It’s my mother’s fault. Back about 70
years ago, she began to teach me to ‘do it now’ and to never leave a sink full
of dirty dishes. Great teacher. Hard lessons. Because....
·
There are days that try the souls of old ladies.
·
There are times when one more step seems impossible.
·
There are hours when the tears are barely contained behind itchy,
tired eyelids.
Of course, I can only speak for this
old lady. So, while the house is settled I sneak off to my little office. It is
where I do some serious prayer/thinking/contemplating/pondering. My knurled
fingers click as thoughts congeal and I remember.
Jesus has my back.
I stop to review a few of Paul’s
powerful and life-sustaining words.
If you are like me, you probably know the words I'm talking about “by heart.” But I read them again anyway. You know the ones…. Over in the book of
Romans, all the way to the 8th chapter, and keep going to the very end
verses: 38 and 39.
The first reading in old faithful King
James wasn’t enough so I checked the words out in The Living Bible, in J.B.
Phillips New Translation, and in The Message.
KNOCK ME OVER WITH A FEATHER.
How do I forget such MEGA love & power & absoluteness
& might & CERTAINTY ??
Oh! Because
I am a normal, run-of-the-mill, weak, sinful, human.
But, OH, JOY!!! Even my forgetting can
keep God’s love away.
Not big
things or bad things or those little daily things—that irritating pebble in the
shoe things—those knife in the heart things.
With
apologies to Paul, there are even more THINGS that absolutely will NEVER keep
God from loving or forsaking me.
·
a sink-full of dirty dishes
·
over-flowing dirty laundry bins
·
income tax / number crunching time for this
word person
·
a day filled with doctors’ appointments on
a bitterly cold day with drizzling rain
·
lifting the walker out of the car for the
fifth time in one day
Jesus doesn’t
go away even when the ragweed and cedar and mold allergens rage and makes my body
ache and cough and not sleep.
No, our
Master and King did not promise a perfect life without heartache, trials,
burdens. I don’t pretend to grasp His authority, the fullness of His being the
beginning and the end. I can’t begin to comprehend
His sovereignty.
But
Step by Step
And
Mile by Mile
And
Trial by Trial
He makes it
abundantly clear that
Y
I am His child &
Y
He cares for me &
Y
He keeps me going &
Y
He listens and He hears &
Y
Provides surprises at every painful turn.
I pray diligently that we will watch for and SEE
God’s gifts, especially in the hard stuff.
Blessings and Hugs
Liz
