Monthly Archives: January 2023

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Steer Me Right

Living in the landlocked heartland of the United States, I don’t often experience oceans. So during a visit to Mexico recently, I savored the sounds: the rolling waves of the North Atlantic lapping the shore, the calls of unfamiliar birds; the sights: sublime blues, greens and aquas; the sensations: warmth and dynamic, soothing sand underfoot.

There were kayaks and baby catamarans for us to journey a few hundred yards from shore. On each exertion, the swells of the waves lifted and rested, rocked and settled the small crafts. Had the winds been stronger and the waves more forceful, we would have been challenged to paddle or sail on course. But the days were merely breezy — it was on one of those afternoons while kayaking the gentle, stable swells, that a scripture came to mind:

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21

Photo by Matt Hardy on Pexels.com

The lesson was in the water — its power, its movement, its potential force. Assuming we desire God’s will for our lives, if need be, God will increase his power under our efforts to move us where we belong.

Sometimes we paddle, but foolishly. Sometimes we lack motivation and inspiration, and just sit there in our kayaks, not paddling at all. Our humanness makes us incapable of perfection, and many life decisions are burdensome. What if we error? We fear the consequences of poor paddling, poor decisions — “What if I choose the wrong friends, the wrong college or major, the wrong mate, the wrong job in the wrong city, the wrong school for my children, the wrong doctor or medical facility for a grave health issue, the wrong end-of-life care for a loved one … ?”

Fear not. God’s purpose will prevail. Life decisions which appear to us to be permanently consequential, are not so from God’s perspective. Regardless the direction we’ve paddled or drifted, our life stories are not over. If we genuinely desire God’s will for our lives, yet inadvertently paddle or drift in the wrong direction, he will rise like ocean waves to move and settle us onto his course.

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”

What a relief. The big and small decisions we must make in life, are not as burdensome as they often seem. If we sincerely and consistently aspire to be in God’s will, then, despite our misjudgments, apathy and errors, the LORD’S purpose will certainly prevail.

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Productive Rest

Rest. I always thought that it was a break from productivity.

Silly me, because I know the essential role of rest in physical conditioning. Following a period of challenges to the body, rest allows for the body to respond by increasing oxygen-carrying capacity, bone density, muscle expansion, hypertrophy of individual muscle fibers, and more. Leave out the critical phase of rest, and the body will break down. Include the critical phase of rest, and during that time the body improves to better meet the increased demands that are being placed on it.

Our souls need rest also.

Just like in physical training, the amount of time in the rest phase is important: too little and recovery and expansion is compromised; too much and we lose all that we gained from the pain. Anyone who has stopped running for an extended time knows that starting again is like being a first-time runner. We don’t keep fitness without regularly participating at the level we were at before. We simply lose it. It’s not fair, but it’s reality.

So rest is for a time, not meant to be forever, unless your goal is to be a supreme couch potato. And frankly, that’s not good for your health — count on living less years on this planet if rest is your constant state of being. We don’t want our minds, emotions, and abilities to handle life to shrink either. Why not turn the pains we just went through into gains, to better meet the demands that life is placing on us? Rest for a time, but plan to return to life with the “more” that we just acquired.

Some of us are on the opposite end of the spectrum. We think rest equates to laziness. Rest is wasted time. We think it’s unproductive. We feel guilty resting when tasks are waiting. We feel best the more productive we are. We are wired to be task-oriented. Or perhaps we’ve been unknowingly misled to esteem it.

Reframe rest for the soul as being productive, because it is. During rest we are restored. No, it’s not measurable in the way that the performance of the human body can be, but logic informs us that rest must also be beneficial, even essential, to our inner selves.

Find rest for your souls where you choose. I found mine in the arms of our loving Father.

I don’t remember when it first happened, the real but immeasurable and unprovable settling inside his embrace. I do remember that it was on a night when I was distraught, anxious and afraid. I was out of ideas and out of options. I so wanted to be a little girl again, when I remembered finding peace in the arms of my parents. Back when it was socially okay to be helpless and afraid. Back when it was acceptable to cry without knowing why. Back when it was okay to find solace there, and the size of me was little and size of my parents was big.

And there it appeared, that first night, the offering of open arms. The big, strong, broad chest, welcoming me to lay my head there. The arms that surrounded me gently but firmly as soon as I settled inside them. The soothing beat of his heart against my cheek.

Since that first night, I seek those arms regularly. I find I’m settling there even when I’m not distraught, afraid, or anxious. I rest in Him simply because I can. It’s wonderful there. I will never outgrow it, there are no age limitations or requirements that must be met first.

He’s there always, welcoming anyone needing rest. And we all do.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

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Those Who Fear Him

Those who believe in God commonly believe he loves us unconditionally. He blesses us unconditionally. We find solace in that. We hold fast to the belief that as soon as we commit a wrong, even knowing it is incongruent with the God we claim to serve, we are instantly forgiven. We easily send faith into the universe for all the benefits of God, because our father is the creator of that universe. We acquire all that is God’s because we are his children. We believe we are not only loved unconditionally by him, but are promised all his benefits without conditions.

But …

There is a condition. We may erase it the second we read it, but that doesn’t make it go away. We may briefly acknowledge it by claiming that, “Of course, yes, I fear Him,” but that doesn’t make it true.

Do we truly fear Him?

Psalm 103

Of David.

1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits –
3 who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,
    his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 the Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbour his anger for ever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children –
18 with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the Lord, you his angels,
    you mighty ones who do his bidding,
    who obey his word.
21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
    you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the Lord, all his works
    everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.