Advice from Mama Bird

When baby birds leave the nest, do momma birds give them The Talk?  When I read Deuteronomy 12:29-32 made me "flash back" to a couple of "leaving the nest" talks.  My dad cautioned me when leaving for college with my car that people would want to borrow it, so choose wisely.  When my fifteen year old son was about to leave for an international trip, I reminded him that just because something was legal and available where he was going, there would be consequences when he came home.

My dad and I had been there before and were giving some advice for living in new circumstances, with new freedoms and choices.  God had gone before the Israelites to procure the Promised Land.  He would provide the opportunity to possess the Promised Land but it came with some "B's."

But.  When freedom and more choice is made available, my dad and I both knew that we think we can use "but" to avoid blame for errors in judgment. God knows us and gives the Israelites some advance cautions.  God knew the Israelites would become comfortable living in their new circumstances and try to use excuses not to travel to the place God would choose to put His Name (the place to come to meet with Him and worship).  He tells them:  "But do take your consecrated things and your vows to The Place."  (That's definitely a Jan translation.)

Be careful.  Just because the current inhabitants worship their gods in a particular fashion, do not worship God in the same way as them.  "Just because everyone around you is doing it doesn't make it right for you."  (That sounds like what my mother said to me and what I said as a mother!)

Because.  In my family we always want to know Why?  Here God tells the Israelites the reason:  What  those other people do is detestable and God wants it to go well for them and for their children.  God wants the best for the Israelites and their children, just like us mama and daddy birds.

These verses remind me that to live God's way is the right way and it will go well with me.  He knows what Life is like  outside the nest.  He gives me warnings and preventions.  No excuse of mine will make it right.  I should heed God's advice and live the right way. 

Eat like it's gazelle?

Compliment my cute little purse and my eyes light up and I tell the story of one of my greatest shopping finds.  It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  My daughter in law and I were up before dawn to check out the sales and we were the only ones in the store!  It was great-no crowds, no hassle and the sales clerks were enjoying it.  The circumstances enabled me to find my cute little purse at a great price. 

This is the closest experience I have to hunting.  I pondered hunting when I saw the same phrase twice in Deuteronomy chapter 12.  God tells the Israelites to eat the meat from their herds and flocks as if it were "gazelle or deer."  I wondered what that meant.  I have eaten a bit of deer but never gazelle.  I am not a hunter and like to  think that my meat grows up from the ground cushioned in white styrofoam and wrapped in cellophane!

But God said it twice in the midst of the rules for how to live in a new land.  The Israelites were about to settle into the Promised Land.  It would be a way of life very different from the life they had known.  They had been wanderers and hunters.  Soon they would live in towns and grow crops and herds.

Gazelle and deer must have represented a great experience, the surprise and satisfaction of the successful hunt.  I am not a hunter but my outsider observation is  there is some hard work to hunting and a bit of luck.  You have to have the right equipment and know the environment  to be successful.  You have to be patient and persistent.  Yet, the animals have a mind of their own and you are never positive there will be deer or gazelle.  So when you are successful you can take some credit in your success but there is also a measure  of luck and blessing.

This made me think about how I face my day.  Is my attitude one of being ready to follow God, to be sure I am equipped with His guidance for the day?  Do I do my best to follow God, such that at the end of the day I will have the satisfaction of knowing I did my best to show the world "I follow God"?  Do I delight in the surprise of God's blessings and provisions even as I know God is faithful and will deliver His promises?

It's a good way to face the challenges of the unknown of  the day, to be prepared and surprised by God.  So let's go live today like we're eating deer and gazelle.  (I hope it tastes like chicken!)

The Point

"That's just wrong.  Love means you'd better say you are sorry."  As soon as the lights in the movie theatre came on,  I growled to my boyfriend.  I didn't like the "point" of the movie and I wanted to make sure he got my point.

I'll admit that I often miss the "point" in movies and books.  I want to be entertained so I overlook the political and philosophical meanings.  Maybe I'm too literal.  Occasionally people use the literal to build a lifestyle and miss the  "point."

I often look back at the Israelites as being too literal and accuse them of missing God's point.  The verses in Deuteronomy 12:15-19, on first read, appear to be a how-to list of rules for daily living.  It's ok to slaughter animals in town.  Don't eat the blood.  Don't eat your tithe.  Don't neglect the Levites. 

They are good rules to live life.  Yet, my margin notes make me think that I can miss the point if I just use them as rules to judge good and bad, right and wrong.

These verses remind me that God was teaching the Israelites about relationship, specifically about their personal relationship with Him.  Here are my three points for today:

1.  Have the right attitude.  Treat your daily provisions as the blessings they are, God-given blessings.  (verse 15) Rejoice in everything you do because God made it possible. (verse 18).

2. Be honest with God.  Don't try to bend the rules.  He will know.  He even knows before we try to stretch the truth and wriggle out of the right way.  This must be why He is so plain in  His use of the "don'ts" in these and other verses.  My margin notes for verse 18 included "Don't rob God."  I will enjoy the time spent with God when I present my gifts and myself.  Why do I try to think of a better way?

3.  Share it.  These verses mention the clean and the unclean, children, servants and Levites.  Our worship of God is a community experience.  We can't exclude nor can we keep it too personal.

There is a television commercial airing now that has a catchy theme song. I caught myself humming it one morning.  The words, "It's all about you"  rewound through my brain.  At first I thought, "what a commentary on today's society--selfish."  Then I listened to  the commercial and realized they were selling their customer service.  That was their point.   Yet the tune is very similar to a song we sang in church years ago, "It's all about You".  The point of that song was my life should be about God.

I got the point of the commercial and it led me to a better point:  Today it's about my relationship with God.

The Spring Snowstorm

Saturday I stepped out into the cold expecting the beauty and quiet of falling snow.  Yet I was amazed.  Thousands of birds were chirping, chirping, chirping.  I stood for several minutes to listen.  I left when I got too cold but the birds were still chirping their hearts out!

Perhaps the birds were singing of the promise of spring.  They joined together in a huge community to plan for spring, to get excited about the coming of spring.  Most of us facing yet another 3 inch snowfall today can't picture spring, yet the birds reminded me that spring will come.  It always does.  Spring will bring a new way of life.  It will bring joy and contentment.

I thought of this experience when I reflected on my notes on Deuteronomy 12:1-14.  Even though these verses sound like a list of "must do's" and "must nots", I saw the promise of the promised land. This section begins with the caution to be diligent to follow God's decrees and to completely destroy the other nations' worship places (must do's).  Clearly Moses said not to worship God in the way the other nations' worship their gods (must not).  The Israelites are to seek the place God chooses to worship.  In that place they are to bring their tithes, gifts, sacrifices, offerings and promises to God (must do).  In that place the families are to eat and rejoice because God has blessed.

These verses remind me that the Promised Land is not like the world around me, where everyone does as they see fit. The Promised Land is a place of rest, of joy and contentment.

These verses also remind me of my church experience.  My church family is  not like the world around me.  We are a community.  It is a  place to give and receive.  It is a safe place and will remind me that God has blessed me with promises, today and in my future.   Worship together reminds me that God gives me the true desires of my heart, joy, contentment and the future.

I've peeked out the back door.  I hear  the start of freezing rain.  No birds singing.  Still my heart is smiling  from my worship experience yesterday and this morning.  Spring will come.  The seasons faithfully arrive and so do God's promises of joy, contentment and my future.

The weather report for today is a "wintery mix," freezing rain, snow and a high of 41 degrees!  Sounds a bit like daily life, challenges, concerns and God's blessings.  So do I wear long underwear today, or not?

 

Consequence prevention

Those puppies made me "eat my words!"  A friend was over a couple of weeks ago.  She asked if I still tied the puppies up when they went out.  I proudly proclaimed "Oh no, they run in the fenced in yard."  Five minutes later I went to call them in and they were gone!  Fortunately my neighbor's guest was in their backyard and he saw them across the street.  The silver lining in this event was they did come when I called them.  One of my guests was able to reach over the fence and put them back in the yard. So I didn't  have to climb the fence, again!

Now there are consequences.  I no longer trust them nor the barriers I placed in the holes in the fence.  I go out with them, watch them through the window or tie them up.  Good thing they are dogs...they have taken the consequence in stride and patiently wait to be hooked up.  When they go out off leash they race around like prisoners set free!

Life choices create consequences, both good and bad.  Too many people never consider the consequence of their choices.  Even when people all around them and their own conscience say, "You've got to stop."  A secular book I'm listening to has this underlying theme, the main characters need to stop making bad choices.

I'm looking forward to that day when those puppies will look up at me holding the other end of the leash and ask "where to?"  Right now when I say "sit and stay"  Molly looks up at the basket when the leashes are kept.  It seems she's saying, "I only do that at obedience school."  She doesn't comprehend consequences yet.  Neither puppy really believes me when I say "You've got to stop."

Deuteronomy 11:16-31 gives me some advice for negative consequence prevention.  These verses begin with a warning to be careful not to follow other gods and gives specific consequences, like no rain, no produce and perishing.  The verses also gives the positive consequence of obedience, like possessing the land while defeating larger and stronger nations, lots of land and protection (no one will stand against them).

It's amazing to us with rear view vision to think that the Israelites would be so foolish to do just what was warned but they did, eventually.  Too often we choose foolishly and impulsively without regard to consequence.

These verses gave me an action plan to prevent consequences from my disobedience. 

1.  Memorize the law.  The verbs my translation used were fix, tie, bind.  I need to secure God's word in my mind.  So first thing in the mornings, I write out the verses I plan to study.  Sometimes it's an exact copy in my journal and sometimes it's my paraphrase.  Writing helps me plant it in my brain.

2. Talk about the law.  Next I write about what the verse means to me, that day in my life.  There are no right answers, just what the words said to me.  Sometimes years later I'll check my journal and wonder what was happening in my life that I wrote in regard to a particular verse.

3. Make the Word part of my everyday life.  These verses tell the Israelites to put them on their doorframes and gates so they will think about them coming and going.  I often use post-it notes or scraps of paper and meditate and apply my daily lesson through the day.

The best part of these verses give me my true mission in life, to love God, walk in His ways and hold fast.  I am going to learn to put God over myself when I make choices.  I'm going to ask God daily what He says.  Finally, when life happens, when adversity and circumstances present choices to be made, I will trust God.  I will hold fast to God.  Choose the Lord's side.

Daily Explanations are good

I'm up early and watching a sports station!  I know, it's most unusual that I would voluntarily and enthusiastically choose an all sports station.  It's the Olympics and I enjoy watching hockey.  It's practically the only time I watch hockey.  I'll confess that I really watch hockey for the celebration of a scored goal and... for the fights! They keep my attention in a game I just barely understand. 

This morning I realized that I'm missing one important component to my Olympic hockey experience--an explanation of  "icing."  I have to ask for an explanation, at least once a game, if not more than once.  My brain can't seem to file the explanation and understand it.  So in most cases my husband patiently explains the rule, again and again.  He grew up playing hockey.  I came to the game late in life.

Today as I read Deuteronomy 11:8-15 I was reminded that I have a faithful and dependable interpreter available to me at all times.  The Holy Spirit will explain, again and again, God's love and law.   With the Spirit's  constant presence and enlightenment I  will hear a message from God through the Bible whenever I seek it.

I realized when I read these verses I quickly jotted in the margin my understanding and application for my life today.

My understanding	The verse- in my paraphrase
1. Since I have seen with my own eyes	Therefore - v 8
2. Obedience gives me strength for the journey of life	Observe all commands so you may have the strength to go in and take over the land and live long in the Promised Land- v 8-9
3. Life will be different from what you've known	The Promised Land is not like Egypt, where you irrigated crops like a vegetable garden.  There will be mountains and valleys that drink God's rain. v 10-11
4. God is faithful, so I should be faithful	God cares for the land and continually watches over it. So if you faithfully obey... v 12-13a
5. My mission is to love God and serve Him with my heart and soul	God's command is to love and serve with heart and soul. v 13
6.  God will provide for me	God will send rain so the grain will grow and there will be wine, oil and cattle. v 14-15a
7. I will be satisfied	You will eat and be satisfied. v 15b

 

The  Spirit has once again given me the game plan for my life today.  I have instructions on how to go through the day and what my attitude should be.  My day might be different than I plan, but it will be better due to God's constant care.  I even know that if I follow His plan, I will be satisfied.  I think I am now ready to face my day!

I wonder if it's too early to call my husband for his umpteenth explanation of icing!

Conversation Hearts

YOUR

LOVE

TELL

My journal notes looked like those Valentine conversation heart candies, the ones that have only a word or two.

YOUR. In Deuteronomy 10:20-22,Moses uses the words "you" and "your" nine times in the translation I read.  Your God, your praise, your own eyes.  In my mind I was reminded, "it's about my relationship with God."

LOVE.  Deuteronomy 11:1 reminds me to love my God who loves me and provides for me.

TELL.  Beginning in verse 2 of chapter 11, Moses reminds the Israelites to tell their children of the great and awesome deeds of their loving God.  They saw these "great things" with their own eyes (verse 8) but their children were not there, not eyewitnesses.

When my son was in college, he emailed me and asked me to occasionally email him some "Mama" stories, so he would remember her.  His grandmother, my mother, had passed away when he was in elementary school.  I realized that it developed a habit for me.  At most events and holidays, a "Lizzie" story is told.  It helps remember her love and her character.

This morning the memory that comes to mind was the family gathered at her Thanksgiving table.  Every time her grandchildren asked for something Mama hopped up and got it. Mama made so many trips up from the table, away from her dinner plate, that  I finally said, "Mama is not getting up from the table again until she finishes her dinner!"  She was surprised by my command because she hadn't noticed the number of trips or that her dinner was cold.  She was meeting the needs of the delights of her heart!

How much more God provides for me!

MINE (one more conversation heart)

 These verses remind me:

*             My Life is about my personal relationship with God.  It is between Him and me.  Yes it is personal but  I need to share it.

*             This relationship is based on love, His love for me and mine for Him.  This love relationship should show in how I live my life.

*             I have a  lifetime of stories of the great and wonderful things God has done in my life.

YOUR.  LOVE.  TELL.  MINE.