Words of Faith

I was watering my garden a few days ago when I heard the most marvelous array of birds singing to me. What a present from the Lord, I thought, and how did all these birds get in my yard? After several moments, the songs became repetitious and almost frantic in nature. I was a little perplexed by all these birds singing their jingles in such a manner.
I left the hose on drip and went to explore my morning visitors. I traced the singing to one tree, in fact to 1 bird! A mockingbird was chirping merrily away in my backyard tree. He flitted from branch to branch, singing on… and … on. I affectionately referred to him as my little ADD bird. (And don’t take any offense- there is none meant. Having lived with ADD in my family, I am simply aware of how it can manifest.) He was quite vocal. My husband hypothesized that he was protecting a nest.
As in all things, there is a lesson to be learned. This persistent bird reminded me of the scripture that says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be on my lips. (Psalm 34:1) Like this bird in constant and fervent song, our praise to our Creator and Lord should be constant and fervent also… and continuous.
We can find numerous references to continual praise to God throughout the scriptures, and particularly in the Psalms, which are, after all, songs to God. Psalm 42 speaks of the psalmist remembering that he used to go along with the throng and lead in the worship procession. He encourages his soul to return to that praise singing even in the night (v.8) and praising God in all situations (v.11). Psalm 71 deals with singing praises to God all day long (v. 14, 22-24) and particularly in troubled times. Psalm 5 talks about the Lord hearing our voice early in the morning. Psalm 16:8 says that I have set the Lord continually before me. One way to do this is to have the Lord always on our minds, and His acknowledgement and praise always on our lips.

Perhaps we can take a lesson from our little mockingbird and praise the Lord at all times. Let’s search the Psalms for additional scriptures and instructions. It is OK if the world thinks we are a little ADD over it. It is OK to be ADD if our attention is totally on the Lord, and the attention deficit is on the world.

I broke a tooth a couple of days ago. What an experience. I am now waiting to get it repaired, as there was “more filling than tooth” in that particular molar, and the DENTEMP that I bought on the way home would not solve the problem. We were at a parade, and people in the parade kept throwing candy at us. This bewildered me a little, since my youngest children are 14 and 17. After the first couple of handfuls, we waved and called, “Thank you, that’s plenty for us!” But the people must have just heard the “thank you” part and not the “that’s enough” part, as more and more fistfuls of sweets flew at us. We dutifully picked up the candy from the pavement and bed of our truck, and stashed it in a little bag. Although reluctant to actually stoop and pick up the candy from the pavement in front of us, as younger children scampered in delight to snatch abundant supplies of sweets aimed at them, my teenagers were thankful they had a little variety of gums and candies to make the trip with mom and dad more pleasant.

It was the day after the parade that I was rummaging through the sweet bag. I noticed a good sized Sugar Daddy sucker, held it up and warned my children, “Be careful of this one-it will pull your teeth right out of your head!” I encouraged them to just lick it, or get rid of it all together, as I chose a softer Starburst type to unwrap and take a bite from. I chewed happily until I felt something not so soft in the glob. I tried to ignore it, thinking it was probably a little ball of crystallized sugar, but something (or Someone) told me to fish it out. Sure enough, there was a whole corner of my back molar. Several trips to the dentist are now on my calendar.

Temptations are kind of like the candies in that bag from the parade. We all know the obvious and “big” temptations that will get us into serious trouble, and certainly avoid the Sugar Daddy temptations in our lives. We may even brag about it- watch out for that one, kids. We are much more comfortable, however, with the “smaller” temptations that we think we can handle. After all, we’re not slouches, we are mature Christians, and those pesky little temptations are something we hardly pay attention to. They won’t bother us, much less pull our teeth out. However, those Starburst thoughts that we allow to roll around a little too long, those soft coated barbs that we fling at each other without a second thought can do as much damage to our witness and relationships with others and God Himself, as any of the so called major temptations that we so carefully avoid.

Look at seven things that upset the Lord; that He hates, and that are an abomination (detestable) to Him:
Haughty eyes
A lying tongue
Hands that shed innocent blood
A heart that devises wicked plans
Feet that run quickly to evil
A false witness who pours out lies
A man who stirs up strife (dissention) among the brethren

We see lying, cheating, and killing in there, but what about those Starburst haughty eyes? How about that soft heart that thinks up hurtful and wicked plans? If my feet run to evil, that doesn’t hurt anyone else, right? And strife among the brethren can be stirred up without much effort. That little tongue does a fine job.

As Christians we can be on the offensive against even seemingly small temptations by keeping our hearts, minds and actions in tune with and centered on our best friend- Jesus. We have to be alert to the Starbursts that come our way as well as the Sugar Daddys (the Sugar Babies are just as potentially tooth-pulling).

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

You will find me when you search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

My job ends the last of this month. Perhaps the thing I will miss the most is also the thing I used to dread the most—those 2 hour (one way) trips to Reserve each week (and sometimes several times a week). I disliked with a passion those trips, and yet it is while driving on those trips that I get the best inspiration from the Lord. I will miss those opportunities for inspiration.

On the last trip of the month, it was particularly enjoyable, and not because I knew it was the last one I would make for a while, but because the early rains this year caused a multitude and variety of wildflowers to line the roadway. What a joy those deep purples and oranges, pinks and reds brought to my soul dotting an otherwise brown landscape. The flowers certainly made the trip more bearable.

Then it dawned on me that we are a lot like those flowers. Would our marvelous Creator of the Universe highlight the roads with color and wonder, and not do the same with our paths of relationships in our lives? I remember having a poster in college that said, “Bloom Where You are Planted”, with a picture of a small white flower growing in the crack of a sidewalk. That is really what our God wants His children to do- bloom where He has planted us.

We may not know why we are “planted” in Datil, or Chicago, or San Antonio, etc., but the reality of life with the Lord is that we don’t necessarily need to know why we are planted where we are. We can trust our Lord that HE knows. We just need to bloom. We are here in this life not only to bring glory and pleasure to our Creator, but also to bring joy, color and fragrance into the lives of those who are traveling our same life path- just like the wildflowers along highway 12. The Lord plants, if you will, us into the paths of other people for a purpose. Sometimes we are to bring joy and color to others’ lives. Sometimes they add much needed color to ours, and sometimes we grow alongside a contrasting or complimentary color, so that when the world looks at us together, it cannot help but praise the God who made it so.

Some wildflowers grow right up close to the highway, and others are off in the distance a bit. One recent morning it looked, from the road, that one nearby rancher’s pasture was covered with a light snow. It being June, however, I was quick to realize that a certain white wildflower (sounds much better than weed) that grows close to the ground was in grand bloom throughout the field and indeed made the pasture appear to be covered with a light early morning snow. We too may be comfortable right up where the action of the highway is, or we may be content to be in the background of the Lord’s work. Either way, we are not invisible or unnoticed. Our planting is part of the Lord’s grand plan and we can be confident that as we bloom where He has planted us, we become part of the Creator’s bouquet, fulfilling our purpose in our life and the lives of others, and becoming a sweet aroma to the Lord and each other.