Wednesday’s Ode #29

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015 / The WheatandTares

I love AUTHENTICITY.

It seems, we lack so much of it today. There are those who act happy when they’re mad. Others act downtrodden when, inside, they are elated by the “gracious giving” they receive. Some pretend to choose right simply to plan an attack. Still others, rebel against peace believing they’ll, somehow, reveal it.

When we strive to live within a contrived shell, it will eventually choke the very life we seek. When we strain to paint a pretty picture, when the interior is filled with death and disease, we desecrate our own attempt of majesty. When we give the illusion of stability and grace when there is only chaos and sin, we diminish the only integrity and character to succeed.

This whole world benefits when we are authentic. It doesn’t mean we all agree. It doesn’t mean we all tolerate. It does mean we can breathe without fear of suffocation. It does mean we have freedom to live and speak and share without sheltering truth from those who don’t believe as we do. When we are authentic, and we allow others to be authentic, we may not live in perfect harmony; yet, we will create a beautiful symphony to be heard.

Overwhelming Life … Overcoming …

August 25, 2015August 26, 2019 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

My heart is full of thoughts and feelings tonight – love, life, and longing; so much, that it’s hard to put it all into words…

Over the past few weeks, I have watched several bury their precious momma, several struggle with the intense sickness of a father or a 3 year old child, others who are striving to help their children succeed in new schools, with new friends and even new locations, and still others who are attempting to simply find a job, pay a light bill, or just make a new start in life, after a lifetime of bad decisions and reckless living. I wonder how those who don’t know God ever make it through these times.

I know, it’s not really popular these days to talk about God, Christianity, religion or even faith. You can talk about any sin you’d like (just don’t call it sin). You can talk about any politician you care to list (just don’t pick a conservative side). You can even talk about the latest celebrity trend or fashion faux pas (just remain unbiased to any real allegations). Yet, when it comes to anything remotely close to relating to the God of the Universe, the Savior of souls, the Christ who walked upon this Earth, you better keep your mouth shut, or someone’s going to profane your name.

Well, I just can’t keep silent one more second, and go ahead, make a note: this post is not to preach to you. It’s not to argue some denominational merits or mistakes, and it’s not even to debate the latest and greatest nor the oldest and ugliest. All I have to ask is, “How in the world could you possibly say, ‘No,’ to Him?” I’m not talking about someone who just simply wants to pat you on the back to say, “Good job for choosing me. Now, go work for me the rest of your life.” I’m not referring to some simple man who declared himself a prophet, wrote a book, all by himself, and claimed he must be followed. No, I’m not even talking about a belief system that teaches you all there is to life is living and dying and trying to reach perfection of all you have while you’re here.

I’m talking about a God who created the stars in the sky and caused the sun and moon to move in orbit. He told the ocean where to stop and the rivers where to flow. I’m talking about a Creator who formed the breath in your lungs from His very being and gave you the life to which you so desperately cling. I’m talking about a Savior who, not only, left His glorious throne to dwell among men to die for you, but who, also, rose from the grave, ascended to heaven and has promised to return to take His children home again! This is the kind of God I serve.

He is a God who loves us so much that He willingly died on the cross for us, because we needed blood to atone for our sins. He is a God who loves us so much that He sent a Comforter to dwell among us in His absence. He is a God who binds up the brokenhearted, heals the sick, delivers the captive, restores the desolate. He is a God who even cares about the tiny sparrow that falls to the ground. I just can’t fathom why there are those who hate Him for the goodness He brings. I can’t imagine trying to live this overwhelming life without His hand guiding me and helping me to overcome every obstacle, every failure, every pain.

I read, as my family, my friends, and even distant acquaintances share their struggles, on social media, and I listen as those around me call for help, kneel at the altars for prayer and even linger just to hear an encouraging word. I see their deep longing for healing, for peace, for moments of joy and a brighter tomorrow. I watch as they cling desperately to their faith, like an anchor, until the storm passes. The common bond is their faith, and I, again, pause to consider those without faith. I don’t understand how they can make it. I can’t comprehend their loss without having hope.

Faith in Him is the only thing which sustains me. Trust in a God who is bigger than my trial, wiser than my intellect and deeper than my understanding is the only way I survive. So, if you believe it’s just a crutch on which I lean, that’s okay. If you think it’s just a fairytale, and in the end, what we believe in life doesn’t amount to anything anyway, that’s your prerogative. If my words here simply light a fire of hatred and violence within your heart, and you can’t wait to tear me to shreds with your words, go ahead, because that’s exactly what they did to My Lord, My God, and My Friend. I long to be with Him beyond this world anyway, and it won’t be too much longer. This world is busting to implode, and if it does, I know where I’m going. Do you?

For, if I’ve lived my life for Christ, and there is no eternity, then I’ve simply wasted my life; however, if you’ve lived your life for yourself, or some other god, and there is an eternity after this one, then you’ve wasted eternity…and at that time, there are no “do overs.”

If I'm wrong about God then I wasted my life. If you're wrong about God then you wasted your eternity - Lecrae

**I do not own this picture, nor did I take this picture. It was pinned on Pinterest, and I copied it here.**

You’re Weird! … I’m Weird, Too!

August 18, 2015February 18, 2017 / The WheatandTares

We all have our quirks and our peculiarities. My husband is so comfortable in his; I have to be honest, sometimes, I’m downright jealous. I know, I know. I shouldn’t be jealous of my own husband! I just wish I could be okay with my oddities all the time.

I love fall and winter weather, but I am incredibly cold-natured. I hate raw tomatoes; however, I love to eat anything made with tomatoes, as in spaghetti, pizza sauce and chili, and I love to make stuff from tomatoes such as salsa and vegetable soup. I love to sleep with socks on, and I can sleep just about anywhere, but if you wake me up about an hour after I go to sleep, I may not even remember our conversation by morning. I also have a love-hate relationship with the snooze button. I love to meet new people, and carry on long conversations with one or two people; yet, I am an extreme introvert, and I have to revive myself by having long moments of solitude.

Yes, I am a quirky individual, and after 40+ years of living with myself, I am still trying to be okay with these traits. I know, we all have quirks and differences to our personalities, and so many people seem completely okay with theirs, and I am, genuinely, so happy for them. Some even seem a little too comfortable…to the point of rudeness to those around them, and I suppose, this one fact alone causes me to hone in too strongly on my own idiosyncrasies for fear of possibly becoming like them.

I am so concerned with not being rude or offensive to another person, even unintentionally. All my life, I have been conditioned to be kind and accommodating, and I have always had a pretty adaptable personality; so, the moments when someone is offended or bothered by something I have done or said, I am profusely apologetic, sometimes, even to a fault.

Yet, as I grow older, I am learning that this over concern for other people’s opinions can, often, actually be derived from a source of pride and vanity. You see, no matter how “nice and sweet” a personality trait may seem, on the flip side of it is an uglier, less delightful sounding trait. It can be used for either extreme, and we must realize what the root is in order to come back to center, Christ’s center.

Just as the opinionated, outspoken person can be seen as both truthful and rude, overbearing and bluntly honest, depending on the positive and negative extremes, the tolerable, quiet spoken person can be seen as both graciously kind and fearful, flexible and weak. All of these (negative) extremes come from a root of vanity and pride, ambition and envy, and we must recognize, acknowledge and surrender these qualities to God before we move to the extremes of either side.

When we refuse to let the flesh reign in our lives, and, instead, allow Christ to rule and reign, we will find that we will no longer worry over what people think, and we will worry most about what HE thinks. We will no longer err on the sides of brashness and fearfulness, but rather, we will walk in complete boldness of who we are in Christ, even with all our quirks, failures and peculiarities.

When we surrender our all to Him, we will begin to actually see ourselves as He sees us, not as the world sees. We will begin to believe as He believes and act as He acts. When we are totally surrendered to Him, we will become a mirror of His life, because it will be His Spirit living in us and through us. ❤

Partial obedience is still disobedience

August 4, 2015August 6, 2015 / The WheatandTares

1 John 2:3-6, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

If JMan is playing in the road and I see a car he doesn’t, I’m going to tell him to get out of the road immediately! If he only moved to one side of the road, this is disobedience, and he can still get hurt! His life may depend on his COMPLETE obedience of my command to him.
If JGrizz isn’t supposed to be on his phone after a certain hour, but he decides that he’s Just got to make one more phone call 30mins later, that’s still disobedience; even though, he is only making one call. Now, this one phone call of disobedience might not cost him his life; yet, it could possibly lead him down a path that, later on, he’ll wish to God he hadn’t taken! No matter how big or small the “event” may appear in the moment, disobedience always comes with a cost.

Sometimes, I think we act this same way with God. He gives us a directive, even a command in His Word, and we obey it, but only to a certain extent. We obey, but only till it costs us a little more than we’re willing to give. We might even try convincing ourselves that we are obeying Him, because, “after all, He doesn’t really want us to be suffering or unhappy, does He?”

Abraham was told to take his promised son, Isaac, on top of mount Mariah and sacrifice him. God didn’t tell Him the outcome. God didn’t say to him, “Well, you can take a little lamb with you, too; so, you’ll be convinced, ahead of time, of my provision.” No, all Abraham was told to do was take his son up the side of a mountain and kill him!!

Now, I don’t know about you, but honestly, I can’t say, right now, that I could happily comply with that! Abraham obeyed to the full extent, and it looked as if his full obedience would cost him his dream! This dream for which he had hoped and believed for YEARS…God told him he would father nations when he was 75…Sarah birthed Isaac when Abraham was 100 years old!! … That’s 25 YEARS!! God then told him to sacrifice his dream. That’s some heavy obedience which he did; yet, Abraham FULLY BELIEVED God would fulfill and keep His promise to him!

I wonder if we often hesitate to fully obey, because we don’t fully believe… Sure, we believe when it’s easy. We believe when things are good, but what about when He tells us to speak His name to a nonbeliever who might just ridicule us? What about when He calls us to a ministry that might be a little scary when we’ve got to leave our home, our family, our friends, maybe even our homeland? What about when He asks us to give Him our whole tithes? You know, not just the “extra, off the top of a recent overtime weekend,” tithes, but that consistent 10% when our weekly budget barely cuts it now? What about when He leads us to give up that meal to spend the hour in prayer with Him? There are so many more I could list…

THAT kind of obedience can be challenging, can’t it? That kind of obedience can make us dig down deep, not just in our pockets, but in the depths of our soul. We have to ask ourselves in that moment, “Do I really trust God enough to obey Him? Do I really believe the promises He’s given me?” In His Word, He promised us, time and again, that when we obey, there are things He will do. We just simply have to believe and to obey.
Let me give you a few examples:
“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

“Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land.” Leviticus 25:18

““Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7

I know, I know, these are just OT commands, right? After all, we “live by grace now,” right?? …maybe you’d like for me to give a few NT Scriptures instead…

“Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” John 8:51

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” John 14:23

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13

I have found, when we half-way obey Christ, too often, we miss His BEST for us. We miss out on His joy, His peace, His rest. Sometimes, just as I gave the illustration of my son getting halfway out of the road, when we just obey God half-way, we might even put ourselves in harm’s way! God doesn’t give us commands to follow simply to control us or to make our lives miserable. He gives us instruction to protect us, provide for us and to give us the very BEST He can give us!! Our complete obedience is for our complete good!

Partial obedience is still disobedience, but oh, the sweet promises we enjoy when we give Him our full obedience!!

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:10-12 (italics, mine)

Perfection

June 18, 2015June 16, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 3 Comments

If we could have achieved perfection on our own, we wouldn’t have needed Jesus. – Jennifer Dukes Lee

We work so hard to have perfection in every area of our lives. Yet, whose perfection are we working to achieve? Is it the perfection of the Pinterest mom? Do you feel the need to be extra crafty, a perfect, DIY gal, making all the cute little cupcakes and crafts for the party? Is it the homeschool supermom who knows exactly what her child needs in every subject and on every lesson? Is it the grill perfect dad, knowing just when to turn that perfect steak, when to add that very last seasoning to make the meal of a lifetime for all your friends to drool?

Or maybe it’s that perfect businessman, knowing exactly when to press in for the deal and when to walk away, leaving them begging for more? Maybe it’s the A+ college student…you know, the one who can achieve the highest scores in her sleep while writing that pristine perfect 20 page paper in a day, just after she read the 1500 page novel for American Lit! What is this “perfect” that we seek so hard to find??

Too often, it seems, we seek to find the perfection we think we see in someone else. We look. We examine. We analyze everyone else’s perceived goodness and realize our lacking. We compare our faults to their “greatness,” and we are left wanting more. Who told us they are by whom we should measure ourselves??

Who convinced us of their perfection? They are not the answer. They are not the picture of perfection. What they do or don’t do should never be our focus! Who are “they” anyway?? They can never satisfy our longings. They can never fulfill our dreams. They can never transform us from who were once were to whom we are destined to be!

Only the Creator of our lives can bring about perfection. Only Jesus should be our goal of perfection! He is the only one who was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, dies for us, rose again and has promised to come again. Only HE is the picture of perfect by which we should examine our life. Only HE should be sought after for our value of perfection.

The only way we can reach to His perfection is to first be real with our imperfections and realize we can never achieve absolute perfection until He perfects our earthly bodies with a heavenly one. We can only reach to His perfection by becoming more like Him and so much less like ourselves. It’s a daily struggle, a daily walk toward His cross and away from our flesh…It’s a daily journey in realism. Why don’t we try a little real-ness in our search for Him? How about a little authenticity in our daily lives?

Are you ready for a little honesty…a little truth? Let’s drop the games that we play, and let’s get real. Let’s live lives of authenticity. Let’s live lives more like Christ: love, joy, peace, patience and truth…these are the makings for perfection! Let’s chase after Him rather than all those who would try to make us think they are perfect. 🙂

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 4:48

What’s Inside?

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

When you’re upset, you upset what’s really in you. -Ann Voskamp

You’ve heard it said, “When you spill the glass, you see what’s inside.” If sweet tea is inside, you see tea, and if it’s sour milk, you surely don’t get sweet tea! 😉 This is so true for each of us. No matter how pretty of a face we paint on, no matter how many smiles we flash, if our character is ugly, when pressures come, (and they will!) ugly is what will come out!

In the moments of stress, it’s never a matter of what we know, who we know, or even what we’ve learned. It’s a matter of what we’ve allowed inside our hearts, what we’ve processed and what we’ve consumed. What is within our hearts is what is brought to the surface when we face hard times.

I long for good to flow when I’m spilled out. I don’t like sour milk, never have; yet, when pressures arise, sometimes, sour is all that’s left. It gets messy. I long for purity. I long for less mess, and I’m really working on this; I truly am.

Yet, I have found that it’s not a matter of the mind. You can’t just make yourself act better. You can’t just decide in your mind, “Ok, today will be different. No more spills. No more sour milk. Today, I shall be on a better course. I shall be better!” No, it’s not just a simple making up of the mind, and all is well. It’s a matter of the heart, and, oh, how that heart can be so stubborn sometimes…

I can determine in my mind that I will not doubt. I will not grow angry. I will not be afraid. I can convince myself that this time will be different. I will be different; however, if I’ve only convinced my mind, and I’ve not dealt with my heart, that heart will rebel. That heart will even revolt. When the heat of the moment comes, and my guard is let down, that heart will adamantly revert back to its comfort zone of fear, doubt, anger, or whatever emotion consumes it at the time.

You see, the heart holds all the wounds, all the pain and all the joy. The heart is full of all the emotion, all the wonder, all fear. When troubles come, it’s really the heart that speaks, and this is why it is always a matter of that stubborn heart which determines what will spill out.

This is why Jesus longs to rule our hearts. If He can hold our hearts, He can change our mind. He can transform our will. He can even change the world. If He can have our hearts surrendered to His will, He can consume our whole being.

If we want the inside to be purified, to be empty of the mess, to be as pretty as the outside we paint, we must lend Him our hearts. We must surrender our emotions, our pains, our wounds. We must allow His living waters to wash over our hearts. We must let Him heal us from the inside out, and then, we won’t have to worry when the glass is spilt. There will be no sour to pour. It will only be full of fresh, living water, flowing from His heart to ours, and out to the world.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:27-28

**Note: I did not take picture, nor do not I own picture. Simply taken from google search.

Cloud of Lies

June 11, 2015June 10, 2015 / The WheatandTares

You walk around in a cloud.

Voices are heard. Faces are seen.

Yet you never realize where they lean.

You paint a smile. You wave a hand.

Yet you never recognize where they land.

They run ever fast, but never arrive.

Opinions are spoken. Agendas are made.

Yet they never hear truth inside the raid.

They fight. They scramble for their own selfish sight.

Yet they never listen to anything that is right.

We spill out the words, never making sense.

Abuses are dreamt. Fantasies are taken.

Yet standards of honesty and peace are forsaken

We believe. We trust this is the better way.

Yet our children are being raised within the broken fray.

You walk around in a cloud.

Voices are heard. Faces are seen.

Yet you never know death is knocking; all is serene.

You live your life thinking this is the best.

Yet you never surrender; all are trying to find rest.

Penned – MG – 6/10/15

Power of Reflected Light

May 11, 2015May 11, 2015 / The WheatandTares

The lighthouse has such a powerful light which shines across the sea; however, it’s actually not because of a particularly bright light bulb. Rather, it is because of the mirrors in place which cause the reflected light to shine brightly into darkness.

Just as a lighthouse is not bright simply because of a powerful light, a person cannot truly be strong simply because of his or her own strength, and a church cannot be strong simply because of a good program, a popular song service or even a great man behind the pulpit. When founded in Christ, the only true strength is when we reflect the praise we receive upon those with whom we are joined to minist, and reach those who are lost.

When the church body, the leadership, and the pastor are constantly reflecting upon each other all the light that is brought upon them, and especially when they are reflecting that light upon Jesus, the strength of that is enforced and brightened beyond imagination. We, as Christians, have too often, gotten into competitive relays with each other, always trying to better ourselves for the sake of gaining numbers, or taking them from another body of believers, rather than, bettering ourselves for the sake of our Christian walk and lifting Him up so that He might draw them to Himself. We’ve worked too hard to soak up the spotlight which has been show upon us rather than reflected that light upon those around us and upon Christ. Let us each learn a lesson from the beautiful lighthouse!

The power of reflected praise: Any praise you get should be reflected onto someone else! The church grows stronger by the power of reflected light!

*note: I did not take this picture, nor do I own this picture. Simply taken from google search. 😉

Fall Into It (1)

April 6, 2015March 14, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Fall Into LOVE

Fall into love like you fell into those piles of autumn leaves as a child, or maybe, you’d prefer that snow to make snow angels. Either way, you wanted nothing more than to keep falling over and over and over. You wanted nothing less than to get right back up and fall again. That is just how our love should be, falling deeper and deeper with each new day…with God…with family…with our spouse…with children…with nature…with LIFE.
Our problems with people are not always the people. Too often, when we have a conflict, we like to tell ourselves, it’s because we haven’t loved enough. We haven’t tried enough. We haven’t sacrificed enough. When all we need is more of Him and so much less of us. If we’d just fall into love with Him, He would love through us. He would speak through us. He would reach through us. So, fall into Him; so, your heart can love them.