January
And Be At Peace by Cynthia Saladin
February
Subjected to Futility by Cynthia Saladin
March
Our God by Cynthia Saladin
Be Kind, Even When There is No Sign (collected from Cybersalt.org)
April
Yes! There is Good News! by Bill Rollins
Ten Ways to Love (collected from Cybersalt.org)
My Kinsman-Redeemer by Cynthia Saladin
Sleep in a Storm (collected from Cybersalt.org)
May
To Make Us Holy by Cynthia Saladin
My Child (Collected from Cybersalt.org)
June
Thigmomorphogenesis by Patricia Manning
July
Feathers by Cynthia Saladin
August
Soccer for Suckers by Dan L. White
Honor God First by Cynthia Saladin
January
And Be At Peace
by Cynthia Saladin
The summer before I started kindergarten, my dad brought home a puppy from the dog pound. Being five, I was not overly imaginative when naming him; the black puppy with four white stockings and white bib became Blacky. He was an amazing dog! I could tell you stories! But when he was still a puppy, he was extremely destructive when left alone. One day he started running laps in the backyard. Every time he went past Mom’s cherry tree, he grabbed a branch. Pretty soon, branches were strewn all over the backyard. That poor cherry tree was never very pretty after that but was bent and misshapen. The day, however, that Blacky chewed up the seat on Dad’s motorcycle was nearly the final straw!
Blacky wasn’t the only destructive dog we ever had. Tinker, a poodle mix, decided she didn’t want to be left inside the garage one day. So she chewed an arch-shaped pattern into the bottom of the door going out of the garage. She easily chewed through the outside of the door, but was stopped by the solid core. Dad was mad. The next time we had to leave her, he left her in the backyard. When we came home, there was a matching arch on the exterior of the door where Tinker had tried to get inside.
For Blacky and Tinker, it seemed to be more than just puppies needing to chew. They just didn’t know what to do with themselves while we were gone. They were not at peace.
2 Peter 3:13-14 (ESV) says, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
We are waiting, sometimes more impatiently than other times, for the fulfillment of God’s promise. We long for Jesus to return and set up His kingdom where there is righteousness, and no more sorrow, or tears, or pain, or death! We believe with all of our heart that it is coming.
So we wait, and we tend to focus on the first part of the admonition. We are diligent to study His word that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). We strive to walk worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1). As we examine ourselves, knowing that we are unable to save ourselves (Romans 5:6), we rely on God’s promise that He will purify the Bride of Christ (Titus 2:14; Ephesians 5:25–27). We think about the effort that is involved in choosing to walk in a way that pleases God. We persevere and overcome - enabled by that power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
But do we give the last part of this admonition the same weight? Are we at peace?
Every once in a while, I have to be out of the house, running errands, keeping appointments, or spending time with my granddaughter. It is not unusual, when I ask how the dogs were while I was gone, for Ron to tell me that Pepper went upstairs, curled up in his bed, and went to sleep. I’m not home doing stuff, so Pepper just waits until I am. And he’s at peace - at least until he hears my car coming down the road.
What a fantastic object lesson for me to take to heart! God has given me a job to do until Jesus returns. I’m to live a life that points others to my Messiah, and a huge piece of doing that is the way I live my life - being at peace. A person who is calm and at peace witnesses to the hope set before her - without even using words. It’s so incredibly powerful because other people want that peace. But it’s not putting my head in the sand and ignoring the violence and vileness of our society. It’s not dismissing the greed, grief, and godlessness as just a part of the end time scenario. It’s seeing the world around me that is in such desperate need of the Savior and recognizing that God has given me an opportunity to be a light in an ever-darkening world. That light shines brightest when I exude His peace - because I trust Him and I know He’s coming back. Jesus will set all things right. I might not know why so many people are suffering, why there’s so much evil and pain, and how God can use it to His glory. But I don’t need to know. I just need to keep my focus on Him . . . and to be at peace.
What a gracious God I serve! I deeply appreciate the gentle object lessons He sets around me - teaching me, helping me to grow and to become an ever-more useful vessel for His service. And that’s the point, isn’t it! God is sovereign. He has a plan. The tapestry He’s weaving is altogether beautiful. My job is not to tell Him how to weave, but to be part of the final product. From my perspective as a thread, I cannot see the whole picture. I just need to do what He has set before me and to be at peace. After all, God’s got it all sorted.
February
Subjected to Futility
by Cynthia Saladin
I was sitting in front of the fire, thinking about the upcoming week and all that has to be done. As cold as it’s been and with all of the snow, we’re going to have to get some more wood in. Sigh. Groceries. Making meals. Washing dishes. Paying bills. Laundry. The to-do list is long. Then I happened to look up. Oh, there are cobwebs on my ceiling. I need to do some cleaning too.
How many things are there to do which just have to be done again periodically!?! I remember as a kid laughing at a line in a kids’ song: “Why should I wash my hands when they just get dirty again?” Sweeping the floor. Knocking down cobwebs. Pulling weeds. Mowing the lawn. Cooking meals. Trimming brush out of the fence line. So many things that are never truly done; they’re just done for right now. And when you’re surrounded by the never-ending list of things that have to be done, it can seem more than overwhelming. It can start to seem rather pointless.
“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:20-21
It certainly does seem like we have been subjected to futility - and some days more than others we feel that bondage to corruption!
But maybe, God in His mercy, subjected us to futility in these areas (washing our hands, sweeping the floor, pulling the weeds, etc.) so that we’d have an undeniable object lesson constantly before us. We, as human beings, have this inexorable proclivity to sin. Our first inclination tends towards the carnal. It takes work to bring every thought into subjection to Jesus Christ. It takes conscious diligent effort to choose God’s ways. It’s not one and done. It’s persevering through every instance and every new experience. Not being perfect, that perseverance is not 100%. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we feel like being subjected to futility also applies to becoming perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We may not feel like we’ve any chance of coming anywhere close. It feels hopeless and pointless.
Ah. But here’s the message of the object lesson: are you going to let the weeds take over your garden and allow it to produce no fruit? Are you going to allow the grass to grow in your yard until the bugs move in and devour your house? Are you going to let the cobwebs and dust and dirt take over until you are thoroughly ill? No! And you don’t allow sin to take over your life either! When you see the weeds, you pull them. When you see the grass is long, you cut it. When you see the dirt, you clean. And clean. And clean. And when you sin, you get back down on your knees and you ask God for forgiveness. Again and again. As many times as you need to. He is faithful to forgive. And more than that, He is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Eventually, the desire for God’s righteousness (because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) causes a change in our behavior. Our eyes and our hearts are focused on God. Our conduct follows.
I know I’m going to have to go get the broom and clean the cobwebs. I am likely to find more than I noticed at first glance. And while I’m at it, it’d be a good time to think about some of my recent choices. Did I go with my first inclination? Should I have considered what Jesus would have done? Have I some sin I should be repenting of? Now would be a good time to take care of that too. It’s not, after all, an exercise in futility, but being subjected to futility in hope that I seek Jesus Christ and be set free to obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Happy cobweb hunting.
🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️
People often ask me why I prefer
to teach math instead of English.
I tell them it's because
fractions speak louder than verbs.
🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️
Christian Grace
The other day I was hangin' out with a friend.
This friend is a Christian but doesn't always act like one. Some days she's in line with God's Word, and some days life's struggles get the best of her.
As our eyes met I really wanted to say something about it but decided to let The Lord speak to her heart knowing nothing I could say would have the same impact as her Father's Words.
So I prayed with her.
And after some time passed, I winked at her.... and walked away from the mirror.
March
Our God
by Cynthia Saladin
Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Deuteronomy 8:4
As you think back over the incredible miracles and ways that God provided for the Israelites, do you think about this verse? Do you think about clothes not wearing out on you or your foot not swelling in forty years of wandering in the wilderness?
It reminds me of a couple of things: first, God didn’t overlook little details. He provided for what they needed. But think about it. If you’d been traveling with the Israelites and your clothing wore out, it would have been a big deal, not a little detail! There’s no local Wal-mart. You have to plant the flax, turn it into linen (with all that entails) and then make your clothes. Or you have to plant cotton and harvest it. Or you have to shear your sheep, wash and card the wool, spin it, weave it, make it into cloth, and then make your clothes. Clothes wearing out was a big deal. Now imagine clothing not wearing out for forty years! Do you realize what a miracle that would have been?! Similarly, not having trouble with your feet swelling when you’re traveling?
There’s another aspect to this provision from God: you don’t see your clothing wearing out. You don’t see the initial swelling of your feet. All of a sudden, a seam gives out and you realize the whole piece of material is rotten. Or you wake up one morning and think, my feet hurt. The absence of the problem sometimes causes you to overlook the fact that it’s not normal! God has done a miracle and you didn’t even notice!
Another thing to notice from this verse is God’s almighty hand. God could completely eliminate all trouble and pain from our lives. But He doesn’t. The verse right before this one talks about God letting the people hunger and then providing manna for them to eat so they might know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This section goes on to talk about how God humbled the Israelites and tested them that He
would know what was in their hearts. Then Moses continues by telling the people that God is disciplining them.
So, even though God could make our path straight, level, and smooth, sometimes He chooses not to. Why? Because He knows what we need in order to form us into the image of His Son. He knows how to mold us to guide us so that we will follow His leading. He does what is best for us in the long-term because He loves us. Sometimes that means keeping our clothing from wearing out. Sometimes it means leading us in the wilderness.
Next time you’re on your knees, you might thank God for the many things He has provided for you, and then thank Him for the provisions that you just took for granted - that you didn’t even notice, and then thank Him for loving you so much, for continuing the sanctification process in you, even when you’re not feeling grateful for the discipline.
And maybe the next time you pull out an old, favorite shirt, thank God that it hasn’t worn out yet.
🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲
Be Kind, Even When There's No Sign
collected from Cybersalt.org
This morning, on my way to work, I found myself behind a car with a handwritten sign taped to the back window: “Learning stick. Sorry for any delay.”
Reading that, I instantly softened. I stayed patient through the slow shifts and jerky starts — and honestly, they were doing pretty well for someone still learning. But then a thought hit me: Would I have been just as patient if I hadn’t seen that sign? Probably not.
And that realization stayed with me. Because the truth is, most people don’t have signs explaining what they’re going through. You don’t see:
“Going through a divorce.”
“Lost a child.”
“Feeling depressed.”
“Just diagnosed with cancer.”
If people wore their struggles where we could see them, we’d move through the world with so much more gentleness. But the truth is — we shouldn’t need a sign to show kindness. Everyone you meet is likely carrying something invisible, something heavy. So today, and every day, let’s choose patience. Let’s choose grace. Let’s choose love — even when there’s no sign telling us to.
🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲
April
Yes, There is Good News! by Bill Rollins
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Considering the gravity of the concept of our entering the kingdom of heaven, it must be imperative for us to look at this idea of ‘the will of God’!
I have heard people say, “Oh, if I only could know the will of God for me, how much easier my life would be”. Maybe yes and maybe no on that sentiment; but we can know God’s will. God is never going to ask us to do something without giving us a path and the knowledge of that path in order to accomplish His instruction.
Let me put it this way, the path to knowing God’s will is simple but it is not easy. Is that ‘good news’ or not such ‘good news’? ‘Simple’ is good but in our society and in this age, we do not look to doing hard things. I have said it before and I will say it again, those things that are hard or tough are of much greater worth than those tasks that are easy!
So let’s start with Paul to lead us off in our search for the will of God. In his letter to the Romans, he gives us a very strong statement to ponder; starting in chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your rational act of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The first word we must notice here is “appeal.” In other translations we see the word ‘beseech’ and ‘urge’, this is a strong admonition by Paul; it is not just a suggestion for he really does urge us to do something! Next, we see that he urges us “by the mercies of God;” God’s mercies toward us are founded upon the crucifixion and death of the Son of God. Jesus shed His blood for our sins and by that blood we find God tremendously merciful. And next we read that we should “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” Wow!
God wants all of who we are – and this is that “living sacrifice” which becomes our “act of worship.” And how do we become this living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God? We do this by not conforming to the ways of the world; by being “transformed by the renewal of our minds.” It is then that we may discern what the will of God is; His “good, acceptable and perfect will.”
I told you these were strong words from Paul. The Apostle Paul may truly be the most zealous person for the ways and truth of God in the New Testament, and he wants to lead us to the maturity, completeness and perfection of the calling God has for us. That is not all we see in the New Testament regarding God’s will. God willing, we will look into this subject further, next time. Remember Matt. 7:21, “Only those who do the will of God shall enter the Kingdom of God”!
Ten Ways to Love (collected from cybersalt.org)
Listen without interrupting (Proverbs 18)
Speak without accusing. (James 1:19)
Give without sparing. (Proverbs 21:26)
Pray without ceasing. (Colossians 1:9)
Answer without arguing. (Proverbs 17:1)
Share without pretending. (Ephesians 4:15)
Enjoy without complaint. (Philippians 2:14)
Trust without wavering. (1 Corinthians 13:7)
Forgive without punishing. (Colossians 3:13)
Promise without forgetting. (Proverbs 13:12)
My Kinsman-Redeemer by Cynthia Saladin
Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel. Ruth 4:14
The first time I saw Jason Gray’s video of “Remind Me Who I Am,” I was so struck by the reality of the words. We are, each of us, sinful, carnal human beings who manage to embroil ourselves in ungodly situations. Some of the signs in the video are unloved, rejected, angry, betrayed, used, refugee, addict. All of them tug at the heart as realization of the universality of the hopelessness of existence without Christ sets in.
That’s where Naomi found herself. Her husband has died. She’s too old to get a new husband. Her two sons have died. She has no one to perpetuate the family name.
Because of the relationship between Naomi and Ruth, Ruth is determined to follow Naomi back to Bethlehem. But it’s not an easy life. Ruth is found with the poor of the land, gleaning the fields for food after the harvesters have taken the shocks of grain. It’s dangerous (as inferred in Ruth 2:8-9). It’s very hard work. Both Naomi and Ruth are struggling just to have enough food to eat.
Enter the kinsman-redeemer. Who was the kinsman-redeemer? Boaz? To whom was he a kinsman-redeemer? He was the close kinsman of Naomi’s dead husband, Elimelech. But what was a kinsman-redeemer?
A kinsman-redeemer was God’s merciful way of rescuing a person from dire conditions. If a person found themselves in debt, they could sell themselves. A kinsman-redeemer could redeem them, pay their debt. If a person sold a piece of property, their inheritance from the Lord, the kinsman-redeemer could buy the parcel back to keep it in the family. (Leviticus 25) The redemption needed by both Naomi and Ruth was the perpetuation of the line of Elimelech. By marrying Ruth, Boaz purposed to fulfill that need (Ruth 4:5), to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
A kinsman-redeemer had to be a close relative, but, as we see in Ruth 4:6, that didn’t always ensure he would provide the needed redemption. There also had to be the desire to redeem. Otherwise, the opportunity would fall to the next closest relative. Boaz, in the story of Ruth, was not the closest relative, but he was the one who cared about Ruth enough to redeem Naomi’s land and to marry Ruth.
So, this beautiful story of Ruth reaches down to King David and on to our Messiah, Jesus Christ - the ultimate kinsman-redeemer.
But wait? Are we related to Him? Is He our kinsman? Jesus said that those who do the will of His Father in heaven are His brothers and sisters (Mark 3:35). Furthermore, Romans tells us that we are part of the family of God, that our spirit testifies with His Spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 3:2). Jesus is our Elder Brother. He’s our kinsman.
Furthermore, there’s no doubt that he’s our Redeemer. (Job 19:25; Psalm 19:14; Isaiah 44:6, 48:17, 59:20; 1 Corinthians 1:30)
In essence, the story of Ruth foreshadows Jesus Christ becoming our Kinsman-Redeemer. We have been sold as slaves to sin (Romans 7:14), and while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), God sent His Son, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, to become the propitiation for our sin (I John 2:2), reconciling us to the Father (Romans 5:10-11, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20). This is huge! Remember the two qualities of the kinsman-redeemer? First, He had to have the means. Jesus Christ is the only One who could pay the sin debt for all mankind. No one else is worthy. Because He is the builder of the house, Jesus is worth more than all of the house (Hebrews 3:3). He is the only possible proper payment! (1 John 4:10; Romans 3:25) So Jesus had the means to redeem us.
Secondly, He had to care, to have the desire to redeem us. Stop to think about this! These human beings, these created beings who owe everything they have and their very lives to God, are nevertheless in rebellion against God (Romans 8:7). Yet, while we were yet sinners God sent His Son to die for us. That’s love of a magnitude that we cannot even comprehend.
I love the story of Ruth. The character of Ruth and Boaz is so admirable and praiseworthy. But their lives give glory to God beyond what we can see within these four chapters. As the writer of Hebrews said of Abel, we can also say of Ruth and Boaz: “And by faith [they] still speak, even though [they] are dead” (Hebrews 11:4). Both of their lives are woven into the tapestry of lives who testify to God’s plan, God’s greatness, God’s character. Not only are they honored to be the progenitors of Jesus Christ, they also get to foreshadow the gospel and His work on the cross to become our Kinsman-Redeemer. Wow! What a legacy!
Beloved of Christ, what do you think your legacy will look like?
Sleep in a Storm (Collected from cybersalt.org)
Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer.
"Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him.
"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.
Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.
Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”
Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We, as believers in Christ, secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the midst of the storms. I hope you sleep well!
May
To Make Us Holy
by Cynthia Saladin
Y’all are going to think I’m slow. As I was pulling weeds yesterday afternoon, I was thinking about two different families specifically. One is suffering the effects of a divorce after years of marriage and two nearly grown children. The other is grieving a loss of life. Suddenly, I thought of Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Marriage. His premise is “what if God gave us marriage, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.” Well, along the same lines: what if God gives us this life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy?
I know. Not exactly a unique thought, right? We know the scriptures:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)
“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34
In each of these verses is the realization that we are going to suffer and xhave trouble and be worried and anxious over the things we experience. We know this because we experience it all the time.
But there’s encouragement coming alongside each statement of trouble: God is with us. Take heart! Jesus has overcome the world. God cares for us. Don’t worry. And we know this too. We’ve read the verses about striving for the goal, being disciplined to reach the goal.
“ . . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, . . .” Hebrews 12:1
“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, . . .” Hebrews 12:6
And here’s the point: “ . . . but [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” Hebrews 12:10
Think for a minute about the Israelites coming out of Egypt. They were free! Praise God they were free! No more cruel bondage. No more murder of their sons. They were free. But freedom is not easy. And I really wonder if they considered just how much they were going to struggle and encounter difficulties. It seemed to take them by surprise. In the two years it took them to get to the Promised Land, they complained, murmured, grumbled against God ten times! Ten! They were stiff-necked and unbelieving and just plain difficult.
They didn’t believe that God was good all the time. They didn’t believe that He had their best interest at heart. They didn’t think they could trust Him with everything. Surely they didn’t think they were just going to get to lie under a palm tree and eat bonbons for the rest of their lives. Surely they realized they were going to have to work and struggle. They were going to have to fight. Yes, God was giving them the land, but they still had to fight the giants. God wasn’t in the business of making them happy; He was making them holy.
And they resisted. Big time. Because they didn’t trust Him.
The writer of Psalm 42 (some scholars think it was King David) experienced anxiety and discouragement because of his circumstances. In verse 5, he wrote, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?” It seems to be the default of the human condition: when things don’t go the way we want them to go, we get upset. We mourn. We cry. We are depressed. And sometimes, legitimately. The loss of a marriage is devastating. The loss of a life is heart-rending. We experience many hard things which cause us to be disturbed and even to despair.
But we can’t stay there. Mourning and grieving.
It is a normal, healthy reaction for a child to cry when she trips over a crack in the sidewalk and skins her knee. So Mom cleans the scrape, puts on a bandage, and hopes that her daughter won’t soon come back having skinned her other knee.
And I think God feels the same way about us. We’ve stubbed our toe. We’ve fallen off our bike. We’ve hit a brick wall. He’s still there to tell us that He loves us. He has overcome the world. He has a plan for our good. Trust Him. Pick yourself back up and praise Him for being the God who wants more for us than happiness right now. He wants us to be holy.
And here’s the remedy from the psalmist - the rest of Psalm 42:5, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” (NAS). We are going to feel despair and discouragement. But don't stay there. Get back to praising God.
Because maybe God gave us life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
If you ever think English is not a weird language just remember that read and lead rhyme and read and lead rhyme, but read and lead don't rhyme, and neither do read and lead.
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
My Child,
You may not know me, but I know everything about you - Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up - Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways - Psalm 139:3
Even the very hairs on your head are numbered - Matthew 10:29-31
For you were made in my image - Genesis 1:27
In me you live and move and have your being - Acts 17:28
For you are my offspring - Acts 17:28
I knew you even before you were conceived - Jeremiah 1:4-5
I chose you when I planned creation - Ephesians 1:11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book – Psalm 139:15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live – Acts 17:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalm 139:14
I knit you together in your mother's womb - Psalm 139:13
And brought you forth on the day you were born - Psalm 71:6
I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me - John 8:41-44
I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love - 1 John 4:16
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you - 1 John 3:1
Simply because you are my child and I am your father - 1 John 3:1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could - Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect father - Matthew 5:48
Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand - James 1:17
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs - Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope - Jeremiah 29:11
Because I love you with an everlasting love - Jeremiah 31:3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore – Psalm 139:17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing - Zephaniah 3:17
I will never stop doing good to you - Jeremiah 32:40
For you are my treasured possession - Exodus 19:5
I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul – Jeremiah 32:41
And I want to show you great and marvelous things - Jeremiah 33:3
If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me - Deuteronomy 4:29
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart - Psalm 37:4
For it is I who gave you those desires - Philippians 2:13
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine – Ephesians 3:20
For I am your greatest encourager - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you - Psalm 34:18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart – Isaiah 40:11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes - Revelation 21:3-4
And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth - Revelation 21:3-4
I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus - John 17:23
For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed - John 17:26
He is the exact representation of my being - Hebrews 1:3
He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you - Romans 8:31
And to tell you that I am not counting your sins - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you…1 John 4:10
I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love…Romans 8:31-32
If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me…1 John 2:23
And nothing will ever separate you from my love again…Romans 8:38-39
Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen…Luke 15:7
I have always been Father, and will always be Father…Ephesians 3:14-15
My question is…Will you be my child?…John 1:12-13
I am waiting for you…Luke 15:11-32
Love, Your Dad, Almighty God (Collected from cybersalt.org)
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
"Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name."
- J. I. Packer
June
Thigmomorphogenesis
by Patricia Manning
‘Tis the season of planting and growing. For us in the more northern climates, the last date for frost at night just passed and now seeds started indoors can be moved out into the garden. Before their translocation to a place where the plants will be expected to grow, bloom, and produce fruit, they must be “hardened off”. There is a scientific word for this process. It’s called thigmomorphogenesis.
Thigmomorphogenesis is the adaptation plants make when subjected to the adversity of wind, heat, and rain. They get tougher. During this 7 to 10 day period, their cell walls thicken, they develop a waxy leaf coating to prevent water loss, and they adjust to intense sunlight, temperature swings, and wind.
God has embedded a lesson for His people within His creation of plants, because thigmomorphogenesis is a process that every Christian is familiar with whether we realize it or not. Pressure (thigmo), we call trials. James tells us,
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
Notice that this verse says “when” not “if” we face trials. We will certainly experience tough situations. If we face those trials with joy and stand firm in our faith, we’ll change (morphogenesis) to become stronger. We’ll become steadfast, meaning nothing will be able to move us from our faith in God. Through James, God tells us that when that happens we will be perfect and complete. Like the plants, once we become strong enough in the face of adversity, God will put us where we are able to grow, blossom, and produce fruit.
Consider David. Before he became king in Israel, he killed Goliath and became the head of Saul’s fighting force against the Philistines. Unexpectedly and without cause, Saul turned against his best fighter and began seeking to kill him. Like an ancient Robinhood, David with his band of 400- 600 men hid in the forest and caves as Saul and his army sought to find and kill him.
Through it all David stood firm in his faith. When he had the chance to kill Saul in a cave, he didn’t take it because he didn’t want to raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed (1 Samuel 24:1-6) . When David received news that the Philistines were attacking the city named Keilah, he asked God if he should go fight against them. He sought God’s will in the matter, twice (1 Samuel 23:1-5). Another time, David and Abishai could have killed Saul with his own spear while he slept. Again David respected God’s anointed king (1 Samuel 26:1-12). Steadfastness in these trials caused a change in David. He became stronger. We as God’s people are asked to do the same.
Whatever trial God sends our way, he wants us to be joyful in response to it, is order to produce steadfastness– thigmomorphogenesis. When we are “hardened off” we can be planted in a place truly useful to our God, the master gardener.
July
Feathers
by Cynthia Saladin
I was outside early this week, weeding while it was only moderately hot. The dogs were watching my progress from the shade. Every once in a while, Molly would come check on me, climbing into my lap and washing my face. I appreciate their diligence because you never know what dangers might be lurking nearby.
This morning, it was a feather.
When Molly exploded with a barrage of warning barks and growls, I cautiously approached. My thought was that it could be a snake, especially the way Molly crept close and then rapidly retreated, all the while maintaining her alarm. Granted, there was a little breeze, so the feather was dancing just a bit. It was way too much movement for Molly.
She was so insistent about the danger that Pepper came to investigate. You could tell that Molly thought Pepper was either incredibly brave or unbelievably stupid to walk up and put his nose on that feather. Pepper, for his part, sniffed it thoroughly and barked a few warning barks, just for moral support, I guess.
I suspect that it was a breast feather from an owl. And neither of the dogs like owls. An evening hoot is almost always answered with a warning bark. I figured that Molly must have smelled the owl scent on the feather and she was not willing to give up on performing her guard duty to alert me to danger.
By the third time Pepper sauntered over to check out the feather because of Molly’s insistence (Yep. It’s still just a feather, Molly!), Pepper had had enough. He growled and barked at Molly to tell her that was enough. At least that’s what it looked like because she quit barking. But she didn’t give up on keeping an eye on that potentially dangerous feather.
I couldn’t help thinking what a good thing it is to have an older dog around who can help a young, enthusiastic, energetic dog learn what’s what. And at the same time, it’s Molly who has alerted me to seven turtles, four toads, six frogs, and a feather so far this year. I like to relocate the turtles because they go right under the electric fence and eat my strawberries! So, good dog, Molly!
You can extrapolate this out to how wonderful it is to have a church fellowship with people who want to spend time with each other. Seriously!! Hear me out! When a church member has studied a topic in depth, he (or she) has a wealth of information to share from the Bible. Others bring questions and eager enthusiasm when they find something new. The iron sharpening iron goes both ways! Viewpoints long held can be modified or completely changed. (Pepper was very willing to admit that he might have missed something dangerous. He was willing to investigate and even bark some.) At the same time, it is a good thing to talk with people who have spent a long time studying the Bible and have already thought through both sides of an issue. (It was just a feather; it wasn’t an active threat.) The point is the atmosphere of being willing to learn.
I thoroughly love our church fellowship. I love the passion each of you bring each Sabbath. You love God and you eagerly want to seek Him, learning more about, and growing closer to, Him! I love the conversations. I love the humility and genuine concern which is exhibited. We are so incredibly blessed by God to have such a fantastic church family!
I didn’t expect to be praising God for each of you when Molly first started barking at that feather. But maybe a feather was God’s way of getting my attention.
August
Soccer for Suckers by Dan L. White
Homeschool Helpers Newsletter, Issue 558, 7.10.26
As we get older, we get sicker. And no matter how old we are, we want to be made well.
One old man over 80 years of age had prostate cancer that had spread to his bladder. Clinicians treated his bladder and the cancer disappeared for the moment. He was so happy over that, and I was a little surprised at his reaction. After all, he was 80 years old! But age does not quell the desire to live and be well.
Now here I am, at about that same age, with a different type of cancer, but cancer nevertheless. And like that man, my dad,
I have the same desire to be well. And statistically will likely wind up with the same result as him.
I knew a fine Christian lady who was 57 years old and had a serious cancer. I was young enough then to think that she was old, instead of middle aged. She told me that she had prayed and fasted, but she wasn’t healed. Why? Of course, I had no real answer. I was struck, though, with the common idea that fasting is only for emergencies, and not as a common practice. That lady soon passed.
I had a very close friend of some years acquaintance who in his mid-70’s came down with a serious cancer. As with most cancer victims, he did not expect that. He had long-lived parents on both sides, tried to live a healthy life, and yet was stricken. I remember talking to him about how seventy years is the years of a man.
Ps90:10 - The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.
He knew that verse already, and even though he had passed the seventy year mark, he had other things he wanted to do in this life. And in my life, there are a lot of dumb things I have done, and that was one of them. The passing of this life, this meager morsel of years that we have, is such a serious thing for our spirit that it inevitably is a great weight. I spoke as one who wasn’t weighed down at that time, to one who was weighed down. Stupid me.
Really inconsiderate!
He passed, following the normal cancer progression or regression, despite many prayers and creative cure attempts.
On the other hand, I knew another fellow in his seventies or so, who suddenly had health issues, and a big hospital told him to put his affairs in order because of his cancer. Before his passing, though, he wanted to attend one more Feast. At that Feast, after being anointed he was healed. That week he went from hardly being able to trudge down the beach to being able to run down the beach. He probably couldn’t have done that even before the cancer hit! Another exam at the big hospital showed the cancer was gone.
And in a well known instance, a home school mom after birth labor had a couple of blood clots ready to pass through her heart. She was not old, but young with other children and a husband to care for, so a nationwide fast was declared for her, not as a church command but as a spiritual urging, by whomever wanted to join in that, with no list involved. Yes, the clots passed with no harm, making the local news in a major metro city, and she returned home to her hubby and children, nursing her brand new baby.
But several years down the road, I can’t recall just how many, her husband, who believed she had lived by a miracle from God, passed from a cancer himself.
I suppose the biggest lesson from all this mental meandering is the brevity of life and the seriousness of its ending. This is your opportunity in eternity to appear before God with your life and what you choose to do with it. Most people choose not to do much of importance at all. Maybe go to church once a week, have a dinner with all the other overweight Christians, and watch a few ball games. The world cup soccer tournament is currently being held as I write this. Millions of people from around the world have converged on the US as the site of this event, and they fear and hope, and scream and cry – really cry! – over a round ball being kicked up and down a field.
All for nothing. There is nothing going on there that has any real value. It’s just a bouncing ball! On the other hand, the negative value is all the time and life energy that is consumed by so many over so little.
And such is the common life of almost everyone, every day.
Very few Christians think that God has called them to do something special with their lives. They automatically assume that if they go to church – any church, as long as it’s a church – and don’t get thrown in jail, then they are living a good life. Somehow that comfortable picture does not fit the New Testament scene.
One good thing about being old, and having some sign that your life has just about run its days, is that for the first time in your life, you can see more clearly why you are alive.
How about that for irony? When you’re about out of life, you can see more clearly why you’re alive.
And you know what? Then you have no real interest in soccer matches or such, unless it’s just to watch the grandkids. But then you really don’t care if they win or lose, because you have lived long enough to know that doesn’t really matter.
A couple verses after the one cited above about seventy years being the days of our years, is this one.
Ps 90 12 - So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
That means that long before we know we are going to pass, we should remember that we are going to pass. That is what numbering our days is. Old people with cancer or whatever can number their days pretty closely. I read once that the average life span of someone who is diagnosed with MDS is about 18 months from diagnosis. Some more, some less, but none very long. That leads such a one to pray, ‘help me make the most of my time and not waste it.’
What if a young person could have such an attitude, while still young?
Now that would be a heart of wisdom. Kind of like getting a free kick.
⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️
My dog kept chasing people on a bike,
so I took his bike away …
then he just sat there in the yard and barked all day.
So I gave him his bike back . . .
because his bark was worse than his bike.
⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️
Honor God First by Cynthia Saladin
Honor the LORD with your wealth . . .Proverbs 3:9
All good gifts come from God (James 1:17). Can you think of some wonderful gifts God has given to you? Life, health, a great family, plenty to eat, a pet, an answered prayer - many different things could fall into that category of being a wonderful gift from God!!
So what is your response to having been given a gift? First, you should always say, “Thank you!” We do that in our prayers at each meal - thanking God for the food. But are we diligent to say “thank you” when God gives us good things? I sure hope so!
But we should go one step further than simply saying “thank you.” We need to demonstrate that we are grateful to God by honoring Him first with whatever it is that we have.
A banana is a gift - you can tell because it’s gift-wrapped. 😀 When you open a banana, you get to decide what to do with it. Most people eat it one bite at a time. Even if you cut it in half and put it in a banana split, you still end up eating it one bite at a time. What if we used this banana to talk about how we should honor God first with the gifts that He’s given us?
Here’s the easiest analogy. I really want to give my husband a bite of the banana, but each person in the room wants a bite. And I find that the banana is all gone before I get to my husband. There’s nothing left for him.
Or what if each bite represented the time I have in each day? I only have 24 hours. Let’s pretend that I get to sleep 7 hours. I might spend 5 hours cooking, eating a meal, and cleaning up the kitchen. (Wow, that’s half of my day already!! No wonder it’s hard to get everything done.) Maybe I spend an hour doing paperwork and taking care of emails, although that could easily be two hours every day. Then I spend four hours teaching and checking homework. I spend one hour walking the dogs, feeding them, and getting them clean water. I spend another two hours cleaning the house, sweeping the floor, opening the curtains first thing in the morning, closing them at night, and watering the plants. If I have errands to run, that will easily eat up three hours because it takes 30 minutes to get anywhere and then get home again. I can be at the end of the day, ready to brush my teeth and fall exhausted into bed and there’s no time left to pray to God, to read His word and to think about His ways (meditation).
Have you ever heard the saying, “Give to God what’s right, not what’s left”? There’s a lot of truth to that! If we don’t make it a priority to give God the first chunk of our day, we can find ourselves at the end of the day with no day left to give. And that’s not good. That sends a message that He is less important than all the rest of the things in our day. And that’s not true! God is the most important part of our day. And our days will flow a whole lot smoother if God is first, if we start each day with Him (and honor Him on the Sabbath day!!), honoring Him, praising Him, and thanking Him for the gift that He has given to us.
Time is one of the gifts that God gives us. But it’s not the only gift. You can apply the banana analogy to any of the gifts that God has given to you. Make sure you say “thank you” to God for the gift He’s given by honoring Him first!
And Be At Peace by Cynthia Saladin
February
Subjected to Futility by Cynthia Saladin
March
Our God by Cynthia Saladin
Be Kind, Even When There is No Sign (collected from Cybersalt.org)
April
Yes! There is Good News! by Bill Rollins
Ten Ways to Love (collected from Cybersalt.org)
My Kinsman-Redeemer by Cynthia Saladin
Sleep in a Storm (collected from Cybersalt.org)
May
To Make Us Holy by Cynthia Saladin
My Child (Collected from Cybersalt.org)
June
Thigmomorphogenesis by Patricia Manning
July
Feathers by Cynthia Saladin
August
Soccer for Suckers by Dan L. White
Honor God First by Cynthia Saladin
January
And Be At Peace
by Cynthia Saladin
The summer before I started kindergarten, my dad brought home a puppy from the dog pound. Being five, I was not overly imaginative when naming him; the black puppy with four white stockings and white bib became Blacky. He was an amazing dog! I could tell you stories! But when he was still a puppy, he was extremely destructive when left alone. One day he started running laps in the backyard. Every time he went past Mom’s cherry tree, he grabbed a branch. Pretty soon, branches were strewn all over the backyard. That poor cherry tree was never very pretty after that but was bent and misshapen. The day, however, that Blacky chewed up the seat on Dad’s motorcycle was nearly the final straw!
Blacky wasn’t the only destructive dog we ever had. Tinker, a poodle mix, decided she didn’t want to be left inside the garage one day. So she chewed an arch-shaped pattern into the bottom of the door going out of the garage. She easily chewed through the outside of the door, but was stopped by the solid core. Dad was mad. The next time we had to leave her, he left her in the backyard. When we came home, there was a matching arch on the exterior of the door where Tinker had tried to get inside.
For Blacky and Tinker, it seemed to be more than just puppies needing to chew. They just didn’t know what to do with themselves while we were gone. They were not at peace.
2 Peter 3:13-14 (ESV) says, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
We are waiting, sometimes more impatiently than other times, for the fulfillment of God’s promise. We long for Jesus to return and set up His kingdom where there is righteousness, and no more sorrow, or tears, or pain, or death! We believe with all of our heart that it is coming.
So we wait, and we tend to focus on the first part of the admonition. We are diligent to study His word that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). We strive to walk worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1). As we examine ourselves, knowing that we are unable to save ourselves (Romans 5:6), we rely on God’s promise that He will purify the Bride of Christ (Titus 2:14; Ephesians 5:25–27). We think about the effort that is involved in choosing to walk in a way that pleases God. We persevere and overcome - enabled by that power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
But do we give the last part of this admonition the same weight? Are we at peace?
Every once in a while, I have to be out of the house, running errands, keeping appointments, or spending time with my granddaughter. It is not unusual, when I ask how the dogs were while I was gone, for Ron to tell me that Pepper went upstairs, curled up in his bed, and went to sleep. I’m not home doing stuff, so Pepper just waits until I am. And he’s at peace - at least until he hears my car coming down the road.
What a fantastic object lesson for me to take to heart! God has given me a job to do until Jesus returns. I’m to live a life that points others to my Messiah, and a huge piece of doing that is the way I live my life - being at peace. A person who is calm and at peace witnesses to the hope set before her - without even using words. It’s so incredibly powerful because other people want that peace. But it’s not putting my head in the sand and ignoring the violence and vileness of our society. It’s not dismissing the greed, grief, and godlessness as just a part of the end time scenario. It’s seeing the world around me that is in such desperate need of the Savior and recognizing that God has given me an opportunity to be a light in an ever-darkening world. That light shines brightest when I exude His peace - because I trust Him and I know He’s coming back. Jesus will set all things right. I might not know why so many people are suffering, why there’s so much evil and pain, and how God can use it to His glory. But I don’t need to know. I just need to keep my focus on Him . . . and to be at peace.
What a gracious God I serve! I deeply appreciate the gentle object lessons He sets around me - teaching me, helping me to grow and to become an ever-more useful vessel for His service. And that’s the point, isn’t it! God is sovereign. He has a plan. The tapestry He’s weaving is altogether beautiful. My job is not to tell Him how to weave, but to be part of the final product. From my perspective as a thread, I cannot see the whole picture. I just need to do what He has set before me and to be at peace. After all, God’s got it all sorted.
February
Subjected to Futility
by Cynthia Saladin
I was sitting in front of the fire, thinking about the upcoming week and all that has to be done. As cold as it’s been and with all of the snow, we’re going to have to get some more wood in. Sigh. Groceries. Making meals. Washing dishes. Paying bills. Laundry. The to-do list is long. Then I happened to look up. Oh, there are cobwebs on my ceiling. I need to do some cleaning too.
How many things are there to do which just have to be done again periodically!?! I remember as a kid laughing at a line in a kids’ song: “Why should I wash my hands when they just get dirty again?” Sweeping the floor. Knocking down cobwebs. Pulling weeds. Mowing the lawn. Cooking meals. Trimming brush out of the fence line. So many things that are never truly done; they’re just done for right now. And when you’re surrounded by the never-ending list of things that have to be done, it can seem more than overwhelming. It can start to seem rather pointless.
“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:20-21
It certainly does seem like we have been subjected to futility - and some days more than others we feel that bondage to corruption!
But maybe, God in His mercy, subjected us to futility in these areas (washing our hands, sweeping the floor, pulling the weeds, etc.) so that we’d have an undeniable object lesson constantly before us. We, as human beings, have this inexorable proclivity to sin. Our first inclination tends towards the carnal. It takes work to bring every thought into subjection to Jesus Christ. It takes conscious diligent effort to choose God’s ways. It’s not one and done. It’s persevering through every instance and every new experience. Not being perfect, that perseverance is not 100%. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we feel like being subjected to futility also applies to becoming perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We may not feel like we’ve any chance of coming anywhere close. It feels hopeless and pointless.
Ah. But here’s the message of the object lesson: are you going to let the weeds take over your garden and allow it to produce no fruit? Are you going to allow the grass to grow in your yard until the bugs move in and devour your house? Are you going to let the cobwebs and dust and dirt take over until you are thoroughly ill? No! And you don’t allow sin to take over your life either! When you see the weeds, you pull them. When you see the grass is long, you cut it. When you see the dirt, you clean. And clean. And clean. And when you sin, you get back down on your knees and you ask God for forgiveness. Again and again. As many times as you need to. He is faithful to forgive. And more than that, He is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Eventually, the desire for God’s righteousness (because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) causes a change in our behavior. Our eyes and our hearts are focused on God. Our conduct follows.
I know I’m going to have to go get the broom and clean the cobwebs. I am likely to find more than I noticed at first glance. And while I’m at it, it’d be a good time to think about some of my recent choices. Did I go with my first inclination? Should I have considered what Jesus would have done? Have I some sin I should be repenting of? Now would be a good time to take care of that too. It’s not, after all, an exercise in futility, but being subjected to futility in hope that I seek Jesus Christ and be set free to obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Happy cobweb hunting.
🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️
People often ask me why I prefer
to teach math instead of English.
I tell them it's because
fractions speak louder than verbs.
🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️
Christian Grace
The other day I was hangin' out with a friend.
This friend is a Christian but doesn't always act like one. Some days she's in line with God's Word, and some days life's struggles get the best of her.
As our eyes met I really wanted to say something about it but decided to let The Lord speak to her heart knowing nothing I could say would have the same impact as her Father's Words.
So I prayed with her.
And after some time passed, I winked at her.... and walked away from the mirror.
March
Our God
by Cynthia Saladin
Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Deuteronomy 8:4
As you think back over the incredible miracles and ways that God provided for the Israelites, do you think about this verse? Do you think about clothes not wearing out on you or your foot not swelling in forty years of wandering in the wilderness?
It reminds me of a couple of things: first, God didn’t overlook little details. He provided for what they needed. But think about it. If you’d been traveling with the Israelites and your clothing wore out, it would have been a big deal, not a little detail! There’s no local Wal-mart. You have to plant the flax, turn it into linen (with all that entails) and then make your clothes. Or you have to plant cotton and harvest it. Or you have to shear your sheep, wash and card the wool, spin it, weave it, make it into cloth, and then make your clothes. Clothes wearing out was a big deal. Now imagine clothing not wearing out for forty years! Do you realize what a miracle that would have been?! Similarly, not having trouble with your feet swelling when you’re traveling?
There’s another aspect to this provision from God: you don’t see your clothing wearing out. You don’t see the initial swelling of your feet. All of a sudden, a seam gives out and you realize the whole piece of material is rotten. Or you wake up one morning and think, my feet hurt. The absence of the problem sometimes causes you to overlook the fact that it’s not normal! God has done a miracle and you didn’t even notice!
Another thing to notice from this verse is God’s almighty hand. God could completely eliminate all trouble and pain from our lives. But He doesn’t. The verse right before this one talks about God letting the people hunger and then providing manna for them to eat so they might know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This section goes on to talk about how God humbled the Israelites and tested them that He
would know what was in their hearts. Then Moses continues by telling the people that God is disciplining them.
So, even though God could make our path straight, level, and smooth, sometimes He chooses not to. Why? Because He knows what we need in order to form us into the image of His Son. He knows how to mold us to guide us so that we will follow His leading. He does what is best for us in the long-term because He loves us. Sometimes that means keeping our clothing from wearing out. Sometimes it means leading us in the wilderness.
Next time you’re on your knees, you might thank God for the many things He has provided for you, and then thank Him for the provisions that you just took for granted - that you didn’t even notice, and then thank Him for loving you so much, for continuing the sanctification process in you, even when you’re not feeling grateful for the discipline.
And maybe the next time you pull out an old, favorite shirt, thank God that it hasn’t worn out yet.
🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲
Be Kind, Even When There's No Sign
collected from Cybersalt.org
This morning, on my way to work, I found myself behind a car with a handwritten sign taped to the back window: “Learning stick. Sorry for any delay.”
Reading that, I instantly softened. I stayed patient through the slow shifts and jerky starts — and honestly, they were doing pretty well for someone still learning. But then a thought hit me: Would I have been just as patient if I hadn’t seen that sign? Probably not.
And that realization stayed with me. Because the truth is, most people don’t have signs explaining what they’re going through. You don’t see:
“Going through a divorce.”
“Lost a child.”
“Feeling depressed.”
“Just diagnosed with cancer.”
If people wore their struggles where we could see them, we’d move through the world with so much more gentleness. But the truth is — we shouldn’t need a sign to show kindness. Everyone you meet is likely carrying something invisible, something heavy. So today, and every day, let’s choose patience. Let’s choose grace. Let’s choose love — even when there’s no sign telling us to.
🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲 🚲
April
Yes, There is Good News! by Bill Rollins
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Considering the gravity of the concept of our entering the kingdom of heaven, it must be imperative for us to look at this idea of ‘the will of God’!
I have heard people say, “Oh, if I only could know the will of God for me, how much easier my life would be”. Maybe yes and maybe no on that sentiment; but we can know God’s will. God is never going to ask us to do something without giving us a path and the knowledge of that path in order to accomplish His instruction.
Let me put it this way, the path to knowing God’s will is simple but it is not easy. Is that ‘good news’ or not such ‘good news’? ‘Simple’ is good but in our society and in this age, we do not look to doing hard things. I have said it before and I will say it again, those things that are hard or tough are of much greater worth than those tasks that are easy!
So let’s start with Paul to lead us off in our search for the will of God. In his letter to the Romans, he gives us a very strong statement to ponder; starting in chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your rational act of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The first word we must notice here is “appeal.” In other translations we see the word ‘beseech’ and ‘urge’, this is a strong admonition by Paul; it is not just a suggestion for he really does urge us to do something! Next, we see that he urges us “by the mercies of God;” God’s mercies toward us are founded upon the crucifixion and death of the Son of God. Jesus shed His blood for our sins and by that blood we find God tremendously merciful. And next we read that we should “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” Wow!
God wants all of who we are – and this is that “living sacrifice” which becomes our “act of worship.” And how do we become this living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God? We do this by not conforming to the ways of the world; by being “transformed by the renewal of our minds.” It is then that we may discern what the will of God is; His “good, acceptable and perfect will.”
I told you these were strong words from Paul. The Apostle Paul may truly be the most zealous person for the ways and truth of God in the New Testament, and he wants to lead us to the maturity, completeness and perfection of the calling God has for us. That is not all we see in the New Testament regarding God’s will. God willing, we will look into this subject further, next time. Remember Matt. 7:21, “Only those who do the will of God shall enter the Kingdom of God”!
Ten Ways to Love (collected from cybersalt.org)
Listen without interrupting (Proverbs 18)
Speak without accusing. (James 1:19)
Give without sparing. (Proverbs 21:26)
Pray without ceasing. (Colossians 1:9)
Answer without arguing. (Proverbs 17:1)
Share without pretending. (Ephesians 4:15)
Enjoy without complaint. (Philippians 2:14)
Trust without wavering. (1 Corinthians 13:7)
Forgive without punishing. (Colossians 3:13)
Promise without forgetting. (Proverbs 13:12)
My Kinsman-Redeemer by Cynthia Saladin
Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel. Ruth 4:14
The first time I saw Jason Gray’s video of “Remind Me Who I Am,” I was so struck by the reality of the words. We are, each of us, sinful, carnal human beings who manage to embroil ourselves in ungodly situations. Some of the signs in the video are unloved, rejected, angry, betrayed, used, refugee, addict. All of them tug at the heart as realization of the universality of the hopelessness of existence without Christ sets in.
That’s where Naomi found herself. Her husband has died. She’s too old to get a new husband. Her two sons have died. She has no one to perpetuate the family name.
Because of the relationship between Naomi and Ruth, Ruth is determined to follow Naomi back to Bethlehem. But it’s not an easy life. Ruth is found with the poor of the land, gleaning the fields for food after the harvesters have taken the shocks of grain. It’s dangerous (as inferred in Ruth 2:8-9). It’s very hard work. Both Naomi and Ruth are struggling just to have enough food to eat.
Enter the kinsman-redeemer. Who was the kinsman-redeemer? Boaz? To whom was he a kinsman-redeemer? He was the close kinsman of Naomi’s dead husband, Elimelech. But what was a kinsman-redeemer?
A kinsman-redeemer was God’s merciful way of rescuing a person from dire conditions. If a person found themselves in debt, they could sell themselves. A kinsman-redeemer could redeem them, pay their debt. If a person sold a piece of property, their inheritance from the Lord, the kinsman-redeemer could buy the parcel back to keep it in the family. (Leviticus 25) The redemption needed by both Naomi and Ruth was the perpetuation of the line of Elimelech. By marrying Ruth, Boaz purposed to fulfill that need (Ruth 4:5), to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
A kinsman-redeemer had to be a close relative, but, as we see in Ruth 4:6, that didn’t always ensure he would provide the needed redemption. There also had to be the desire to redeem. Otherwise, the opportunity would fall to the next closest relative. Boaz, in the story of Ruth, was not the closest relative, but he was the one who cared about Ruth enough to redeem Naomi’s land and to marry Ruth.
So, this beautiful story of Ruth reaches down to King David and on to our Messiah, Jesus Christ - the ultimate kinsman-redeemer.
But wait? Are we related to Him? Is He our kinsman? Jesus said that those who do the will of His Father in heaven are His brothers and sisters (Mark 3:35). Furthermore, Romans tells us that we are part of the family of God, that our spirit testifies with His Spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 3:2). Jesus is our Elder Brother. He’s our kinsman.
Furthermore, there’s no doubt that he’s our Redeemer. (Job 19:25; Psalm 19:14; Isaiah 44:6, 48:17, 59:20; 1 Corinthians 1:30)
In essence, the story of Ruth foreshadows Jesus Christ becoming our Kinsman-Redeemer. We have been sold as slaves to sin (Romans 7:14), and while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), God sent His Son, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, to become the propitiation for our sin (I John 2:2), reconciling us to the Father (Romans 5:10-11, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20). This is huge! Remember the two qualities of the kinsman-redeemer? First, He had to have the means. Jesus Christ is the only One who could pay the sin debt for all mankind. No one else is worthy. Because He is the builder of the house, Jesus is worth more than all of the house (Hebrews 3:3). He is the only possible proper payment! (1 John 4:10; Romans 3:25) So Jesus had the means to redeem us.
Secondly, He had to care, to have the desire to redeem us. Stop to think about this! These human beings, these created beings who owe everything they have and their very lives to God, are nevertheless in rebellion against God (Romans 8:7). Yet, while we were yet sinners God sent His Son to die for us. That’s love of a magnitude that we cannot even comprehend.
I love the story of Ruth. The character of Ruth and Boaz is so admirable and praiseworthy. But their lives give glory to God beyond what we can see within these four chapters. As the writer of Hebrews said of Abel, we can also say of Ruth and Boaz: “And by faith [they] still speak, even though [they] are dead” (Hebrews 11:4). Both of their lives are woven into the tapestry of lives who testify to God’s plan, God’s greatness, God’s character. Not only are they honored to be the progenitors of Jesus Christ, they also get to foreshadow the gospel and His work on the cross to become our Kinsman-Redeemer. Wow! What a legacy!
Beloved of Christ, what do you think your legacy will look like?
Sleep in a Storm (Collected from cybersalt.org)
Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer.
"Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him.
"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.
Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.
Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”
Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We, as believers in Christ, secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the midst of the storms. I hope you sleep well!
May
To Make Us Holy
by Cynthia Saladin
Y’all are going to think I’m slow. As I was pulling weeds yesterday afternoon, I was thinking about two different families specifically. One is suffering the effects of a divorce after years of marriage and two nearly grown children. The other is grieving a loss of life. Suddenly, I thought of Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Marriage. His premise is “what if God gave us marriage, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.” Well, along the same lines: what if God gives us this life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy?
I know. Not exactly a unique thought, right? We know the scriptures:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)
“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34
In each of these verses is the realization that we are going to suffer and xhave trouble and be worried and anxious over the things we experience. We know this because we experience it all the time.
But there’s encouragement coming alongside each statement of trouble: God is with us. Take heart! Jesus has overcome the world. God cares for us. Don’t worry. And we know this too. We’ve read the verses about striving for the goal, being disciplined to reach the goal.
“ . . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, . . .” Hebrews 12:1
“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, . . .” Hebrews 12:6
And here’s the point: “ . . . but [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” Hebrews 12:10
Think for a minute about the Israelites coming out of Egypt. They were free! Praise God they were free! No more cruel bondage. No more murder of their sons. They were free. But freedom is not easy. And I really wonder if they considered just how much they were going to struggle and encounter difficulties. It seemed to take them by surprise. In the two years it took them to get to the Promised Land, they complained, murmured, grumbled against God ten times! Ten! They were stiff-necked and unbelieving and just plain difficult.
They didn’t believe that God was good all the time. They didn’t believe that He had their best interest at heart. They didn’t think they could trust Him with everything. Surely they didn’t think they were just going to get to lie under a palm tree and eat bonbons for the rest of their lives. Surely they realized they were going to have to work and struggle. They were going to have to fight. Yes, God was giving them the land, but they still had to fight the giants. God wasn’t in the business of making them happy; He was making them holy.
And they resisted. Big time. Because they didn’t trust Him.
The writer of Psalm 42 (some scholars think it was King David) experienced anxiety and discouragement because of his circumstances. In verse 5, he wrote, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me?” It seems to be the default of the human condition: when things don’t go the way we want them to go, we get upset. We mourn. We cry. We are depressed. And sometimes, legitimately. The loss of a marriage is devastating. The loss of a life is heart-rending. We experience many hard things which cause us to be disturbed and even to despair.
But we can’t stay there. Mourning and grieving.
It is a normal, healthy reaction for a child to cry when she trips over a crack in the sidewalk and skins her knee. So Mom cleans the scrape, puts on a bandage, and hopes that her daughter won’t soon come back having skinned her other knee.
And I think God feels the same way about us. We’ve stubbed our toe. We’ve fallen off our bike. We’ve hit a brick wall. He’s still there to tell us that He loves us. He has overcome the world. He has a plan for our good. Trust Him. Pick yourself back up and praise Him for being the God who wants more for us than happiness right now. He wants us to be holy.
And here’s the remedy from the psalmist - the rest of Psalm 42:5, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” (NAS). We are going to feel despair and discouragement. But don't stay there. Get back to praising God.
Because maybe God gave us life, not to make us happy, but to make us holy.
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
If you ever think English is not a weird language just remember that read and lead rhyme and read and lead rhyme, but read and lead don't rhyme, and neither do read and lead.
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
My Child,
You may not know me, but I know everything about you - Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up - Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways - Psalm 139:3
Even the very hairs on your head are numbered - Matthew 10:29-31
For you were made in my image - Genesis 1:27
In me you live and move and have your being - Acts 17:28
For you are my offspring - Acts 17:28
I knew you even before you were conceived - Jeremiah 1:4-5
I chose you when I planned creation - Ephesians 1:11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book – Psalm 139:15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live – Acts 17:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalm 139:14
I knit you together in your mother's womb - Psalm 139:13
And brought you forth on the day you were born - Psalm 71:6
I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me - John 8:41-44
I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love - 1 John 4:16
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you - 1 John 3:1
Simply because you are my child and I am your father - 1 John 3:1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could - Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect father - Matthew 5:48
Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand - James 1:17
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs - Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope - Jeremiah 29:11
Because I love you with an everlasting love - Jeremiah 31:3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore – Psalm 139:17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing - Zephaniah 3:17
I will never stop doing good to you - Jeremiah 32:40
For you are my treasured possession - Exodus 19:5
I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul – Jeremiah 32:41
And I want to show you great and marvelous things - Jeremiah 33:3
If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me - Deuteronomy 4:29
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart - Psalm 37:4
For it is I who gave you those desires - Philippians 2:13
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine – Ephesians 3:20
For I am your greatest encourager - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you - Psalm 34:18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart – Isaiah 40:11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes - Revelation 21:3-4
And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth - Revelation 21:3-4
I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus - John 17:23
For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed - John 17:26
He is the exact representation of my being - Hebrews 1:3
He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you - Romans 8:31
And to tell you that I am not counting your sins - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you…1 John 4:10
I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love…Romans 8:31-32
If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me…1 John 2:23
And nothing will ever separate you from my love again…Romans 8:38-39
Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen…Luke 15:7
I have always been Father, and will always be Father…Ephesians 3:14-15
My question is…Will you be my child?…John 1:12-13
I am waiting for you…Luke 15:11-32
Love, Your Dad, Almighty God (Collected from cybersalt.org)
💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕
"Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name."
- J. I. Packer
June
Thigmomorphogenesis
by Patricia Manning
‘Tis the season of planting and growing. For us in the more northern climates, the last date for frost at night just passed and now seeds started indoors can be moved out into the garden. Before their translocation to a place where the plants will be expected to grow, bloom, and produce fruit, they must be “hardened off”. There is a scientific word for this process. It’s called thigmomorphogenesis.
Thigmomorphogenesis is the adaptation plants make when subjected to the adversity of wind, heat, and rain. They get tougher. During this 7 to 10 day period, their cell walls thicken, they develop a waxy leaf coating to prevent water loss, and they adjust to intense sunlight, temperature swings, and wind.
God has embedded a lesson for His people within His creation of plants, because thigmomorphogenesis is a process that every Christian is familiar with whether we realize it or not. Pressure (thigmo), we call trials. James tells us,
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
Notice that this verse says “when” not “if” we face trials. We will certainly experience tough situations. If we face those trials with joy and stand firm in our faith, we’ll change (morphogenesis) to become stronger. We’ll become steadfast, meaning nothing will be able to move us from our faith in God. Through James, God tells us that when that happens we will be perfect and complete. Like the plants, once we become strong enough in the face of adversity, God will put us where we are able to grow, blossom, and produce fruit.
Consider David. Before he became king in Israel, he killed Goliath and became the head of Saul’s fighting force against the Philistines. Unexpectedly and without cause, Saul turned against his best fighter and began seeking to kill him. Like an ancient Robinhood, David with his band of 400- 600 men hid in the forest and caves as Saul and his army sought to find and kill him.
Through it all David stood firm in his faith. When he had the chance to kill Saul in a cave, he didn’t take it because he didn’t want to raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed (1 Samuel 24:1-6) . When David received news that the Philistines were attacking the city named Keilah, he asked God if he should go fight against them. He sought God’s will in the matter, twice (1 Samuel 23:1-5). Another time, David and Abishai could have killed Saul with his own spear while he slept. Again David respected God’s anointed king (1 Samuel 26:1-12). Steadfastness in these trials caused a change in David. He became stronger. We as God’s people are asked to do the same.
Whatever trial God sends our way, he wants us to be joyful in response to it, is order to produce steadfastness– thigmomorphogenesis. When we are “hardened off” we can be planted in a place truly useful to our God, the master gardener.
July
Feathers
by Cynthia Saladin
I was outside early this week, weeding while it was only moderately hot. The dogs were watching my progress from the shade. Every once in a while, Molly would come check on me, climbing into my lap and washing my face. I appreciate their diligence because you never know what dangers might be lurking nearby.
This morning, it was a feather.
When Molly exploded with a barrage of warning barks and growls, I cautiously approached. My thought was that it could be a snake, especially the way Molly crept close and then rapidly retreated, all the while maintaining her alarm. Granted, there was a little breeze, so the feather was dancing just a bit. It was way too much movement for Molly.
She was so insistent about the danger that Pepper came to investigate. You could tell that Molly thought Pepper was either incredibly brave or unbelievably stupid to walk up and put his nose on that feather. Pepper, for his part, sniffed it thoroughly and barked a few warning barks, just for moral support, I guess.
I suspect that it was a breast feather from an owl. And neither of the dogs like owls. An evening hoot is almost always answered with a warning bark. I figured that Molly must have smelled the owl scent on the feather and she was not willing to give up on performing her guard duty to alert me to danger.
By the third time Pepper sauntered over to check out the feather because of Molly’s insistence (Yep. It’s still just a feather, Molly!), Pepper had had enough. He growled and barked at Molly to tell her that was enough. At least that’s what it looked like because she quit barking. But she didn’t give up on keeping an eye on that potentially dangerous feather.
I couldn’t help thinking what a good thing it is to have an older dog around who can help a young, enthusiastic, energetic dog learn what’s what. And at the same time, it’s Molly who has alerted me to seven turtles, four toads, six frogs, and a feather so far this year. I like to relocate the turtles because they go right under the electric fence and eat my strawberries! So, good dog, Molly!
You can extrapolate this out to how wonderful it is to have a church fellowship with people who want to spend time with each other. Seriously!! Hear me out! When a church member has studied a topic in depth, he (or she) has a wealth of information to share from the Bible. Others bring questions and eager enthusiasm when they find something new. The iron sharpening iron goes both ways! Viewpoints long held can be modified or completely changed. (Pepper was very willing to admit that he might have missed something dangerous. He was willing to investigate and even bark some.) At the same time, it is a good thing to talk with people who have spent a long time studying the Bible and have already thought through both sides of an issue. (It was just a feather; it wasn’t an active threat.) The point is the atmosphere of being willing to learn.
I thoroughly love our church fellowship. I love the passion each of you bring each Sabbath. You love God and you eagerly want to seek Him, learning more about, and growing closer to, Him! I love the conversations. I love the humility and genuine concern which is exhibited. We are so incredibly blessed by God to have such a fantastic church family!
I didn’t expect to be praising God for each of you when Molly first started barking at that feather. But maybe a feather was God’s way of getting my attention.
August
Soccer for Suckers by Dan L. White
Homeschool Helpers Newsletter, Issue 558, 7.10.26
As we get older, we get sicker. And no matter how old we are, we want to be made well.
One old man over 80 years of age had prostate cancer that had spread to his bladder. Clinicians treated his bladder and the cancer disappeared for the moment. He was so happy over that, and I was a little surprised at his reaction. After all, he was 80 years old! But age does not quell the desire to live and be well.
Now here I am, at about that same age, with a different type of cancer, but cancer nevertheless. And like that man, my dad,
I have the same desire to be well. And statistically will likely wind up with the same result as him.
I knew a fine Christian lady who was 57 years old and had a serious cancer. I was young enough then to think that she was old, instead of middle aged. She told me that she had prayed and fasted, but she wasn’t healed. Why? Of course, I had no real answer. I was struck, though, with the common idea that fasting is only for emergencies, and not as a common practice. That lady soon passed.
I had a very close friend of some years acquaintance who in his mid-70’s came down with a serious cancer. As with most cancer victims, he did not expect that. He had long-lived parents on both sides, tried to live a healthy life, and yet was stricken. I remember talking to him about how seventy years is the years of a man.
Ps90:10 - The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.
He knew that verse already, and even though he had passed the seventy year mark, he had other things he wanted to do in this life. And in my life, there are a lot of dumb things I have done, and that was one of them. The passing of this life, this meager morsel of years that we have, is such a serious thing for our spirit that it inevitably is a great weight. I spoke as one who wasn’t weighed down at that time, to one who was weighed down. Stupid me.
Really inconsiderate!
He passed, following the normal cancer progression or regression, despite many prayers and creative cure attempts.
On the other hand, I knew another fellow in his seventies or so, who suddenly had health issues, and a big hospital told him to put his affairs in order because of his cancer. Before his passing, though, he wanted to attend one more Feast. At that Feast, after being anointed he was healed. That week he went from hardly being able to trudge down the beach to being able to run down the beach. He probably couldn’t have done that even before the cancer hit! Another exam at the big hospital showed the cancer was gone.
And in a well known instance, a home school mom after birth labor had a couple of blood clots ready to pass through her heart. She was not old, but young with other children and a husband to care for, so a nationwide fast was declared for her, not as a church command but as a spiritual urging, by whomever wanted to join in that, with no list involved. Yes, the clots passed with no harm, making the local news in a major metro city, and she returned home to her hubby and children, nursing her brand new baby.
But several years down the road, I can’t recall just how many, her husband, who believed she had lived by a miracle from God, passed from a cancer himself.
I suppose the biggest lesson from all this mental meandering is the brevity of life and the seriousness of its ending. This is your opportunity in eternity to appear before God with your life and what you choose to do with it. Most people choose not to do much of importance at all. Maybe go to church once a week, have a dinner with all the other overweight Christians, and watch a few ball games. The world cup soccer tournament is currently being held as I write this. Millions of people from around the world have converged on the US as the site of this event, and they fear and hope, and scream and cry – really cry! – over a round ball being kicked up and down a field.
All for nothing. There is nothing going on there that has any real value. It’s just a bouncing ball! On the other hand, the negative value is all the time and life energy that is consumed by so many over so little.
And such is the common life of almost everyone, every day.
Very few Christians think that God has called them to do something special with their lives. They automatically assume that if they go to church – any church, as long as it’s a church – and don’t get thrown in jail, then they are living a good life. Somehow that comfortable picture does not fit the New Testament scene.
One good thing about being old, and having some sign that your life has just about run its days, is that for the first time in your life, you can see more clearly why you are alive.
How about that for irony? When you’re about out of life, you can see more clearly why you’re alive.
And you know what? Then you have no real interest in soccer matches or such, unless it’s just to watch the grandkids. But then you really don’t care if they win or lose, because you have lived long enough to know that doesn’t really matter.
A couple verses after the one cited above about seventy years being the days of our years, is this one.
Ps 90 12 - So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
That means that long before we know we are going to pass, we should remember that we are going to pass. That is what numbering our days is. Old people with cancer or whatever can number their days pretty closely. I read once that the average life span of someone who is diagnosed with MDS is about 18 months from diagnosis. Some more, some less, but none very long. That leads such a one to pray, ‘help me make the most of my time and not waste it.’
What if a young person could have such an attitude, while still young?
Now that would be a heart of wisdom. Kind of like getting a free kick.
⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️
My dog kept chasing people on a bike,
so I took his bike away …
then he just sat there in the yard and barked all day.
So I gave him his bike back . . .
because his bark was worse than his bike.
⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️
Honor God First by Cynthia Saladin
Honor the LORD with your wealth . . .Proverbs 3:9
All good gifts come from God (James 1:17). Can you think of some wonderful gifts God has given to you? Life, health, a great family, plenty to eat, a pet, an answered prayer - many different things could fall into that category of being a wonderful gift from God!!
So what is your response to having been given a gift? First, you should always say, “Thank you!” We do that in our prayers at each meal - thanking God for the food. But are we diligent to say “thank you” when God gives us good things? I sure hope so!
But we should go one step further than simply saying “thank you.” We need to demonstrate that we are grateful to God by honoring Him first with whatever it is that we have.
A banana is a gift - you can tell because it’s gift-wrapped. 😀 When you open a banana, you get to decide what to do with it. Most people eat it one bite at a time. Even if you cut it in half and put it in a banana split, you still end up eating it one bite at a time. What if we used this banana to talk about how we should honor God first with the gifts that He’s given us?
Here’s the easiest analogy. I really want to give my husband a bite of the banana, but each person in the room wants a bite. And I find that the banana is all gone before I get to my husband. There’s nothing left for him.
Or what if each bite represented the time I have in each day? I only have 24 hours. Let’s pretend that I get to sleep 7 hours. I might spend 5 hours cooking, eating a meal, and cleaning up the kitchen. (Wow, that’s half of my day already!! No wonder it’s hard to get everything done.) Maybe I spend an hour doing paperwork and taking care of emails, although that could easily be two hours every day. Then I spend four hours teaching and checking homework. I spend one hour walking the dogs, feeding them, and getting them clean water. I spend another two hours cleaning the house, sweeping the floor, opening the curtains first thing in the morning, closing them at night, and watering the plants. If I have errands to run, that will easily eat up three hours because it takes 30 minutes to get anywhere and then get home again. I can be at the end of the day, ready to brush my teeth and fall exhausted into bed and there’s no time left to pray to God, to read His word and to think about His ways (meditation).
Have you ever heard the saying, “Give to God what’s right, not what’s left”? There’s a lot of truth to that! If we don’t make it a priority to give God the first chunk of our day, we can find ourselves at the end of the day with no day left to give. And that’s not good. That sends a message that He is less important than all the rest of the things in our day. And that’s not true! God is the most important part of our day. And our days will flow a whole lot smoother if God is first, if we start each day with Him (and honor Him on the Sabbath day!!), honoring Him, praising Him, and thanking Him for the gift that He has given to us.
Time is one of the gifts that God gives us. But it’s not the only gift. You can apply the banana analogy to any of the gifts that God has given to you. Make sure you say “thank you” to God for the gift He’s given by honoring Him first!
