My Heart Belongs to You

 

Valentine’s Day, Monday, February 14, 2022

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13:13

Roughly 72-million adults will combine to spend a couple billion dollars on gifts for their loved ones today.  In America, pet dogs come in higher on the Valentine’s Day gift list than cats (53% to 47%[1]).  The reason may be because dogs wag their tails as a sign they’re glad to see you, while a cat’s wagging tail is a veiled warning your kitty is getting ready to shred your arm.  Teachers receive more Valentines than anyone else.  It may certainly be a sense of admiration from their little students, but I’ve long-suspected it might be a way to a better report card.  All this may well be revealed at the Great White Throne judgment, but, until that time, it’s fun to wonder why lovers do what they do.

Of course I’m always prepared for Valentine’s Day.  I’ve got an advantage; two days prior is the anniversary of the day Elizabeth and I got married.  That advantage is February 12, 1967 which was the best day of my life. With all the TV advertising the month before the great card, flower, and choclate-exchange, it’s impossible for me to forget the way she looked walking down the aisle.

This year that thanksgiving for my blessings takes on a new memory.  I am thankful for the love shown me by the nurses and staff at Lexington Hospital’s cardio rehabilitation unit.  It is impossible to miss the sense of dedication and purpose surrounding that great team of mercy. 

I spent the mornings of 36 days (over 5 months) being guided through exercises and health education with Cynthia, Kathy, Elizabeth, and Teresa.  They are a great team that exudes energy, positive direction, and encouragement.  Of course the silent partner of the team is Tin Man, who was always on the job.  I found out that a previous patient made that fellow as a thanks-gift for the staff.  I can identify…he’s the Tin Man in the movie, The Wizard of Oz, who lamented to Dorothy, I don’t have a heart.  Tin Man found his heart by the end of the movie, and I sat under his likeness all those mornings, trying to encourage mine to behave itself.

This Valentine’s Day I will be basking in the glow of having spent 55 years with my bride, my best friend.  I will also be thankful for new friends who helped me develop an attitude of recovery.  I’m also going to take with me the image of Tin Man’s sincere joy and loyalty, as a reminder that love comes in many shades, colors, sizes, touches, and selfless deeds.

It is my calling in this life to serve He who is the source of joy, Jesus Christ.  I serve the One who gave the ultimate gift of love, His life in exchange for my need of forgiveness.  And each time I am reminded of that, because someone exercised kindness, helpfulness, or unselfishness to bless me, like the Tin Man, I find a little more of what my heart was designed to be.      

For You Today

You’ve got a heart!  You were designed with one that can love or hate.  When you dwell on the good and lovely things in this life, like people who’ve been a blessing to you, and the God who loves you, you’re likely to use the energy and breath God gave you to pass-along joy and hope to others.  In a world so challenged with hatred, violence, and sadness, there is a great need for the heart inside you and me that will say:  I love you.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title:  Russell Brownworth (own work)    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] Finder.com survey

When the Tank is Empty

 

Monday, July 13, 2020

Psalm 142:1-7

I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy.  I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.  When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn.  Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.  I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought!  No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.  Then I pray to you, O Lord.  I say, “You are my place of refuge.  You are all I really want in life.  Hear my cry, for I am very low.  Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.  Bring me out of prison so I can thank you.  The godly will crowd around me, for you are good to me.”

King David was looking back on the time before he was king, and the reigning king, Saul (who was bordering on psychotic at the time) was chasing him all over Israel to stamp out the decree that God had made through the prophet Samuel, that David would be the one to replace Saul on the throne.  It was a king and his army, the most powerful army on earth, against one young man, who had taken to hiding in caves and pretending to be a lunatic to avoid being captured and executed.  In the words of the Verizon guy, David is praying and cries out to God:  I’m LOW…can you hear me now?  Considering the circumsances, to say that David was low, or severly depressed, and that he was out of options with an empty tank, just seems a little understated.  The situation was as critical as it gets. 

J.D. Walt writes a devotional I’ve been reading for awhile now, and in a recent post he shares about stumbling points in faith; in his concluding prayer he states it clearly that, when it comes to his faith, there are gaps…

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. I confess it with joy—Jesus is Lord! I want to mean it with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. There are gaps. Come Holy Spirit and fill in the gaps in my own character and maturity. Thank you for grace in the meantime. Train me to be so gracious with others. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.[1] 

I don’t know many people who won’t admit to the dry times, when gaps in our faith bring us low.  Let’s face it, the tank, if not attended to, gets empty, and we get sidelined, unable to move forward; we feel depletetd, deleted, and halted in our spiritual and emotional life.  Sometimes it may be because the world really is at odds with us and we’re up against it; at other times (perhaps most times) it’s just that we haven’t taken sufficient self-care to keep the tank refueled.  Either way, being down and out is not fun.  Waiting by the side of the road, empty gas can in hand, on the chance some kind Samaritan will give you a ride to the gas station, is not my idea of a fine way to spend a Saturday afternoon. 

When your tank is empty the tendency is to hide how foolish you were in running out of gas.  When a Christian’s spiritual tank runs low, because of self-inflicted sins, or just a lack of attention to keeping the worship tank full, sometimes the game plan gets tossed.  Worship, prayer, ministry, fellowship with other believers, and being in the place where (as David put it) …the godly will crowd around me, is put aside in favor of staying in our four walls to sulk, lick wounds, and generally wallow in our misery.

Do you recall that feeling you had one time (or a thousand) when it was Sunday, and you just weren’t feeling it…just didn’t want to go to church…but the “habit” took over, and you went anyway?  Do you recall how you felt so much better that afternoon?  That’s what happens when you make a decision that the momentary gap in your faith is not going to rule the day.  And God’s Spirit gathers the godly around you, and focus returns; and your heart is glad.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, our gaps are too real, and too strong sometimes.  Come, fill those gaps with the balm of Gilead; heal our stripes, and make us whole, so we can serve and honor your name.

For You Today

Nobody schedules a gap time; that stuff is manufactured as a surprise attack in the pit of Hell and shows up when you least expect it.  The preventative is to keep the tank full of worship, praise, service, sacrifice, and discipleship.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on Psalm 142 see Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me

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[1] J.D. Walt’s The Seedbed Daily Text

I Think I'm Having Stress

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Friday, November 2, 2018

Praise the Lord!  Let all that I am praise the Lord.  I will praise the Lord as long as I live.  I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.  Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.  When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.  But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.  He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.  He keeps every promise forever.  He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry.  The Lord frees the prisoners.  The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.  The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.  The Lord loves the godly.  The Lord protects the foreigners among us.  He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.  The Lord will reign forever.  He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations.  Praise the Lord!  Psalm 146:1-10(NLT)

A lady called a mother friend of hers to ask how she was getting along.  Said the voice on the other end of the phone:  I'm sick, the house is a mess, and the kids are making me crazy."  

Said the friend:  Don't move a muscle, I'll be right over; I'll cook and clean for you and keep your kids out of your hair until your husband, Sam gets home.   

Said the harried mother, Sam?  My husband's name isn't Sam!  

Said the other, Oh, I'm sorry.  I must have dialed the wrong number. 

After a brief pause the tired Mom said:  That's O.K., but.... you’re still coming over, aren't you?[2]

People find themselves under the effects of a load of stress these days.  Of course, it is no new thing; Adam and Eve had a pile of it to deal with, and then their younger son was murdered by his own brother.  Most stress is produced by breakdowns in relationship; mini-disagreements or maxi, as in the case of Cain and Abel.  But all conflict between humans produces tension and the threat of being overwhelmed. 

We look in all sorts of directions for help, personal coping mechanisms, friends, neighbors, programs that promise help or resources.  There are self-help books, retreats, gurus and, the prize-winner in all the competition to ease your troubled mind: dropping-out.  The opting-out of tension dimension is filled with more choices:  TV, adulterous affairs, drugs that numb your ability to feel, and too many more to list.

I have heard the concept that tension can be good or bad.  Eustress is the good kind; like the tension on the strings of a violin, tightened just enough to be in perfect tune.  This is like the push-and-pull of a healthy relationship between co-workers who respect each other’s contribution to a project.  But, if the roles, established authority patterns, or lines of communication get confused, or just plain shattered, like a violin string pulled too tightly --- SNAP!

Our Psalmist was no stranger to stress; he knew the effects of being weighed down like an overburdened pack animal.  He knew the prison of empty promises and false friendships.  He understood the loneliness of being a powerless outsider without hope.  And so, this man said goodbye to counting on the powerful of this earth to bring him any relief; he turned his heart Heavenward.  And, there he found hope, joy, and the lift of a friend.

I’m not dissing the whole human race here; we need to learn and practice knowing, understanding, and helping each other; that’s a godly thing!  But, my whole point is to give trust slowly and carefully.  If we entrust ourselves to anyone else’s leading, just because they sound good when they talk, we will soon find that trust violated (and maybe our pocket picked!).

Rather, trust freely and quickly in the Lord; never a promise broken there!

For You Today

How’s it going in that stress department?  Are your stripes unravelling?  Here’s a gentle reminder where to turn:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.  Proverbs 3:5-6(NLT)

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of John Wilcock's the column of lasting insignificance 2-8-14

[2] Stressed Mom image, Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Friends

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Tuesday, October 9, 2018

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.  Proverbs 17:17(NLT)

Everybody needs friends, especially in times of trouble.  Reece Elliot was my next-door neighbor; he was also a friend.  Reece was a decade or so older than I am, and we only met a few years before he retired.  He passed several years ago, but not before he taught me some important stuff.

We had some great times taking a break from mowing on Fridays.  Whenever our mowers happened to be near our common property line at the same time, there was this shady spot under the oak tree between our houses…and the mowers would silence for a 20-minute catch-up time.  It was a convenient place where the wives (domestic supervisors) couldn’t see how much down time was occurring when chores needed doing.

One Friday morning, about a dozen or so years ago, I climbed up on my roof to clear some debris, and, in true Russell fashion, taking the last step to get on top of the house, I managed to knock over the ladder; jumping down was not an option, so I was trapped.  It was only about nine o’clock, but it was already hot in the August sunshine on that roof.  I looked at the situation like Google Earth, 360° from above, and saw nobody!  I figured I was going to cook like a fried egg on that hot shingle frying pan until Elizabeth got home from work that afternoon.

Then I heard the mower; Reece was on the job.  Friday morning was always mowing day; thank goodness for people of habit!  As my neighbor rounded the house I realized my rescue was not going to be all that simple.  Reece was at least as hard of hearing as I am, and the John Deere diesel mower made quite a bit of noise.  I yelled and yelled, bellowing out Reece’s name…but all to no avail.  All I could hope for was one of those shade tree break times.

About 20 minutes into my neighbor’s mowing my opportunity arrived as Reece shut down the mower to wipe his brow and get a drink.  As I shouted his name, he looked around, wondering.  Several more times I shouted before Reece looked in my direction, but still towards the ground.  “Up here, neighbor”!  Reece looked up, shielding his eyes from the white-hot morning sun and said,

“Preacher?  Preacher; what’re ya doin’ up thar?” 

In my native Yankee makeup sarcasm comes out when I’m frustrated.  “I’m having a tea party, and you’re invited; what do you think I’m doing up here, calling your name for the last half hour?  I knocked over my ladder and can’t get down!” 

“Well, preacher, why’d ya do that?” 

“Oh, I don’t know…it’s a nice day; thought I’d sit up here for an hour or twelve.”

Then came the grin, a pause, while Reece looked down at the ground to consider his next move, and he lifted his hand in a wave, while he said: “Well, be careful up thar, preacher; don’t do nothin’ stupid.  See ya later.”  And with that he started the John Deere and proceeded to mow the lawn, while the preacher on the perch shouted, “NO…wait…come BACK, come BAAACK!”. 

Reece almost made it to the end of his yard before his bouncing on the mower was more than just going over the bumps, he was laughing so hard I thought he’d fall off the John Deere. 

As consternation melted into feeling really foolish, it became impossible not to join in with Reece laughing at the situation, and the way my neighbor friend brought some humor to this otherwise frustrating start to my day off.

Everybody needs a friend like Reece.

For You Today

It’s true that everybody needs a friend like Reece.  But, perhaps even more importantly, everybody needs to BE a friend like Reece.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Photo Courtesy of Pixabay.com