him and lift His name high, there is no pressure, there is no unsuccessful labor, there is only worship.  And when I am worshiping Jesus I am not thinking of myself finishing well.  He is taking all of my thought.  He is my focus.  Praising Him will occupy me.  Like Jehoshaphat in II Chronicles 20, I will sing and praise the Lord and He will set ambushes against my enemy, for His lovingkindness endures forever!  It is His battle, not mine. I’m resting in Jesus’ complete work to finish me well.                             

                                                                                                                                              K.C.

Attention !!!

 

Attention !!!  Sunflowers, standing at attention, some 20 feet tall, give the impression that they are guarding their fellow flowers.  I can’t help but think this is our God calling us to stand and to guard His people throughout the world.  I realize this is just a simple garden analogy blog, but the darkness through the world is painfully palpable and growing.  God’s people are suffering dark, dark days.  It is hard to write about the peace of my garden when there is such terror and evil all around.  God is calling us to prayer for His people, prayer that they will have the Spirit’s filling and strength to stand, to speak the name of Jesus, to be protected from evil, to hear God’s voice, to walk through fire with miraculous protection, to trust God’s purposes and plans, to know they do not walk alone.  Prayer is how we stand together with those enduring persecution and disasters.  By lifting these to God’s throne with all of God’s Almighty power behind us, we stand at attention.  

                                                                                                                                            K.C.

Double Delight

 

Only God, the Creator, could make such a beautiful rose!  No way did this exquisite beauty “just happen”.  The Lord God spoke it into existence!  This is a very precious rose to me.  I dug it up from my mom’s flowerbed as it was her favorite rose.  I believe it is called Double Delight, probably because not only is it so very lovely, but it smells wonderful. Now Double Delight is my favorite rose also.  Each time I bend down to smell it and admire it, I think of mom doing the same thing, and I think about how fleeting and quickly life goes by.  

Two years ago this week my mother went home to heaven.  It was a difficult time caring for her as she inched her way to heaven for 6 weeks.  For both mom and I, the “inching process” was excruciating even though we knew heaven was close.  God was walking with us each day I know.  But one of the unexpected helps was others checking on us each day.  As well as my family, one of her church elders came by each evening to just check on us.  Several others kept in touch each day just to tell us we were loved.  One of the results of those weeks was a bond knit between friends who cared enough to check on us.  

Our lives are “inching” forward quickly.  Before we know it heaven will be our home.  Are you building into other’s hearts as they are experiencing life’s trials?  It isn’t about sharing words of wisdom or answers.  Most people know the answers.  God has our days numbered, and we only live a few short years on earth.  Jesus Christ has prepared forgiveness and salvation at the cross.  When we accept His gift, He promises a relationship with Him, and as a bonus He promises heaven.  Yes, we know the answers.  We just want others to care and share a small bit of our burden.  Just be there.  

So when I look at this special rose a lot of memories flood my heart.  Difficult memories, but also loving memories of those who cared enough to enter our trial with my sister, Cindy, and I.  Thank You, Jesus, for walking with us through a most difficult time in our life.  Thank you Gary, Sara, Bethany, Lacey, Aisha, Carina, Cal, Randy, Gail, Kathy, Rick, Marge, Betty, Susie, Roberta, Amy, Deb, ........   May our names be on the list of someone who needs our love today.  It is a Double Delight - Jesus and friends.

                                                                                                                                        K.C.