Out of the Mouths of Babes

Yesterday, a precious woman at church commented: "I just love watching how much your granddaughter loves you and snuggles up to you during church. I sure hope my granddaughter loves me like that someday! She won't have anything to do with me now." Saddened for her, I asked, "How old is your granddaughter?" Her response: "18 months old". I smiled, hugged her and said, "Oh Girl, you have plenty of time to show her plenty of love that will pay you back in measureless proportions."

Before long that little granddaughter will start using her inbred child psychology on her grandmother. She'll learn the more she loves, the more her grandmother gives. Children can sure teach us something about psychology, especially for us grandparents. It's just hard to say "no" to their requests. In fact, I've said very few "no's" to mine. See this photo of my cutie. A few months ago I heard this: "Nana, you know that cute brown purse in your closet that you never use....." My quick reply was: "Yes, I know. Do you want it?" Of course, she did and I am elated that here we are, months later, and it's the only purse she carries.

Think about the psychology of this child who says these words to his dad: "Daddy, I love you so much. You are the best dad in the world. You have given me everything I need. You make me feel so safe when you are with me. I am never afraid. Thank you for my clothes and my food. Thank you for the times when you put me in time out because I disobeyed you. I really do want to please you and be better at obeying you. I feel your love with me all the time. I know you are always watching out for me."

That little paragraph was brought to you by Psalm 23 “The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need. It is the picture of a child’s loving father. Wasn’t it so tender and uplifting? Can you fathom the love that a father has for his child that comes to him so raw, relevant and appreciative of his father’s love?

We are God's children and oh how much He longs for our love.
Back to that grandmother longing for her 18-month old to love her. There are so many ways we can bring joy to our Heavenly Father. I pick Alexia up on Sunday mornings to go to their church service. Her family goes early for praying and serving. That 30-minute drive is non-stop talking about this and that and sometimes I get to coach her on some things she might be dealing with. I always love our special times together.

In the same way, we can be driving in our car and acknowledge our Heavenly Father by simply saying “I sure love you, Father!” We may be in a world of conflict and worry is concerning us. We cry out “Daddy, please help me!” One of the ways I love to communicate with Him is meditating on scripture and putting it in the first person, like that first paragraph above.

For example, here’s how we might pray and praise with Psalm 23: “Thank you, Lord, for being my Shepherd. Thank you for making me lie down in green pastures. Thank you for leading me beside quiet waters. Thank you for restoring my soul. Thank you for guiding me in the paths of righteousness."

Meditating on Scripture (God's words to us) is a great way of “having a little talk with Jesus to make things right, or to simply give Father God a big old hug – loving Him for all He is, was and is to come. Snuggling up to Him and loving Him, I'm sure, causes Him to want to pour out the blessings on us even more!

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart!"

Advent - the Great Expectation that Something Good is Coming

It's the first Sunday of Advent. This photo of the Advent Candle wreath is from my church in Tulsa. The first candle (the HOPE candle) will be lit today. The word "advent" means a coming or arrival of something or someone extremely important. In biblical terms we speak of the Advent Season, referring to the four weeks before Christmas when we celebrate the Lord leaving Heaven and coming to earth to be born of a virgin and dwell among man. It's when we reflect on God's promises and prophecies to His people. And, it's a time of preparing our hearts in anticipation of the special day when we remember the birth of our Lord and Savior.

While enjoying the festivities -- sleigh bells, carols, chestnuts roasting, my Hallmark Christmas movies, parties, visits to see Santa, baking Christmas goodies, gift giving --pondering ADVENT, keeps us remembering that there is such greater reasons for this glorious season. It's about a better day, a better life, it's about HOPE.

The word, HOPE, means “the exciting expectation that something GOOD is about to happen”. Charles Dickens is well known for his book, “Great Expectations”. I love that optimism, but I love the reality of the absolute possibility that HOPE and expecting something good to happen, is a much better way to live than saying "Don't get your hope up, because you don't want to be disappointed if it doesn't turn out alright!" Ugh! What a dismal outlook. I prefer to live with hope, with GREAT EXPECTATIONS, for today and tomorrow.

Do you have your hope up and do you have great expectations for your life? It's like waiting for the birth of a child. We know it’s a process, and if we patiently wait for “the appointed time” of delivery, we’ll be blessed with a precious bundle of love and joy.
The beautiful season of Advent is about expecting and waiting. The birth of Christ gives us the hope, and possibility, that we can live life in a radical way – the way of trusting, believing, and expecting that all He’s promised us will be ours if we patiently wait for His perfect plan for our lives.

During this beautiful season, may we find that place of loving, caring and deepening our relationship with God – delighting in Him. It’s a radical way of living, but the infant in the manger, as sweet and mild as He seems, is really our triumphant King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That precious baby grew up, and He sacrificed His life so that we can live a life of hope and GREAT EXPECTATION.

Don’t give up! Keep your hope up! Get your EXPECTOR expecting! Remember ….. it’s a process! Your “baby” (your hopes, your dreams) will get here….and you’ll soon be blessed with God’s bundles of love and joy.

“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

Turn on De-Light!

When I think about God's goodness to me I think about Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

That reminds me of our daughter, Staci -- when she was living at home, she pleaded with her Dad for a dog, but because she was so busy travelling, he continued to deny her request. "No, because you don't have the time to take care of a dog." I was her travel companion at the time, and we were in Toronto, Ontario -- she was singing and speaking on 100 Huntley Street -- a Christian TV Show. A lady, who watched the show, called and asked us to come to her beauty salon and she would do our hair. As Staci had told her story -- this lady wanted to tell us her story. It was a "heaven touches earth" time together. The lady mentioned that she has little 8-week old cocker spaniels and would love to give one to Staci. Staci was DE-LIGHTED! But her Dad was NOT! He asked me to talk sense into her, and her reply? "Daddy, please pray about it! If you say "No" after you've prayed, I'll know that it was just a 'window' into what God will provide for me someday." Before we left Toronto, her Daddy had prayed, and God spoke into his heart "If I wouldn't withhold any good thing from you, my son, how could you withhold this good thing from your daughter?" He understood and he called to tell her "Bring that little "window" home with you." Staci's DESIRE had become reality. We all knew her DESIRE was God's DESIRE for her. She named that precious cocker spaniel DESIRE and we called her Desi. Desi was such an asset to our family, a therapy dog -- truly a "delight" gift from God. This photo is Desi with her family. Initially, she was the only baby in Staci's life, but before long, Larry and she married and then she was joined by two other babies.

In the context of that story of Staci and Desi, here's how I interpret that scripture. If we're DELIGHTING in God -- loving, trusting, committing our ways to Him and relying on Him -- then desires will come to us -- and we'll realize those desires are the desires He placed within us. They're actually one and the same.

When my children were young and they did all that I asked them, I was DELIGHTED! I couldn't help but want to bless them and surprise them with something special. I'd make a delicious treat for them or get them something or take them somewhere special. That was my reaction when my children took delight in pleasing their mother. Now, imagine how God must feel when we delight in Him?

That is great news to me. I don't have to make it happen or force that desire into reality. It takes all the pressure off. I am called to trust Him to act. If those desires ever become reality, He will be the one to do it.

Here is my word to you. Be faithful. Trust God. Delight in Him. If we are doing that, the Lord will give us the desires of our heart and His heart. Go ahead -- start delighting in Him today, and just expect His desires to be YOUR desires.

Kisses From Heaven.....AND Paula

Day 44 of Photo Inspirations -- Kisses from Heaven AND Paula
Of the many joys in my life, our “No Limits” Life Group ranks pretty high on the scale.  I love these women so much! Each week, it seems that God surprises us with so many valuable and practical life lessons.  Last night was no exception as Paula, one of our “regulars”, on the way to Life Group –  was inspired to go by the store and pick up these cute little glasses and fill them with Hershey’s kisses as a little Valentine gift for each of us.

As our meeting progressed, those little glasses of kisses had more significance than what Paula realized.  First of all, one of the ladies said, “Oh, my goodness!  I was at work today and a co-worker always has a jar of Hershey kisses on her desk, but today when I went to get one, she was all out.  I’ve been craving one ever since!  Thank you so much.  I take this as a blessing from heaven!”
 
Then, one of our scripture readings was Psalm 37:1-7.  We read it and when we got to the 4th verse, even more understanding came to us.  It reads:  “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”   I shared:  “Oftentimes, we read this scripture and think that if we praise and delight in God, that He will bring good things our way.  He’ll give us the things we want.   We give and He gives.  But, I believe it means, when we delight in God – give Him first place in our lives – praising and thanking Him……then out of that love we have for Him, He will place His desires for us in us.   For example, we know how Paula delights in God – she’s a true evangelist wherever she is. She's also a teenage girls' group leader at Switch -- the Wednesday night youth group that breaks into small groups for part of the night.  She is willing to do a U-turn because she saw someone in need, and she is willing to get out of her car to push someone in a wheel chair two blocks to their home…..in the rain.  It seems the more Paula delights in God, the more her desires increase to impact her world.   Tonight, once again, she had a desire to bless the women in our Life Group with these glasses of kisses.  I believe those were kisses sent from God – His desires that He placed in her heart.

What are your desires?  Are they the ones that are put there by God – simply because you delight in Him so much?  Wouldn’t it be a guarantee that those desires are His desires – if they are to make you better and the world around you better?   It’s not about the “things” we desire – the new home, the new car, the new outfit, the vacation, the job promotion…….or, maybe it is!  Just maybe, because we delight in Him so much, that He even places desires for the new home so that it will be a gathering place for people to grow in Him – and the new car – to be used to bring people with you to church or the new outfit for the opportunity to feel good about yourself when you’re meeting someone on purpose – or the vacation because you need the rest or the job promotion – because He desires you to be blessed so you can bless.  What if we lived in a purposeful way of delighting in Him and Him delighting in us…..so much so that we just don’t miss a beat!  I’m thinking – kisses from heaven can come every day, and in every way!
#KissesFromHeaven