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A friend shared this metaphor with me… it is stirring.
Once upon a time there was a huge boat parked in a rather large port. News spread all over the town that the boat was leaving for heaven. Masses of people showed up and started a huge crowd, a huge line. People from all over the place came to get in line to get on this massive boat. There happen to be a man that worked in the port who tied the smaller boats up and did some odd jobs along the dock. Since he worked in the port, he was near the front of the line.
People started to get edgy as they were walking on the boat going to heaven. Some people yelled at each other, threw elbows as they worked their way to the front, as there was limited space on the boat going to heaven. The man who worked in the port saw what was going on with the people in the port, saw the people getting angry with each other and throwing elbows to get to the front, so he started letting people go in front of him. He had a gracious spirit about it and wanted to bring peace into the chaotic situation. He let most everyone go in front of him until everyone was on the boat going to heaven and there was no more room on the boat. As the boat was untied and pushed off to set sail, the people on the boat mocked him a bit that he was stupid enough to let all the others on the boat, but he himself missed it.
As the boat was leaving the port, God walked up behind him, put his arm on his shoulder and said with a smile, “Welcome to Heaven.”
love this picture…
In today’s Slice, Jill Carattini brought something to my heart to ponder… she notes,
“[...]Yet if the universe has always been a disordered series of time plus matter plus chance, how do we account for the intricate orderedness to life, the uniformity of nature, or even the intricacy of the very mind that asks the question? [....]
Scribbled on a note card, a quote by Frederick Buechner marks the page of one of my favorite Scriptures: “We learn to praise God,” it reads, “not by paying compliments, but by paying attention.” In fact, much of Scripture is a call to remember and take notice, to bear in mind the stories of God in history and to fix one’s eyes on God’s presence in the world today.”
Jill concluded with describing,
“The verse I have marked with a reminder to pay attention was written by one who did just that: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? [...] Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:3-9). David lived with an eye on the kingdom of God around him, and as such, throughout his days, he remembered there is a king. “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
This stirs my heart… and serves as a reminder to stay present.
“Faith thrives where there is no hope but God.”
Ernest Gordon
A good friend reminded me today at the most perfect time of this…
“We can do no great things;
only small things with great love.”
– Mother Theresa
Tom at Effortless Grace speaks life, free from God’s heart. In his post on The Comparison Game my interest got captured because of the lure of football news, because I’m a fan and haven’t been acting like it because I’ve been busy with other “priorities.” ; )
Anyway, I wasn’t expecting where Tom was going… but then right there in the fifth paragraph he follows up his digesting of comparison with this…
“It is a chasing after the wind, with an ever-climbing performance bar, one that just as you think you are about to clear it, raises itself again. Brothers and sisters, we are not to compare ourselves with anything, or anyone, for who or what can compare with the Beloved of God? Can mountains? Can birds? Can the most beautiful ocean compare? Can an eagle soaring at its wondrous height compare to the beloved of God? Nothing compares to the love of God, which He has freely bestowed upon us. We are His children, and we are above all comparison.”
How awesome to be reminded of that… especially on one of those days where I feel like every ounce of anything lovely has been sucked away, and where I start to doubt in myself, my faith, and my life. I sometimes forget how live in the new heart Christ has given me, because I shift my attention to fear, or insecurity, or just withdrawing to my shell and seeking to redisover how to retreat to God’s embrace.
I’m learning daily how to be. Be what? Me. A disciple. A wife. A mother. A friend. A daughter. A listener. A supporter. A dreamer. A lover. A homemaker. So many things…. and all of them daily, I’m just learning how to be. Again and again, I’m relearning, because He’s growing me. Thanks for reminding me Tom that to Him, I am His beloved, and I don’t need to compare myself with anyone. Why is it so hard for me to remember that only He has the ability to love me like I am His most favorite of all?
Challies.com discusses Peter’s Disappointment… an awesome read for me today. “In a sense I think each of us assumes that what has worked for us will work for others. The evidence is so solid in our minds that we simply cant understand how others can doubt it. Yet God uses different ways to reach different people. The core message must be the same that Jesus Christ died to save sinners like us. But the means God chooses to have that message reach us, to break through the stone walls of our hearts, varies from person to person, from heart to heart.”
Thanks for the post Tim… it was good for me to read today!
The book “The Purpose Driven Life” is something that I’ve been reading since Christmas. Although I changed the ratio from 40 days of reading to 40 weeks (with kids around, I have to do that if I intend for anything to sink in ; ) so, I’m somewhere on ch. 20, but I was flipping back in search of something (of course I couldn’t find it in particular) but I did find something that I put hearts and squiggely lines all the way around… it’s a quote by C.S. Lewis (whom by the way is someone that I’m just eager to read more of…)
C.S. Lewis said: “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become- because He made us. He invented all the different poeple that you and I were intended to be… It is when I turn to Christ, that I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”
*sigh* it’s late now… but I’m off to go jump into the Word… it’s awaiting me. smiles!
My Virtual Faith This was something I stumbled upon… wonderful message and description… especially James 1:12 at the end…
Are You A Pencil?
Contributed by: Mr. Nath
I have probably said this before but I just love analogies. Sometimes they can be limited when referring to God as nothing on earth can accurately and fully relate back to everything that our heavenly Father is. Sometimes though, a simple story can spark a cord or set off a light bulb with someone and then suddenly our God will make sense to them. I feel this story is one of those analogies, I couldn’t help but remembering the times I felt like that pencil and I am sure we all can remember times as well. I really wish at those times I had known about our Lord, as I resembled how that pencil felt the most during my school years.
The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. “There are 5 things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.”
#1 — You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone’s hand.#2 — You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.
#3 — You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.
#4 — The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.
#5 — On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition you must continue to write.
The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in his heart.
But now the pencil lay on the dark wood table, feeling insignificant and rather sad. Beside him on the desk was a colorful tin can, filled with every kind of beautiful pen to be had. There were silver fountain pens and a neon felt tip marker. There was also a classy ballpoint whom everyone called Parker.
“What a loser,” they said of the pencil, as they observed his wooden frame. “Don’t bother with him, he’s a nobody,” said Parker, “He doesn’t even have a name.”
Now the world was at war and their owner was a Soldier who was tasked to bring peace to the land.
“What we need is a map,” the Soldier had said, at the desk across from his Officer the other night. “If someone can fly me over the city unseen, I can draw a map from the sky. The map will tell you where to go and how to win, and soon we’ll put an end to this fight.”
The Officer had agreed and now the Soldier would fly, but first he discussed with his wife. “I’ll need something to draw with, something dependable . . . something that won’t fail me mid-flight.”
The Soldier looked at his dark wood desk, and observed all the pens in the can. He studied each one, their bodies all shimmering, and he weighed them all in his hand. “This one won’t work,” he said of a pen, “the ink might blot on the map. This one needs to be refilled every few hours, and this one will dry out without a cap.”
He looked at each one and always found something wrong, or anticipated problems if he used it in the sky. “I need something that would work whatever the conditions, and I need it soon my dear wife.” “Then take this pencil.” his wife finally said, handing him the frail and battered yellow thing. “It will write no matter what, it will write on a plane — it’s the best writing tool you can bring.”
The Soldier smiled, kept the pencil in his pocket, and took it with him on the plane. He finished the map and the map helped bring them peace … and the pencil has never been the same. “ The pencil was now nothing more than a stub; what was left of his lead was now broken. His eraser was gone, his wood frame had split, and some time ago his metal ring had been stolen.
Now he stood before the Pencil Maker, and waited for him to say those five words. “”Well done, my faithful pencil,” the Pencil Maker said, “You have written what you were meant to write in the world.”
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” – James 1:12
Author Unknown
This is a beautiful quote by Walter Wangerin Jr.
“The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can’t stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope–and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend upon it) disappoint us.”
Today’s Slice… was titled Something Understood, by Jill Carattini, and I’m soo loving it.
“‘Meditation in a Toolshed,’ C.S. Lewis recalls standing in a darkened shed, the sun brilliantly shining outside, but only a sunbeam peering through a crack at the top of the door. Everything was pitch black except for that prominent beam of light, by which he could see flecks of dust floating about. Writes Lewis:
‘I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it. Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving in the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90 odd million miles away, the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.’ “
… last paragraph of today’s Slice Jill writes: “The psalmist writes, “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” As we look to the evidences of God’s presence, may we increasingly find ourselves peering at God Himself, recognizing the One who recognizes us.”
yes indeed… smiles….
