April 18 - What Does Joy Look Like?

Read: Luke 24:50-53

What does joy look like in your life?  

When I first started dating my husband, I was like a scared little rabbit.  I had been divorced after 25 years of marriage and was beginning to emerge into a new life.  After a year of being single, I started dating a wonderful man, but there was a part of me that was terrified, fearful of exposing my vulnerable heart.  

When he sent me flowers, my heart skipped a beat.  But, I remember confiding in my friend, “Why is he being so kind and thoughtful?  I’m not sure I can trust it!  What’s his ulterior motive?”  She said, “You know Mary, sometimes people truly are kind. Sometimes they do things because they really are genuine.”

I was experiencing the JOY of a new relationship, but it was foreboding.  I kept thinking, “It’s too good to be true, I can’t believe it or trust it!” 

Foreboding joy is “dress rehearsal for tragedy.” It's preparing for the worst even when things are at their best.  

In Luke 24, when Jesus appears to His disciples after His Resurrection, verse 41 says, “And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement . . .”  They were experiencing foreboding joy!  Can you blame them?  On Good Friday, they watched as Jesus was arrested, flogged, and brutally crucified.

After His Resurrection, Jesus continued to appear to them, reassure them and teach them for 40 more days.  As He prepares to physically leave them to return to His Father, He speaks a blessing over them that holds inherent power!  While He disappears into the clouds, they are not sorrowful, but filled with JOY!

The disciples are radically changed by the fact that Jesus TRULY is alive, that death had been defeated!  The worship Him and praise Him wholeheartedly.  They no longer held back or hid in fear and shame!  They joyfully and confidently did the things Jesus commissioned them to do!

They wholeheartedly believed the truth of Jesus' resurrection and unending love for them, and the joy of that truth permeate everything in their lives. 

Lord, help me to press into the TRUTH that You HAVE risen from the dead!  Your victory proves that You are powerful, and nothing can stand in the way of Your love, not even death! You will never leave nor forsake me!  And as I wait for the time when You will return to bring me home, I give myself, joyfully and wholeheartedly to You.  Continue to transform me, Lord, and let this wholehearted, uninhibited joy touch every part of my life. 

March 21 - Content with Mud Pies

Read:  Mark 4:30-33

My grandson just turned 5.  I love getting to watch him grow and learn. It is so fascinating to me to watch a child discover something for the very first time. 

I have noticed as a mom and a grandma that very young children are especially curious about small objects.  What would happen if a young child found a tiny mustard seed laying on the ground?  Picture in your mind what they would do with it. Can you see them holding it in their hand, squeezing it between their fingers, and turning it this way and that way, hold it up to the light?  Can you see their curious minds studying this tiny little seed with blazing intensity?

What do you think they are thinking?   

Yet they have never seen a seed grow before.  They have had no experience yet with putting a tiny seed into the ground.  They could never in their wildest imagination know that out of this tiny little insignificant object, something HUGE can grow.  Something bigger than them!!

Aren’t we like that child?  We in our humanness cannot ever hope to fully grasp the grand, magnificent ways of God.  Our minds are too limited, to small.  We get glimpses, yet God’s ways and His Kingdom is far beyond what we can ever think or imagine.

I love this quote by C.S. Lewis.   

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. 

Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. 

We are far too easily pleased.”  C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

Lord, thank You for how far above our imagination You are!  Thank You that Your Kingdom and Your reign is far more expansive that I could ever comprehend.  Help me to trust that even the tiny, seemingly insignificant things that You have called me to do today are a part of Your grand plan for Your Kingdom.    

March 14 - Generosity = Compounding Joy

Philippians 4:14-20

If you haven’t ever read the entire book of Philippians, you are missing out!  It is one of my favorite books of the Bible, often called the book of Joy.

It is interesting that the author, Paul, spends so much time in this book talking about joy given the circumstances.  He is writing this letter to his friends, those he has mentored and brought up on the faith in the area of Philippi.  But Paul was writing to them while he was in prison for boldly preaching his faith.

In today’s reading from Philippians, Paul is expressing gratitude for the generous gifts he has received from the Philippians, which involves not only their financial support, but also their deep personal concern for his well being as well.

Paul says, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.”   Or in other words, “I seek the profit that ACCRUES to your account.”  As grateful as Paul is for all the love and support these friends have bestowed upon him, he humbly reminds them of this great truth! 

When you invest in the lives of other people for the purpose of the Kingdom of God, the compound effect in your life will be EXPONENTIAL.  Giving in an attitude of heartfelt generosity does not lead to the depletion of assets, it leads to COMPOUNDING joy!

When we are afraid to give of our resources, we clutch tightly to the things we think will give us satisfaction, comfort, and joy.  We see the gifts of our time, money, our hearts and our very lives as limited, something we must grasp hold of tightly lest it slip out of our hands and be lost forever. We live in the fear of scarcity. 

Paul reminds us, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” 

Have you ever considered how rich God is?  What does His storehouse of riches look like?  The one who created all things, who rules overall, is all powerful, and all knowing.  He lives high about the Milky Way, and as close as in our hearts. 

We can NEVER deplete His abundant riches.  And His lavish love, the love that spared NO EXPENSE, but gave up His Only Son’s life for us, can be trusted. 

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:23

We can NEVER out give the GREATEST GIVER of all.  

Thank You Lord God for Your indescribable gift!  Teach me to live my life with an open hand, trusting in Your abundant supply for me.  May I joyfully and generously spend my life in loving and serving those whom You love and died for, just like You did for me.   

Child's Play

Mark 10:13-16

Some of my favorite words are, “Grandma, will you come play with me?” Some of my favorite memories are from times we spent “playing” together. Memories flood my mind from time with my grandson, my own children, my family, my friends, and my own childhood.

What I learn from my grandson and my many memories of playing is this:

Play has no agenda. 

It does not follow a “to-do-list.”  

It does not come from a place of “have to” but a place of “want to.” 

When we play, we lose all sense of self-consciousness and worry about what others might think. 

We lose all sense of time, and we don’t want that time to end! 

Perhaps that was why the disciples were hindering the children from being with Jesus.  They saw them as “less than” because their presence with Jesus didn’t serve any “useful purpose” or advance their agenda.  The children were an unnecessary interruption and distraction from what was “really important” in the eyes of the disciples. 

Yet Jesus tells the disciple to STOP HINDERING the little children from coming to Him! 

He says the Kingdom of God belongs to those like them!!

How is God calling me to spend time with Him with no agenda, no “to-do” or “want” list?

How can I come to Him with my heart of “I want to” instead of “I have to?”

How can I engage in “playing” in God’s plan so that I lose all self-consciousness and worry about what other people think?”

How often do I “lose all sense of time” in His presence and experience playing with Him so much that I wish it wouldn’t end?

How is He is calling me to openly embrace others and see them as “valuable” even though don’t meet my expectations or fit my agenda?  

Does that make you uncomfortable?  Good, because it made the disciples uncomfortable too. 

“I can see Your heart
Eight billion different ways
Every precious one
A child You died to save
If You gave Your life to love them so will I!

Like You would again a hundred billion times
But what measure could amount to Your desire
You're the One who never leaves the one behind!”

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for seeing all of us as Your beloved Children, accepted and valued, those whom you embrace warmly.  Help me to see all people as Your children, not as an interruption or distraction.  I can see Your heart, lead my heart to love as You do.