Wil-TEA : a tuneful cuppa

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.(Isaiah 40:8, ESV)

Lately, for a variety of reasons, I have been very much aware of being in the withering, wil-TEA season of life. Scripture presents many rich "comparative" figures of speech to describe this season of brevity, especially when compared to eternity. 

• Swifter than a weaver's shuttle (Job 7:6) 
• Days on earth are like a shadow & wither away like grass. (1 Chronicles 29:13 and Psalm 102:11) 
• A vapor...for awhile...then vanishes. (James 4:14)

But, for aging believers, that knowledge is not without hope. 

These thoughts were whirring. K-Love was playing. Owen piped up---I like that song, Shug.

I like that song as well----especially the verse that reminds me of how fleeting my life is. Such a verse reminds me to make the most of my moments----especially relational moments. It reminds me that God is still with me during this season, watching out for  me, and telling me that I am His. 
Not because of anything this "wilty gal has done, but because of who He is and what He has done on my behalf. Therein lies eternal hope.

I am a flower quickly fading,  Here today and gone tomorrow. A wave tossed in the ocean. A vapor in the wind.Still you hear me calling.Lord, You catch me when I'm falling. And you've told me who I am. 

I am yours. 

Not because of who I am But because of what You've done. Not because of what I've done. But because of who You are. (Casting Crowns)

Listen to this tune, especially if you're feeling wil-TEA, and renew your hope.

"Wil-TEA"

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. (Psalm 42:1. NIV)

Not only does a deer long for water, so does my forsythia!

Desiring a big POP of yellow sunshine at the end of the driveway, I planted a forsythia. Nothing "pops" YELLOW in a landscape quite like this bush.
According to Mother, a forsythia requires sunshine and lots of room to spread as  it grows---"don't contain or shape it, Dotsy. Let it shape itself." Words from long ago that still ring in my head.

Before God sent the rain, I, and hubby, watered it faithfully, or so we thought. It still looked wil-TEA to us----like it needed a big cuppa fresh water. Even my "master gardener neighbor," Lynda used my same term. "Your forsythia really is looking mighty wilty."

Then, the rains came.

Washed by water from the heavens, my forsythia perked up.

I feel the same way when I've been "washed with water (from God) through the word." (Ephesians 5:26)
Cleansed. Refreshed. Perked up.

That's why one's wilting soul "pants" after the Living Water. The One who offers the drink of living water assures us that when we drink deeply, we will never thirst again. (John 4:14)

No more wilting for those who drink from His cuppa.

"De-i-TEA" choice

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 2:3, KJV)

Worshipping a false God in our culture is nothing as easily recognizable as a graven image. (Exodus 2:4) The counterfeit gods of our culture are those more subtle ones that we bow down to with our time, our job and our checkbooks. It's the gods of achievement and perfection, even pleasure. It's the gods we serve. The gods we rely on. The gods we think we need for fulfillment.

A relatively new thought to me was the god of knowledge. 

TMI. Instant gratification. Answers at our fingertips. Just a click away.
Could google be a god? Some scholars think it contributes to the "god of self." Because who doesn't want to "know it all" or at least appear to have knowledge.

Remember Eve in the Garden of Eden? She succumbed to "her desire" for obtaining wisdom by disobeying God.  (Genesis 3:6)

Any of our cultural gods that replace God as our center of attention and have come front and center in our pursuit of fulfillment is an IDOL. Not graven, but an idol all the same. 

It's important to choose the One true God. The God of Scripture who offers a cuppa HIs De-i-TEA for every aspect of our lives. Let's "sip" to that!

***Thanks to Jan C. and her Summer Refreshment class who has had my mind clicking about "counterfeit gods" in my life. So eye-opening.....and convicting.

"Puri-TEA" of Faith

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27, KJV)

Many world faiths "do good." It's their version of "doing good," as well as their motive, that can bring the validity of such faith in to question, at least for me. Suicide bombers purport to be acting our their faith. But to what purpose? And to whose benefit?

Therefore, puri-TEA of pure faith is a cuppa poured out for the benefit of others.....the least of these. Orphans. Widows. 

Puri-TEA of faith is acceptable to God. For the glory of God---not for fame and glory for self. 

In the Christian faith, purity goes beyond this action of service to others, to keeping oneself pure, not soiled and dirty from the mores/morals of the culture.

Unstained. Unblemished. Spotless.

May I wait each day for God's purpose and motives in order to fill my empty cuppa with "puri-TEA of faith."

SABBATH SNAPSHOT : harsh reali-TEA

Yes, I have read The Tilted World. (CA Viewpoint, 6/8) Beth Ann Fennelly, is co-author. A prize-winning poet, as well, I first heard Fennelly read from her book, Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother, at the “ Southern Festival of Books“ in the fall of 2006.  

I've always liked books of letters and diaries and the topic was certainly apropos as daughter, Molly was pregnant at the time.  It inspired me to write (still unfinished) “Letters to my Molly” to chronicle her pregnancy, interspersed with memories of my own pregnancy with her.

Fennelly’s latest book, co-authored with her husband, and set against the 1927 flood of the Mississippi, was a story of abuse and murder and tthe historical info was well documented, I did not review it on this blog because the  story, though in many ways tender, had a “roughness” to it. Yet, I’m glad I read it---well written and historically rich in an area close to home.

Just this week, I read Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall, a story told from the point of view of 9 year old Starla that takes place during the summer of 1963, a very familiar time frame to me.

Describing herself as having “more sass than sense” with a “mouth that wandered off more than it stayed home,” Starla ends up on a trek with Eula, a black woman with a white baby. Eula, who called Starla a “blessing” when  no on else ever had. (p. 141) Starla began to show gratitude, using Eula’s  words, “Thank you baby Jesus.” (p.257)

There’s good and bad portrayal of folks of faith. Sadly, that’s still a reali-TEA of life today.

Heartwarming and tender around the edges, but rough as well. A roughness indicative of the time.

Readers who liked Saving CeeCee Honeycutt would probably like this one as well.

This Starla quote explains the book’s title as well as giving one a taste of her dialect.

My daddy says that when you do somethin' to distract you from your worstest fears, it's like whistlin' past the graveyard. You know, making a racket to keep the scaredness and the ghosts away. He says that's how we get by sometimes. But it's not weak, like hidin'... It's strong. It means you're able to go on.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:

Books reviewed by me are not always recommendations! Just because there is a picture or a quote, that does NOT indicate a recommendation---with, or without reservation.

So-o-o to many readers, who are interested in a book mentioned, but not necessarily recommended, leave a comment, email or call---I can give more info and then you can decide for yourself.

SWEET TEA OF Biblical Authori-TEA

...For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. (Romans 13:1, NIV)

Some things make me glad to be "Southern." Friendly folks, wraparound porches, familiar drawls, fried crappie and sweet tea. 

Lots of "sweet teas" in my life, (joyous things, even seemingly "tuff" ones)---and a recent USA Today snapshot reminded me of another one. In terms of "Bible-mindness," a recent poll showed that the highest percentage of folks who had read the Bible and believed strongly in its accuracy, reside comfortably close to me, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

Count me among them.

"Selectivi-TEA"

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4:3, NIV)

Many a couple struggles with selective hearing "chosen" by their spouse, though most often men get the blame. Mention the opera or a conversation with a friend and he is tuned out but mention football stats or golf scores and "he" is all ears! It goes both ways---but for either, it's an action when one chooses to focus his/her attention on a specific source of a sound (think...spouse vs TV) or the spoken words themselves.
Selective hearing is a euphemism for listening to only what one wants to hear.

Some of us sip from this cuppa of selectivi-TEA when we read our Bibles. Even being aware that ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.....(2 Timothy, 3:16, emphasis mine), one can still pick and choose the truths he/she wants to heed. Some even hop from church to church or tele-evangelist to tele-evangelist til they find the prosperi-TEA gospel they want to hear. In our culture, there's always a "teacher/preacher" ready to tickle your ears so that you "feel good"----because they say what you want to hear.

The selective hearer only ever hears within their own frame of reference.

Ask yourself, "Am I hearing what God is saying and wants me to hear....or is self my frame of reference?"

Selectivi-TEA of truth is a choice each must make on his own.

lis-TEA-ning

And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: (Mark 4:24, KJV)

Yesterday's Commercial Appeal comic strip was so "right on" for my recent ponderings. 

ZITS COMICS

When it comes to listening, whose voice am I choosing? Where is my aural focus? God or self?

When God speaks, am I hearing as to heed or am I only 1/2 listening----hearing the parts I like?? That's similar to Jeremy, the 15 yr old Zits' character, who will only listen to those things he wants to hear.

So many voices in life's cuppas....choosing the right cuppa lis-TEA-ning is important.

"insecuri-TEA"

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight: what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roof-tops. (Matthew 10:27, NIV)

Sometimes, God gives me blog ideas in the night. Sometimes I easlily recall them the next day. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I write them down, Most times I don't. Normally, I don't tell of these infrequent occurrences. It feels embarrassing. It might sound self-righteous. What would others think? Would I sound like a mystic?

I'm not a mystic. I'm ordinary.  I don't hear an audible voice---but God still "speaks to me." An impression. A sense. A middle of the night idea. A struggle. A serendipitous circumstance. A check in my spirit. A deep longing that fills my heart. 

I hear from God by reading His word. Even a single verse. 

Today's verse, which I had also embedded in a '09 cancer journey blog, spoke to me in a different way, But God used it then, as now. Same verse different lesson.

But....speaking "it" (that I hear from God) and proclaiming "it" (from the rooftops) does not come easily. I need to rid myself of this cuppa insecuri-TEA so that God can use me as He sees fit. 

So here's today's SHOUT-OUT----God speaks to me. I can't explain it....

but God does speak. I have lots of "But God" moments in my life---this is just one of them.

"jit-TEA-ry"

 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:12, KJV)

Growing up at 2211, we were always told to "turn out the light" when we left the room. Or asked, "Did you turn off the light?" Mainly, the concern was payment of the light bill from Pennyrile Electric that prompted these remarks.

These days one needs to turn the "off switch" in order to have the light. Light from the One who is the Light.
Our lives could do with a little dimming of extraneous stimuli. Away from the bombardment of visual and auditory distractions.Turning off digital devices alone could afford one a little less noise and commotion, making life a little less jittery----but a lot calmer. 
Disconnecting digitally. Connecting spiritually.

If we don't intentionally create these quiet times, we can get caught up in all the wrong "hoopla" that will beckon us at every turn. Hoopla that is NOT from the Lord.

The de-caf shelf in my pantry where one can find "jitter free" tea.

We need to "de-caf" our life cuppa, just a bit, if we want to enjoy times of peace and restoration at His feet. It's only when one's away from the ji-TEA-ry influences and sensations that one is then able to hear His still small voice.