My Favorite Things - Trust, Healing and Refreshment

Many of you who follow me are familiar with the Sound of Music, a musical drama staring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer set in pre WWII Austria. The film, one of my favorites, is an adaption of a stage musical by Rogers and Hammerstein. The movie is filled with uplifting musical numbers, beautiful scenery and budding romance. A number that has been with me since our choir sang it in junior high was My Favorite Things.

I had the idea come to me this morning that it might be fun and beneficial to share with you a number of my favorite passages of scripture. There is always a reason we have favorites. We might have a favorite ice cream, perfume or movie. Our faves are ones we like to revisit over and over.

I love to see a garden full of bright colorful flowers. Flower gardening is an activity I would like to do, but like so many things, I just don’t seem to get to it. That is okay. I can still enjoy the flowers at our local botanical gardens and adorning the front walkways and porches of many homes I drive by in the summer time.

Scripture is something that I desire to cultivate in my life. I am learning over and over how important and powerful God’s word is in my life, and that is why I want to share with you passages that I go back to on repeat. Just like the beautiful flowers we see in the warm weather, God’s word is a beautiful. It is meant to be looked at, mulled over and enjoyed. Yes, there are hard bits, bits that I remind me of my sin and my short comings, but God’s word is so much more than that. Let’s take a look.

“1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
2 For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.
3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.”

— Proverbs 3:1-8 (NASB 1995)

God’s word is meant to teach us. As I look at this portion of Proverbs 3 I know the author is King Solomon, David’s son by Bathsheba. Isn’t it amazing how God took a messy, sinful situation and turned it into something for His glory and honor? He is a master at that.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

As Solomon penned these words we know that he was inspired by God, and it is written like a father speaking to his son. Whether Solomon had a son in mind when he penned these words, or he was relaying what God’s spirit inspired him regarding the Father - child relationship we have with God, I am not sure, but these words apply just as readily to us today as they did to people from long ago.

These verses could be said to be written like poetic couplets. Each set of two verses goes together with the first verse being a command, and the second verse being the benefit of obeying the command.

“1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
2 For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.”

— Proverbs 3:1-2 (NASB 1995)

The writer is telling his son to not forget the things he taught him. He even speaks to the issue of his heart. Why is it important for our hearts to keep God’s commandments? The simple truth is, head knowledge does not make us more godly or Christ like. It is when we allow the words of the Scriptures to permeate our hearts that we truly delve into the layers that are God.

Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay

The author gives the reason heart knowledge is so important, because it benefits us. “…length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.” Our society pushes the idea of exercise and eating right to help us live longer, but that is not the only piece of our health puzzle. Living our lives for God in obedience to, and in love with our Lord will benefit us in more ways than we can even understand.

“3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.”

— Proverbs 3:3-4 (NASB 1995)

We hear so much about being kind these days. We see the phrase, “Be kind” written on signs in front of schools, on tee shirts and other apparel and we are constantly telling our children and grand children to be kind. The idea of kindness isn’t new and obviously, if Solomon felt it was necessary to mention, then you can bet back in his day there were probably all sorts of bullies and social difficulties. The man had 700 wives and 300 concubines! How could there not be social difficulties? Have you ever heard of a cat fight? Ha, ha.

It wasn’t just kindness that Solomon suggested, he said kindness and truth. He told the reader to bind them around their neck and write them on the tablet of their heart. As women we like to adorn our necks with jewelry or pretty scarves. A pretty statement necklace or flowy scarf really take an outfit up a notch. Being kind is always more appealing than being nasty. Being truthful is typically better than being deceitful, especially if the first lie leads to more and more lies.

Once again we see a reason why the command is given, “So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.” We aren’t just pleasing God, but we will be looked up to and respected by others when we are kind and truthful.

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.”

— Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB 1995)

These two verses are probably the more well known of all the verses in this chapter. Once again Solomon speaks of the heart. We are to trust the Lord, not just with our heads, but with “all” our hearts. The next phrase is huge. In a society where we are constantly being told we can do it, we can figure it out, we got this, we are fierce and infallible, it is very hard to not lean on our own understanding. Don’t I know what is best for me? Well, not really. Only the One who made you knows what is truly best for you.

The author goes on to say in all our ways to acknowledge Him and this is where we hone in on the real problem; the heart problem. We don’t acknowledge God in any of our ways, or maybe we do in one or two of our ways, but that is precisely why we lean on our own understanding. “I” will figure it out. “I” will fix this. “I” will do what it takes. “I” don’t need anyone’s help. We can be all about that, but in reality there will be times you can’t figure it out, fix it or do what it takes and you are going to need help. His help.

Image by Silvia from Pixabay

He will make your paths straight. Once again, the command is followed by the benefit. God will take all the crooked, messed up pile of chaos that you created and He will make it straight. Quit leaning on your own understanding. Trust with all of your heart. Acknowledge Him and He will do it.

“7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.”

— Proverbs 3:7-8 (NASB 1995)

The final couplet again speaks to wisdom and its source. Solomon tells the son to not be wise in his own eyes. Do you ever think of yourself as wise? Have you ever had one of those pride moments when you figured out how to fix something or found out something you said helped another person. It is wonderful to have those moments, but we have to remember where all wisdom comes from. Solomon speaks to it in the next line, “Fear the Lord…” Wisdom starts with the Lord. Solomon takes it one more step, “…and turn away from evil.”

Turning away from evil is essential to having true wisdom. Solomon is a case study, because as wise as he was, he ended up being influenced by all of his many wives who came from various heathen countries and worshipped various heathen gods. For all the wisdom he had, he wasn’t very wise about keeping things under God’s authority.

Why should we fear the Lord and turn away from evil? The answer is in the second part of the couplet: so we will have healing and refreshment. Following after evil can be hard on the body, not just the physical ramifications of overeating, drinking alcohol or taking drugs, but also on a person’s mental and emotional well being causing anxiety, fear, depression and even eventual suicidal tendencies.

I hope you enjoyed this look at one of my favorite passages. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Divine Appointments

We live in a society of planners. Architects design and plan buildings. Engineers design and plan roads and parking lots. Fashion designers plan for the next season always thinking ahead to the next color palette or trend. Even those of us, who would not call ourselves true planners make dentist and doctor appointments, write up grocery lists and plan get togethers with friends. 

Jerry Jenkins, is the author of a myriad of books including the Left Behind Series and numerous biographies on people ranging from Hank Aaron, to Luis Pulau to Walter Payton. He even assisted Billy Graham with his autobiography, Just As I Am. Jerry also owns and runs The Jerry Jenkins Writer's Guild, of which I am in my second year of membership. I remember one of the first webinars I took from Jerry, where he talked about the difference between two types of writers; the panster and the outliner. Like Jerry himself and another big name author,  Stephen King, I am a panster.  I write my blog and my fiction by the seat of my pants. Where as an outliner has a plan or an outline they follow as they write. Neither one is better than the other, they are just different. There is also a hybrid of writers who combine the elements of both styles of writing. They come up with a loose outline, but fill in details by the seat of their pants. 

When we talk about making plans versus living by the seat of our pants, we can see that there are good points and bad points to both ways of approaching life. Planners, usually, get more done, but they are often so rigid in their schedules that they have forgotten how to enjoy the moment. Those who live by the seat of their pants are usually more relaxed and easy going, but often have projects piling up, because they neglect to develop a plan on how to get them finished.

We as Christ followers can often be guilty of both, planning too much and not planning enough. When I was a young mom, trying to figure out marriage, family life and eventually home schooling, I was often impatient and frustrated because I looked at life as a list of things I had to accomplish. This mentality become more pronounced as I home schooled our daughters from kindergarten through high school. I became a list person, which is a planner, if you didn't know! I think it is amusing that I could be a panster as a writer but in every day life, I was a planner. I loved to get a new planner every year as I looked forward to a new year of home schooling. I still love planners, but I'm not quite as rigid in how I used them. 

What does God say in His word about having plans? Let's take a look. 

“Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.”

— Proverbs 16:3 (NASB)

“The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”

— Proverbs 16:9 (NASB)

“Many plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand.”

— Proverbs 19:21 (NASB)

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, But everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.”

— Proverbs 21:5 (NASB)

Obviously, God inspired King Solomon, the author of Proverbs to pen these many verses about planning. It is normal and it is good to have a plan, whether you are talking about retirement or about next week's meals, planning can be beneficial in saving us time, money and frustration. 

Unfortunately, many of us have made plans that didn't work out. We have been disappointed by failed relationships, ruined vacations and the chaos of life that constantly seems to want to get in the way of our well thought out plans. The beauty of being a panster, when it comes to real life is a drastic reduction in stress and pain brought about by waylaid plans. 

A mindset that has recently come about in my own life, is that of divine appointments.

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

— Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)

If I really believe that God is sovereign, and I really believe that He is good, then I must also believe that every bump in the road and every plan that doesn't come to fruition, He already knows about and has a purpose for. How often have you had a plan for your day off and the day draws to a close and you didn't accomplish anything that you had planned? I see those hands our there! In addition to that, how many of you got frustrated because what you had planned got sabotaged by life....a child stays home from school sick, your mother needed your help with the garden, your teenagers and your spouse call saying that won't be home to eat that delicious meal you slaved to prepare....this is the reality of life. The question then becomes, am I supposed to stop planning? Do I just let life fly and go with the flow, like some sort of 1960's flower child, content to sit in the sun and listen to the music?

Like so many things we talk about, I think the key here is, balance. I think it is important to have plans, but we also need to allow God to do that thing that He does best...orchestrate our lives. Recognize that those speed bumps that come into life are allowed by Him. Everything that comes your way, even the little annoyance and inconveniences, have passed through Him. This is even more pertinent when we are talking about divine appointments. These are those interruptions to our plans that revolve around people. 

Sunday, my Grandson came down with a nasty virus. I am the primary care person when he is out of school, as my daughter, a single mom, has to work a full time job. He comes to my house, when he is home from school. Sunday, I had plans for Monday. I was going to get ahead on my blog, do some writing and try to tackle the laundry. It wasn't going to happen. In fact, here it is Wednesday and the poor guy is still running a low grade temp, so once again, he is home from school. You know what? It's okay. Did my plans get ruined? Not ruined, just adjusted. When I look at life as a series of divine appointments, not only do I have an easier time adjusting to the bumps, but I also keep my focus on the author and finisher of my faith. 

Whether you are a planner or a panster, allowing God to direct your life, day in and day out, gives you the capacity to be less frustrated and more in tune with exactly what He wants you to do. Next time you have a plan and it gets interrupted, ask yourself, could this be one of His divine appointments, then let Him meet you right there. 

Live with Intentionality

A king who penned those words to his son. King Solomon, (considered to be the wisest man who ever lived), desired that his son learn to live with intentionality. He desired, his son follow his teaching, for he knew that it would make a difference in his life. 

Something I have been stewing on for the last year or so, is living with intentionality. What exactly does that mean? The word intention, according to Webster, has several meanings: a determination to act in a certain way, resolve, what one intends to do or bring about, concept. It seems that many times in my life I am just moving from one thing to the next, without really thinking about what I am doing or for what purpose I am doing it. Superficially, I have what I would call good intentions, but that does not mean I am living with resolve or am committed to acting a certain way. 

Life gets away from us, wouldn't you agree? Days blend into weeks, which blend into months, which blend into years. June 27th marked 30 years of marriage for my husband and I. As we sat at a nice restaurant enjoying our salmon, shrimp and lobster, we discussed what it means to live with intentionality. My spouse remarked how, so often, he lives just to get though the next day, week, deadline or whatever. You can fill in your own blanks. How often have you found yourself saying, "If I can just get through this dentist appointment, then I can relax," "If I can just get to the weekend, then I can kick back and feel less stressed," "If....then...."? But isn't that wishing our lives away? Aren't we missing every day opportunities to witness life and beauty?

Pixabay

If you have never listened to Tim McGraw's song Live Like You Were Dying, I'll include it at the end of this post so you can. There is a great message in that song, that we should live every day as if it is our last. I am not endorsing going absolutely mad and doing everything you ever thought about doing, like robbing a bank or hijacking an airplane, or killing your coworker! What I believe we need to do is live intentionally. Here are a few ways to live with intention.

1. Remember whose you are. If you are a Christ follower, then everything you do and every choice you make, should be made with the idea in mind that you are His. Whether it be that you are upholding and glorifying Him in the activities you choose, or that your are trusting Him for the difficulty you are going through. We will mess up, that is a given, but even in our mess ups we can remember He is ours and we are His.

2. Live in the present. I am all for planning. Being closer to retirement age, my spouse and I need to be thinking about the future, as well as planning for our eventual end of life tasks. However, we can and do get caught up in the web of worry, thinking so much about the "what ifs" that we miss the beautiful moments that are happening right now. Thinking too much about the future can make a person anxious and fearful, thus depriving them of all the precious opportunities along the journey of life.

3. Find beauty in the ugliness of life. Life is hard, we all would agree with that, but we do not have to let that make or break us. In Ann VosKamp's book 1000 Gifts, she talks about the "ugly beautiful". Read this post from her blog and it gives you an idea of what she is talking about. I love this concept, that we are created for joy and that even though things come wrapped in ugly paper doesn't mean that there isn't a beautiful gift inside. Our part is to be willing to look past the ugliness and see the beauty that He has for us. This can be especially hard when you are surrounded by people who only dwell on ugliness. 

4. Remind yourself of His intentions for your life. Get back into the scripture! Over and over He speaks to what our lives should be and can be, if we intentionally let Him be our source of strength and our guide. 

"Do no be anxious for anything..."

"Pray without ceasing..."

"Rejoice always..."

"Give thanks in all things..."

These verses didn't just happen haphazardly. God included them with the intention that we can live them by His power and might. 

Every day comes with a choice. How am I going to live today? Am I going to let life carry me away with its concerns and ugliness or am I going to live with intention, trusting God and finding beauty in each moment? 

King Solomon knew that living with intention would make his son a better man. Looking back at Proverbs 3 we can see four things he encouraged his son to do: remember his teaching, don't walk away from kindness and truth, trust in the Lord and do not be wise in his own eyes. We will all live life intentionally if we can remember those four things.

What Do You Believe?

The word faith as defined by Webster's dictionary means, a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. We often associate the word faith with religion. The Jews believe in Yahweh, the Muslims believe in Allah, the Christians believe in Jesus and the atheists believe in nothing. Even the lack of a deity is a belief, because there is no absolute proof. You can say there is no God, but how do you know for sure? Can you take a rocket ship into the furtherest reaches of space and discover that there is no being who calls himself God? Probably not and even if you had the resources to build a rocket and go into space, the vastness of that place would make it impossible for you to ever truly discover wether or not there is a supreme being known as God. 

Jeremy Thomas on StockSnap

Faith is just that. It is the ability to believe without proof. Every day we make faith based choices. I have faith that when I get out of bed the floor I step on will hold me. I have faith that the air I breathe or the water I drink will not kill me. I have faith that when I drive to work, everyone else will obey the traffic laws, driving the speed limit, stopping at red lights and driving on the correct side of the road. A parent exercises faith when they put their child on the school bus. A patient exercises faith when they go to the doctor. Even scientists exercise faith in many of the theories and scientific laws they put forth as fact. 

At some point in your life, you might want to ask yourself, what do I believe? Maybe you are wondering what I believe. Belief comes with an aspect of trust. Whatever I believe or put my faith in, I am choosing to trust. Trust seems to be a big issue in our world today. We live in a society filled with mistrust, whether it be in the President of the United States, in our educational system or in our own spouses. In many cases a child cannot even trust his own parent where abuse is involved. So who do you trust?

So what is the big deal? Why have faith? Why bother trusting anyone, but myself? Any of you who remember Simon and Garfunkel, probably remember the song, I Am A Rock, which included lyrics like, 

“I’ve built walls
A fortress, steep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship
Friendship causes pain.
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.
I am a rock
I am an island”

— Simon and Garfunkel - I Am A Rock

Mikkel Schmidt on StockSnap

Even though we probably have all felt like an island at some point in time, the reality is that we need people. Not only that, but we need to be able to put our trust in someone who won't let us down. 

When I was twelve, my family was faced with some difficult financial stresses. It put a strain on my parents relationship and I was old enough to know that it was creating hardship in our family. It was at that point in time that I decided I needed someone I could trust and gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ. In order to be able to fully trust, we have to be able to be fully vulnerable and know that we will not be hurt by doing so. 

Jesus has been, not only my Savior, but my closest friend. Maybe you are reading this and thinking, "I don't get it! How could you have a friendship with a being who is so far beyond what we know and understand?" That is the beauty of this faith! I believe, not in a religion. I believe in a relationship.

Jesus speaks in the Gospels of relationship. He speaks of dwelling together, like a family.

“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.”

— John 14:2 (NASB)

“Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.””

— John 14:23 (NASB)

“ “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.””

— John 17:20-21 (NASB)

These are not the words of a being who wants to keep his distance, nor one that makes demands we can never keep. These are the words of the God Man, both fully God and fully Man. His desire is that we be with Him and that we have oneness with Him and His Father. When I put my trust in someone, He was the one. 

Who are you trusting in today? The government, the law, the psychic or yourself? Why not put your trust in the one who has loved you with an everlasting love. 

King Solomon is considered to be the wisest King of all time and this is what he said, 

“My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you.
Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.”

— Proverbs 3:1-8 (NASB)