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Thankful for Suffering?

Taking time to be thankful is an important task in maintaining spiritual health. I can choose to focus on all the terrible – even horrific situations in our world. Many of these situations I can do nothing about in my own strength. Yet praying about them, taking my concern to the God of the universe, shifts my focus to God’s ultimate plan of redeeming this broken, fallen world. Being thankful that God is with me in my times of suffering doesn’t take away the reality of that suffering, but it does give me HOPE!

Paul wrote from prison – Acts 16:22-25

22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.

25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.

Paul’s response to his terrible suffering was prayer and singing hymns to God. I have never been beaten or thrown in prison, yet Christians in our current world are suffering that very way. In James 1: 2-4 James reminds us to view suffering as part of our life as followers of Jesus and something to be thankful for.

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

So much of what has been given to me I haven’t earned and, truth be told, I don’t deserve. I think this is especially important in the climate of our current culture. So much of the discourse is negative, divisive, polarizing and unkind. The focus often seems to be on “what is best for ME”.

So how do I respond this Thanksgiving when I am so blessed to be with our family and friends….yet so many are suffering in our world?

I must respond with Thanksgiving. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he says – 4:6-7

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

As I gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving I will be praying for those who are suffering. I will also be thankful and enjoy the blessings that God, by his grace, has given.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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The Mysteries of Creation

My friend Norma Clayton appeared in an article recently in our local newspaper. She had noticed a unusual bird in her yard. It had a band around it’s leg and her husband lured it into a cage so they could find out what kind of bird it was. Through the help of several local friends and acquaintances they determined it was a carrier pigeon belonging to someone hundreds of miles away. David Nestler was able to contact the owner and discover that the bird had gotten lost and not returned home as carrier pigeons usually do. It was an interesting story and stirred up my interest in this unique bird. In reading a bit about these birds, also known as “homing pigeons” their unique ability is to return home no matter where they are. They can be released far from home and carry a message back to their original home over long distances. These birds can become lost if there is bad weather or a predator chases them off course, but it is rare for them not to return home.

Norma’s story fascinated me partly because I have no sense of direction. I have gotten lost many times in my life and God’s grace and the kindness of strangers has helped me more times than I can count. (being married to Phil who has an internal GPS is extremely helpful)

How those birds can find their way home mystifies me! I have made wrong turns when the color of a building changed or a favorite tree was cut down. I can’t imagine flying thousands of miles over ever changing landscapes and not loosing my way. Geese and other birds return to nesting grounds thousands of miles away year after year.

Carol and I went to watch the elk this week. What magnificent creatures they are! Looking at these few examples of the wonder of God’s creation reminds me of the fact that there are many mysteries in the natural world. Science – the study of the world around us – is always looking for explanations. We want to know why things are the way they are. Many of these mysteries have no explanations yet. This gives scientists job security. Humans keep observing and studying and asking “why?”.

The apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that everything God has made reveals God’s nature to us. We can’t see God, but we can see the results of his creative power and divine nature.

Romans 1:20 NLT

20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Romans 1:20 The Message

But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse.

These mysteries of creation remind me that God reveals himself to us through creation. God wants relationship with us and has provided the path to that relationship through his Son Jesus.

Seeing the wonder and beauty of God’s creation is all the more glorious because I also know God as Father. That the God of creation has called me by name to join his family is humbling and yet it fills me with hope knowing anyone, anywhere may also join God’s family.

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Hope That Doesn’t Lead to Disappointment

Back in May I wrote about the freeze that killed some of my plants and left me wondering about the viability of others. That blog post is below.

https://wordpress.com/post/ourfathersdaughters.com/5632

I love flowers and thanks to family, especially my father, and generous friends, we have a large variety of flowers that bloom in our yard year after year. Last year my various hydrangeas bloomed profusely.

  • purple (from Deanna) I gave away over 30 blooms and had vases full on our table for weeks
  • pink (rehabbed from “reduced for quick sale”) about 20 blooms
  • blue (from our daughter Salem’s first home in Virginia) too numerous to count.
  • white (here when we moved here – planted by Peggy Queen Mason) bloomed so abundantly I gave bunches away.

This year –

  • no purple
  • no pink
  • blue – just now blooming! 8 blossoms so far
  • white – lots like last year

Blue hydrangeas are my absolute favorite flower and they set their buds early in the spring. A late freeze is always a concern for these non-native perennials. A late freeze in April killed the buds on the blue, purple, and pink varieties. No blooms in late spring. Yet this year, because we have not had a freeze yet, those plants that didn’t bloom in May are blooming now. There are buds ALL over them, but most will not fully mature before a freeze sometime later this month. So, I am enjoying the few I have.

My family can attest to the disappointment I feel when my beloved hydrangeas freeze. Yet I also realize that compared to the deep sorrows many in our world are facing, frozen flowers are insignificant. All throughout our lives we will face disappointment – and worse – because we live in a broken, fallen world. Sorrow and loss are a part of living on this planet. The challenge comes then in the way I face disappointment and loss. Will I focus on the loss – what I don’t have? Will I enjoy what I do have? Will I view my adverse circumstances as barriers to following Jesus or opportunities for Jesus to meet me in the midst of my suffering? Paul wrote about this in Romans and Paul recently had experienced beatings and imprisonment!

Romans 5:4-6 NLT
4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, our ultimate salvation is assured. Jesus died and rose again and broke the power of sin and death.

That hope and assurance will NEVER lead to disappointment.