Category Archives: trusting God

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Moonshine

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We had a full moon Sunday night, February 1. I saw the moon outside our window and marveled at the brightness. As I went outside the cold hit me, it was about 16 degrees when I took this picture. The snow was reflecting the light of the moon so it was very bright outside. The silhouette of the bare tree branches and their shadows made a beautiful image.

It was cold yet I was drawn to the silent beauty and lingered outside taking in the brightness of the moon and the shadows created by the shining full moon. The moon has no light source of its own, it is a cold dark rock orbiting around our planet. The moon reflects the light from the sun, which at this full stage of its phases is so bright that it glows. The reflected light spread all around making it seem like day instead of night.

I hear many people saying how “dark” our world seems now. If we read or listen to the news it IS dark in many ways. There are wars and rumors of war. There is violence and rebellion all over the world and even within our very own nation. I won’t dwell on the darkness except to acknowledge that it is evident if we open our eyes.

Jesus came to earth in a time full of darkness. The Roman empire controlled Palestine as part of the vast area under its domain. Roman soldiers would do as they pleased to maintain their authority and everyone lived in fear. We may feel our world is a fearful place now and it certainly is for many people. Sin always results in darkness. In John chapter 8 Jesus has just been confronted by the Pharisees who challenged with his authority. Jesus has been teaching and spreading a message of hope and redemption.

12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12

Jesus came to bring LIGHT into the darkness. Jesus is the source of the Light. In the passage of Scripture we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells His followers that they are the Light of the world. Just as Jesus shines in the darkness of this world, when we become followers of Jesus, he shines his light through us. Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

That beautiful moon has no light source of its own – it reflects the light of the sun. We humans have no light source of our own – we reflect the Light of the Son – Jesus, when we accept him as Savior and Lord. We must let our Light shine in the darkness of our world knowing as John says in John 1 – ” 4 The Word (Jesus) gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.“

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!!

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Seasons of Change

I recently heard someone say – “The only person who likes change is a baby with a dirty diaper.” I have the blessing of keeping our great-grandchild while her mother is taking college classes. So yes, change is a good thing when it comes to diapers.

We all relate to that, don’t we. There are some people who seem to thrive on change, even chaos. Yet for most of us there is comfort in the familiar. We like to know what we may face ahead so we can plan accordingly. Yet change is a part of life whether that change is by choice or not.

I have learned in my almost 74 years that changes I sometimes fought against turned out to be blessings I would never have imagined. God knew. His ways are not our ways.

My father taught high school biology for 40 years. He taught 33 of those years at Wheaton Central High School in Illinois, took early retirement, and taught for 7 more years in Taichung, Taiwan at an English speaking mission school – Morrison Academy. Dad once told me that change at that time in his life was transformational in so many ways. Instead of “hanging on” during his last few years of teaching, he had a whole new set of plants and animals to share with students. The tropical environment of Taiwan was a new learning experience for him that challenged him to keep at least one step ahead of his students. How he enjoyed those years!

The change allowed my father to thrive in his final years of teaching in a way that staying in his comfort zone would never have done.

Change is hard. It challenges us to give up the comfortable and familiar for the unknown and uncertain. This can be especially difficult when the changes are imposed on us. Our own physical limitations, illness of a spouse, or a change in living situations can challenge us to face changes we didn’t anticipate or want.

Paul shares the “secret” to facing change in whatever circumstances we face in Philippians 4: 10-14

10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. 11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. 14 Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

The “secret” is that Paul learned to be content in whatever situation he faced. He accepted that situation – comfort, illness, abundance, prison – because he KNEW his life was in God’s hands and ultimately God was accomplishing His plan in Paul’s life. Paul suffered greatly at times, yet he knew God was faithful.

May we apply Paul’s secret to whatever we face today.

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I Need Your Help – Really?

“Phil, I need your help. I want to move the gardenia bush from the pot it has been growing in. It’s root bound and needs more space.”

Phil obligingly gets a shovel and a wheelbarrow and says – “Where do you want the hole?”

“Right here.” I reply. I am standing next to an especially favorite hydrangea between a calla lily and a yellow daylily. I have positioned my self to “protect” these plants from the shovel. So I say to Phil –

“Don’t step there!”

“Dig from this side.”

“Watch out for the lily poking through.”

“Don’t pile the dirt there!!”

Phil stops digging and asks – “Do you want my help or not?”

The realization of my request for help sets in. I want Phil to dig the hole because I am not able. YET – I have made it impossible for Phil to help me with the limitations I have put on him. He has to stand somewhere, and the dirt he digs to make a hole has to go somewhere. I am not really asking Phil for “help”, I am telling him what to do.

This realization got me thinking about my cries of help to God. I may be facing a crisis and cry out to God “Help me” yet in the next breath I am telling God what to do, when to do it, and the outcome I expect.

I am giving the God of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, creator and sustainer of all things – advice. Really?

Proverbs 3: 5-6 says –

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.

Do not depend on my own understanding…

How often I think I know what is best… for myself, my husband, my children, my grandchildren, my friends, my acquaintances, my enemies, even random people I don’t know – “That person should just…”, my grandchild’s coach, the referees or umpires, my pastor, the worship leader?

The list could go on and on couldn’t it?

How totally presumptuous of me!! Is God thinking – “Do you really want my help or not?”

The answer is TRUST. I must trust in the Lord with all my heart. I must surrender my will to God’s will. God knows the big picture as well as each small detail of my life, i.e. the number of hairs on my head. Scripture is very clear on the fact that God has a plan for all of creation and a plan for how I, as an individual, fit into that bigger, glorious plan. He will direct my path.

To finish the above story about transplanting, I left to get water to soak the newly transplanted gardenia since Phil did not need me telling him HOW, after I told him where I wanted it planted. When I returned, Phil had placed it in the newly dug hole and the surrounding plants were just fine.

Trust.

# In My Garden with God