MORNING HAS BROKEN

But the Lord said to Samuel,
Look not on his countenance,
or on the height of his stature.
I have refused him:
for the Lord sees not as man sees;
for man looks on the outward appearance;
the Lord looks on the heart.

 

 

 

Be careful, then
before you pass judgement.
Do you want other people
judging you?
Do you know enough
about someone else
to cast stones?
Is it your business anyway?
God knows what’s up
with each of us.
He is fully aware
of the verbal bully,
the shrinking violet,
the bombastic know-it-all.
God knows where
we’ve chosen to hunker down
in the greater scheme of life.
Let your guide be God.
He knows the way.
There are rules to follow:
love God with all your heart
and all your mind,
and the second
is important, too,
love your neighbor.
A third woven throughout
God’s word and his Son’s message
is simply this, be kind.

Based on 1 Samuel 16:7

Grace

 Grace beyond words

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

Among the chosen. How awesome is that? God in his glory, fully realized in every sense of the word, powerful beyond imagining, greater than anything human minds can conceive, creator and author of all of life, in all of the cosmos, God has chosen to love me. I am struck speechless at the idea of it, knowing full well I haven’t deserved this love and have at times forgotten that it is there, holding me up, protecting me in the storms of life, taking it as my due. God’s love for me is singular. It is based on his infinite love for his creation: me. The thing is that although it is singular to me, it is also singular to every person who calls upon his name. His choice. His love revealed in the form of a wee babe. Amazing grace beyond words.

God's Love

God so loved the world...

God is a jealous God. God is a wrathful God. God is a loving God. God is God. When I was a child the idea of God was frightening to me. I saw Him as a bearded guy who could stomp his foot and shake the universe. A Spirit so all-encompassing I couldn’t take in His magnitude and it scared me to think some One knew everything about me. The story in Genesis about the flood is a reminder that God did run out of patience and stomp his foot. Only Noah and his family were spared. How much of this story can be put into an historical context? What can we learn from this horrific event? Is it that God so loved the world He wanted to purge it of selfish behavior and destructive choices? In time He would take a different approach to alter the course of human affairs. God so loved the world that He gave His son that we might be saved. A babe in a manger. A man on a Cross. Christ arisen. Grace unlimited.

There is always a choice

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Minister and author Max Lucado writes in Everyday Blessings, that the Bible is the story of two gardens, Eden and Gethsemane. Eden was the beginning, and Gethsemane was far from being the end.

In a few words Lucado reminds the reader there are consequences to the road not traveled and the path taken. We have choices every day that take us away from or toward God. Jesus leads the way, but each of us gets to decide whether we will follow. There was one path Jesus took that none could walk with him, the path that led to the hill where he would be put to a brutal death. And then came the garden moment when he was seen by two women who went to honor his death only to find he was very much alive. We enter into the Lenten season to prepare for his resurrection celebration. God with us, God in us and God for us.