Category: A word in season

Are we listening for ways God is speaking?

Listening for God to speak in our lives can be simple. Do we recognize when it happens? What might it look like? Here is a recent example of this in my own life. Maybe it will help you consider where God might be speaking in yours.

Listening

I like to call it God speaking in stereo. When a theme is echoed in more than one place in my life, reinforcing the message I am receiving.

Last week this happened as I was writing the blog post about the song “Jesus Loves Me.” I was reflecting on which Bible verses to use:

Psalm 139:1

1 John 3:1

In fact the idea to write the blog post solidified when I was sharing my thoughts in a small gathering about whether or not we believe that Jesus loves us. One friend replied, “That’s a blog post.”

Hearing her response reinforced that maybe this was a good idea to pursue.

Familiar Bible verse

While writing the post I reflected which Bible verses would be helpful to hold onto this truth of God loving us while already knowing about us.

Psalm 139 came to mind because I was familiar with it. I had read that Psalm in my Bible so it was in my memory bank.

A song

On my way to a Bible study I heard Matthew West’s song, “Hello, My Name Is.” The bridge of the song speaks of God’s love for His children. When I heard it, I knew that was the phrase I was looking for. The words reminded me of a Bible passage, I just wasn’t sure where to find it in the Bible. Because I was listening, I heard the answer I was seeking.

As soon as I arrived, I wrote down the verse so I wouldn’t forget it. Although I didn’t know where it was located in the Bible, I figured I could do a search later.

A speaker

During the Bible study teaching, the speaker shared a verse from the first letter of John in the New Testament. Problem solved. Wouldn’t you know it was the same verse I had heard in the song and written down? The verse I was seeking showed up more than once. I recognized it because I was listening.

Not long after, during the same teaching, she mentioned the verse from Psalm 139 I planned to use. Why wouldn’t she? I had confirmation for the verse in 1 John, why wouldn’t I receive confirmation for the passage from Psalm 139?

A friend

A remembered verse

A song

A speaker

God speaks

The message for the blog post came about because I listened. God speaks to us through Scripture – one really good reason to be familiar with the Bible. God can also speak to us through people, songs, and circumstances.

Are we listening?

Jesus loves me this I know, or do I?

Jesus loves me.

I was thinking about this song recently, “Jesus Loves Me.” I learned it as a child. It speaks of knowing Jesus loves me, that it’s in the Bible.

But do I know this? Do I believe it to be true?

Reflect

I asked a group recently to take a few minutes to write down what they love about Jesus. They reflected and wrote. The exercise went smoothly. Everyone seemed to accomplish this with relative ease.

Then I asked them to write down what Jesus loves about them.

Some wrote a little. Others hesitated. Which camp would you fall into?

Some days I write a little. Other days I hesitate.

I know what I think of myself.

Some days I’m not sure if I want to know what Jesus thinks of me.

Can He just think of me on good days when I have my act together? When patience and kindness rule my heart and only loving words come out of my mouth?

Can Jesus just look the other way on other days until I think I have everything figured out?

Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that. Any of it.

Jesus knows what’s on my heart and still loves me.  (Psalm 139:1-4)

You have searched me, Lord,
  and you know me. Psalm 139:1 NIV

Jesus loves me. Rest in that truth. Take a deep breath. Remember this:

Jesus loves me.

Think of it as a three step process:

Jesus loves me.

Come back to these three simple words at different times throughout the day. Pause. Remember. Reflect. Jesus loves me.

This I know.

The more I remind myself, the more I believe it. This moves from being something I have to remember, to something I already know. Something I’ve internalized.

For the Bible tells me so.

Here’s the fun part. Open your Bible. The more I look in my Bible, the more I discover. Through these discoveries I recognize more of the depth of God’s love for His children.

I don’t read the Bible so that Jesus will love me more. I read the Bible to discover how much He already does.

Time spent with Jesus shows us how deeply He loves us. It’s hard to know how much someone loves us if we don’t spend time with them.

Notice I didn’t say how much they love us is dependent on how much time we spend with them. I said we don’t realize how much they love us, how much they already love us, until we spend time with them.

So spend time with Jesus. Not so that He will love you more, but so you will more fully know how much He already loves you.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1 NIV

We don’t read the Bible so Jesus will love us more. We read the Bible to see how much more Jesus loves us than we believe.

Are you just getting started with your Bible?

You’ve come to the right place. Let’s learn what’s in it together.

This song, “Hello, My Name Is,” by Matthew West, reminds me of this love of Jesus. Maybe it will speak to you too.

The wayward ornament, a reminder of the gift

Wayward ornament

Every year, a week or so after Christmas, I find a wayward ornament. The one that missed the clean-up day when all the Christmas decorations were supposed to find their off-season homes, snug in storage for another year.

What do I do with this?

The first glimpse brings laughter, ha ha, found one, usually on a bookshelf or in some other nook or cranny away from where the tree had once stood. My next thought is generally, oh, now what do I do with this? The boxes are already packed away for next year.

I realize I can’t put it neatly away into the box it belongs in.

Pack it up

That’s bad, right? Or is it? Do we enter into the holiday season, celebrate in a flurry, only to pack it all up, good feelings and all, once the day has come and gone?

Do I put Jesus in a box?

This had me thinking, do I put Jesus in a box the rest of the year? Does He arrive with the season of excitement and glitz, the time of intentional Christ following, only to disappear and get packed away after the grand celebration of His birth?

Reminder of the gift

What if Christmas is meant to be the initial reminder of the gift of His Presence in my life and the beginning of the birth of a new season of intentional time spent with Him? Can we hold onto a reminder of the season? A reminder of the miracle of Jesus coming to earth as a baby for us?

An opportunity

What if that wayward ornament is not a symbol of my inattentiveness, but rather an opportunity, a glorious reminder that even in the off-season Jesus is still in season, an ever present gift and presence reminding me of all that’s good, precious, and important in life?

Rediscover the joy

What if that lost, but now found ornament helps me find and rediscover the comfort and joy I can experience year-round, the place where all is calm.

Find your way

The wayward ornament is a symbol of the season and a reminder of the gift.

May you find your way back to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)

Don’t open your Bible, at least not yet

Don’t open your Bible

Yes, you heard me correctly. Leave your Bible closed for a moment.

Do you know where yours is?

Look for it if you don’t. Then find it and dust it off, but don’t open it.

Why keep it closed?

Why would I tell you to keep it closed?

Well, if you haven’t opened it in a while, then you’ve already accomplished this task.

Nothing like the feeling of a sense of accomplishment.

Now if you’ve found it or have it handy, grab hold of it, but, you guessed it, don’t open it.

Why not? Here’s why.

Your Bible

What thoughts go through your mind or what feeling do you get when you hold your Bible?

Guilt that you haven’t read it recently?

Confusion that you don’t understand what’s in it?

A sense that you don’t have time to read it?

How about a new thought?

Source of peace, comfort, and joy

This book you are holding in your hands can be the source of peace, comfort, and joy in your life.

How?

As a reminder that God is ever present and always available to us.

What I didn’t know

For a long time my Bible was a symbol of what I didn’t know and what I wasn’t doing, like a pair of neglected sneakers emphasizing a lack of exercise. But after reading through the Bible it has become a source of peace, wisdom, and strength.

Peaceful

When I pick up my Bible, I feel a little more peaceful.

When I open it, I know I’m going to experience something through the pages of scripture, from the words on the page. Sure, it might still be confusion, but I’m ok with that. I know if I keep reading, keep coming back to my Bible, something will stick, make sense, sink in, and make its way into my heart.

Anticipation

But it’s more than that. Now when I open my Bible I do so with anticipation. As I continue to read from the pages of scripture I keep stumbling upon amazing discoveries. Not every time I read, but knowing that I might see something really cool motivates me to keep reading.

A connection

What I do experience every time is a connection to Jesus. Even before I open my Bible I know that God is with me.

Are you holding your Bible? Know that God is with you.

Nutcracker ballet and Christmas Eve traditions

I hadn’t been to ballet in months. After an absence, coming back to ballet was a welcome return in this season of Christmas traditions.

Back to ballet

I went back to ballet class for the first time in three months. I had been intending to go back much earlier, but every time class time rolled around I was either in the middle of something else or just didn’t feel like going. I knew I should go. I also knew I would enjoy it once I did go. I just couldn’t bring myself to go back.

The Nutcracker

This is a big season in the ballet world. The poster with the Nutcracker Prince advertises upcoming performances. The Nutcracker ballet is the one ballet people tend to go to even if they don’t attend ballet shows year round.

Christmas is the season for special attendance.

The Nativity story

The nativity story is another seasonal occurrence. One that brings many people inside the church for the first time all year.

What is it about this season that draws us back in?

Coming back

Once I arrived at ballet, everything started to come back. Sure some of it was a bit clunky, or rather I was moving a bit clumsily, but I was so glad to be there. Once in the swing of the steps, I realized how much I had missed it and how much I was enjoying this class, these ballet moves in this moment.

Are you thinking about attending a Christmas Eve service?

Or coming back to the story of the birth of Jesus with the shepherds and the angels?

Welcome back. ‘Tis the season for returning.