My Favorite Fashion Accessory

As I type this, I am wearing all black.  I am also wearing my favorite fashion accessory...dog hair.

Ellie is our tricolor beagle.  The tip of her tail and her legs are white, her shoulders, face and backside are tan and her back is solid black.  Her hair shows up no matter what color you happen to be wearing.  

Now some people may think of this as a great annoyance, but I prefer to think of it as evidence we are greatly blessed.  

Glen and I often quote this verse from Proverbs 14:4:

"Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox."

If we had no Ellie, there would be no hair.

How does Ellie's hair end up on my clothes?  It gets there as a result of Ellie jumping up onto my lap and resting there.  There are few things I find more relaxing and enjoyable than Ellie being in my lap.  She almost always asks for permission first, and I almost always welcome her to sit with me.  I love that she wants to sit there and that she finds it comfortable enough to relax and take a nap.  I love it when she curls up in my lap, even if it means she sheds her hairs all over me.

It reminds me of a verse in James:

"Draw night to God, and He will draw nigh to you." James 4:8.

The Lord loves when we turn our attention to Him, when we seek out communion with Him and our feeling free and comfortable with Him.  He loves for us to curl up in His lap and shed our hairs all over Him, as it were. But just how do we "draw nigh" to God?

The first way is through prayer.  By simply talking to Him, by taking our wounds and worries, our hurts and hopes to Him. The door is always open and we must only walk right through to commune with Him.

Another way is through the Scriptures He has given us.  Through them we learn of Him, of His will and His way.  We learn what He has done for us, what He is currently doing for us and what He promises to do in the future.

Another way is through fellowship with other believers.  Through their lives and experiences we can learn about God in ways we might not have gone through personally.  Their stories of faith and trust can strengthen us and encourage us in our own walks with the Lord.

As we draw near to God, something wonderful happens to us.  We become more and more like His dear Son.  We are changed, from glory to glory, as the Scriptures say, into the image of Christ.  This is God's ultimate plan, will and way, for us... to be like His Son.

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."  
2 Corinthians 3:18

"For who He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."  

Romans 8:29

Let us take every advantage of drawing near enough to the Lord that our hair ends up on His robes.

Greater Than the Sum of the Parts

 I did something today that I have never done before.  I made granola.  I like granola, it is good on yogurt, on ice cream or just by itself.  

I didn't think anyone else would want any, so I adapted the recipe to suit my own tastes.  It has oats, pecans, dried cranberries and coconut in it.  The binder is almond butter (which I am not fond of on its own, but it works well in this instance) and coconut oil.  The sweetener is Coco Lopez, which is sweetened coconut cream. (I guess you can tell I like coconut.)  I added a tiny bit of orange zest, a little vanilla, almond and orange flavoring and a dash of kosher salt.

I was surprised at how well it turned out.  In fact, it is hard to keep my hands off of it.  I was also surprised at how much Glen liked it.  It is a great example of Aristotle's saying, "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."  I guess you could say the recipe is greater than the sum of its ingredients.

That saying reminds me of something that happened this morning at work.  A younger nurse and I were talking about facing situations that are out of our comfort zone and trying to see the Lord's leading in our lives.  Each of us are facing things like this and our sharing strengthened us both.  The two of us together became greater than just two.  Because the same Lord lives in each of our spirits, we are more than just two.  We are two plus the Lord, and not only that, we are two plus the Lord plus every person who has ever trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are a family,  a body as the Scriptures say, an entity that is greater than the individuals who comprise it.  That bond, that family, gives us a strength we could never find alone.

I think as Christians we forget how the Lord can work through us, not only as individuals, but collectively.  For example, we can share together as my sweet friend and I did this morning.  We can remember to pray for each other.  But we can also strengthen members of our spiritual family that we don't even know.  If I find myself in a painful, uncomfortable or difficult situation, I can be sure that another Christian somewhere is facing a similar pain, discomfort or difficulty.  I can pray for them.  I don't have to know their names, the particulars of what they are going through...the Lord knows all that.  I just join in praying for His will and His way in their lives.  

Perhaps one day in Heaven we will be able to walk up to someone and say, "Sister, you didn't know me or what I was going through, but on a certain day you prayed for me and the Lord used your prayers to strengthen me, to encourage me and to comfort me.  Thank you so much for your faithfulness to Him."  What a blessing that will be!

It is good for us to remember we are never alone.  Let's face it, as much as I like coconut, it alone would not make very good granola.  But combined with the other ingredients, it is a delight.  Just as we are with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are greater than the sum of our parts, and one day we will see just how much greater.

"But speaking the truth in love, 
may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together

 and compacted by that which every joint supplied, 

according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, 

maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."  Ephesians 4:15,16.

*My granola recipe was adapted from: https://www.loveand lemons.com/granola/

"It is Happy to go Low"

Last week, while on vacation, Glen and I visited a favorite spot of ours, Duke's Creek Falls, in northern Georgia.  Duke's Creek Falls is a combination of two waterfalls, one from Duke's Creek and on from Davis Creek.  The fall from Duke's creek is a waterfall cascading down a wide expanse of exposed rocks.  The other flows from Davis Creek and plummets 150 feet to join Duke's Creek.

I find great pleasure standing on the observation deck and watching the water fall to the creek.  The sight of the continuously falling water, the sound of the water crashing on the rocks and the feel of the water spray on my face all lend themselves to a wonderful sensory experience.

But these waterfalls teach a great lesson as well.  Water always seeks the lowest point.  Rivers  flow to the ocean.  From great mighty mountains, tiny creeks become great rivers and steadily flow low.

Decades ago when reading the allegorical novel, "Hind's Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard, I was struck by the "Water Song".  It was the song the water sang as it always sought the lowest place.  I especially loved this portion:

Come, oh come! let us away--

Lower, lower every day, 

Oh, what joy it is to race

Down to find the lowest place. 

This the dearest law we know --

 "It is happy to go low."

"It is happy to go low."  This great lesson is found over and over in Scripture.  This world tells us, screams at us, to find the highest place, that we deserve it.  It tells us to place ourselves above all others and find a high place upon which to look down upon everyone else.  Perhaps the world doesn't use these exact words, but the attitude is surely there.  But the Scriptures give us a completely different course, that of the water.

"Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." Proverbs 16:19.

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up."  James 4:10

"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than ourselves." Philippians 2:3

As much as the pounding waterfall is a beauty to behold, how much more the beautiful heart of one who chooses to seek the lowest point in life.  This choice points to the only Person who had a genuine right to be proud, but was not. It points to the One who willingly humbled Himself that He could one day lift us up.

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  Wherefore God also hat highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father."

Philippians 2:5-11

It is happy to go low, indeed.

Ellie on my Lap

 This morning, I was sitting in the Living Room, Glen was at his desk and Ellie was looking out the window.  As is her habit, she came over to sit on my lap.  I welcomed her up into my chair and into my lap, put aside what I was doing and just enjoyed having her so near me.  I also enjoyed her wanting to be so near me.

Ellie resting on my lap

When Ellie is resting on your lap, or across your legs, or snuggled up in a ball next to you, it is almost impossible to move.  First of all you don't want to move, and secondly, you don't want to disturb her.  Instead of moving, I want to rub those velvety ears, and stroke her soft back and listen to her soft, gentle snore.

Ellie knows that almost all of the time I am going to welcome her into my chair.  She knows that I am not going to make her do anything to sit on my lap, simply looking at me with those big, brown eyes is enough.  In fact, as I was typing this, that is exactly what she did.

She knows she is always welcome, she is always loved.

As she napped on my lap, I compared Ellie's relationship with me to my relationship to God.  I know from Scriptures that the Lord loves us to turn our attention to Him. 

"...the prayer of the upright is His delight." Proverbs 15:8

 Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only requirement to entering into fellowship with God.  We are welcomed anytime, anyplace.  There is nothing we have to do first to be accepted by Him because our faith in Christ has made us "accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6).

As I sat rubbing Ellie's ears and enjoying her nearness, I thought of all the times I
could have been giving the same sort of pleasure, in fact, delight, to the heart of God.  But I let other things, other distractions pull my attention from Him.  

I chose poorly.

 Of all the things I have a choice of doing, communing with the Lord of the Universe is one.  And I can do that while I do other things as well.  Why then do I fail so often to do so?  Perhaps I don't know well enough or understand or believe the joy that it brings to His heart.  Or perhaps I don't know well enough or understand or believe the great simplicity of communion with God.  Or I don't know well enough or understand or believe the great price our Lord Jesus Christ paid for me to have total and free access to the Throne of Grace.  My lack of knowledge, understanding and belief however, never changes the truth of the matter, God loves me and He wants me to freely come to Him anytime, anywhere about anything and everything. Like Ellie, I am always welcome, I am always loved.

"For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, 
and His ears are open unto their prayers:" 
1 Peter 3:12

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,

That we may obtain mercy,

and find grace to help in time of need."

Hebrews 4:16