ACCORDING TO HIS PLAN

“Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.” Exodus 25:40

      I have been pondering these words for several days. Moses is on the mountain and God is giving him directions for the building of the Ark, the Table, and the Lampstand. These directives were for the building of the place where God would meet them. For forty days God talked with Moses and gave instructions for Moses to deliver to the Israelites. And when God finishes these directions, He tells Moses to “make sure” they build according to the pattern.

   I have thought about how I have followed His directions according to His pattern.  James 3:10 says “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” I certainly have not followed that pattern recently.  Not that I am in the habit of cursing, but it has happened.  I go to the mountain in prayer, and yet when I return to the world I again veer from the pattern.

   I also contemplated the pattern of how I treat my fellow man. Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew sums up the Law, but I messed up the pattern.  It isn’t that I don’t know to follow, but it happens, and the pattern is blotted again. And I feel the need to go back to the mountain of prayer.   And the largest piece of the pattern John shares when he quotes Jesus, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) With this piece, He tells us to be sure we are doing life according to His pattern. It is this pattern of love that brings the Whole together. God’s love and our love is His complete plan for the world.

   I need to go to the mountain each day and examine my life, study the pattern again and make sure I am building my life according to God’s plan. Won’t you join me?

“

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAY

                                                                                                             HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS                                                                                                                                    DECEMBER 16

I AM HOME AND HAPPY. A BEAUTIFUL SNOWFALL MET US AND ALL IS WELL IN MY PART OF THE WORLD.                    

May everyone know the joy of Home for the holiday...whether it be in your heart or in reality. We all have a spot within our soul that needs to be filled with Jesus, and when that large hole is filled we have home in our hearts. I pray this space in your heart is full of the Savior and his love. Home for the holidays-isn’t that a beautiful phrase? For some, home is the light display around the lake, the gold coin in the Salvation Army kettle and the Bell Ridge church children’s program.

For others home is the carol floating from the church steeple, Santa’s house on the corner of the Courthouse lawn, and the smiling faces of people who nod in recognition at the Wal-Mart. For many it’s the lunch with friends, and best of all, the family gathering under the same roof to celebrate the birth of the Savior who means so much to all of us. Home has a different association to each of us, but for me it is all these things and more.

Home is Edgar County, Illinois.

In Edgar County we can still enjoy the manger scene displayed in so many different ways. I enjoy the living nativity at the church drive-thru, but whether the nativity is cast in fancy marble or displayed as a small crèche on the coffee table, it is still a reminder of our Savior’s home when He came into this world. Not a palace, but a stable. Not a home of great renown and wealth, but the lowly dwelling of a teenager and a carpenter. Isn’t it amazing when you think about it? That God would expect a young teenage woman and her carpenter husband to raise the Savior of the world? And yet, it was in this home where Jesus “grew in wisdom and in stature” (Luke 2:52) and became all that He was meant to be.

My childhood home and family memories flood my heart during this time of year. I realize how past experiences have shaped me into the woman I have become. I pray that those of us who are parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts remember that as Jesus grew and was influenced by these young parents in their home, so the children around us are influenced by what they are witnessing in us.

All are touched by the world’s concept of Christmas. We can enjoy cooking, shopping, and the partying of the holidays. However, my wish for children is that their family memories be centered on the celebration of Jesus’ birth and the knowledge that He came to be the Savior. May your home and your family be a place of celebration and joy for the birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  May you walk with Him in 2020. Enjoy your walk.

Jeremiah 6:16  “Ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your soul.”

SPIDER WEBS

This post is taken from my book JUST WALKING, but felt it was appropriate for today. I just went out to mailbox and walked into one of these lovely, sticky webs. Reminded me of this devotion and thought probably few people remember it...don't intend to do repeats but for today I will share this.
SPIDER WEBS
As I step outside my front door, I walk into a spider web. It stretches across my face like a mask at Halloween. I detest the sticky, creepy feeling. I reach to wipe it from my skin. In the early morning fog, I see spider webs are everywhere-on the grass, on the fence, even in the branches of the trees. The droplets of dew highlight each one, and then the sun slides through the fog and illuminates each masterpiece! I stop in awe and gaze at the webs that had been such a bother to me a few moments before. I see the promises of God.
I walk in the beauty of God's world as the sun makes rainbows in the spider webs. The intricate, thin thread spun into each individual, lacy pattern reminds me that I am God's unique creation. His beloved child! He knows the number of hairs on my head and promises me he will take care of me if I will let the light of his Son shine through the fog of my life. Just as the sun coming through the fog turned spider webs into works of beautiful, shimmering, woven lace, so can I be beautiful to God.
Too often I let the fog of worry and the fatigue of everyday concerns engulf me. A I let the entanglement with the spider web obliterate the beauty around me, I also let the concerns of life keep me from the beauty God has prepared for my life as his child. I could be the witness he intends for me to be here on earth if I would let the light of his love create rainbows in my daily life. Clinging to God, my life could be like the sun reflecting through the damp spider webs clinging to the fence-a thing of beauty.
The problems in my life become so like the spider webs across my face-clinging and sticking to me as I, by myself, try to wipe them away. Jesus told us, "Do not worry about your life. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they...and why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that bot even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these"(Matthew 6:25-29)
And then he tells us what I so often forget, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33)

Do enjoy this season as we see what God has given us to walk through.
Clella