Beauty runs wild in my garden and, while it's beautiful to me, to some it appears to be a wild harem of yellow, gold and fuchsia, sprawling all over itself in incoherent profusion. The only consolation to the gardener is that weeds are so intimated by the mess that they don't even attempt to grow.
I sometimes wonder if that isn't what life should look like in God's kingdom. Shouldn't our lives be a massive profusion of love that manifests itself in the form of all sizes and shapes in our lives? A love that gives permission to ourselves and others to be what the Master has created us to be? A love that runs all over itself, spilling out all over the place, even where it doesn't belong? Something that can't be packaged in a small tidy box.
In Matt. 6:28 Jesus says "consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
The most frequent interpretation of this scripture is that we are not to be concerned over what we wear. I believe this is true, but isn't this also an admonition to us to see all of our brothers and sisters as beautiful, all contributing to the beauty and the harmony of God's garden. Our love should spread to all, not just to our close friends, or the ones who look beautiful to us, but to all of God's creation, all of those who live in the sunshine of His love. God gives us more than enough love to throw around. There's plenty of sun and water. He supplies us with everything we need, all we need to do is pass it on.
So often we think that before we can be beautiful, or before someone else can be beautiful to God, they must be neatly pruned and trimmed, perfect little potted plants all sitting in a row--the reds and the whites all neatly organized and each in their place. I think that God, on the other hand, takes great delight in setting the wild among the tame or vice versa, the tame among the wild.
There is an herb garden in one corner of our yard. Years ago I gave up on trying to keep the mint, catnip and lemon balm contained. They battle against each other every spring for possession of the land in a sprawling jungle warfare and I just let them fight it out.
Somehow in the midst of this warfare for possession of the land, a surprise lily managed to plant itself. I certainly wouldn't try to plant anything there, I'm too intimidated by the battle being waged. But, there it has been for the last few years. As a result, I'm always surprised in the spring when I see the slim tapered leaves shoot up through the vigorous new growth of the herbs. Then in mid-summer, without fail, a delicate pink flower pushes its head up out of the confused tangle of arms and legs that the herbs have become as if to say, "See, all is not lost. In spite of the confusion, there's still room for beauty here."
As Christians, not only do we often make the mistake of trying to pluck out anyone from among ourselves that doesn't look just like us, that isn't a carbon copy of ourselves, but we also tend to think that we have to be just like everyone else in God's kingdom, that we have to blend into the landscape.
This is most dangerous when we think we have to blend into the world in order to survive. It's as if we don't think that God's gospel is tenacious enough to grow on it's own. It must be packaged just like the rest of the world's gospel in order for it to be accepted.
We must not lose sight of our individual and corporate uniqueness and beauty as Christians. What we have the world cannot produce on it's own. We should not be afraid to grow anywhere, even where we look out of place.
"...Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Experiencing God, not in the miraculous, but as we go about our days in ordinary ways.
About Me
New Years Day - 1985
Many of us have at one time or another dreamed of writing the great American novel, short story, devotional book, etc. I've entertained those thoughts as well, and I'm sure if I delve deep enough, there is a part of my ego that wants to be fed by putting my thoughts down on paper.
But, there is another part of me that is aware that I have had some pretty amazing and at the same time ordinary encounters in my life. Amazing in light of what they have revealed to me, but ordinary in the sense that they can happen to any one of us.
There is nothing that sets me apart from any one else. As for being a writer, as for having had anything but ordinary experiences, I have nothing in particular to recommed myself to you except by nature of my Father. I was fortunate enough to be born into a family of great wealth: material, physical, mental and spiritual wealth.
"My father is rich in houses and land
He holdeth the wealth of the world in his hand
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, I have riches untold.....
I'm a child of the King." - Harriett E. Buell (1834-1910)
As a father watches over the lives of his children, He is there. In Matthew 28, the Lord Jesus says, "And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." This means in our good as well as our bad days, in days of sorrow, days of joy, days of praise, days of confusion, days when we need comfort, days when we need to be a servant, days of rebellion, days of obedience. In our wakinng, our sleeping, our working, even in our playing.
Most of the time we are too involved to see Him, so he just sits on the sidelines, cheering us on, and begging us to pay attention to the lessons he would have us learn. Lessons that are shown in our day-to-day existence: lessons in our day-to-day journey along life's road. lessons that are there in our daily encounters with life, in truth, encounters with the Father.
It's my desire to share some of the things I've seen on this journey, these ordinary encounters with the Father that have become the sustaining thread in my life, with you, my brothers and sisters. I also want to share these experiences with those of you who are not yet a part of the family of my Father, in the hope that you too will claim your inheritance.
But, there is another part of me that is aware that I have had some pretty amazing and at the same time ordinary encounters in my life. Amazing in light of what they have revealed to me, but ordinary in the sense that they can happen to any one of us.
There is nothing that sets me apart from any one else. As for being a writer, as for having had anything but ordinary experiences, I have nothing in particular to recommed myself to you except by nature of my Father. I was fortunate enough to be born into a family of great wealth: material, physical, mental and spiritual wealth.
"My father is rich in houses and land
He holdeth the wealth of the world in his hand
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, I have riches untold.....
I'm a child of the King." - Harriett E. Buell (1834-1910)
As a father watches over the lives of his children, He is there. In Matthew 28, the Lord Jesus says, "And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." This means in our good as well as our bad days, in days of sorrow, days of joy, days of praise, days of confusion, days when we need comfort, days when we need to be a servant, days of rebellion, days of obedience. In our wakinng, our sleeping, our working, even in our playing.
Most of the time we are too involved to see Him, so he just sits on the sidelines, cheering us on, and begging us to pay attention to the lessons he would have us learn. Lessons that are shown in our day-to-day existence: lessons in our day-to-day journey along life's road. lessons that are there in our daily encounters with life, in truth, encounters with the Father.
It's my desire to share some of the things I've seen on this journey, these ordinary encounters with the Father that have become the sustaining thread in my life, with you, my brothers and sisters. I also want to share these experiences with those of you who are not yet a part of the family of my Father, in the hope that you too will claim your inheritance.
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