An Encouraging Word

What is honor these days? Is it a forgotten art, an old fashioned notion? It can mean respect, as in Honor thy father and mother, or it can mean integrity. Perhaps one leads to the other. Respect means we don’t destroy property, name-call, or try to hurt someone. To have honor means there are lines we don’t cross.

For a soldier, we believe honor is in fighting to protect our nation. But the greater good, a concept bigger than ourselves, is at the core of why a soldier fights. Freedom is for more than one person, and is worth fighting for. But we battle about things that are not a greater good. Not even important enough to remember next week. We struggle and fight with each other over a parking place, or who should be first in line, and other things not worth our time.

To honor someone is to put them above ourselves, to respect their right to happiness as much or more than our own. And, like giving, it’s a circle. When we honor others, we bring honor to ourselves. Or to play off a classic, respect shown is respect earned.

Who are we? Why are we here? Those questions have plagued our ancestors since the beginning of time. Adam knew he was to work the land and tend the animals right away, but Noah was six hundred years old before he saved his family and the animals from the flood. I heard Joel Osteen say on Hallmark’s Home and Family, “Even when we don’t realize it, God is preparing us for where we’re supposed to be.”

Noah went about his business, living his life, unaware that he and his family would start a new world. I wonder, would he have done anything differently in the half-millennium or so of his life before he knew of the ark?

We’re going about our business, doing our thing, and all the while God is building the fulfilment of our destiny inside us. And when the time is right, He’ll unveil it. Until then, we must do what is in front of us to do, following the voice of the Holy Spirit.

God hasn’t forgotten about you. He loves you, He has a plan for you, and it is good.

Lighthouses were used to warn sailors of impending danger. Before their existence, shallow water and jutting rocks caused the deaths of many an unsuspecting crew. New technology replaced the usefulness of the lighthouse, but this one stands on the Oregon Coast, a reminder of a time when the only thing between safe passage and total disaster was a functioning lighthouse with a dedicated Keeper.

A Lighthouse Keeper had to light the tower’s lamp every night, making sure it stayed lit until morning. Among many other duties, he had to maintain the lamps and polish the glass to make sure its light could be seen from as far away as possible. Lives hung in the balance.

Today, we are God’s lighthouses. He shines His light through us to warn of the danger of sin, and to bring His people around the rocky shores of life to the safety of His arms. When we’re tired or out of sorts, we can let the light falter, shutting our eyes and hearts to people around us needing our light. We can’t be perfect, nor do we need to be. We just need to allow God’s light to shine. Souls hang in the balance.

We’re told several times in the Bible to ask God for our needs and desires. But sometimes it seems selfish to ask for ourselves. After all, isn’t it better to give than to receive? To each other, yes. But what can we give to God that He doesn’t already have? Only ourselves. Our love. Our loyalty.

And what if we ask for the wrong thing? We pray for what we think we need, but He knows our heart, and what’s right for us. God asked me what I really wanted one day when I prayed it wouldn’t snow. If He withheld the snow, but my kids got in an accident, would that be my answer? No. I wanted safe travel for my family, and I saw the snow as a threat. Sometimes I ask for circumstances to change in order to achieve a desired result, when if I asked for the result itself and let God handle the doing of it, the end would be far superior.

It’s human nature to want all obstacles to our success removed, and have smooth sailing. If we did though, it wouldn’t make us happy for long, and we would become spoiled brats. We need obstacles to stretch our faith, and to keep us from thinking we have all the answers. We think if we could just understand, we would be happy. But wouldn’t it only make us more judgmental of each other?

God never said He would give us every earthly desire. He said desire heavenly things, and He would take care of our earthly ones. It’s okay to ask. And if you don’t get it right away, don’t think you were wrong to go there. Just trust Him to take care of His business.

And we are His business.

What is peace? Is it the ending of war? No, that’s a truce. Real peace comes when harmony is established. It’s the same with our souls. We war with ourselves, fighting our base instincts to become the people God wants us to be. And that’s a good thing, but it can be stressful and depressing when we don’t measure up to our own yardstick of expected progress.

True peace happens when we allow God to take control of the emotions and passions warring in our souls. When we know we can’t achieve perfection, and we give it over, knowing he will teach us in a gentle way how to be more like Him.

What I usually do is give something over to him, then snatch it back to gnaw on it some more. When I’m finally worn out and my teeth hurt, I finally dump it at his feet and back away. Then a wondrous thing happens. The tight band around my chest loosens and I can breathe again. I should have done this years ago, I say. So why do I continue to tie myself in a knot? I know I’ll do it again with another problem, and I wonder why I don’t learn.

It’s partly fear of the process. We know the outcome will be good, but will there be pain involved? Maybe. He didn’t promise a life devoid of pain, and not surprisingly, we’re afraid of it. The greats in the Bible were afraid too. Gideon said you can’t mean me, God, and Moses fussed about it so much he made God a little mad. But both men were used mightily, because they gave it up.

Peace is harmony in your soul. Knowing that you belong to Him, and what He asks of you, He’ll help you do.  You’re not alone, and it’s not all on your shoulders.

We don’t like that word – wait. It isn’t yes, which we want to hear, or even no, which would allow us to move on. It’s not yet, or hold. We scurry around our world, doing, doing, doing. And it seems we come to a screeching halt under the sign of wait.

My dog, Sadie, hates to wait. She crouches at the bottom of the stairs as I walk near, not quite certain if I’m going up. When she’s convinced I am, she flies past so she can beat me. Then she’ll turn to see if I’m coming. She wants to lead, but has no idea where to go.

We can be that way with God. So excited about something, we’re off and running, looking behind to see if He’s there. We want to lead, but have no clue where we’re going. We expend a lot of energy darting around, trying this thing and that until, exhausted, we stop and let him lead. Needless to say, the whole experience can be frustrating at best.

Isaiah 40:31 says …those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Maybe this is because when He shows us where to go, He also shows us the best way to get there.

We lead, we go in circles. He leads, we get there rested and refreshed. Such a nice shortcut. Now if only I can do it.

^{Romans 7:15} I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Paul had it so right. I want to be generous and kind, uplifting and encouraging. But instead, I find myself behaving badly, even making someone feel less than the important person they are.

A funny thing happened to me last year. I was walking with my husband when a car backed out of a space, so close we could have touched it. I was indignant. “Knock on that car!” I said. “I want them to know we’re back here, and we could have been hurt!”

He refused, and we went on about our business. I forgot all about it until a week or so later when I was with my sister. I backed out of a space and I thought I looked, but….you guessed it… someone knocked on my car! They were furious. In fact, they had quite a bit to say about my intelligence.

I was angry and wounded at first, until God reminded me of my own reaction to someone’s mistake. I got to see firsthand what it would have felt like for the poor driver if my husband hadn’t been the better person. Will that make me never respond like that again? I would like to say yes, but as the experience fades, I know I’m liable say or do something which is at best ungraceful, or at worst cruel.

Just thinking I’ve hurt someone upsets me, so I know I’m on the right track, but sometimes my emotions get the best of me. It helps to know that even the giants of the Bible were human. They too had times when they didn’t like themselves very much. The only thing we can do is learn from it, pick ourselves up and try again. I believe it’s worth the effort.

As humans we aren’t perfect. If that’s a revelation, we might need to have a different conversation. Since you’re still reading, we must be on the same page. Goodness isn’t a natural trait; we have a lot to learn, and sometimes we blow it. Usually we can ask forgiveness and, conscience clean, walk away with a desire to do better next time. But sometimes we limp along, appearing fine on the outside, but inside we’re harboring shame.

Shame in itself isn’t a bad thing, without it we wouldn’t understand our sin. Just as nerves send pain to keep us from causing injury to the body, shame is there to prevent damage to our souls. It’s what makes us care. But too often we drown in it. Guilt swamps us and instead of hating the sin, we hate the sinner – us. Feelings of inadequacy quickly follow, making us feel undeserving of God’s gifts and afraid to get close to Him. He holds out mercy, but we refuse to take it, afraid it’s not meant for us.

God doesn’t hate us because we messed up – even if it’s bad. And He doesn’t want us to either. The Bible is full of mess ups at least as bad as any of ours. Abraham and Sarah lied about being married and nearly caused a kingdom to crumble. Isaac did the same thing. Jacob cheated his brother out of a birthright – at his mother’s request.  And of course David had a man killed to hide his sin of adultery. Peter denied Jesus, Paul tried to wipe out His disciples, and the list continues.

Did God turn his back on them? No. They sincerely repented, and He continued to bless them. The truth is, we mess up. Everyone does. We can use our unworthiness to keep God at a distance, or we can accept that we blew it, ask forgiveness and move on, closer to Him than ever.