LADDER OF COMPLAINT

4/11/11

Such a title might seem like a typo of sorts since most often we hear of “letters of complaint.” The CA Letters to the Editor column has certainly had more than enough of them about teachers lately. This title is correct----it’s a reflection of my morning’s Jesus Calling marginalia.

Through the years I’ve been taught to take all of your struggles and complaints to the Lord. Anne Graham Lotz even suggested writing them out on paper and balling them up to physically rid yourself of them as you “metaphorically” leave them at the Lord’s feet for Him to handle.

“Begin this day with open hands of faith, ready to receive all that I am pouring into this brief potion of your life. Be careful not to complain about anything,…..” (Jesus Calling, 4/11) After reading that I jotted a list and underlined each complaint. The list began to look like a ladder----each rung going downward. I realized that my complaints do just that. They are like a ladder leading down to a “pit”---more specifically a “pity pit.”

The best way to change that direction is through thankfulness. That’s scriptural so I plan to “think” on that today.

"In everything give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you." (I Thessalonians 5:18)

What’s the will of God concerning you? (and me) That in everything we give thanks.

I think I need to change my ladder of complaint for one of contentment----one that’s “upward” bound----that’s the way to stay out of the pit.

6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (I Timothy 6:6-8)

Sunday Summary

4/10/11 Very sporadic internet access and phone access continues---patience please---if I open a browser, it just cuts off. Hm-m-m---must be a life lesson here somewhere.

3-D Vision

3-D Vision

4/9/11 “Seeing God’s Hand” portion of this blog started the awareness, during my ’09 cancer journey, of the fact that most of the happenings of my life are out of my hands. Bobbie McCarty, at Houston High, encouraged me to see God’s hand in my life and to trust Him for the outcome. Today’s My Utmost for His Highest entry recalled for me the importance of that pursuit. Ten times in the entry, Oswald Chambers wrote of Seeing Him/Jesus.

How does one go about “seeing Him Who is invisible?” Through creation. Through the kindness and compassion of others who become His hands and feet.

As I mulled this today, I realized that often we see with our heart, especially as we read God’s word. We need to “see” Him with the eyes of our understanding. We need to put on our 3-D spiritual glasses if we cant to see His depth, His doggedness and His duration.

Depth---His love for us is deep and nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Doggedness---God first loved us (while we were yet sinners) and continues to pursue a love relationship with us. He doesn't give up on us. What a comfort that is. (Romans 5:8)

Duration---Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared……saying, ”I have loved you with and everlasting love.

I can’t “see” Him for you, nor you for me. We all have our own spiritual 3-D glasses. Let’s wear them today and then share with others, what we have seen for ourselves.

Sibling Rivalry

4/7/11.....NOT with my brothers and me! How grateful I am.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

DISCONNECTED

4/6/11 Three days with no “land line” for a girl who grew up with a rotary dial on a party line is usually no big deal. However, the fact that callers are given the false impression that they can leave a message has been problematic. RX pick up info, an appointment reminder from a doctor with a question and family updates all fell into a digital black hole. There was also no internet service or TV after the “wind storm” hit. Again, not necessarily a bad thing.

Being with out electricity most of Monday kept me by a window with a flashlight when needed for small print and a chance to review Isaiah before BSF, specifically Isaiah 55. Verses 1-3 had me considering the various ways many of us seek satisfaction. “For what kinds of satisfaction are you investing your time, energy and money?” Listen up and turn to the One who offers delight in the richest of fare was the answer given in verse 3.

Yet, it was the two verses near the end of the chapter that spoke to my heart---maybe because I’ve been dealing with the “thorns” growing in said heart.

Isaiah 55:12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; ……..13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

Lesson questions asked, “How is God identifying “thorny” parts of your personality and insisting that He dig them out and replace them with the evergreen and fragrant plantings of His Spirit?” (BSF, Isaiah --Lesson 26) What encouragement from His word that the “thornbush” can be replaced by a very aromatic evergreen and the “briers” by the myrtle. Such change gives me hope.

Disconnected----not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe I need to be cut off from the “world” more often.

What’s bloom’n ….

4/4/11…..in your garden? The garden of your heart, that is. What’s cultivated there? As you reflect on these verses, visualize these conditions in a real garden. A garden choked by weeds.

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful" (Mark 4:18,19)

Now consider the thorns that are choking God’s word in your own heart. Sadly, these are three conditions that we can all identify---just as applicable today as they were 2,000 years ago. Which condition is hindering your spiritual life the most? Ask the Lord to show you. Then find the perfect herbicide (verse) in His Word to help you eradicate that weed. Most likely, this will need to be an on-going/persistent effort since those ole nasty/pesky weeds keep coming back to attack one’s fruitful/spiritual blooms.

GARDENING......

4/2/11 Gardening.....it's more than weed whacking! In both our backyard gardens and the garden of our heart, there are weeds. Some are easier to identify than others. In my heart, WORRY & SELFISHNESS (Jesus Calling, 4/2) are all too frequently erupting. Cutting the weeds off at the surface might look good for awhile but those nasty weeds have a way of popping back up if we don’t deal with the root

Are there weeds growing in your heart? There is a spiritual herbicide that you can use----it’s God’s word. As those weeds shrivel, replace them with His seeds. What scriptural seeds do you need to plant instead?

God’s promise is …for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Gal. 6:7 (NAS)

DOTSY DOODLES

4/1/11 "Dotsy Doodle." Daddy used to call me that as I was growing up. He also called me "Sugar." Three weeks ago he couldn't speak my name even if he knew it. Last week I was Thelma though he did stammer out D-d-dotsy in response to Larry's question as we were leaving the hospital. I wonder what it will be tonight when I see him again? It really doesn't matter I keep telling myself----even if it"feels" like it does. It's not about me, it's about him. Though his future will not be what his past once was, I plan to be there for him. The life lessons now are no longer for Daddy or for Mommar, (hubby's mom) but for us. Lessons of compassion and trust.

This blog was going to be a way of sharing some of my jottings and musings from the last few weeks, thus the title. However, that's not where my fingers typed. So......I might share the rest or I might not. Right now I'm just mulling over God's mercy-----which is no April Fool's joke----it's the "realest" thing I know.

It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great it Thy faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23)

BREATHE DEEPLY

3/30/11

Catching a breath was one of the “concerns” I had several weeks ago. I didn’t think it was the scary “shortness of breath” type that preceded a heart attack. I just found it hard to catch a breath and I ended up yawning as a result. Sometimes even the yawn was not satisfying. My intake just wasn’t going deep enough. Was there a real medical concern? I just wanted more life sustaining air? Was panic (in my mind) the real problem? Can a tired, muddled mind create enough anxiety to incapacitate the lungs?

On Sunday, Cole summarized a segment of Jon Krakauer”s book, Into Thin Air, which documents the disastrous climb of Mt. Everest in 1996 in which 8 of their team of 14 perished. At several of the camps/passes along the way to the mountain summit, extra oxygen tanks awaited. In one instance a climber, possibly disoriented from oxygen deprivation, radioed to climbers ahead reporting that the oxygen canisters were empty. These climbers had just been there and knew “full” canisters were available. No matter how much they implored him to use them, his altered mental state prevented him from availing himself of the life-giving source. Canisters of oxygen-----right there in front of him and he couldn’t see ‘em.

Over the last few weeks, I have been aware that an extra dose of scripture is the RX I need most. God’s word, right there in front of me. Why wasn’t I picking it up and delving deeply instead of getting by on my own somewhat limited supply of life-giving Scripture.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. II Timothy 3:16 (ESV)

I want to inhale all that He has exhaled---in big, deep, soul satisfying breaths/gulps!

This morning I sat and breathed in God's Word. How easy it then was to breathe out my praises as well as pleas to Him.

A.D.D.

3/29/11 Acutely Distracted Dotsy. That’s me! That’s where I am in my life. If you don’t believe me just take a gander at my sermon notes. Where is the outline form that defines my notes? The CAPS for emphasis? The THOTS? The color insertions? Where are all the characteristics that make my notes identifiable? These current notes, with scribbles here there and yon, are muddled---just like my mind. Will it get better? I’m not so sure.
I, who once preferred people arriving at my parties in alphabetical order because it was easier to check them off the guest list, haven’t the wherewithal to plan a party or even think about generating a guest list. A list is the absolute easiest form of note taking. How do I keep going? How do I focus?

In so many areas (other than notetaking), I seemed to have dug a hole and I just keep digging, unable to get out ----creating a fog of dirt and dust in my eyes. I want out of this earthly hole of “unavoidable” circumstances, which I have made larger by my own “unfocused” digging. When I cry, it just muddies my focus even more.

Maybe a better question is, Where are my eyes focused? Will my mind follow since my mind is the “the eyes of my understanding?”

Scripture tells me that the Lord’s eyes are on me? “The LORD pays attention to (literally, the eyes of the LORD are toward) the godly and hears their cry for help” (Psalm 34:15). Shouldn’t my eyes be upon Him? "……fixing our eyes on Jesus," (Hebrews 12:2a)

Help me Lord to return to Always Dancing Dotsy.

His answer is simple. It’s all about a “set” focus, Dotsy. His focus/plan set for me. "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." (Colossians 3:2)