Little Signs of Life

I am surrounded and blessed beyond belief.  Here I sit on the patio, another Saturday morning, shirt, capris and flip flops, eating "breakfast" at 11:15 in the morning.  I am enjoying the slightest breeze and the green that surrounds me... marveling at how creative and awesome God is.  I look to my right and see green with little specs of yellow from the dandelions.  It is also so easy to take notice of the beautiful bright red tulips that help my attention and focus for some time last night and this morning. 

No picture could do justice to just how wonderful God has made the real thing.  I look straight ahead and see so many different shades of green and purple crawling up the side of the hill that borders the yard.  Yesterday a colleague and I took notice to how wonderful and beautiful red buds are.  I can't help but notice, not just the red buds adding to the color, but the bright greens and whites sprouting up on the branches of trees all around me.  So amazing to me that all of this can exist in one small setting.  God is the only way this can exist and I am blessed to enjoy His creative gift.  And to think that this is just the TINIEST taste of everything that exists in creation.  It makes me curious to see what else He has made far beyond what my young eyes have seen.  I have to smile at the thought of it all... and enjoy watching little signs of life all around me from the greens and the purples, the birds singing and the squirrels that distract and entertain me.

And my mind wonders to how all of this, all of this grand beauty around me, how does it all pertain to me?  How awesome is it that God gives this gift and we share in it?  How often do I take it all for granted and pay no attention to His beauty surrounding me?  How often do I do this, not just with the natural beauty of this earth, but with the beauty of the people around me as well?  At one point this week I had read a line in one of my devotionals:  "You are precious to God."  How many people around me know this?  Have I ever told any body how precious they truly were, encouraging them to believe it?  Most of us have access to the truths of being precious to God... but what about those who do not have that access or who do but don't explore it?  Do they know that God sees them as precious?  Maybe we have tried to tell them and they just haven't listened; what then?  Here is a question I have been challenged by:  what would it look like to SHOW them?  Walk out what Jesus walked out... when people didn't LISTEN to Him, God SHOWED them how much He loved them and how precious they truly were.  Jesus hung on a cross, endured that pain as a human even though He was God, and He did it for each and every person.

An example of walking it out is given.  An example of how important it is to walk something out is given.  Recently I wrote "Valued Behaviors".  Also, I've heard a phrase "Do as I say, not as I do".  But should it not be "Do as I say AND as I do"?  What would it look like to do what Jesus says AND what He has done?  Lately I have been working on "memorizing" the GTM values and the behaviors that define them.  A colleague recently thought out loud, asking why it was so important to have them memorized... somewhat seemingly frustrated with having "homework".  I was thinking along the same lines at first, asking the same question.  Let's face it, we all could use a little work everywhere in our lives.  I ask why, then turn around and get frustrated when others aren't doing something listed under our company values.  Do as I say and as I do?  Not so much for me there.  Why should I expect others to live it out when I had been choosing not to?  Isn't that called being a hypocrite?  But God has blessed me with a boss who, even if she may not have all the behaviors memorized (I have faith she does but let's just say she doesn't), she is a boss who is willing to walk out what she wants her employees to walk out.  And we are willing to follow (most of us) simply because she is willing to do what she asks us to do.

God has blessed all of us with an example in Christ Jesus, who did what most of us are not willing to do.  Do as I say and as I do.  He wants his followers to follow... and they will because He was willing to do what He has asked us to do.  He loved with word and action.  He wants us to live with word and action.  God sees ALL of us as precious regardless of where we are in life.  He wants us to see others as precious as well.  He tells us just how precious we are to Him and He has shown it to us as well.  It is written all over Scripture:

"... you are precious to me. You are honored and I love you." ~*Isaiah 43:4*~

"For we are God's masterpiece..." ~*Ephesians 2:10*~

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." ~*John 3:16*~

God has crowned us with crowns of beauty and glory for His purpose:

"...he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.  In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory." ~*Isaiah 61:3*~

"God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation.  Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." ~*James 1:12*~

We are all precious to God.  I am still sitting here in awe of the creation that surrounds me.  I see God's beauty lad out in front of me.  My ears hear the songs of Him who made this all.  My heart smiles.  My mind can't help but wonder how precious I am to God... that if He made all of this awesomeness and beauty and He loves it and takes care of it, how much more does He love me and how precious does He consider me?  The beauty of the flowers that sparkle red in the sunshine with morning dew and the beautiful greens and purples of the buds and leaves on the trees... the blanket of green grass with small patches of yellow... all precious and beautiful to our Creator.  And He loves me more than that and created me to be more beautiful than the beauty that surrounds me?  My heart and being is in awe and speechless.

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²⁵ “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? ²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
²⁸ And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
³¹ So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
³⁴ So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

~*Matthew 6:25-34*~

Valued Actions

You can memorize it and “know it”.

Don’t forget to live it and show it.

Walk it out so that others see it and share it and do it too.

           

There is something there that I sometimes fail to grab on to.  How often do I simply cling to the knowledge of something as opposed to hanging on to that knowledge AND IT’S MEANING?  Knowing a word does not mean I know or understand its definition.  Maybe I know the definition and maybe I can say “I know this word and what it means.”  My next question then becomes, do I know what it looks like to put that meaning in action?  Do I understand or visualize what it would look like to walk it out?

Recently at my job the company Vision, Mission, and Values of the company have been given a face lift.  They changed; do I know them?  A challenge followed to memorize them… memorize ALL of them, the vision, mission, and all nine values.  AWESOME!!!  BUT what do I do with that once that step has been taken?  Take it a step further and look in to the behaviors that define those values (behaviors that are given and do not have to be sought out).  So the next step?  Knowing what those values mean by learning the behaviors… not just committing them to memory but “committing them to heart” as my boss likes to say.

Recently I had a day at work that I was alone and working on a pretty repetitive project by myself.  So what do I do?  I get to work on memorizing those behaviors!!  It raised questions for me:  Why is it so important for me to know these so well?  What is the significance of committing these, not only to memory, but more importantly to heart?  What would it look like to walk these out?  These behaviors, they can be a stretch for some… especially if my pride gets in the way.  They are difficult to walk out but they are there for the purpose of growth.  They are there for the growth of a body not just one part of it, making the body stronger as a whole.  Not just growth for one employee, but growth for a company whose motto right now is “3XN4” (3 times growth in 4 years).

It is awesome for me when this thought process carries over into my life outside of work.  It is beautiful how God can take something from work and turn it in to spiritual growth.  The passage Matthew 7:21 through 29 comes to my mind.  It starts in verse 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me ‘Lord!  Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Only those who actually do the will of my Father in Heaven will enter.”  I can talk it up but will I walk it out?  For example:  I could go to church and memorize scripture but what does that mean for me?  I could have those values of “doing what’s right”, being in community, and memorizing what Scripture says, but how is that impacting how I act?  Am I walking that out and committing it to heart or is it all just head knowledge? 

After the “religious looking” try to justify why they should be allowed into Heaven, Jesus follows by saying in verse 23, “But I will reply, ‘I never knew you.  Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”  We can SOUND spiritual, but is there a relationship with Jesus present?  Actions and looks can only get you so far.  I imagine God waiting at the gates of Heaven asking why He should let me in.  I can say “I memorized Scripture” and blurt out some verses.  Do you think He is going to pat me on the back and let me in just because I memorize Scripture?  I imagine Him asking if I had shown that I knew what Scripture MEANS and if I actually walked it out as opposed to just “knowing it”.

God’s values and behaviors are prominently scattered and blotched through Scripture.  A picture that comes to my mind is one similar to a painting that a friend of mine had painted.  You take a clean sheet of canvas and some colors.  You start with one color and splatter it on the canvas.  You know that color separate from the others… what happens next?  You add one more color and splatter it to the canvas… and another and another until you have this VISUALLY perfect masterpiece.  You saw it as an idea in your head and others may not have known the beauty you knew but as the painting comes around, others see it too!!  It is complete and perfect, not just to the artist, but to the spectators as well. 

So when we commit to Christ and take a bit of God’s will and splatter it throughout our lives and take more and splatter it, WE begin to see the masterpiece God has created.  He knew we were His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10) but it took that added color in our lives for us to see it.  We don’t just KNOW what God’s will and word says, we splatter it throughout our lives so that others see it too.

You can memorize it and “know it”.

Don’t forget to live it and show it.

Walk it out so that others see it and share it and do it too.

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This is where I am blessed to spend time with Jesus on Saturday mornings :-)

Through My Eyes...

Yesterday was absolutely BEAUTIFUL... March 1st... and it is 70 degrees in Kansas?  I decided to take a stroll up Stagg Hill which sits on the east side of my yard... it turned into quite an adventure (mostly because I like to climb on things and the rocks were calling my name!!!).  But it also turned into an awesome time with God as He painted picture after marvelous picture right before my eyes :).  SO... I wanted to share a few of those pictures with you... cameras do not do justice to what it actually looked like (especially when my phone is the camera)... but I hope it blesses your eyes the way it did mine!!  God's creativity is absolutely wonderful!!!