The High Road

My heart grows heavy when I see people deceive, cheat, and manipulate others to move themselves farther ahead in life or in a game.

The goodness of God radiated from two individuals who played the game of survivor, Matt and Mike. They helped others, loved, and competed with the utmost integrity and pure heart. Their words matched their actions and many counted them weak and ambushed them. They chose the high road and wrestled with fatigue, doubt, disappointment, hurt, and exile from their tribes. When they were down, they looked to God for strength and answers and left the end result up to Him.

Meanwhile, the rest of the players put their trust in Rob or each other only to be hurt, deceived, and cut away. Their focus was on imperfect humans. Their words were snide and cutting, arrogant, and venomous on occasion. The consistent theme was I, me, and my.

Rob won the money and title of survivor in the end. The title and money can never buy back the integrity, goodness, love, and friendships he lost. These can’t be won or purchased. They are earned from a pure heart.

I believe how we do the little things in our lives is how we do everything. Our actions reveal and reflect what’s in our heart. In my opinion there is never a reason to be mean, ever. The true test of a good person is to have the power to do bad and refuse.

 To anyone who doesn’t know a different life than one of self focus, I encourage you to examine where you are. If the imperfect you is all you have, can you ever be enough? What price have you paid, are currently paying, and will pay in the future? What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul for eternity?

I’m Not the Potter

 ⁸ Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
   We are the clay, you are the potter;
   we are all the work of your hand.   Isaiah 64:8 NIV

When my kids got a scraped knee my Mom heart wanted to patch up the outside of their pot and make it all better. As they grew up and faced the hurt and pain of abuse, rejection and anger from their father, I wanted to fix their inside pot, their heart.

Over the years I’ve realized even though I wanted to fix them I have no power to do it. I am not the potter or creator; God is. He molds each one of us into a unique individual with a free will. We can add designs, paint, and sparkles to adorn our outside, even while circumstances and situations in life adds scrapes, dents, and cracks.

We also choose with what we fill our pot, our heart, and what will be our focus. When I saw my children make bad choices and fill their pot with negative thoughts and actions, or place themselves in a bad situation, I would share the lessons of my life or give them advice to spare them pain. My motive and heart were to protect, but they saw it as me trying to be a know it all or to manipulate them. They wanted to make their own decisions and exercise their own free will. One of the hardest realities of being a parent is to realize and accept that it’s not my job to fix them.

Jesus is the best model for us. He was responsible to share and reveal truth and light to his family and home town to spare them more pain or hurt. They didn’t listen or embrace his wisdom; instead, they tried to kill him. If Jesus couldn’t share with his own family without rejection, what makes me think I can?  In spite of this, I have spent years believing I could. I now realize it is my job first and foremost to love them and encourage them. When they get too close to danger, it is still my responsibility as Mom to warn them, but the rest is up to them and God.

My need to fix is natural for a mom, but my drive to convince them is not how Jesus loved. He was the example of light and spoke the truth.  He then let people make their own decisions and face their own consequences. He never condemned them or shut the door on his love or forgiveness. My goal is to strive to follow Jesus’ model for the next half of my life. To share my heart in love with healthy boundaries and let God do the rest.

Have you ever tried to mold someone?

Miracle Seed

I was eight years old when I had my first experience with planting a garden. My family moved to a farm house with a large area ready for a garden and my Dad couldn’t wait to get the seeds in the ground. One warm spring Saturday morning Dad stood at the barn door beside his collection of seeds, shovels, rakes, garden hoses, and sprinklers and said,  “It’s time to plant our miracle garden.”

“Why is it a miracle?” I watched him as he opened a packet of seeds.

“You see these seeds?” Dad held the dried seeds in his hand. “These seeds are dead. Once we plant them and care for them and the sun warms them, they will live again and take care of us.”

“How can that happen if they're dead?”

“It’s one of His miracles,” Dad pointed heavenward. “Just like when Jesus died and then came back to a new life and gave hope, strength, and provision for people’s futures.”

Dad was right. It is a miracle that God our creator sent his only son and our King Jesus to pay the ultimate price and die for our sins so that we can be made new. We are dead seeds walking around without Christ and we don’t even know it. Only until we are planted in his fertile soil by accepting Him do we receive a new life. Our new life is just the start. We need to be watered by His Spirit and warmed by the Son’s heat and fed by His word. As we begin to grow, grounded in Him, we have to fight to grow upward and break free from the crust of our past lives to reach the future the Son has prepared.

I had to break free from the crust of believing I was not loved or lovable, of calling myself stupid, ugly, fat, dumb, or feeling I wasn’t deserving of anything good to allow my inner self to reach the Son. Because of my human nature and the outer lures and deceptions that constantly pull and attack me, this process continues daily.  I have committed to use the Miracle Grow of God’s Word to help me develop deep roots to withstand the inner and outer attacks of Satan.  Satan doesn’t’ need to cut my leaves off to injure my faith; he only needs to wilt me through doubt and attempts to get under my skin by encouraging me to question my ability to be good, to think good, and believe I am loved by Him.

Look at the garden of your life. Do you need to transplant yourself into the fertile soil of His word? Do you need to weed? Do you need a constant Miracle Grow word each day? Tend your garden so you can produce good fruits that lead others to the Son light and love them along the way. This was Jesus’ example and sacrifice on the cross that led to the ultimate breakthrough of death’s crust.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

What do you need to do in your garden today?

The Love Wash

The approach of Easter calls me to examine my acts of love. How do I treat those who hurt and betray me?

Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him, and yet he ate and slept with him, taught him, let him handle the money, and loved him. Judas saw the wisdom, mercy, grace, and love in Christ and through His miracles. In the end Judas still chose to betray him.

During the Passover supper, Jesus washed all the disciples’ feet and shared his meal without excluding Judas in any way. He treated him with mercy and grace, just like all people He served in his life.

People I love have hurt me greatly in my life, as I’m sure yours have. In the past, I would lash out or close myself off to protect myself, but that was all about me. As I have grown in my personal relationship in Christ and allowed God to heal my heart, I am beginning to understand my witness of God’s love to others is more about my actions after being hurt. I have learned to draw healthy boundaries to take care of myself and take responsibility for my mistakes and fix them. However, when people in my life hurt me, I have committed to meet them with my bowl and towel to wash their feet. I choose not to lash out or disappear or let anger, resentment, or vengeance take root. I realize I am an ambassador of Christ and I am to give the grace and mercy I received from Him.

Jesus spoke truth in love to Judas when he warned him about the woe to come to the one who betrays him. It was Judas’ decision to ignore it. No one knows what Judas reasoned in his mind to reach his decision, but it still had a consequence. Even when Judas bestowed the kiss of death and betrayal on Jesus in the garden, He showed no anger, disrespect or malice toward him. Jesus didn’t repay evil actions or attitudes for evil but for good. He let God handle the judgment and He remained the beacon and ultimate example of love before He even endured the cross.

In the end love is the greatest. With love is forgiveness, freedom, and the power of the resurrection, the new life. I don’t get it right a lot of the time, but I want to encourage you to commit to getting it right as often as you can. Wash the feet of the ones who hurt you and let God do the rest.

How are you treating the Judas in your life?