Spiritual Reflections – Page 24

The Silent Treatment

Two sides to this coin —

First it gives us an opportunity to compose ourselves so that we don’t say or do something that we may regret later.

Second it’s a form of separation.

Separation is not usually good though as it can turn from a temporary to a permanent state.

How does the silent treatment work with God? Are we truly silent or are we really saying something when we’re not saying it?

Does God turn off His all-knowingness to partake in this process?

I see You smiling. God waits for us to “come to our senses” as we go through this sometimes ludicrous process. With Him and with others.

For He is always there, never abandoning — a constant, even when we think we’re giving Him the silent treatment.

Value

What is the value of a person?

When I searched the internet I found a site that put a monetary value of $4.50. The skin by itself was valued at $3.50. Of course, fluctuations in the stock market can change the price.

Lucky for us that as humans we don’t “normally” put a monetary value on a person.

A person can be valued just for who they are — their humor, their intellect, their kindness, their love.

Growing up, I used to believe that my father “left” us at the age of 5. He was an alcoholic and would come home and beat my mother up on the weekends.

As a grown-up, I later learned that my mother “left” my father to protect us.

My mind was confused. Had I been abandoned or saved?

Then I found out the “real” truth: we had been abandoned.

Oh — whose to say? Only the people who were actually there really know and even then it’s from their own perspectives of what they felt & saw.

My value? The life of Jesus Christ. Can anyone say they love me any better?

Nope.

Uniqueness

End of the day. My back hurts. I’ve been doing a lot of gardening yesterday and today.

Have almost all of the plants in. Only need 3 more and I’ll be done.

Does it make sense to do this much work if one is considering moving soon? Not that we have a place to move to yet but … gotta be ready!

Tomorrow I’ll be going to “campmeeting.” It’s a Seventh-day Adventist Christian retreat. I used to spend a whole 9 days there when the boys were younger. But now it’s just me so I go only on Saturdays.

The speakers are fantastic — usually. And I usually wind up seeing people I only see when I go there.

There are sometimes more than 3000 people in attendance which is quite different than attending a church every week that has 15 or so people attending. We are a part of a much bigger crowd and every year it’s visible.

Isn’t that how life is though? We think we have thoughts that are only ours but if we were transparent we would see/know that there are others who have the same thoughts.

Or perhaps it’s something that we “do” differently that we think is unique — yet if we were transparent about it we would find out that others “do” the same thing.

We are not as unique as we think ourselves to be.

Life … as it is.

Sermon

Ahhh … having trouble completing my sermon. Almost there. So close. The beginning and ending are finished. The middle is almost finished.

The word peculiar in the Bible doesn’t mean what we would think it means. It means “valued, private property, special.” So when it says that we are to be a peculiar people it means we are valued — we belong to God. We are special and are His private property.

Oh how sweet that is to my ears.

Back to the sermon.

Church and Brain function

Tomorrow I will be preaching at church. My sermon title is “Instrument of Peace.” I haven’t finalized everything that I will be saying yet but it’s formulating in my head.

Sometimes it feels like I work better under pressure.

In addition, I’ll be having the special music for the day singing a song called Adore. Adoring Jesus …

So much to do at home that sometimes I don’t do anything or minimal because my brain doesn’t seem to function well when it thinks it has too much to do. The weird thing is that I make my own plans for the day so the “things to do” are all things that I can do but don’t necessarily have to do.

Life … as it is.

Friendships

We spent last evening with some friends. One of them is a paraplegic. He was shot in the back when he was about 26 years old. He’s had a really hard life but manages to have a smile on his face when we visit him and his wife.

Today we were invited for brunch at another friends home. Such wonderful food from these wonderful Lebanese friends.Â They looked tired today and the wife told me “we are getting old.”Â They are 73 years old now.

I used to think that our friends were mainly “older” but as I ponder it more, they are not much older than us ~ about 10 years.

Looks like I’ll be preaching the sermon this week at church but I haven’t yet picked a topic although the word “instruments” keeps popping up in my heard.Â Hmm …

Today I’ve been feeling dizzy but not enough to keep me down.Â Just enough for me to “feel it.”

And then I heard from a friend in Michigan today.Â It was so nice of him to call.Â He’s going to school to become a Pastor which will be a great investment of his time ~ and a great sacrifice.Â I hope I can make it to his wedding when he sets the date.Â I’m so thankful he has found a lifetime friend.

God is good.

Death – A Mist

Last night I was reading an article, The Last Enemy, by Clifford Goldstein in the Adventist Review magazine.

This article was on aging and Clifford stated that he felt he was “evaporating” and likened it to the Scripture in James 4:14 where it says we are like a mist.

“The only thing I’m adding is negative space, wrinkles … ” And then the clincher in the article “If left to ourselves our situation would be as dire and hopeless as it seems. That’s why apart from the cross …”

Well, I’ll let you read the rest of the article (click here).

Truly we have much to be grateful for in the person of Jesus Christ.