Wash Versus Soak

By Rosemary Flaaten –

I have a favorite cookie recipe that’s loaded with oatmeal and raisins. If made correctly the tasty morsels come out chewy and rich, perfect with a glass of ice cold milk. My usual method involves soaking the raisins in hot water for a couple of hours so that they are plump and juicy. The last time I made them I was in a rush and so just measured out the one cup, quickly washed them and then dumped them into the batter. Surely soaking wasn’t that important to the quality of the final product?

Haste makes waste. The cookies, although they had the same ingredients were not supple and chewy. I discovered the hard way that the extra moisture that came from soaking the raisins was critical to the cookies successful finish.

Jan Johnson in her book Savoring God’s Word describes the difference between typical Bible study and a type of Bible meditation where we soak in the scripture. “When we study, we dissect the text; when we meditate, we savor the text and enter into it. When we study, we ask questions about the text; when we meditate, we let the text ask questions of us. When we study, we read and compare facts and new ways of applying facts; when we meditate we read to let God speak to us in light of the facts already absorbed.”

Do we just wash in Scripture or do we soak? Do we sit with a verse and allow its truths to seep deep into our minds and hearts, creating a supple hunger for more of God. Or do, we feverishly plough through our daily reading plans, simply making our Bible reading an item to be checked off?

Scripture is living and active, and was given to us so that the Holy Spirit would judge the thoughts and attitudes of our heart. It is meant to illuminate our shortcomings and our need for God. Its corrects and challenges. It soothes and breathes. It ushers in peace. It enlivens joy.

Soaking is not done on the run. Soaking requires stillness. Soaking produces change.

PRAYER: Lord, help me to slow down and to soak in Your Word so that its truths may penetrate my heart and produce a life that resembles Yours.

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 NIV).

The Blessing Bunch

By Cheri Cowell –

Henry Ward Beecher is quoted as saying “a proud man is seldom a grateful man because he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves”. I struggle with this on a daily basis. My personality is prone to the weakness of pride and I tend to agree with the Apostle Paul that although I know what I want to do, I can’t seem to do it (at least not all of the time). I’ve discovered that pride slips up when I feel unappreciated, unnoticed, overwhelmed, taken advantage of, and self-righteous. All of these are traits of a self-focused person.

Are you like me and need a remedy? If so, God has given us one.

He tells us we should get our eyes off of ourselves and onto our blessings. It is easy for us to let our feelings become hurt, our pride to take over, and for us to demand our own way. When I see that my eyes have moved to myself, I call to God to help me have a just view. He then gently shows me what I am without Him and who I am because of Him. I can then lift someone else up, knowing it won’t cost me, because God has given me my place with Him.

I recently read about a group of people who are called the Blessing Bunch. All of us are called to join this club. We are to turn our eyes from ourselves and on to others, blessing them because we’ve been so richly blessed.

“Love each other like brothers and sisters. Give each other more honor than you want for yourselves” (Romans 12:10 NCV).

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for helping me to take my eyes from myself and to place it on those whom You send my way today. Help me have a just view of myself and to take the oath to join the Blessing Bunch club today.

Are You Growing Up To Be A Scoundrel Someday?

By Michelle Lim –

A few weeks ago my family cruised through town in our mini van on the way to church. Okay, so you can’t really cruise in a mini van, but we can always remember our imaginary jaguar.

All of us were packed in and relieved that the Sunday morning dress-up drama hadn’t eaten us whole. If you are a parent, you know exactly what I mean. If not, well, blissful ignorance can be a good thing.

The typical morning chatter filled the van until my seven-year-old told my four year old, “I think you just might grow up to be a scoundrel someday.”

My seven-year-old beamed while trying out last week’s school vocabulary lesson that included the word scoundrel. He had noticed my younger son’s grumpy disposition that sent him headlong into mischief that morning.

I concentrated on the horizon and covered my smile with my hand. Kids say the funniest things. But then I thought about a great truth wrapped up in seven-year-old terms.

Our day to day choices build the framework for who we become. Each choice matters. Each behavior has a consequence, whether good or bad. Each action makes up a brush stroke on the tapestry of our lives.

My seven-year-old understood that his younger brother’s behavior could form a pattern that, should he choose to continue to follow it, would make him grow up to be a scoundrel someday.

Thankfully as parents we have many years to help our children grow up to be God-serving adults. But we can’t take these small moments for granted. Consistency and loving discipline are a must.

What about our Christian walk? Bad habits and behaviors are not unique to children. We must choose to live a Godly life. If not, may we hear the truth in the words of a seven-year-old.

Are you growing up to be a scoundrel someday?

QUOTE: A child who does not think about what happens around him and is content with living without wondering whether he lives honestly is like a man who lives from a scoundrel’s work and is on the road to being a scoundrel. ~Jose Marti

“Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy” (Romans 13:13 NLT)

Things I Never Thought I’d Say

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Sometimes I have to chuckle at what our society has become. Just a few short years ago, the following statements would have made little sense:

“You will never guess who just tweeted me?”

“Did you check me in at this restaurant?”

“I need a good status update.”

“Heading to Starbucks to do my homework.”

“Double click on it.”

“Scan it.”

“Did you Google it?”

“I got an email from my car saying my tire pressure is low.”

“Can you go return these movies to the Redbox machine?”

“I DVR’d the game. Don’t tell me who won.”

“Did you get my Hey-tell message?”

“Hopefully, our video will go viral.”

“Don’t click on that link. You will get a virus or lose your hard drive.”

“I’ve been hacked by someone in Bangladesh.”

“My GPS almost sent me straight into a lake.”

“I am running out of memory.”

These statements make perfect sense to us today, but within a few short years, they are likely to be obsolete as well. It is impossible to keep up with the changes in technology, and at times, the challenge to do so can be overwhelming and exhausting. As soon as we master a new gadget, another comes along to remind us that we will never catch up.

I recently read of a new television series on NBC called “Revolution” that depicts life in the United States fifteen years after an electromagnetic pulse has disabled all electronics. There simply is no power, and survival goes to those who learn to do without it.

I find that frightening as my below average survival skills learned from the Girl Scouts thirty years ago have not been well-maintained. I was forced to clear all remnants of how to weave together a raft made from twigs from my brain so that I could upgrade to the latest version of Twitter.

One only has so much memory available, after all.

I have no idea what the future holds; technology or otherwise. But I know that God has it all in the palm of His hand. And He never changes.

Thank goodness. That is more than enough for me.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17 NIV).

Don’t Blast the Bighorn Sheep

By Peter Lundell –

For the first time in my life I saw bighorn sheep. Normally reclusive, a heard of twelve stopped to eat near a roadside. The alpha male kept watch and nudged the rear ends of the others to keep them together. Two sheep pranced up a rock face that must have been 60 degrees. I could hardly believe my eyes.

Cars stopped along the roadside, and people milled about taking photos. A silent awe lingered in our midst. We all knew we were privileged to witness this gift of nature, which could vanish at any moment. Everything any of us had been doing stopped as we took in this blessing.

Suddenly a car horn blasted the holy silence, and we sheep oglers turned in shock and disbelief. A not-so-interested driver maneuvered her car along the road and seemed only to care that everyone else got out of the way. I doubted it was an emergency because she only expressed impatience of one who didn’t want to be bothered—in a national park, hours from anywhere else to go.

The contrast jolted me. How could a person be so oblivious? So self-interested? So willfully disdainful of a rare experience? I did not know.

Then I thought, am I ever that way? I’m often busy, and sometimes I get impatient. And when I am, I may be unaware of what I’m blasting out of my way. I do not like to think that I’m like that lady in the car. But sometimes I am.

God’s hand and things he would show us can be found anywhere and any time. I intend to avoid blasting my horns of impatience. I will avoid hurry, my eyes open, ready to see what God might show me at unexpected moments each day.

I hope you do too.

PRAYER: Lord, sometimes I’m in a hurry. May my heart always be attuned to whatever You have to show me and whenever that may be. My agenda is second; Yours is first. May I never forget.

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10, NIV).

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