Blow the Shofar

Blow the shofar until I am deaf to the world until the noise of discouragement fades to nothing until the sound of grief is no more until only the sweetness of Your words is heard. Blow the shofar to awaken my love for my Redeemer again to blast away the selfish sin caked on my heart to shake my soul until it aches for Your Truth to move me in line with Your will and not mine. Blow the shofar while there is still time while we long for the sound while our hearts bleed for the peace while we gather in Your name. Blow the shofar With the wind 9f Your Spirit with the sound of Your love with the strength of Your power with the desire of Your heart that each of us will hear when You, Lord, Blow the shofar.

Choices

One or two or A or Z Choices staring back at me. Simple ones that matter not, Simply choose whate'er they got. Mumble through from day to day, Grumble through whate'er they say. Red or green or pink or blue - Doesn't matter what you do. Then comes one before your face, It brings you short - you stop the race. There before you - have to choose - Something dear you just might lose. This one matters - this one stands - This one changes all your plans. Choices brought you to this place, Now will you choose His loving grace? Or will you turn to never see How choices change eternity.

Just flowers

It was on my mind during work, on the way home, cooking dinner. The most beautiful carpet that God's nature sows. Full soft purple mats of flowers singing the song announcing spring. And intertwined with this beauty,a noxious weed that I don't know the name of but am all too familiar with. For each spring, bursting forth among this gorgeous phlox carpet are thousands of sprigs of the nasty stuff. My daughter thought they were seedlings of phlox. The twirling, clinging fingerlings of the weed wrap around the plox and choke it, mimicking the flower but only for a brief time. For the weed will choke the flower, then wilt quickly in the sun and heat of the summer. Its roots barely touch the earth and it cannot cling to life with even the faintest hint of drought or overwatering or blistering sun or even dog paws running across it. And yet it continues to strive to strangle the phlox, whose roots are deeper, stronger, inter-connected, who faithfully carpets the floor of the garden with its beauty and fragrance; a gift to everyone and everything around it. Why do I tolerate these toxic weeds that are so opposed to the true flowers? Why do I let them have their season to drop their seeds to continue their battle against the phlox? Why do I let "little" sins choke out the truth and beauty of the Holy Spirit? Why do I allow bitterness and unforgiveness to drop their seeds in our family? Let me go get my garden gloves.........

In between

At this stage of life I thought I would have "it" all in place, in order, planned out. But... I'm in between 60 and 70, in between /almost empty nest, in between two stages - me still working outside the home and hubby "retired" - in between two communities, two churches, two homes in two states even! It might sound very odd to younger people, but 60s are weird (yes, 1960s were weird, too :D!). You have to plan both for the possibility of dying in the next few days/months and for living another 30+ years, contradictory options in many respects. But there are other "in betweens" thrpughput life that are hard, too - in your 20s it seems everyone else is married and you are "in between relationships"; in your 30s you might be trying to conceive and "in between" wanting to be a parent and successfully giving birth or getting that great news from the adoption agency; you might be "in between" a terminal disease announcement with a parent and that final gasping grief of loss; in between joblessness and a job; in between marriage counseling and reconciliation or separation; in between a bad decision and forgiveness and healing; in between surgery and recovery..... life brings some hard - really hard - in betweens. So how do we deal with these? How do I trust God when my ears ring with silence? How can I rest when my world is spinning in unsettled restlessness? How do I keep focused on love. and service. and peace when I am so totally overwhelmed with the uncertainty of all of these in betweens? Psalm 37 says 3 times what to do - wait on the Lord - and 3 times what NOT to do - do not fret. Many scriptures tell us to wait, trust, be patient, but today I went back to Psalm 37 during this hard "in between" to also read the do NOTS - do not fret! Lord, help me trust. wait, but most of all to not fret. Thank You for Your beautiful Psalm to remind me.