A God of Diversity Designed

Our Lives with Uniqueness ~ For the Good and Harmony of us ALL!

Art like music is a layered reflection on life. I am so glad the designer of our lives loves the bounty of diversity.

A Great Symphony plays a detailed, many faceted peice of music with energy and perfection. The music has layers of different patterns and notes from many different instruments - some with monotones and some with melody.  Every bar has been practiced to perfection by every member of the group. During practice, many a sour note was played. They stumbled some with rythm, and unison. They faltered for months as they learned the peice a bit at a time. The group has come together for the same purpose, but they will segment themselves to do their job within the parameters of what is specifically designed for their instruments.  Each musician will play only his or her notes. A great anticipation envelops the group when they arrive at the desinated day to play the peice. There is an air of assurance that it will go flawlessly, and will delight every one who hears.

If every thing in life ran like a symphony playing music, life would be --- as it should be!
The people who go, go, go and can't sit still are the drummers in life.
The clowns are the cymbals, and tambourines, the knockers and honkers.
The optimistic, never get down people are the tinkling bells.
The sometimes up and sometimes down   people are the violins of life.
The steady firm hand are the base players.

If I can relate to an instument and the music it plays with my personality, I can see myself as a part of a grander scheme.  A great peice of music to be played. I fit in the world. I can be unlike anyone else and still be a part of something beautiful.

The Scripture "All things work together for Good" is best understood when we allow that not every note is ours to be played. If we try and try to be a drummer and we were meant to play a flute...we will never be happy in life. We won't be a part of things working together for good. If God made you to play a flute, play a flute.  Don't let a drummer take away your joy. We were designed to work together, with very oposing tunes, sometimes.  The drummer and flute may sound discordant playing only their two tunes, but they might be amazing together with all who are playing their parts. Practice being you. Not some other part. Be critical of your own attempts, but only to the extent that you wish to play your own designated notes.  Why despair if you can't play the notes of the person two chairs away if they aren't your notes?  If their notes rise and your notes fall, it only matters if they are harmonious.

God is truly able to take even our sour notes and turn them into good, but his plan is that we look to him to find and play only our own notes. I could go into a whole scenario of how it is sometimes beneficial to be able to play more than one instrument, and learn more than one score, or be capable on more than one stage, or venue, or be able to play well the whole of someone else's peice,  IF it will benefit someone who is struggling, or needs help along the way. But when we use knowing how to do it, to walk on the one for whom the music was written...we are not in God's perfect will. 

I totally love this image of life as a picture of life from God's point of view. The Father and son - so like the writers of the music and the words. The Holy Spirit like the conductor to our soul. They know the peice from begining to end, and so desire to have us learn to play it. They would guide us carefully through it as we learn bar by bar the melody and chords, verse and chorus, each and every part.

We have full permission to play only our desinated part, to know the perameters for when not to play, and expect other individuals to be responsible for their parts, not ours and to let God decide when the peice is ready to be played.  If it seems we are doing the same thing over and over...well, God is helping us get it right, is making it part of our soul, is making it easier and fluid and like breathing in and breathing out.  He is allowing us time to add our soul to the music.

Music that is lovely to hear is ususally played by someone who is playing or singing more than just the notes. On my keyboard, there is a button that allows it to sense the pressure you play each note with. It literally plays the pressures that I add as my body responds to how I feel the music. The result sounds so much better than when just the notes are played. And I enjoy playing it much better as well. The music flows.

So glad the Lord reminded me of this concept: enjoying the blessings of being encouraged by it's truths. I have a part on life's stage that was written specifically, just for me.

LIFE IS A SYMPHONY  Words and music by Beatrice Bush Bixler

"Life is a symphony, since the man of Galilee,
 changed my discord into song, Makes life sweet the whole day long.
Life is a symphony, praise the Lord of Calvary,
No more a stranger, He is the arranger of my Symphony!

The Love that heals

In Hosea a verse has spoken to my heart today:
Hosea 14:2 Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

Here are some notes so I do not forget it's lesson-
The number 2 is for blessing, to bless the Lord is to multiply our praise.
We have 2 lips and our lips can do two things for blessing to occur.

1. bring our words of confession to God, -Take with you words and turn to the Lord,  say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously
2. offer the fruit of our lips in thankfulness for his mercy - so will we render the calves of our lips.

Once again the implication is that coming together yeilds newness to life.
To take in God's offer or forgiveness and mercy brings forth like something conceived, "the fruit of our lips."  Praise is "calved."

The focus is often on the sinner, but we forget that the greatest example is the one who has been sinned against, and Hosea is all about that. That requires an open ended love...unmerited love...forgiving love...unconditional love.

God who is betrayed continues to love, and lure us...

For one who is hurt by finding out someone is pursuing their love, the Lord shared this experience with Hosea so that he might write of the pain, and anger that the experience produces in the shunned.  The solution to reconciliation with God is in the verses of Hosea 14:2.

But if you are the one being hurt, the discussion for unconditional love is given from God's point of view, who has experienced that kind of hurt.

"...but me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.

¹⁴ “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her. Hosea 2:13b- 14a

 

There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 15

 

Hosea 2:10 ... no one will take her out of my hands.

 

To Hosea, God gave this advice:

 

Hosea 3:1

[ Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife ] The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

 

 

We are given the foreshadowing of the act of Jesus to make this possible: Hosea 6

 1.Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. ² After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Jesus suffered to make the reconcilliation for us possible.
 

 14: 4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him(her)

 

Any man could read the verses above as if he were Hosea, but for a woman it might be easier to place herself there, if writen like this:

 

Change the genders, and a wife can benefit as well -

 for me it would read:

Go show your love to your husband again, though he is loved by another woman ... Love him as the Lord loves the Israelites...

 

and

but me he forgot....therefore I am now going to allure him...I will lead him to the wilderness and speak tenderly to him...

 

I will give him back his vineyards. I will make the Valley of Achor a door of HOPE,

he will respond as in the days of his youth. As in the day Israel came up out of Egypt.

 

No one will take him out of my hands.

 

Boy the devil's a tricky fellow - I was thinking I copied the above verse "therefore I am now going to allure her...to allure him.  When I proofread it back..it said, I am not going to allure him instead of now going to allure him.  Was this Satan, or simply my own mind blocking the thought of it? Either way, I commit this to the Lord for strength to alter my mindset to be willing to reconcile, and allure my mate when we let outside influences get in the way of our love. When it hurts to know other things mean more to them than we do.  When unconditional love is called for.

 

Forgive me Lord for failing my love, and you. I praise you Lord for reconciliation. Turn my anger and disappointment into an abiding love...oh miracle divine, I take on by an act of faith you unconditional love. In Jesus name, AMEN

 

 

 

 

 

Looking to My Future

Entering the World of Being Old

Well, I just filled out my request for Social Security. All the years I worked hard for the money so the government could take a part of it and "hold" it for the day I need to have it back with interest, so to speak, to I can help put food on the table and pay our bills. What did people do when there was no social security? I tried for a number of years to make other arrangements for my "future". And none of it panned out. So instead of feeling like I am getting my money back, I woke up this morning feeling like I owe the government something for the rest of my life.  I almost don't want to get the money.
But the author of my future is God, and I release my fears to him. These last years of my life will be an adventure in learning to trust him. He is my provider after all, not the government.  I want to get that straight in my head right now, before I start depending on those cks. My husband looks forward to his cks. I will dread them. He will have them spent before they arrive anyway. So I really need to have a "God resource." By that, I mean that I would become discouraged in a hurry if I didn't have God to depend on. It gives me courage to hope for a good future to know I am in his hands.
Lord, as the birds awaken, and begin to sing, I am reminded that you used them to show, how well provided for they are, and never need money. Is is possible that I have never tapped into the resources that are actually there for me? At the top of the page, I asked what did people do before Social Security? And only now does it occur to me, that they have lived for thousands of years without "government" help, and actually many generations of people were under a burden to pay taxes with no return.  Out of what? The money you helped them make. Out of resources you provided.  How upside down is our thinking to forget that the things make money from are your blessing on us in the first place. Once again, the garden is my inspiration. What I planted last year has returned and multiplied. It encouraged me to plant more perenials so that the work I do this year will be increased at your hand for next year.
As my mind wanders into wishing I had a sunny place to plant food, I think about the property next door, which when empty was burned out, so that people could steal the contents of metals. I think how I wonder if we owned it could we make a garden there. Would we have the strength and resources to reclaim it. Would it be possible to have a green house there, and maybe a studio. But after working all day digging holes for shrubs yesterday and aching so badly even this morning after a days rest that I can hardly move...I realized my age limits what I am physically able to do now. I can sit at a computer but it is bad for my health. I can try to plant food, but it won't be enough. So once again Lord, I am at your mercy...open my eyes. Give me wisdom to live in your bounty. Give me strength to keep hacking at the weeds. Give me direction so I don't wander. And Bless me Lord from your infinite ability to create from nothing amazing things. Supply all my needs. And I ask because you said I should. But also because, I look forward to praising you for your loving kindness to me.
Thank you Lord for all the lovely flowers this year. May they bloom throughout the season. And may they multiply. As I learn what is best in my yard for what certain things need to grow, help me be as diligent to look into my own life and seek what is best suited as an environment for me to grow and be healthy.  Where I need pruning, where in my life needs the weeds taken away,  what is growing that I once loved, but has overtaken the places that I need to open up for new plantings. What have I planted that was a mistake, what is too large for the space where I planted it? How may I better be in places where your light shines upon me? How may my life be an environment which enriches and supplies for others well being, as when the birds are able to make our space their home as well. How will what I do in other areas of my life enrich someone else's life?
You have given me a lot to think about Lord. I bless your name, praise you for your blessings on me. And am encouraged that in the little things I have done to honor you, I see growth in places I never expected it. Continue to enrich us by your hand, for Lord I am not complacent about how very much you are doing, I give you credit. You have opened for me a new door for exploring the greatness of your love.  Thank You for all that gives a longing soul to look forward to. In Jesus Name, AMEN.

Seeking to Live Within God's Boundaries of Blessing

The early bleeding heart, we planted into a container so we could
bring it in during the cold nights. In the still gloomy winter, it was such a blessing to tend.

The number 2 is the spiritual, biblical number of blessing. In the spring it is a number that rises high in my thinking. It is the number of doubling something. The number of growth and renewal. It is the number of pairing, of marriage, of reproduction, and in a way, the number of love.  And scripture gives example after example of ways that we can be blessed.

The earliest stories in the Bible indicate that the people realized this truth and built goals in their lives around foundations of this truth. They often focused on how they might double livestock for instance, to gain wealth. They considered having large families to be a blessing. They planted and celebrated great feast days around the harvest. They built systems of investing in one another.

 So many times "religions", including Christian, will take the stance that we must have less to be in line with God's approval, or religious leadership approval. Entire nationalities have adopted "a religion" and misused it to suppress it's populace and take from them their blessings. It has happened many times down through history. These are the opposite of God's blessing. And it was understood by early American leadership, many of whom, had family or ancestors who had fled such nations, religions and posessive kingdoms.  Satan, who is the prince and power of this world, is the author of life that takes away blessings, and when America's early founders wrote freedom into our documents, they intended to protect us from a system that would do as many others have, and suppress the ability of people to seek those blessings. Sadly, I fear, we are quickly on our way to giving over to Satan our great nation which was based on principles of blessing.

The bible tells us that the one true God does not want us to live a life always seeking to live with less, in order to please him. Living with less material things can help us focus on living a life for Christ sometimes. But when Christ condemned the fig tree, it was because it didn't bear fruit. The whole of the uniqueness of earth itself, is that it is able to reproduce, to be fruitful and multiply.

It is the desire of God's heart to bless us, and he does that in a miriad of ways more than just with material things.  But according to scripture, it pleased him to bless those who served him, and he set up from the beginning of the creation of this world a system of things that were intended to bless.

Incorporated within the ability of any system to be fruitful and multiply, there is a pruning, dying off, and resting process. Seeking blessing at a pace that doesn't incorporate pauses, that doesn't allow for rest and renewal to take place, causes a collapse in the blessing and renewal process. The nutrients and vital resources for anything living will become depleted when greed and excess begin to rule. The God given laws of blessing are therefore ruled by boundaries, within which they properly function. Being a lover of more goes in the opposite direction of seeking blessing.  It is important to understand the difference.  We can love the process and the joy it brings, can find sustenance and growth within it's boundaries, and flourish even to a point of wealth. But when we do things that take us out side the boundaries, and focus only on the wealth, we begin to fail. It is no longer blessing. And working for even our daily food takes on a nature of burden, and we loose the joy of seeking to be blessed.

In God's hand, is the key to being fruitful, but both man and Satan seek to be greedy and possessive. Sorting that out on a daily basis, is not the easiest thing. And often we find ourselves at the mercy of the greedy.  Many times we are in a rest period, awaiting the renewal, or Spring of a cycle of things in our life. We grow impatient waiting on the Lord. We see death as something other than a time of blessing and renewal. And we don't see God's big picture.

At my last job, I even said to someone, that the only reason I worked was for the money to pay the bills. Problem was, my bills were tied up on credit cards. A reverse of blessing for sure.  I am at present so glad that God threw a wrench in the cogs of that wheel. I finally, don't feel I am on the treadmill of working to pay the credit card.  It was definitely not leading to blessing in my life.

This morning as I think on these things, I am more focused on how God will bless the things in my life. And to do that, he will take what he has given me, and will double it somehow. Even when I learn to reuse something, or give it away to be reused, I am blessed. And no place on earth reminds me of that than in my garden. Even my compost pile, which Jimmy and I are really focusing on this year, is a part of the cycle of blessing.  The parts that fall away and die, are reorganized biologically to provide the nutrition and foundation for something new to go through the cycle.  And as surely as the sun rises and sets, there will be cycles on this earth that can lead to blessing....or the lack of it. It just depends on which cycle you put your daily energy into nourishing. Give away your blessings, or nurture them.

Father, I see myself in your garden, and listen for you Spirit to show me the proper path to the blessings you have in store. Not out of greed and a desire to have, but a desire to be..a part of your blessing.  Make the elements of my last years on earth be ones of fruitfulness and blessing. Double everything according to your timing and grace. Grant me the joy of being within the boundaries of that special place. Knowing you are a God of Blessing.  In Christ's name, AMEN

Jesus hears our prayers!

I can hardly contain my joy for the blessings the Lord blessed my self and Jimmy with yesterday. He answered some of my prayer requests outright, and gave me one of the desires of my heart to boot. What was even better, is we had money to help someone at the end of their difficult couple of days. We shared friendship through out the day, and were able to be blessed with love of family and friends in very special ways.  We believe that God is able, and that he is willing.  We see his hand of blessing on our lives, and know that no co incidence could ever be so great as to make the details of God's answers fit the prayer requests so well. I know my God is real, and interaction from Him on our neighborhood, strengthens that belief in more than just us. 
I was awakened this morning with distant loved ones on my mind.  May God have as mighty a hand in their situation, for which I was led to pray, by God alone, as He bestowed on us yesterday. It is supposed to storm today. Praying now that God will keep us all safe, through whatever the storms bring. May the rain be just what our new garden plantings need. Praying for my daughter, who will travel today. Looking forward to seeing at least one of my grandsons today. Still healing from the poison ivy attack.  Thank you Lord for healing.
Can't beleive it is snowing still in places like Minesota. I really hope they get a taste of this lovely warm weather soon.
We need to be able to finish a number of things that are in process. I ask God's special intervention to bring a few things to completion. So we may move forward, and not become too disjointed. We sometimes feel we can out plan our finances on any given day. But we certainly can out plan our physical abilities.  We are so thankful to recieve the aid of our wonderful grandson, who is working toward taking his lovely girlfriend to prom.  Praying even now for blessing on that day, and on their time together. May they make good memories. Be safe, and remain holy.
Praying for my grandson's ability to do well at his new job, his first. Lord walk before him and prepare his way, and also his heart and mind. May he go there with joy, but also a sense of responsibility.  May he be a good addition to their work force.
Well, Jimmy is awake, and breakfast is not made. We have begun to appreciate the time we spend together at breakfast. Give us this day our daily bread...for our bodies and our souls.
Much love and praise to an amazing God. AMEN