Better

I have this child,
She is me but different;
Confident, strong,
Full of laughter and life,
She is better and I am glad.

I have this child,
She is me but different;
Physical, forthcoming,
Speaks what she feels,
She is better and I am glad.

I have this child,
She is me but different;
Feminine, fancy,
Determined and beautiful,
She is better and I am glad.

I have been bettered
But I should be;
They are the future,
In His image they grow
Into all I imagine and more.

CUKES

Ever noticed how God tends to bless you abundantly with one particular thing in a given season of your life? It's like there are themes to life, and they last a while - until you've learned what you are supposed to learn from them; or perhaps you've enjoyed them long enough; or perhaps until you've overcome them.

My theme this summer is cucumbers. The garden is brimming with them, and at least twice each week I install another "fence" of sorts - something for them to climb on besides my peppers and tomatoes. The bright yellow flowers are sublime. They are so happy, so abundant, so prophetic, so prolific. I think to myself, "what am I going to do with all the coming cucumbers"? Make pickles, that's what. Lots of pickles.

Pickling is a lost art. It is something my great-grandmother did, and my grandmother did, and my mom learned, and now I carry on doing. It connects one with the most basic elements of life - food, preservative, and cleanliness. "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven". I will always remember summer as a time for pickling. We are putting away food for winter, for long storage, for the future, for sharing. Pickling is a way of reaping the harvest and saving it, sharing it, storing it, and experiencing it anew much later in time.

Did I mention that the pickles taste divine? They are NOTHING like the dyed-yellow, chloride-infested noodley things on the grocery store shelf. They are crisp, and crunchy, and tast of fresh dill and garlic and GARDEN. They are a reminder of days past, and days present, and days future. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven."

When I was a girl, we used to visit these friends of my parents. It was the kind of relationship in which I called my mother's friend my Aunt. Well, my Aunt Mae made the best dill pickles I had ever tasted. When we went over to her house, I would secretly hope and pray that she'd pull out one of those precious jars and open it, offering her homemade pickles for us to enjoy. The jar was soon empty, and a smile grew in my heart. I needed nothing more than those pickles to have a simply wonderful time at Aunt Mae's house. They were tasty, and crunchy, and reminiscent, and timeless, and special. Now I am making them, and watching my kids' faces as they bite into the real deal. It's a generational thing. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." Thank you, God, for the cucumbers. I'll do my best to share and preserve them wisely. They are special, and wondrous, and delicious, and abundant - just like the rest of your blessings.

The Lie of Reward

I have recently witnessed a common attitude in two families close to me; and one that disturbs my heart. This misguided form of spiritual pride occurs when people are materially blessed - AND then assume that the blessing is a reward for their behavior. I believe this is closely related to the "prosperity teaching" in some churches. The assumption is that if I'm living in a Godly manner, doing everything right, and therefore deserve it, then God will bless me abundantly. Logically, if I have already been blessed abundantly (in a material sense) then I must be doing everything right!

Which of the lies buried within the previous statements should we debunk first? I hardly know where to begin... but here's an attempt.

(1) God does not operate under a system of rewards - He gave us the greatest reward there has ever been, i.e. His very self, while we were still sinners. He did not wait until we were "perfect" in order to reward us with salvation. We never could have earned it, nor can we now. There never will be another reward from God, because none is necessary.

(2) If God gave us what we deserved, we'd all be condemned to hell forever.

(3) If number (2) made you think, "Not me", then you are more deceived than the rest of us.

(4) God sees us all, every single person, exaclty the same. Consider your own children, and attempt to answer the question, "which one do I love most?" He is not able to favor one over another, but loves each of us the same. There is no way to "earn" greater love or blessing from God than He already has for you. However, you can learn to receive it better, in truth.

(5) You will never be doing everything right. Forget that line of reasoning, it's a lie.

(6) When you experience a crisis in the midst of your prosperity (not if, but when) - then what will you say about God? The converse of the above logical statement is that God is punishing you. What if you've done nothing to be punished for? What then? God just stopped loving you? He ran out of rewards? Job was, in the words of God himself, a righteous man - and very wealthy. He lost everything.

(7) God's definition of "blessing" is very different from ours - and likely has nothing to do with material possessions or comforts. Does God want you to be happy? Sure He does! Is he going to give you a lot of stuff to accomplish that wish? Probably not. To Him, blessing you means putting people in your life who love you for who you are, giving you ample opportunities to bless others, healing your relationships with friends and family, and giving you internal peace and contentment. The size of your house, the amount in your bank account, or the model of your car is not nearly as important to him as the state of your heart.

These are some difficult truths. In our human-ness, we want to believe that we can earn good things with good works. That is just how we are - but that is the human system, not the God-system. He is all about grace, compassion, love, mercy, and peace. The immaterial is His substance, and it is with these qualtities that He reaches into our lives and blesses us beyond measure.

PROGRESS

Time progresses forward,
Leaving the past behind as it was,
Fading into wisdom,
The clarity of the present
Prevailing over memory’s loss.

Invention pushes forward,
Building on the past in vain hope,
Faster, stronger, smarter -
Perceiving not the limit
Of the mind’s potential.

God invents the time,
Embodies the source of life itself,
Reaching, extending, moving -
An ever-breathing vine carrying us,
The growing dependent.

The future waits mysterious,
Not meant to be foreseen
But discovered, experienced
As the perpetual crawl of being
Continues its inspired journey.

HERE YOU GO

Here’s what we will do for you,
Nothing that you want us to
‘Cause all your lies were never true
And we have been created new.

Here’s what we would care to hear,
The words of love and not of fear
That proceed from the caring tongue
Of spirits made to live as one.

Here’s what we choose to believe,
The truth of words that God has breathed,
And not your whispers of the dark,
Casting doubt in trusting hearts.

Here’s the way that we will fight,
Always, ever for what’s right
In constant opposition to
The likes of evil, hateful you.

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORDS

They all say their lines in perfect style,
Delivering words like fountain pennies,
Heaping their cheapened utterance on tired ears
That beg for valuable silence.

No one takes them seriously anymore,
These thespians of the modern age
Who speak for the sake of filling time
With sound lest they’re forced to think.

We’re buried in a lack of meaning,
Saddened that gone is the day when art
Was all about communication,
Well-crafted and designed to impact.

If I wax poetic it is only because
I love the careful combination
Of symbols we call language,
This powerful tool for sharing ourselves.

The words existed before mankind,
Forming in the vortex of space and time
Until they could not help but create,
For words become what they define.

LOST TO FOUND

I don’t know why you love me,
I don’t know how you could,
Except that God above me
Made you so you would
Shelter and protect me
From the evil world around
With the strength to let me
Make the leap from lost to found.

I can’t begin to tell you
For I can’t pretend to know
The reasons why He thought you
Could depend on me to go
All the way to heaven with you
Through the valleys and the tears,
But I thank my God He picked you
And has kept us through the years.

I haven’t been the best one
In the ways I haven’t shown
And I wish I wasn’t just one
So you’d never be alone,
Though apart we’re still together
I can’t stand to feel your heart
In the pain of what I never
Should’ve caused you from the start.

I still believe in both of us
And what the future holds,
The past is but a ghost to us
Whose haunting’s dead and cold
And now that we have cast away
Unto a better shore,
I pray our love will find a way
To dream like once before.

The Innocents

These are the kids
We had together
In earlier times
When we got along better

These are the ones
Who suffer most
From all the failures
Parents boast

These are the purest
Hearts of all
Corrupted by
Our selfish fall

These little minds
Can’t understand
Why love can’t always
Last as planned

These precious souls
Were meant to be
Both innocent
And trouble free…

BURIED

My mind can’t seem to wrap around
The truths now buried deeper down
Below the ranting of the mind
Distracting me from trying to find
The peace I know that should be there
Along with spirit’s kinder fare
Compared with this thing ominous
That tries to pull away from love
Its rightful blessing only for
A chance to try and wound some more.

Needs

Lately, I've been thinking about needs. I find it interesting that when our needs are being met, we don't think about what they are. When they are not being met, we still don't think about what they are - we just lament this or that which is missing in our lives. It is probably not good for us to focus on what our needs really are - we are supposed to let God take care of that [Phil 4:19 My God will supply all of your needs, according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus]. He made us, for Pete's sake! He understands us best, loves us best, cares for us best, feeds us best, cries with us best, and supplies us best.

I don't really think I can put into words what my needs are, especially the emotional ones. I just know that when they are met I feel important, understood, worthwhile, needed, successful, and intriguing. When they are not met I feel insignificant, clumsy, unsuccessful, unfulfilled, misunderstood, and isolated. Isn't it amazing that one person can experience these 2 extremes in the same lifetime? It is all related to connectedness, and fellowship with others who share our passion and perspective on life. Without others to love on us, we are unmotivated to do our best.

I am not sure what the point of this post is, except that we should take the time to connect with others every single day - and tell them how great they are, how much we love and admire them, and how much we need them, too. Everyone likes to feel needed, even God - who already knows that He is. I am grateful for those He sends to meet my needs, even when I'm not sure what they are...