THE HIGHER ROAD

"Father God, just for today
Help me walk the narrow way.
Help me stand when I might fall.
Give me your strength to hear your call.
May my steps be worship;
May my thoughts be praise;
May my words bring honor to your name.
May my steps be worship;
May my thoughts be praise;
May my words bring honor to your name."

You might be tired of looking at these lines, but I'm not quite thorough talking about this song. It does not issue as easily from my lips as it did a few weeks ago. I have been struck between the eyes lately concerning what I must have thought this song meant. I am ashamed to say this, but I think I must confess that I really wanted this song to mean something akin to this:

"Father God, again today,
Help me walk like yesterday;
Help me stand; don't let me fall
Where I can't see ahead at all.
May I keep on stepping
On this path I know;
May I march with eager, cheerful tread
Down this path familiar
With your hand in mine.
Satisfied with marching straight ahead."

First, it occurred to me that my road needed to narrow quite a bit. I was letting myself off too easy. Living in the same old well-behaved, behaviorally disciplined way was really not capturing the spirit of Jesus's words in Matthew 7: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate, and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." I have been glibly asking to be promoted from a pilot of a VW Jetta to a 747 in one fell swoop (or "one swell poop," as my friend Candy says!) rather than understanding that to seek the promotion means that I must take the training and even the tests that will prepare me for the job.

I hope all this doesn't sound like works-oriented salvation. Actually this has nothing to do with salvation at all; it has everything to do with what Jesus, in Matthew 7, called "life." (Sure, the first part of his statement did refer to destruction, but that was for those who are traveling a very broad highway and going through a cavernously wide gate. By the grace of God, I do not suffer from the delusion that life consists of seeing how big a swath of pavement I can cover before I fall off the shoulder of the highway and and then into the ditch. I KNOW that the Good Life can only be found within the Master's shadow, and I'll bet, if you're reading this, you do too.) This has to do with continuing to grow rather than resting in our laurels-- continuing education, if you will. Jesus seems to be inviting us to a narrower and narrow way because that is what will lead us to a higher and higher road. That is the only way we can achieve what Paul calls going "from one degree or glory to the next."

Pay close attention to what Jesus talked about most (go back and read the Beatitudes, for instance). It seems to me that the reason very few find that "life" He was talking about in Matthew 7 and in the Beatitudes and all those other places where He talks that crazy talk about down leading up and last being first, is that we have found a few things we do well, and so our goal quietly becomes just to maintain our status quo. Just don't rock the boat for these remaining twenty or thirty years I have left.

But a great new adventure begins when we come upon a narrowing of the road (attitudinal issues like righteous indignation and pride and going blindly, but cheerfully and faithfully, without a map) and decide, even at this late hour of our lives, to commit ourselves to some new training by grabbing firmly onto our Master's hand and walking bravely ahead into uncharted territory.

(Today's photo is Bryson and Larry on a steep section Appalachian Trail in Maine last month.)

THE NARROW WAY

"Father God, just for today,
Help me walk the narrow way.
Help me stand when I might fall.
Give me Your strength to hear your call.

May my steps be worship;
May my thoughts be praise;
May my words bring honor to Your Name.
May my steps be worship;
May my thoughts be praise;
May my words bring honor to Your Name."

I love this song and find such strength and resolve from singing it that I sing it quite often. Many times throughout most of my days when I am not singing it, I catch myself humming its tune. It is a very specific prayer couched in a concise, economical package.

As I have sung the words "the narrow way" all these times, I don't really know what I have, until lately, pictured, but I'm pretty sure "narrow" in my mind was something more ethereal, less down-to-earth than Jesus was getting at when He spoke of the gate and the road in Matthew 7. I believe maybe I thought "the narrow way" meant behaving really well morally-- walking straight down the trail and never veering off it either to the left or to the right. Using this criteria, I was doing pretty well on this part of this song-prayer. I don't drink, do drugs, steal, commit adultery, cuss (very often), or skip church to go fishing (even less often).

But recently I have been given some opportunities to gain a whole new perspective on what "the narrow way" might really mean-- at least to me, right now-- and these opportunities have burdened me with the need to confess that I am lot less comfortable about the status of my check-marks now when I sing that song than I used to be.

Most of these "opportunities" have had to do with feeling taken advantage of or being made to feel obligated to do some unreasonable errand; I might go so far as to say I have even felt bullied because I have been trying to be a nice person and do what it takes to get along. Usually the one bullying me is someone I love and respect, so rather than putting my hands on my hips, putting my foot down, and asserting,"Absolutely NOT! This is RIDICULOUS!," I have gone ahead, huffing and puffing under my hot breath and done the ludicrous thing asked of me.

Once lately as I was driving through the late night hours on one of these errands of mercy, I found myself itching to call somebody and just complain-- just bend some sympathetic ear into helping me rationalize my feeling so needlessly and mercilessly put upon. (That phrase "put upon" had heretofore been pretty much foreign to me, just an archaism past its prime-- a couple of words that once accurately translated something to someone who had never heard of a garage door opener or a microwave but that had long since lost relevance in this postmodern world. But that night, when I wanted to make that pity call, those words came to me unbidden and translated perfectly what I was feeling... put upon. Somebody had just put something upon me without my permission or acceptance, and here I was carrying it down the highway in my car at this ungodly hour like some dumb beast of burden.)

But before I could even realize I had left my cell phone at home, that unmistakable Voice interrupted my seething with an announcement. The Voice was the Holy Spirit of God, and the announcement was in the form of a song: "Father God, just for today, help me walk the narrow way..." UGH! The "narrow way" was somehow connected with THIS? How could such a sweet, holy, reasonable request have anything to do with THIS ridiculous, unwieldy errand that was so obviously unreasonable? When I asked Him to chisel out my ears so that I could hear His message, I was humbled to learn that the narrow way right then was to bear patiently and quietly what my flesh was itching to flail out at with righteous indignation. I wanted justification and a sympathetic ear; God wanted to take me at my word and help me to do just what I had been asking Him to do all those hundreds of times I had so glibly lifted to Him that prayer request.

And since that night, I keep having the same kinds of opportunities almost daily to see just how narrow that way is that Jesus wishes I would choose to take. Learning to behave morally was yesterday's very narrow road, but today it's a fairly wide, flat, and easy expressway for me to mosey on down-- and moseying is neither going to accomplish growth in me nor testify to a powerful God of supernatural love in a vastly evil world. I see now that if I am to keep growing from one degree of glory to the next, I am going to have to go through the training. The degrees are not accomplished by just wishing for them. I would never expect, just because I can drive a car, that next week I could fly a 747 just by desiring to do so or even praying to do so. Neither would I expect to be able to perform successful brain surgery just because I had done a good job of pulling my grandson's tooth and now desire to do something greater. To accomplish these tasks, I would expect to go through lots of training. How much training I am willing to go through will be determined by my degree of desire to accomplish the tasks.

Giving up cussing was a pretty narrow road for me to travel on when I was thirteen, but I'm 59, and ... well, you get the picture.

WAYLAID BY GRACE

"It is mine to avenge; I will repay." Deuteronomy 32:35 "You have heard it said, 'Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:43-45

God makes it abundantly clear, and Jesus echoes His Father, that we are to have nothing to do with revenge. And to clear up a possible misconception, when Jesus says, "You have heard it said.... But I tell you...," He wasn't referring to the old ways of the "Old Testament God" as compared to the new ways of the "New Testament God" through Christ. The directive "Hate your enemy" is nowhere found in the Old Testament. He was mining God's Truth ( the only Truth) from the slag that the world had produced from distorting the Law to console our proclivities. Nope, God knew all along, and never changed His mind, about the proper handling of revenge. And for us that proper handling was not at all; hands off-- completely. Not that any of us hooked up to a blog like this are even tempted by such a violent thing as revenge.

Or are we? When we take a close, honest look at the mindset of revenge and why God is so dead-set against it, we have to admit that it covers more territory than just the wild-west, shoot em' up-in-the-streets-of-Tombstone-type. The temptation to get revenge visits the genteel maiden as well as the burly, rough-around-the-edges outlaw. We need to be careful that we don't disqualify ourselves from Jesus' teachings about getting even just because of the clothes we wear, our obvious demeanor, or the outward nature of our personalities. I have known many a pleasant smile to conceal a deadly storm brewing beneath its surface. Someone--maybe more than one-- abused her as a child; her parents neglected, rejected, or abandoned her; her husband of forty years traded her in for a newer model. It's her first waking thought and her last waking memory... in fact, most nights she is tormented by nightmares about it.

What lies at the heart of revenge is payment for damages rendered. This vast debt that plagues her days and nights really needs to be paid if she is to get on with her life. She just doesn't have the energy to focus on moving upward ; all the energy she can muster up is committed to just holding herself together. Of course, she knows the payment should come from the one who owes her, but somewhere in the days and weeks, months and years of her life since then, the onerous carriage of such an unwieldy thing has taken over. Finally, it is no longer a thing she is carrying; it has swallowed her up and is carrying her. It covers her, colors her, coaxes, and constrains her so that her vision is blurred and her judgment clouded. It no longer is compartmentalized so that it stays where it belongs. In fact, she now belongs to it, and everyone is game to its hunger.

Maybe you think this language sounds melodramatic, but the sadistic nature of our Enemy cannot be overstated. No words are graphic enough to paint that picture. He is the thief who comes "only to steal and kill and destroy," and he will use whatever weakness he finds in us to do that. Or maybe you don't want to call some of these familiar feelings "revenge." Maybe that sounds like too harsh a word. Would "bitterness" fit better? Still too strong? What about "projecting," as in casting blame or responsibility away from our ourselves onto another. Maybe we have fallen into some deep ditches because of our burden, and we need someone else to accept the responsibility for our being here in this ditch. If someone victimized me so that I have ended up here, then perhaps it would be all right if I do just a teensy bit of the same to someone else-- maybe even anyone else. Pride can coax me into thinking that this might make me feel a little better about evening up the score; people who are badly hurt, even shamed, are not immune to pride's assaults. We can call vengeance by whatever nicer name we like, but if we are loaded down by a spirit of unforgiveness in our back pocket, it's all the more convenient for our Enemy to use against us.

The mind set on revenge is dangerous-- even deadly-- regardless of the source of its inferno or the weapon it wields. When our hearts are set on avenging wrongs done to us, we eventually follow our heart's desire and venture into territory fraught with land mines. The grave danger of getting revenge is that on our way to making sure the world pays us back what it owes us, we can gyp-- even abuse-- a lot of people who are as innocent as we were when we were gypped or abused.

God knows that we are not strong enough to bear the load of vengeance responsibly. We will fall down upon it and cut ourselves to shreds, or it will burrow itself into our flesh and take over. We will become the very monster we flail against. Jesus knew we weren't smart enough to know where to draw the line or how to distinguish between innocence and guilt, so in His living and in His dying He warned us against even trying. He told us to trust the Father with the weight and wisdom of avenging and to focus our own minds on the lifestyle of loving and praying for our enemies. He said that by doing this we will be exactly the person our heart desires to be and just the person the world so desperately needs us to be. We will be"sons [and daughters] of our Father in Heaven."

EVEN BETTER THAN A BOXCAR?

One of my dearest friends in the world is named Andy Lee. She's the one who encouraged me to do this blogging thing and taught me how, not only by example, but yea, even by taking me by my little ignorant and stubborn hand and guiding me step by step through the process. Andy has been through a soul-shaking (but not soul-shattering!) experience lately. She has just recently lost her big sister, her only sister, to cancer. My friend, Andy, left her family in North Carolina for a solid month and went to Oklahoma to work tirelessly as Christy's devoted nurse and cheerleader. She is a woman of great faith in her Father God, and so she, and all she could enlist to accompany her, boldly entered the throne room requesting from the King that the life of her sister be spared yet again from the cancer that she was delivered from a few years ago. For a while it looked like those prayers would be answered according to our wishes, but on July 13, Christy's fight with cancer ended forever. She was delivered from her disease into her Father's safe keeping, never to do battle again with cancer or any other frailty of the flesh. I invite you-- no, I implore you-- to go her blog and follow her heart's journey for the past month [hernamewasmary.blogspot.com].

Andy's blog for today is especially compelling; in fact, I was so shot in the head with it that I was tempted just to cut and paste it into this space and call it mine! Instead, let me just step up beside this soul mate of mine, say "Amen, Sister," and add another testimony of my own.

It's all about the best kind of happiness being something different from what most people might normally think of as happiness. She has decided that happiness to her is peacefulness. Although the word "peace" doesn't conjure up mental images of of the high thrills and deep ecstasies of skydiving or whitewater rafting, isn't it really the truth? Isn't the fleeting nature of such "happy" experiences as these always haunting our consciousness? And doesn't the very widespread accessibility of such "happy" experiences throw them into the ironic category of "cheap thrills?" (Ironic because they are available to anyone who has the guts and the money!)
True peace, however, is not cheap at all. At least it hasn't been for me. I have been given some opportunities recently to be put in the hot seat and discover the mettle of my inner peace, and let me tell you, no one has been more surprised than I to watch a holy calmness fall down and cover and smother what used to be inner turmoil and outer agitation. It's been like an out-of-body experience to stand aside and look upon a self I hardly recognize. Then it hits me that this is what God has been promising all along, ever since I drew near to Him to be Lord over Jan. You see, He has had to take me down some pretty rough roads, to teach me to turn lose of my own machinations and resources and take Him at His Word. There has been nothing easy or cheap about learning how to rest increasingly in the peace of God "that passes all understanding." I have spent most of my Christian life wondering if I would ever make it around the first bend of this race. This is why I feel like an alien onlooker lately when I find myself making some progress.

Even though in your whole lifetime you might not personally know even a handful of high-thrill seekers who spend all their time getting on and off bucking broncs or swimming with sharks, I'll bet you know even fewer (outside of those seriously stoned on drugs or who have had a lobotomy) who abide in overwhelming, awe-inspiring peace. This peace is as rare as hen's teeth-- so rare that when we find ourselves possessed of it when we know a year ago we would not have been, oh yes, indeed, it is a happy, happy day! We know that now we're really getting somewhere, not just coming to the end of the ride (or the free fall or back up to the boat where sharks can't breathe.) Peace doesn't just last for a few thrilling minutes. With practice-- soaking in God's presence-- it gets better and stronger and more reliable. It doesn't quit being available when our hair turns blue or our teeth fall out or we can't see or hear anymore, either, like most of those other "happy" things. That's good news for me and for everyone else like me who keeps having birthdays.

(P.S. This does not mean that I have given up my desire to jump a freight train.)

PAIN WITH A PURPOSE

(The labor of bringing new life and the grinding of the turner's lathe-- two examples of pain that bears lovely consequences.)

"... though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
1 Peter 1:5-7

Where are you hurting right now? Do you feel hemmed in by circumstances over which you have no control? Has it been a glancing blow you didn't see coming, or is it a thing which has dripped and dripped day after day until the concave place worn by the first eon of this is quickly growing into a deep cavity? Do you pace in your cage and stare wistfully through the bars to a freedom that you can scarcely remember ? Is "hope" dwindling into a word for naive idealists? Peter's first letter is addressed to " God's elect strangers in the world, scattered through Pontus, Galatia, Cappodocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood..." It is addressed to us. We have been chosen through the Spirit for obedience. That is why we are alive-- to bring glory to our God by obedience to Him.

But obedience is such a big word! It's hard to keep our little minds wrapped around everything that job requires of us at any given moment. Some times are easier than others to see what we are being called upon to obey Him in. And when we suffer, we wonder if it is because we slipped up somewhere and let something get past us whose consequences now must visit us as a result of our sloppiness or negligence, our laziness, or maybe even some rebellion about which we have been in denial. When this happens to me, it doesn't take long to find something to convict in myself-- usually several somethings. Of course, sometimes my suffering might not so much be related to anything I've done wrong. Maybe it's because of something someone else did or failed to do.

But the point of this scripture is that the place we should always look first is to God-- and not just for answers to "why?" Maybe that's really none of our business right now. What is always our business is "what?" What can I do with this that will make me more genuine? What can I do to use this thing so that it will result in praise and glory to God? Ask Him these things, and then expect Him to answer you.

When you read this whole section of scripture, it really does sound like Peter has a tone of celebration even though he is talking about persecution. We must try to remember, in times of trial and suffering, that everything is not really centered on us. There is much going on within the Kingdom of God, and I am not always the main character. I am a character, though, and therefore, I must be content to be used to resolve the conflicts and affect the outcome in the master plot. The Author is infinitely wiser than I , and if I am to help His story along, then rather than wishing to tear out all the pages I don't like or mark through, like an angry child with a red crayon, all the lines I cannot understand, I must keep turning the pages in joyful anticipation of what He will do next.

That we can learn to celebrate in the midst of persecution is a great mystery, to be sure, but it is the way that Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.

[From Broken Jar: 365 Days on the Potter's Wheel]

SOMETHING BETTER THAN AN ENCORE

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
- 2 Corinthians 3:18

One of the hardest lessons I have ever had to learn is that I don't need all the encores my heart so fervently desires from God. When I am on that downhill thrill of the roller coaster ride, hands thrown up into the air, face plastered backwards into a perpetual smile, tears of mirth freely flowing, I instinctively yell, "Encore, God! Let's keep doing THIS! I like where I live now! I like this relationship now! I like this job, these people, this town, this church, my kids and grand kids this age. You're doing great, God; don't change a THING! Let's not be messing with perfection or trying to fix something that 'ain't broke.' " But in the past few seasons, I have learned--albeit the education came in spite, or as a result of, my white-knuckled death grip-- a couple of things about encores that have changed my attitude of persistence.

Number one is that we were never meant just to mark time. We are meant to march forward from one degree of glory to the next. When glory has just seized me and filled me to the gills, I cannot imagine how there could be a next degree still out there somewhere. How could I possibly reflect God's glory any better than I could in this good-feeling, mind-expanding, heart-caressing condition? Isn't that what we are supposed to be wanting to do--reflect God's glory the best we can? That's what the scripture says. (This kind of thinking is probably the origin of such familiar exclamations as "Just let me die right now! I have everything I could possibly ever want. I have no need to go any further. I'm ready to go!" )

I somehow keep forgetting that I am dealing with a God whose plans and provisions are not limited by anything like weather or health conditions, age, looks, or talent. His plans and provisions are limitless! Therefore, when I want to freeze the moment and believe that any step I take away from where I am right now would be a step in the wrong direction, I am trying to put limits on an unlimited Benefactor. "...No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him--but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit" ( 1 Corinthians 2:9). ( Now, I don't think this means that His Spirit has revealed to us all the details, just the fact that what is up ahead is a far sight better than anything that we have seen or experienced so far.) True, the roller coaster will have to slow down and do some climbing, but miraculously, this thrill seeker is learning-- and I hope if you are one of me, that you will learn it too-- that the glory that can be revealed in the slow and laborious journey up can equal and even exceed the one we wanted to can for our continued enjoyment. God has enough new experiences to last my lifetime and more; He certainly does not need to keep pulling the same old rabbit out of the same old hat. Accept change from His hand without fear. Let Him be God.

Number two is that I don't need the encores because I don't have to lose what just happened or where I am right now. I have been given ( at least for today!) the ability to remember. What a lovely word "remember" has become to me! My memories are my greatest possessions. I have grown acutely aware of when I am in the midst of making a good one, and I am becoming, with the God's Holy Spirit, better and better at engineering and constructing memories. I love to watch them pile up and snuggle together into a beautiful myriad of shapes, textures, and colors. They are mine to take out and relive as often as I like. I savor them with delightful relish. In fact, I have come to believe that our memories are really the most important part of the whole event. The "real" event-- when it is happening-- is only for the moment, so that what "really" happened and how we "really" felt don't matter nearly as much as how we remember it happening and how we remember feeling. Perception, in this respect, really is everything. The memories are what become real for the rest of our conscious lives, and how we process the memories is what most greatly affects how we respond to our past and thus how we move ahead into our future.

So God in one sentence says, " No encores! You do not need to stand still! Move forward with me into my visions for you." And in the next sentence, He says, " But I am not taking away the good things that have come to you. They are yours to enjoy forever."

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." -Psalm 37:4

SHAMEFULLY DELIGHTED AGAIN

"A Bird in Hand"
A wild painted bunting caught in my feeder; a free gift from God-- what life is really all about!


This morning in preparation for a ladies' class, I was studying Matthew 6:25-34, the part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount that concerns worrying. A couple of new thoughts came to me, as new thoughts on old subjects so often do when studying God's Word.

One of the questions in this study* was "What are some common reasons why people worry?" I I fairly quickly filled in my blank: having enough money to keep a roof over our heads and to feed our families, losing our honor, whether we might inadvertently (or impulsively-- out of selfishness)hurt, disappoint, or neglect people. Then it hit me that maybe I had misinterpreted the question because this question had been covered in last week's chapter. Maybe what it really was asking was not what are common things that people worry about, but rather exactly what the question said: What are some of the common reasons why people worry? What- way down deep inside- makes us worry? What is that mechanism? What is the thought process?

Now, for a Christian, this is a question worth asking. I came up with three of my own:
1. I think there is something I could/should be doing but either I don't know what, or I know what, but I don't want to do that.
2. I am afraid I might not be tuned in to God closely enough to hear or see His guiding hand.
3. I don't trust myself to look honestly at what He is telling or showing me.

Ironically, then, I am less likely to worry when I have absolutely no control over my situation and I absolutely know that I do not. The worrisome times are those when I have some influence, some leeway to make some decisions, when what I decide might have a lot of impact on what hangs in the balance. This caused me to scratch my head and think about the blessedness of being at the end of my rope, of reaching the last resort, of the times when I come to the end of myself. But the reality is that most of life is not like that. Most of the time we are in places of decision. Sometimes those crossroads require a finely-tuned spiritual discernment. At those times when we seem between a rock and a hard place- the devil and the deep blue sea- we need to have a storehouse of God's wisdom to draw on. If I don't discipline myself daily to seek God's counsel-- even though I might not need a whole lot of it for that particular day of activities-- then when the tough times of decision come, I will not be ready. There is so much of the world's gravity pressing in all around and all the time; if we do not not fight back in an aggressive way we will not be able to make spiritual headway. I have lived through some times that have taught me never to think the weather is going to stay calm all day long just because the sun rose that morning into a cloudless sky. Storms can blow up suddenly. We must be ready.
And we must collect that readiness in the times when we are not particularly desperate or in dire straits. We must use the calm to prepare for the storm.

The second new thing I learned this morning was what Jesus might have meant when He asked the question, " Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?" (He had just finished saying, "...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.") I guess all those other hundreds of times I had read this, I had focused so much on his command that I didn't pay any attention to this question He asked next. When I finally did this morning, I came up with an answer that gave new depth and dimension to this old, familiar passage that I thought I had pretty much figured out. Maybe Jesus is wanting us to think about what else life really involves besides just food and clothes. What about life can we enjoy apart from its tools and trappings ( food and clothes)? Those are just the accouterments, the accessories of life, not really life itself. Life itself is all about things that don't necessarily even require money, activities that are free for all-- like laughter, like listening to each others' stories, like watching our children and grandchildren play and learn new things, like visiting and revisiting, as often as we like, all those beautiful memories we have stored up, like enjoying God in nature, like lending a helping hand to someone who desperately needs one. Our lives, our bodies were given to us by God not just to be fed and dressed up but to be used and to be enjoyed. We all know this-- this is not rocket science-- and yet we can so easily fall onto the treadmill of using all our energy and worry over the accessories that we forget that there is a whole lot more to life than survival. Even those who are so busy or overworked that they feel like they are doing well just to survive need to rethink their days' activities: Wasn't there at least a little bit of time when an encouraging word could have been spoken in that busy work day? Wasn't there a few minutes the face could have turned upward, or outward or the ear and eye been a little more finely tuned to take in something lovely happening outside? Could Ihave lingered a minute over my lunch break to listen to a childhood memory of a friend or coworker? The reason we usually don't do these things is that we are spending those minutes either silently fretting or speaking about our worries over something related to these basic needs Jesus promises us that our Father will supply.

The third thought I had was really not my thought but the thought of Frederick Dale Bruner, author of The Christbook. He writes, " Only when we have been liberated from our own food and clothes-- a liberation devoutly to be desired in Western Christendom-- will we give necessary attention to the food and clothing of the Poor World around us. Thus Jesus' text is not antisocial; it is antiselfish. It does not tell us not to be unanxious about others' food, but to unanxious about our own. It does not preach indifference to society; it preaches a rejection of Christians' unbelieving anxiety about themselves and their circumscribed obsessions. Anxious care is the denial of God; it is acting as if we are alone in the world and that either there is no God or that He does not care." This is why Jesus warns us that we are acting like the pagans when we "run after all these things."

I am always so delighted, so thrilled-- and to be honest, shamefully surprised-- when as I am studying God's Word, suddenly newness flows from the old and from the familiar flows enlightenment. I am ashamed that I keep being surprised because I "know" and have taught for years that "the Word of God is living and active." It's a lot like yeast. Its message can always be depended upon to bring nourishment, but the size and dimension of it is ever new. It swells and changes shapes so as to fit into the current size hole we are dealing with and to shed light into the current blind spot we find ourselves in. A different perspective for a different day and need. Always living, always active, never stagnant, never used up, never just a bunch of pages between some protective covers. Of great import. The Word of God.