And Know

Pascal, the French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher of days gone by, said, "Nearly all the ills of life spring from this simple source: that we are not able to sit still in a room."

God said, "Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)

When we read that verse, we tend to focus on the first phrase. Be still. And of course, that's an important part of the verse.

Be still. Or, as the NASB renders the verse, cease striving. The Amplified Bible puts it this way:  Let be and be still.

But let's not forget the rest of the verse. Just being still, as important as that is, is not enough. 

Be still, and know that I am God.

Don't forget the "and know" part of the verse.

Again, let's look to the Amplified Bible for clarification. Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God.

Be still. That's important. Cease striving. Stop worrying. Be aware.

And know. Not just give mental assent to. Recognize and understand in the very core of your being.  Know. Know that you know that you know. 

Recognize and understand who God is. 

Certainly He is a loving God. He is also a just God. A righteous God. A providing God. He is a Sovereign God. 

Be still and know that I am God. 

Whatever the circumstances of your life. Whatever decisions you are facing. Whatever emotional upheaval may encompass you today. Whatever. In every circumstance of life. In the big things and in the little things. And in all the in-between things. Know this. He is God.

There is nothing facing you or me today that He can't handle. Because He is God.

Think about that today. Ponder that. Live in light of that. Be still. And know.

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted among the earth!" (Psalm 46:10 ESV)

Practice Makes Perfect

You may have heard that phrase somewhere along the way.....practice makes perfect. Maybe from a piano teacher or a coach. Maybe from your parents. I'm quite certain that in my years as a piano teacher, I said it myself. Always with a smile on my face, I'm sure, as I uttered that mantra....practice makes perfect.....at the same time as I gave instruction to do it again.

Over the years I have come to believe that phrase is not entirely accurate. Practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect. After all, if you continually practice something, whether a piano scale or a multiplication table or an athletic technique, incorrectly, the end result is that you have learned the wrong thing!

What is the point of practice anyway? Of those endless repetitions? Practice serves more than just filling time. Some might say that practice is done in order to get it right, whatever the "it" might be, whether in music or in math or in athletics or in any other endeavor. And I suppose that is true. But I think practice is more than that. The point is not that we always get it right.  It's so that we never get it wrong.

Let's apply that point to multiplication tables as an example. If you drill repeatedly (practice) on your 9 times table, for example, you will learn that 9x7=63. Once you have practiced that enough, you will always know that 9x7=63. Further, you will never think that 9x7=72, or any other number. Always and only 63. You won't have to stop and try to figure it out. Or count it out on your fingers. Or question whether or not it is true. If you have practiced enough, if you have learned this fact well, then you will always instinctively know it. You will always get it right. 

The same principle applies to musical scales or football plays or how to hold a baseball bat. Perfect practice makes perfect. But imperfect practice (practicing the wrong numbers or the wrong technique repeatedly) will lead to an incorrect result every time. However, when you correctly  practice repeatedly, you will always get the desired result because you are so well trained that you can't do it any other way.

Apply that principle to the spiritual realm. The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to "charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith......by [this] some have made shipwreck of their faith. (1 Timothy 1:3-4, 19 ESV).

How do we hold to sound doctrine? How do we practice our doctrine in such a way as not to "make shipwreck of our faith"? Might I suggest that the place to begin is in the Word of God itself. In learning what God has to say rather than relying solely on what others say about Him. In reading the Word of God rather than relying on books about the Word of God.

In order to hold to sound doctrine, we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God. We must read it regularly and repeatedly. Not just once in a while. Not just once in a lifetime. But over and over. It must become so ingrained in us that we will know with certainty when something we hear is contrary to the Word. So that our senses are finely tuned to what God has to say. So that we know it well. So that we can't get it wrong!

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."  (2 Timothy 2:15 NASB)

With All My Heart

My earliest Valentine memories are of red construction paper hearts and white paper doilies and heart-shaped candies with messages like "Be Mine". Back in elementary school we made our valentine "mailboxes" out of construction paper, or by decorating brown paper bags with construction paper hearts.

As I grew older, Valentine's Day came to be less about construction paper and more about flowers and chocolates that came in heart-shaped boxes.

Fast-forward to 1971, when I met a special young man. A little more than a year later, on a warm summer evening, I married that young man! We drove away from the church that evening singing along with Karen Carpenter......"We've only just begun....".
For the nearly 48 years that we have been married, that has remained "our song".

But today, I have another song ringing in my heart.  On this day when all the world is thinking about hearts and flowers and chocolates and love, my thoughts have turned to what love is really all about. To that greatest expression of love. To the Savior who gave His life that I might have life eternal. Today, this is the song I'm singing......

With all my heart

I want to love you, Lord,

And live my life

Each day to know you more.

All that is in me

Is yours completely.

I'll serve you only

With all my heart.

(--Babbie Mason)

On this Valentine's Day, yes, I love my husband.......my sweetheart for all these years......and I'm so grateful for that party invitation all those years ago. He really is my Knight in Shining Armour, my very own Prince Charming!

But even more than that, I am so very grateful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved me, not because I am worthy of His love, but even though I am not. Who loved me enough to die for me!  That's the best Valentine ever!

"We love because He first loved us."  (1 John 4:19 NASB)

My Furry Valentine

Over the years, my husband and I have celebrated a lot of Valentine's Days. And we have celebrated in a lot of different ways. There have been fancy dinners in elegant restaurants, and there have been quiet dinners at home. There have been fancy Valentine cards, and there have been homemade ones.  There have been roses and chocolates and jewelry. But my favorite of all the Valentine gift from my husband was this little fur person he gifted to me in 2004.



 



There may be one possible exception to her status as "favorite Valentine gift ever". That would be the chocolate dipped strawberries Al brought me from the Ghiaradelli store at Disney a few of years ago! It's a close competition! But since those strawberries didn't last, and Molly was with us for many years, she wins! On that Valentine's Day 2004, I never even imagined what a delight she would be. How much I would love her. I knew she was a beautiful puppy, but I had no idea how much fun she would be or what a bubbly personality she would have. She was by far the best little fur companion I could ever have asked for. 

 

Molly is no longer with us now. We had 15 wonderful years together. In her last years, she was not quite as energetic as she once was. She spent most of her time eating or sleeping. But she was still a delight to have around and I miss her!

 

 

A Vallentine Love Story

Once upon a time a shy young woman was visiting a girlfriend she had met the previous summer when they both worked on the staff of a church camp. This young woman and the girlfriend made plans to attend the church "college and career" valentine party. Also attending this party was a young man who had recently been discharged from the Air Force and had come back home.

I was that shy young woman, and the only thing I remember about that party was that young man. The young man is now my husband. I was told many months later that he went home that night and informed his dad he had met the woman he was going to marry. I confess it took me a little longer to come to that conclusion, but it didn't take many weeks for me to realize this young man was my soulmate, the love of my life.

And now, 49 years later (we met February 13, 1971), nothing has changed. Well, a few things have changed! We have grayer hair, and a few more pounds, and some wrinkles.....all those things that are part of the aging process. What has not changed is the absolute certainty that this man is one of the very best parts of my life! These days, when I think about Valentine's Day, I don't think about hearts and flowers and where we will go out to dinner, or even if we will. I think about that Valentine's Day in 1971, one of the most significant days in my life.

In an era when love is defined by Hallmark movies and ridiculous sitcoms where life's problems are easily resolved in less than 30 minutes, I am grateful to God that He knew exactly who would be best for me. I'm grateful beyond words that this one He placed in my life is so much more than I ever dreamed of!

Life hasn't always been easy. We have had to deal with some really hard stuff over the years. We've laughed together. We've cried together. We've prayed together. There has been some sickness and some health, some better and some worse. 

Yet through it all, life has been gloriously wonderful, and I wouldn't want to do this journey called life with anyone else. 

Every Careless Word

"Every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment." (Matthew 12:36)

Jesus spoke those words. 

Every careless word. Oh my. 

Every careless word. Not some careless words. Not just the words I meant to say. But every careless word. Including the ones that just slipped out of my mouth. And the words I mumbled under my breath. The words that caused me then to think,"Did I really just say that?".

Every careless word. Not just the kind, thoughtful, loving words. But every word. Including the ones uttered in frustration or in bad temper or in anger or disappointment. Including the ones spoken about the bad driver ahead or the neighbor's kids or about the politician or the television pundit.

As I have been thinking about these words of Jesus, I wonder how many careless words I have spoken already today. Or how many I spoke yesterday.

How many careless words have I spoken this week?

Or this month?

And I realize that I can't even begin to keep up! How sad that is.....

Every careless word. That's a lot of words. And it's a reminder that we really do need to think before we speak.




"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24 KJV)

Finish Well

It has happened again. It often does, really. There's a song running through my head on a continuous loop. I can't get it out of my head ever since we sang it in Church yesterday.

Maybe that's a good thing. It's a reminder of some things God has been teaching me lately.




Here's a portion of the song, written and recorded by Karen Peck and New River:

Finish well
Every day that we are given
Finish well
For the glory of His name
Finish strong
Until the Savior finally calls us home
Give it everything we have
Finish well.

I remembered, as I was thinking about that song, that I had written about this several years ago when I had just finished reading a book by Jean Fleming titled Pursue the Intentional Life. That book caught my eye on my bookshelf yesterday, so I'm thinking of pulling that book off the shelf to read again. 

About finishing well, Fleming has this to say: "I long to see Christ's life formed in me, to live my highest until the Lord calls me home. I want to become the person God had in mind when He created me. I yearn to touch the world for God's glory and advance His kingdom. [It is] my earnest desire to 'number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom'. (Psalm 90:12)"

Fleming's thoughts mirror my own, and it is in this area that much of my prayer time has been focused recently and that God has been speaking to my heart. I become more aware day by day that I am no longer a young woman. How shall I spend the remaining days allotted to me? Shall I just sit and wait for life to be over? Shall I just waste my days away? Shall I have pity party after pity party?  I think not.

As I'm pondering how to remain useful in this post-stroke season of my life, the Lord has brought several Scriptures to mind. I continue to ponder, and be encouraged by, these passages.

Perhaps they will encourage you as well, no matter what your season of life.

"It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  (Philippians 2:20-21 ESV)

"So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV)

How will I - or you - finish well? What will I be doing for the remainder of my days? I don't know.

Perhaps finishing well means continuing to encourage others through the words I write, here on this blog or on Facebook. Perhaps it means writing even more words, perhaps in book form. Perhaps it means continuing to be a student, and a teacher, of God's Word. Perhaps it means developing my skills as a photographer. Perhaps it means mentoring or developing and deepening interpersonal relationships. Perhaps it means baking cookies or cakes. Or visiting with those further along in life's journey than I.


But finishing well is not just about finishing out the remaining days allotted to me. It's about finishing each day well. Numbering each day so as to "gain a heart of wisdom." Living each day for His glory.

Whatever finishing well may look like in my life, my prayer is that, when doors of opportunity are open to me, I will be obedient to walk through. That I will be found faithful. That I will "discipline myself for the purpose of godliness." (1 Timothy 4:7).  That I will finish well.

And that's my prayer for you, too.

"O God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declare Your wondrous deeds.  and even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come."  (Psalm 71:17-18 NASB)

You can listen to Finish Well by Karen Peck and New River here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ahOPJyKyG8