I’m painting woodwork in my house—a wretched job that requires hours of labor. My daughter, Ashley, came for several days to help. As we worked, she would occasionally say, “This is fun!” As for me, what began with excitement a few weeks ago has turned into a prayer—Lord, just help me finish!
We used to think we could get more done by multitasking, but the latest research shows this to be false. According to numerous studies, multitasking causes more errors than focusing on a single task.
A popular affirmation parents use with their children these days goes like this, “Way to be a problem solver. Great job solving that problem yourself.” While one cannot debate the value of problem solving and thinking for oneself, God asked the Israelites to do just the opposite – let him solve their problem.
The trio is back…the mother, the father and their fledgling Cardinals. They regularly visit the platform bird feeder. I like to study their interactions.
Do you sometimes feel alone in your Christian faith while the world around you takes great pleasure in criticizing your beliefs? It is challenging to stand firm during these days of turmoil in our world…
Is cross-country skiing on your bucket list by chance? Then the perfect place for you is in Stowe Vermont at the Trapp Family Lodge—yes, the Sound of Music von Trapps settled in Stowe in 1942, having fled Austria in 1938.
The book of Haggai winds down dramatically with promise after promise from God, first of supernatural intervention: “I will shake…I will overturn…(I will) shatter…I will overthrow” (2:21-22). But when, wonders Zerubbabel—when?
Certainly, the glory of Zerubbabel’s temple did not compare to that of Solomon’s. But it wasn’t really the ornate gold and silver that gave that first temple the glory, was it ladies?
So the people climbed the hill and got the wood (1:8), and the work on the house of the LORD began in earnest. A month into the rebuild, Haggai spoke again: “‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem like nothing?’” (2:3).
And so, as King Cyrus decreed: everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:5). Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the building began with the altar so the morning and evening sacrifices could be offered and the sacred feasts celebrated. Next the foundation of the temple was completed with much fanfare. But then the enemy intervened, frustrating the work and eventually bringing it to a standstill (Ezra 3-4) for fifteen plus years.
My summer reading showered me with surprise this year ladies. First, the book of Haggai in our June study. Then I was handed the historical novel by Lynn Austin, Return to Me, (Bethany House 2013). Don’t you just love God’s coincidences!
My father ranched when the TV weather report and a swirling wind gauge helped him plan his work days. The metal arrow on our wind gauge always pointed in the direction of the source of the wind. That was the only arrow in my life before discovering King Solomon’s analogy comparing children to arrows in the hand of a warrior (Psa. 127:4 NIV). I’d never considered my own life analogous to an arrow until recently. Oswald Chambers used the analogy to describe something most believers have experienced but, possibly, failed to understand:
Oswald Chambers identifies a common subtlety of the Christian walk. It’s one I’ve often struggled with—how to discern between the Holy Spirit’s leading and your own thoughts. He states it this way: We must distinguish between the working of our own suspicions and the checking of the Spirit of God who works as quietly and silently as the breeze. *
A comment from Oswald Chambers created a fresh perspective for me on the darkness of night:
“We are only what we are in the dark, all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our mind; the thoughts of our hearts; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight.” *
The human brain fascinates me. I observed its development as my babies learned to talk, walk and eventually drive away. Oswald Chambers' quote recently challenged me to consider the brain from a new perspective:
“God does not give us the mind of Christ. He gives us the Spirit of Christ, and we have to see that the Spirit of Christ in us works through our brains in contact with actual life and that we form His mind.” *
A well-crafted phrase intrigues me. It also helps me think new thoughts. Here’s one from a new-to-me resource, The Love of God, a small book from the Oswald Chambers Library:
“Watch the circumstances of life. We get them fairly well mixed, and if we are getting fairly well more than enough of one kind, let us thank God for it. It is producing the particular grace God wants us to manifest.” *
Having an undivided heart recently became a goal of mine. What does that even mean? I decided to earnestly seek answers from God.
How many times have I anguished over my “self-image”? I can be my own worst critic. I am not pretty enough, ambitious enough, good enough, smart enough. What must God think? Where did it all begin?
Sometimes you could describe me as “rebellious.” I love nothing more than a good walk around the neighborhood talking to God, but when a Bible Study book instructed me to do so, I had little enthusiasm. I liked it better when it was my own idea.
When I saw his face, I pitied him. I noticed he sat in a corner and I could not help but wonder what had happened to him. I wish I could say it was total compassion I felt, but curiosity had something to do with it too. Little did I know how my feeling toward him would change!
