It’s that time again, where school supply lists reign supreme. But as you fill your child’s backpack with the essentials for a successful year, be sure to include kindness!

 

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another…”

 

Aristotle said; “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” I wholeheartedly agree. While education is an important goal, teaching and training our hearts to be like God’s builds a platform from which education can find its highest use. And God’s heart is intentionally and actively kind.

 

Every single day children and we adults with them are gifted with multiple opportunities to be kind or unkind. Choose kindness.

 

Kindness opens the door to new relationships. People are drawn to kindness and the truly kind are rarely lonely.

 

Kindness conveys value to those shown it. Kindness demonstrates the worth placed on an individual.

 

Kindness brings encouragement to those who are discouraged. Even a small act of kindness is a powerful agent of hope!

 

Kindness is always “other focused”. Kindness momentarily relieves us of ourselves and who doesn’t need more of that?

 

Kindness is always demonstrated. One cannot be passively kind; it always takes action.

 

Kindness is a skill. We get better at kindness when we intentionally do it; practice makes perfect.

 

Kindness when done sits on the surface of another’s life and eventually melts the hardest of hearts.

 

Kindness is contagious. Just try it and see!

 

Kindness is an attribute that we share with God…

 

God is love.  (I John 4:16)

 

Love is kind.  (I Corinthians 13:4)

 

We are God’s.  (Romans 8:16)

 

The world is watching, God is watching…Let us be kind.  (Ephesians 4:32)

 

 

 

 

 

Dying Moments-Where Is God When We Are Hurting?

John 11 tells us the story of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. We learn that Lazarus was very sick, in fact he was dying, so his sisters send Jesus a message to come, but instead of rushing to His friends’ side, the Scripture tells us that Jesus stayed where He was for Two. More. Days! They even boldly reminded Him of the closeness of their relationship. “The one you love is sick.” I wonder if at first they were expecting that Jesus would be coming through their front door at any moment to save the day. I imagine that their initial confidence was eventually replaced with a sense of deep foreboding that He might not arrive in time…or perhaps He wasn’t coming at all.

 

Remember as far as we are told, there was no message or response from Jesus…they are just left to wait and wonder in silence. In the midst of their “dying moments”, many questions must have assaulted their anxious hearts and Jesus may well have seemed far away. It’s funny how we have every confidence in our relationship with Jesus, but when deep troubles hit our life we begin to question where He is! Perhaps you can relate to their experience.

Many of us will have difficult, even “dying moments” in our lives, where we cry out to God for His help but He seems silent, and we may wonder where He is when we are hurting. Most people will experience those moments when our emotions may tell us that we are alone in our pain, but the truth is our emotions can deceive us, because God PROMISED that He will never leave us, period.(Hebrews 13:5) However, the first words out of Martha and Mary’s mouth are “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Most likely considering the closeness of their relationship, these women had seen Jesus heal many people, first hand, BUT He didn’t come and He didn’t heal Lazarus when they sent for Him.

At times, we'll have painful seasons of our lives where we may feel like God is far away or has somehow let us down or failed us, even though we won’t admit that to others, sometimes not even to ourselves and usually not to God (although He already knows our hearts fully : ), but it may be there, like a nagging unanswered question…one that we “stuff” down whenever it comes to our minds…but those places, those lingering questions are the exactly where Christ desires to come and comfort us…AND  to bring new life where death has occurred.

Jesus shares with Martha that He is the Resurrection and the Life, but we may wonder if Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, then why things have to die in the first place. I think that Jesus, speaking of His imminent death, gives us a clue in John 12:24, saying, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone. BUT, if it dies, it will produce many seeds”. It is like the areas of our lives are like single grains of wheat that God entrusts us with.

We can choose to HIDE our seed, being too afraid to sow it in the ground, so it eventually rots, or we can CONSUME the seed, choosing to make our life comfortable and here the seed perishes and along with it, all its potential harvests die, untapped, OR we can choose to willingly lay down that seed, planting in the soil, all the while knowing that it will die, but choosing to place our confidence more in Jesus who is the Resurrection and the Life, to not only give it new life, but to multiply its number and its power! Remember little is MUCH when it is placed in the Master Gardener’s hands, and although sometimes, God may want us to allow certain relationships or dreams (or a host of other things) to die, it is so He can raise them up to a new and better life.

 God desires us to trust in His unconditional love and perfect plan for our lives, especially when everything in our circumstances and hearts are screaming against it. Jesus is the resurrection and He alone is the ultimate giver of life, He alone has the power to bring life where death currently reigns (having created ALL things, see John 1:3), so we can be brave and sow our hopes, our dreams, our relationships in the ground, where they may die, but we can be MORE CONFIDENT in Christ, knowing that through Jesus, we can sow in hope…hope of resurrection…hope of new life and hope of an abundant HARVEST! Death is swallowed up in victory through quality and increase!

So, where is God in those painful times, when it feels like a treasured part of you is dying??? He is as close as your very next breathe. See Psalm 34:18. His love for you is unconditional, His plan, perfect and His ways, are sometimes beyond our complete understanding, so if you have areas or times in your life that you just don’t understand why He didn’t come in on His “white horse and rescue you”, then consider joining with me, as we set aside our questions and hear the voice of Jesus saying “Blessed are they who do not see and yet believe”

For me, I have decided to make the choice that even if it may have looked like it on the outside, even if others around me said so, even if I struggled with it on the inside, God has never failed me or loosened His firm grasp on my life or yours! I know that someday I WILL understand fully God’s plan for me, but until that day, I will keep believing, keep trusting in His unconditional love and the perfection of His plan. I will in time, along with you, recognize that He was right all along and His plan for us was GOOD! Although circumstances may at times, cloud our view of the Lord, He is, never-the-less there, present with us always…so don’t judge the book before it is completely written…the Father has more in store for us, that our hearts have not even begun to dream of…just keep watching, keep waiting, keep trusting, keep believing!

LOST-AND-FOUND

The dictionary defines lost-and-found as “a place where lost items are kept to await reclaiming by their owners.” What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a lost-and-found? For me, it is a place of mostly worthless items that no one cared enough about to go searching for. It is a land of misfits; a single glove, a tattered book or a lone earring. Not much value there right? UNLESS you are searching for that glove because it was a gift by someone dear to you or the tattered book was a Bible handed down through your family’s generations or that earring was one of a set given to you on your wedding day…then these are no longer misfits without meaning. They have suddenly become priceless treasures and the lost-and-found has been transformed from a refuse laden waiting room into a place of infinite worth.

The worth of something is often demonstrated by the efforts of a person to locate, possess or protect it.

If someone were willing to fly around the world to locate a missing portrait wouldn’t that make it valuable?

If someone were willing to sell everything they had to possess a particular document, wouldn’t that make it a treasure?

If someone were willing to donate their kidney to protect another’s life, wouldn’t that mean they were cherished?

I think we’d all agree that this portrait, document and person had incredible value at least to those who were willing to sacrifice whatever was needed to locate, possess or protect them. To others these may be insignificant since up to that point no one cared enough about them to search or sacrifice…but now their worth is unquestionable.

Well I believe this earth…this country…this corner of our world is like a huge lost-and-found; filled with people who might be considered insignificant “misfits”; since thus far, no one cared enough to search for them and bring them home.

But what if someone were to travel from beyond one end of the universe to the other to locate something far removed, would that make it valuable?

What if someone was willing to set aside untold riches and glory to once again hold close something that was cherished, would that make it a treasure? 

What if someone were willing to give up their life to save another life, would that make that life precious?

In all of these cases I believe our hearts would cry a resounding yes. Well, Someone did. Jesus stepped down from heaven to find that which was “lost”. He set aside the glories and riches of heaven to hold close those who had wandered far away. He sacrificed His own life to redeem those that He loves. And by virtue of that great love and that unimaginable sacrifice each human being has been catapulted from the mundane and ordinary into the precious and cherished.  And because of that great worth this earth we live on is transformed from an ordinary holding bin that houses the soon-to-be discarded into a treasure trove of priceless jewels that were purchased at an inestimable cost. Our worth is immeasurable for who can put a value on the very life of God Himself?!

No, this earth is no longer a land of misfits for Someone has deemed us worthy of being pursued! This world has become just what the dictionary describes as “a place where lost items are kept to await reclaiming by their owners.” Think about it precious ones! For all eternity our value will safely rest in that we have been called the Sought; worthy of love, worthy of sacrifice! We ARE the lost and the found! We are those who had wandered far from the Father who loves us…and He sought us and He bought us at an incredible price and WE. ARE. HIS!

So what are we to do with that knowledge? At least two things:

One, we should love Him all the more. That He could take a little girl who was ordinary and broken and that He could bestow on her great value, makes my heart swell with love for Him. That He could see everything about me and somehow despite it all could love me, simply defies my understanding but it increases my love and appreciation! Unconditional love and selfless sacrifice when seen for what they really are cannot help but be reciprocated; for to truly know His love causes us to love Him back. To taste, to experience His great eternal love changes who we are and automatically increases our ability to love Him back, for we cannot give what we’ve never known or possessed; but instead it should be like an everlasting circle of love!

Two, we should recognize our own value and the incredible value of others.  But instead often when we look in the mirror and when see others we see extra-ordinary and we walk right on by. How many people do we misjudge as extra-ordinary when God has deemed them as extraordinary works of art?

 Oh that we would see that His sacrificial love makes each of us valuable! I can’t begin to understand what He could see in me that would give me great value and yet somehow I am a masterpiece because I am a piece of the Master. And YOU are His masterpiece because you too are a piece of the Master. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are…” I John 3:1
Created in His image.
Given life to be eternally loved.
Redeemed at a great price.
The once lost have now become the found…rescued by a love so great, it will take all eternity to explore and express it! Glory to God!

Papa God,
We give thanks for an eternal, unconditional love that we cannot fully grasp and for a divine sacrifice that transforms us from mere insignificance to infinite worth. We will gladly spend our lives exploring and expressing your great love. Give us not only eyes to see those in our world as precious…but also give us hearts that are willing to seek out those that have wandered far from the Father who loves them and point the way back to Him. In Jesus Name~Amen

THE OLD IS ENDING - THE NEW HAS COME!

2013 has come and gone, and 2014 has freshly emerged on the ever-changing scenery of our lives. I don’t know about you, but the new year always seems to bring with it a heart of reflection and contemplation in my life.

A brand spanking new year comes with a bit of ambivalence for me. On one hand 2013 is over and all the opportunities I missed to walk in obedience, to love others or just plain do better have come and gone. I cannot go back and fix the wrong things I said and did or the right things I neglected to say or do in 2013…that ship has sailed.

I think most of us have regrets for 2013 - I know I do. Places where I chose my way and not His, times that I cared too much about what didn’t matter and cared too little about the things that did. I’ve certainly had my share of failures and disappointments; perhaps you did too. But since that chapter of our lives has been penned already, what do we do with the regrets that seem to lurk in the background of everything we do?

The apostle Paul knew something about regret as well. He had been the direct cause of the imprisonment and death of countless followers of Christ. His life was infamous, but not in a good way. It would’ve been easy for him to have lived his days in the shadow of his failures. Instead he made a surprising choice, and in doing so, he also gave us a beautiful example to follow in Philippians 3:13-14: “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is saying in the original Greek that he forgets and neglects those things that are behind him and he e-x-t-e-n-d-s and s—t—r—e—t—c—h—e—s forward to those things that lie ahead. A critical choice lay before him; to spend his time focusing on his failures or to receive the clean slate that only Christ could offer. Philippians 3 clearly declares his decision. We too are faced with Paul’s critical choice…we can either focus on our past mistakes OR we can press on to all that lies just around the bend

Although we’ve missed the mark in 2013, we’ll be given NEW opportunities to walk in obedience, to love others and just plain do better! God in His infinite wisdom (and mercy) gives us a fresh chance and not just on January first! We can resolve to begin again during any season we happen to find ourselves in. In fact, His Word promises in Lamentations 3:22-23: “The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning…”.  So we can be assured that His compassions (and along with it our clean slate) are new and available with the dawn of each new day. A fresh beginning is ours for the asking because of His great sacrifice! And all we need to do is to come before Him with repentant hearts and our failures are forgiven. Oh the joy of a new beginning that can only be found in Him! And praise God, it is always available no matter what the calendar declares!

Today may we choose to relinquish the failures and disappointments and celebrate the blessings that have been 2013, but then resolve to keep pressing forward; keep stretching toward all that our Father’s hand holds for us in 2014! And may we have an undaunted confidence that no matter what lies around the bend for us we will not face it alone; as He was faithfully with us in 2013, He will be right beside us for each and every moment of this budding year. In fact, every year, every day, every moment spent on this earth, His sweet presence is here with us and that should fill our hearts with an untouchable peace.

Along with contemplation, January also brings out a desire in me to p-e-e-k into the coming year. What lies ahead for us, I do not know. I’m sure that there will be some valleys and disappointments, some new trials that will test our resolve and circumstances that will s-t-r-e-t-c-h us…but there will also be times of rejoicing and seasons of growth and fruitfulness. One thing we can be sure of though - we will not leave 2014 unchanged! Just as 2013 has altered who we are, 2014 will shape and mold us as well. But we can be satisfied that every moment gets filtered through His hands of love. And may we remind our hearts that our Father knows what is lacking and yet undone in us, and in His great love and faithfulness, He will send what is needed. May we have hearts to see His tell-tale signs and embrace each divine gift: those that are brightly wrapped, as well as those that come to us packaged in the darker hues…knowing full well that each one comes from a loving heart that is working out all things for our eventual good.

Today, precious ones, may our hearts fully know that He approaches with the dawn of this unsullied year, a year that is brimming with hope and promise! His precious grace blankets the past like freshly fallen snow that covers the surface of everything in its path. The old is ending…the new is coming…may we rejoice in both!