Not a Word of Reproach!

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).

The father gave the son a kiss before his son said a word. It was given while the prodigal was still dirty and in rags; therefore, it was entirely unmerited. This first blessing was followed by many others. NOT A WORD OF REPROACH IS SPOKEN. How important this is for those of us who speak words of reproach to God's children because they may not do and speak as we do.

This is the story of our Father who runs to us while we are yet far away and when we are desperate after having tasted of the husks of life; when we are tired of searching for what is real and true. The son tells his father that he is not worthy but that does not stop the father from loving him and forgiving him and bringing out the best of what he has, to give to his precious son who has come home. Our Father runs to us and gives us His best--anyway! Can we engrave this bright verse on our sad hearts as a beacon light for those days when we feel that not even the Father loves us? When we feel we don't deserve anyone's love?

Herein we have:

1) A love that is quick-sighted: "He saw him a long way off.";

2) A love that is sympathetic: "He had compassion.";
3) A love that is eager to help: "He ran.";
4) A love that yields its all: "He fell on his neck.";
5) A love that delights to forgive: "He kissed him."

Herein we have:

1) Eyes of mercy: "His father saw him. . .";

2) A heart of mercy: "He had compassion.";
3) Feet of mercy: "He ran.";
4) Arms of mercy: "He threw his arms around him.";
5) Lips of mercy: "He kissed him."

Thank You, Father!

From Contentious To Content

"[Love] keeps no records of wrongs" (1 Corinthians 13:5b NIV).

When we love we feel wonderful. Remember when you were "in love?" I do. It was such a creative and growing time. Then I got married and started keeping records. Bad!

In a booklet I wrote, Why NOT Divorce, I suggested ten commandments for keeping one's union intact:

1. List your spouse's good points only.

2. List your own negative contributions to the marriage.

3. Read God's word together, if at all possible. If your spouse will not join you in daily devotionals, then read and pray privately. Daily reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

4. Use your creative imagination to see yourself as loving your spouse. The moment a bad thought or image enters, pray to the Holy Spirit. And get busy!

5. Don't have the last word. Let God's Word be the last word--to yourself. If need be, write a rational and caring note during those times when you can't verbally communicate.

6. Forgive, as God has already forgiven us all.

7. Give thanks often to God for this person, and then give thanks to the person.

8. Don't discuss marital problems with "sympathetic" friends who you know thought the marriage to be a big mistake anyway. This can be the death knell.

9. Be grateful for this set of circumstances and see in this situation the opportunity for spiritual growth.

10. Make the first move, with whatever words are necessary. You can simply say, "I'm sorry," or "Please forgive me." Sometimes it works!

In the booklet I write about the IOU's--the records of wrongs--we accumulate and stuff in a drawer and pull out during our stress times. Instead of keeping track of our spouse's IOU's, we might try putting our own into the empty space: IOU for taking on the responsibility of a family; IOU for loving me enough to overlook my moods; IOU for letting me pursue my hobbies without question; IOU for absorbing financial burdens; IOU for being willing to stay home alone when I go on trips; IOU for being kind enough to leave me alone when I need that aloneness. Remember, love is taking the ious out of contentious and finally being content!

Strike or Stroke

"Our lips are our own: who calls us to account?" (Psalm 12:4 Moffatt); "Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul" (Job 7:11).

We can stroke or strike people with words. Job and his three friends are a striking example of not being stroked when Job so needed it. Job's friends meant well; they met and went to him, and even sat speechless for seven days (Job 2:1113). Later Job was to say to them in his desperation, "If only you would altogether be silent! For you that would be wisdom" (Job 13:5.)

Our lips are not our own. We are arrogant to even think that God has nothing to do with what we say. Actions may speak louder than words, but words are action's inspiration or incitement. Kindness is the Christian's rule of thoughts and words. In speaking our mind, unless it is the mind of Christ, we may prove to be mindless as well as thoughtless.

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36-37).

Considering the blasphemy and filth we now hear everywhere, we can assume that most people don’t realize or don't care that God holds us responsible for the consequences of our words every bit as much as our actions - perhaps even more so, for words are like the proverbial feathers that can't be found, once scattered.

Judas' "Greetings, Rabbi" (Matthew 26:49) branded him as a murderer and the worst kind of hypocrite and traitor. Judas broke trust with Jesus that fateful day with those two fateful words. Words are indeed deeds.

A word is dead

When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
Emily Dickinson.

The Noble Man and Woman

"But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands"(Isaiah 32:8); "If a man cleanses himself...he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work" (2 Timothy 2:21). 

"Every noble life leaves its fiber interwoven forever in the work of the world" (Ruskin). We all know that certain person who has enriched our lives beyond any human measurement; that extraordinary person who has elevated our existence into his or her serene sphere and inspired us to be and to do our best. Years later, when confronted with a crisis, we think of the person and the trustworthy advice given in love, and it enables us to go on. If we are so fortunate to have been granted such a gift, let us thank God every day for that person. My extraordinary person was a teacher. 

Nobility is all about making the abrasions of life into sterling metal. "Noble metal" is a metal made of chemical elements that have outstanding resistance to oxidation, even at high temperatures.

 

Noble souls, though dust and heat,

Rise from disaster and defeat

The stronger;

And conscious still of the divine

Within them, lie on earth supine

No longer.

Longfellow.
 

True nobility presupposes riches of everlasting quality such as virtue, tolerance, high standards and motivations, integrity, generosity, and graciousness. "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop" (Luke 8:15).

 

"My heart is stirred by a noble theme..." (Psalm 45:1). What more noble theme can we have than Christ? We become what we behold and, by beholding Christ, we become gracious and lovely and noble, fit for earth and purified for heaven.

Seven Pillars for Wives

Several friends of ours have gotten divorces through the years. It surprised and dismayed us, for these seemed stable marriages built on the Rock. Instead, they crashed on the sharp rocks of contention and discontent that tore them and their children apart.

 

When I read Proverbs, the book in the Bible which I feel helps us to guide our lives with practical wisdom, I think about these couples, especially the ladies, and what verses might apply to their situations. Two in particular stand out: "The wise woman builds her house..." (Proverbs 14:1); "Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars" (Proverbs 9:1).

 

We women are social architects who build for the future, working in the present regardless of present fads. As I read about the seven pillars, it occurred to me that we wives and mothers build our house--and homes--on the seven pillars of:

 

1) LOVE, AGAPE LOVE THAT IS UNCONDITIONAL. We are willing to give whether we get back in return or not. We are wise enough to weigh in on God's scales, not the world's. Sometimes the scales are not in our favor. Jesus died because of unconditional love and scales weighted down with misunderstanding and injustice and even hate. It must grieve Him when we demand our so-called rights, even in the face of known responsibilities. The only right Jesus had was to die for us. What a thought this is for us when we get discouraged at the seeming inequalities of life.

 

2) FAITH, that grand power to believe without a doubt that God knows what He is doing, even if we don't at times. There are many days when we need this kind of faith. One author calls it turning our millstone into a milestone and our scars into stars. Jesus said to Peter and sometimes He says to us: "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand" (John 13:7). What enormous faith it takes to believe this, even when we are enduring while trying to be endearing!

 

3) GRATITUDE. A wise Anonymous said, "Gratitude is the memory of the heart." I believe this is one of the most important pillars for our home. At the wedding we take each other; unfortunately, after the wedding we take each other for granted. Appreciation helps to keep the love alive, and makes the road of life so much easier to travel, too. South has left this thought with us: "Look over the whole creation, and you shall see that the band, or cement, that holds together all the parts of this great and glorious fabric is gratitude." Surely it will structure our marriage.

 

4) SELF-RESPECT. This may seem a strange pillar, but we women need to believe we are good people, too. We especially need to know that God uses His time on valuable cloth only; why should He waste time on rags? Along with the men, we women are made in God's image. But assertiveness isn't the answer to our quest for rights. Jesus' sole description of Himself is in Matthew 11:29: "...I am gentle and humble in heart..." I try to remember this when I want to insist and persist with what I think are my rights. Another aspect of this pillar, I think we need to be assured that our career as a wife and mother deserves every bit as much respect and admiration as any other career.

 

5) PATIENCE. God cuts our cloth to fit His pattern. When we are anxious to run away from our responsibilities, it can help if we see Him carefully cutting and fitting us to His pattern--His purpose--for us. Especially in marriage He is daily cutting away our unsightly and unseemly strands. I have come to the conclusion after 48 years of marriage and children and grandchildren that this is exactly where our precious Father ties them all together finally!

 

6) HOPE IN AND FOR OUR FUTURE. Without hope we lose sight of our opportunities. Can we truly believe that God wants us to be successful? Every now and then I read Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." So God Himself gives us hope! Hope is so important on those days that become a daze. It is one of the constructive emotions that we so need, along with love and trust. I feel that courage is a large component of hope, for often it takes determination and perseverance to hope for better days and years ahead in the midst of such trying circumstances and what seem like endless trivialities today.

 

7) SACRIFICE. Let's face it, life costs much in commitment, particularly in marriage. It's really a 100-100 proposition. Whoever said marriage is a 50-50 proposition wanted to leave the back door open. Another thing, we can't afford to allow IOUs to add up in the drawer of our minds, only to pull them out during stress times. We might try putting lots of our own IOUs into the drawer, and forgetting about anyone else's IOUs. Contentment is finally removing the IOUS from contentious!

 

Prayer: Father, thank You for abolishing our walls of hostility! (Ephesians 2:14.) You have given us the privilege of being women who build with you.

THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN, by Reverend M. Lowry

I read this many years ago; it made sense to me then, and it still does. Forgive me, ladies, but I'm from the very old school that believes men and women are indeed very different, and we bring these different ways of thinking and doing to whatever our mission is in life. God arranged this! Personally, I'm happy to be a female and to have had the privilege of giving birth to five sons. I have watched with sadness as the roles of wife and mother have been denigrated to that of slavery. Yes, there were difficult days, I'm not going to lie about it, but the rewards have been huge! I truly believe we need an AA (Attitude Adjustment) on marriage and our roles as wives and mothers. Until I read this wonderful poem I had never seen these as rights, only duties. When I began to view our contributions as rights, life became much better!

The Rights of Women

The rights of women! What are they? The right to labor, love and pray;
The right to weep with those who weep, the right to wake when others sleep.
The right to dry the falling tear, the right to quell the rising fear,
The right to smooth the brow of care, and whisper comfort in despair.

The right to watch the parting breath, to sooth and cheer the bed of death;
The right when earthly hopes all fail, to point to that within the vail.
The right the wandered to reclaim, and win the lost from paths of shame;
The right to comfort and to bless the widows and the fatherless.  
 
The right the intellect to train and guide the soul to noble aim,
Teach it to rise above earth's toys, and wing its flight for heavenly joys.
The right to live for those we love, the right to die that love to prove;
The right to brighten earthly homes with pleasant smiles and gentle tones.
 
Are these thy rights? Then use them well, thy silent influence none can tell;
If these are thine, why ask for more? Thou hast enough to answer for.
Are these thy rights? Then, murmur not that woman's mission is thy lot!

Rev. M. Lowry

Today! Anonymous

I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before the clock strikes
midnight. I have responsibilities to fulfill today. I am important. My job is to
choose what kind of day I am going to have.

Today - I can complain because the weather is rainy
   or
I can be thankful that the grass is getting watered for free.

Today - I can feel sad that I don't have more money
   or
I can be glad that my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wisely and guide me away from waste.

Today - I can grumble about my health
   or
I can rejoice that I am alive.

Today - I can lament over all that my parents didn't give me when I was growing up
    or
I can feel grateful that they allowed me to be born.

Today - I can cry because roses have thorns
   or
I can celebrate that thorns have roses.

Today - I can mourn my lack of friends
   or
I can excitedly embark upon a quest to discover new relationships.

Today - I can whine because I have to go to work
   or
I can shout for joy because I have a job to do.

Today - I can complain because I have to go to school
   or
eagerly open my mind and fill it with rich new tidbits of knowledge.
 
Today - I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do housework
   or
I can feel honored because the Lord has provided shelter for my mind, body and soul.

Today stretches ahead of me, waiting to be shaped. And here I am, the sculptor
who gets to do the shaping. What today will be like is up to me. I get to choose what kind of day I will have!

Have a Great Day ... Unless you have other plans!