I promise...

 

"...through all the varying experiences of our life..." The phrase from our marriage vows makes us giggle.  It was trendy when we spoke it so many years ago and several young couples have used it in their vows since.  Little did we know that it would be so descriptive.  Together we have see gain and loss, success and not so success, accomplishment, opportunity, lessons, parenthood, illness, joy and a whole lot of just plain fun.    Little did we know that we promised to live together through so many changes in a world where most people don't or aren't able to keep a commitment.

Deuteronomy 26: 16-19 made me think about promises.  In these verses, God asks the Israelites to promise that He is their God and to walk in His ways by keeping His commands.

I realized that I have made only a few promises in my life.  I was a Girl Scout for many years and promised to do my best to serve God and others.  I made a promise for life to my husband.  I am careful with my promises.  Life happens.  I'm human and fail to deliver occasionally.

In a world where promises and commitment are uncertain, these verses in Deuteronomy remind me that God always delivers.  He promised the Israelites that they would be His treasured possession and He would set them above all nations to be His people.  The Israelites who would have heard these verses for the first time were about to actually see the land of milk and honey, to be rich beyond anything they had known before and to become leaders instead of slaves.

These verses also remind me of the purpose of my promise, to fulfill my longing for belonging.  When I said the Girl Scout promise, I declared that I belonged to a troop and a worldwide network of other scouts. 

After nearly 40 years of marriage, there is no doubt that I belong with Dick Sipe for life.  Through all the varying experiences of my life, my longing for belonging has been satisfied with Dick.

God knows our heart and soul and knows that we long to belong to Him.  There is a void within each of us that only God fills.  He promises that we will be treasured. 

History and my personal experience with God affirms that God keeps His promise. He is faithful and dependable.   He asks that I keep my promise to Him to follow His ways.  I see no other way!

I'm a basket case

 

I'm a basket case. I love a particular brand of baskets.  I have more than I care to count.  Most have stuff in them but a few have not been filled with purpose, yet.

Deuteronomy 26: 1-15 reminded me it was time to fill my "basket."  The Israelites were told that when they had settled in the Promised land, they were to take some of the first fruits of the land and put them in a basket.  Then they were to take the basket to God's Name's dwelling place and declare to the priest:

My father was a wanderer and went to Egypt with a few people that grew to a great nation.  The Egyptians mistreated them and  made them suffer.  They cried out to God who heard our voice and saw our misery.  He brought us out with a mighty hand and outstretched arm with great terror and miracles and brought us to a land of milk and honey.  I bring this basket to God and bow before Him.  I rejoice, along with the Levites and aliens, in all the good things God has given me and my household.

In addition, every third year, the Israelites were to give to the Levites, aliens, orphans and widows so they could eat and be satisfied.  Then they were to  say:

I have removed from my house God's portion and given it to others; I have not turned aside from God's commands nor forgotten them;  Look down and  bless the people you gave the Promised Land.

Today I am reminded that I should regularly review what God has done in my life; share His gifts to me with others and renew my commitment to follow His ways.

B efore I was__________________

A nd God delivered me.

S ince then,      

K uz God loved me first, I share with others.

E ach day I obey God's commands.

T o God belongs my love and praise.

I have a very large, expensive basket which was a gift.  I haven't given it its purpose yet--it's empty.  Today I need to give it a purpose and fill it. 

Each day I need to fill a spiritual basket.  In this basket I put

my review of what God has done in my life;

how I will share my blessings with others, and

give thanks that God has given me life, an abundant life!

 
 



Don't forget to forget"

I turned to my traveling companions and said "I think I just shook hands with a piece of history!"  I was in a small home in Northern Thailand not far from the Burmese border.  A wrinkled elderly gentlemen had finished his testimony.  He wasn't speaking in English but even before the translator related his comments, I recognized his mention of Adoniram Judson.  He had said, "My grandfather was baptized by Adoniram Judson."

God called Adoniram Judson to be a missionary in Burma in the early 1800s in a time when most believers thought missions was a waste of time. Many years passed without a single convert. Judson served the Lord his whole life.  He suffered the loss of wives, children, friends and finance.  Perhaps his time on earth seemed a failure when measured by human standards.

Yet his faith in God and his faithfulness laid the foundation of missions as we know it today. Thousands have come to know salvation because of his persistence to share God's love with a few.  He has inspired hundreds to duplicate his call and go to other lands to live and tell of God's great love.

Today I am reminded that the fulfillment of God's plan has its own time schedule.  In Deuteronomy 25: 17-19 God tells the Israelites to remember the evil of the Amalekites, what they had done to them on the way out of Egypt and that the Amalekites had no fear of God.  The Israelites were to blot out the memory of the Amalekites.   God told them "Don't forget to forget them!"(That's a Jan Sipe translation!)

The evil of the Amalekites began well before the Israelites who heard these words were even born.  They were a generation removed from the exit from Egypt.   The Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim early in the journey to the Promised Land. (Exodus 17: 8-16) The Israelites defeated them but the victory came only when Moses kept his hands held up.  When his arms grew tired Aaron and Hur helped him sit and they held his arms up. That day they were instructed to write it down that the memory of the Amalekites would be blotted out!  Don't forget to forget them!

Generations later, Samuel told Saul (I Samuel 15) that it was time to punish the Amalekites for what they had done to the Israelites on their way out of Egypt.  Saul was not to spare any Amalekite human or animal.  He was to be the one to blot them out.  Yet he let Agag the king of the Amalekites live along with his best livestock.  He forgot to forget them and instead forgot what God said!

In our instant gratification mindset, it seems that fulfillment takes forever.  Yet these verses remind me that God has a plan with a completely different time frame.  I am reminded that I am to forget the obstacles along the journey but remember the victory and that the victory belongs to God.  I  may enjoy the fruits of the victory but God is the victor.  So my thought of "Don't forget to forget" means forget the effect of the obstacles, ignore the scars and don't live as a victim of the bumps along the journey.  Remember the victory, even when it has been a long time coming or perhaps is still yet to come, and that God is The Victor.  As Adoniram Judson was an ingredient in the fulfillment of God's plan to reach all people, so I am given the opportunity to be a part of God's plan.  Yet His timetable will be different from my desired timetable.

When I was a young girl facing life's slights and disappointments, my mother would ask me a question to keep these obstacles in perspective.  "In the span of eternity, just how important is this........?"  It may not have been the answer my young heart wanted to hear but the question eventually made me keep a balance to the power of disappointment.

My elderly Christian brother from Thailand will remind me that God has a  plan and I have a part in the plan if I so choose to follow God's call.  Adoniram Judson will remind me that I may not see the full fruit of my service but what I do is part of something much bigger than I could plan or imagine.  My  mom will also remind me not to think more of myself nor life's disappointments.  If God will insure that the Amalekites will get what they deserve, at just the right time,  He is certainly able to handle the obstacles in my lifetime.

Today I am reminded to trust The Plan, God's plan, and have patience, the victory is imminent.  I need to forget the obstacles in my journey and  refuse to live under their power.  I will remember that the victory is sure because God is in control, He is able and He has a plan!

Life's obstacles  present us with a choice- to allow the obstacles to form the path of our existence or to trust the One True God on the path of abundant life.  Don't forget to forget the obstacles.  Do remember that God is in control.

Remember me as The Sandaled

 



This is a photo of the organizer on the back of our bedroom door.  As you can see I have "a thing" for sandals.  I love to wear sandals.  My collection is smaller than usual.  Mickey, my young male dog, likes to eat them.  He is stealthy and quick to snap the strap so the sandal is no longer is functional.

Deuteronomy 25: 1-16 is a collection of curious instructions on crime and punishment, sharing your grain with the ox treading for you, a brother marrying his brother's widow, the improper method of rescuing your husband in a fight and using only one set of weights and measures.

These verses seem totally unrelated to each other and maybe to modern life.  Yet today they remind me of mercy, justice, fairness, honesty, integrity and my legacy.

Several years ago I attended the funeral of the father of a coworker.  After the grandchildren told stories of him and gave a compelling description of his character, I thought "Gee I wish I'd know him."

I frequently regale my son and my brother's daughters of stories of "MaMa", my mom and their grandmother to preserve her legacy.  I keep some of her possessions in the hope that her grandchildren will cherish these seemingly valueless objects to remind them of her character and personality.

In Deuteronomy 25: 5-10 God gives the instructions to brothers to marry their deceased brother's wife so the deceased brother will have a child to carry on his name and legacy.  God also gives the warning that failure to do so has consequences.  The consequence may not seem like punishment to us but in that culture to be known as "The Unsandaled" must have had quite a sting.

Today my sandal organizer will become a reminder to me to be merciful, to be just, to be fair, to be honest and have the reputation as a woman of integrity.  In today's world this goal can be a challenge.  Too many times in a week the thought of "this is not fair" crosses my mind.  God tells me to be fair in an unfair world.

My sandal organizer will be my reminder to build and protect my legacy by living my life according to God's love and way (The Sandaled), not the world(The Unsandaled).  I want to be known as "The Sandaled" because of how I live my life and not because I have a large collection of sandals!  (Thanks Mickey for keeping the collection number low.)



12 and counting

More miscellaneous laws? Not even close! This is a special learning for a special day!

Deuteronomy 24: 10-22 tells the Israelites how to be rich.  They had been slaves and nomads but very soon they would be landowners, powerful and have more wealth than they could imagine. The prosperity to come will also mean responsibility. 

God tells the Israelites to give their debtors dignity, to not go into  their homes to collect the collateral; to pay their laborers every day because the laborers will be counting on it; not to take advantage of foreigners, orphans or widows; to leave some of the harvest available for the poor to glean.  God reminds them to remember that they once were Egyptian slaves. 

God instructs the Israelites to be generous, to be honest and to provide for the powerless.  He also tells them that their attitude for being generous, honest and caring was not to gain God's favor but they were to remember how God blessed and delivered and be thankful.

God reminds them to  be kind to the lost and those who have lost because they once were lost.  God is giving the Israelites examples of how to live out one of my  themes for the Book of Deuteronomy- God does not leave us alone.  He reminds them that once they felt alone but He heard their cries as slaves and delivered them. He will give them opportunities to share their blessings with those in need.

These verses are a lesson in how to act when you are blessed. The key word for me today is Remember. Remember your past.  Remember why you are blessed.  Remember to do as commanded.  Remember you are never alone.  God is always with you.

Today is a special day of remembrance for me. Today I mark 12 years as a cancer survivor. I celebrate the freedom from that disease but more importantly, I celebrate today as the day I really learned that I am never alone.  My family and friends rallied around me 12 years ago and were tangible reminders that God was and is in control of my life.  God loves me and will provide for me.

Today I am planning on partying with cake, pie, friends and maybe flowers.  Yet I want to begin the day remembering that I AM NEVER ALONE- God is always with me.  I hope I have reminded others of this great blessing.

Hey, Hey I'm a Believer! Don't Monkey Around

"You are bigger than everyone else so act like it!" I heard a young coach holler across the soccer field at the bigger than average boy. The coach was reminding the player to use his natural advantages or as some athletes have called it,  God-given abilities to help his team win the game.

I'm still in those "Miscellaneous Laws" in my reading in Deuteronomy. In  Deuteronomy 24:1-8, God tells the Israelites:

that if a man divorces a woman for something indecent, she remarries, is divorced again, not to remarry her;

that a newly married man is not to be sent  to war but is to be given a year to stay home and make his wife happy;

not to take any millstone as a security for a loan;

that kidnapping a fellow Israelite to make a slave or sell as a slave is grounds for the death penalty; and

in cases of a leprous disease to do exactly as the priests instruct.

It seems to me that God is telling the Israelites how to act like Israelites. They belong to the One True God.  He gives some "do's and don'ts". 

Don't  associate with known indecent people. (From verses 1-4, if it's obvious she has not changed from the first time he married her, as she was divorced again, don't get involved.)

Do bring your spouse happiness.  Make your spouse's well being your priority.

Don't take advantage of another's misfortune and prolong it by taking their livelihood.

Do purge evil among the community.

They are Israelites and here is how to live like an Israelite. God tells the Israelites they are blessed with the Promised Land and they are to be caring, honest, upright and pure.  Why?  They have been given a great new life  by a great God so don't taint it with sin. Their sin will reflect upon God's gifts and reputation.

In today's world we try not to judge  people by how they look but rather how they act.  We do form opinions of others by how they behave.  Too many times, I've thought, "Who is that person's mother?  Who raised that person to behave so inappropriately?"  We think we can be free to be and do whatever we wish and we even think we are the only one with consequences.  Yet our family, friends and associates will experience consequence from our personal choices.  Just watch the news. When a politician acts outside the norm of acceptable behavior, his party members are quick to disassociate.

So it matters how I act and live my life.  My life choices will reflect on God's good gifts and reputation.  I'm a believer in God and I've made it public so I do have to live His way.

I'm always frustrated when I hear "the church is full of hypocrites" but I have to admit that  there have been some poor representatives of Christians.

The final "do" in my list of "do's and don'ts" of how to live like a believer is "Do again what God said to do."  In verses 8 and 9 I am reminded that we are human and we will fail to live God's way and we might fail to be a good representative for Him.  There is Good News.

Miriam, Moses' own sister, spoke against Moses and therefore God.  The consequence was she had leprosy which meant she had to leave the community, everyone had to shun her for their own protection.  This was severe consequence for challenging God's chosen leader.  Yet Moses cried out to God and pleaded with God to heal her.  So God instructed them to confine her outside the camp for 7 days.  Then she came back to another opportunity to live like an Israelite and the Israelites waited for her. (Numbers 12)

God loves us so much that when we misbehave, when don't act like a Christian, when we sin, He provides for our forgiveness.  The Israelites were told to go the priests and do what they instructed to be healed.  God has given me Jesus as my advocate and my sacrifice so I can have a second, third, fourth... chance to live like a believer.

I'm comforted by this list so I know how to live.  I'm relieved to know that when I fail, God has a  plan to restore me. He and my community of believers wait for me to get back on the path of living God's way.  Today I'll act like a believer!

 

 

 

 

Weeds of Greed

5 tons of river rock, 50 bags of cedar mulch, three gallons of pre-emergent herbicide and at least 3 trips to the city compost pile. Dick has a new passion in retirement.  He has been fully retired now for about 30 days and he has accepted a new challenge, a new mission, a new enemy to conquer.  He has taken on the landscaping of our yard with the opposition being weeds.  We have not been diligent in our battle against the weeds in the last several years so it appeared the enemy, the weeds,  had already won.  But 30 days later, I see Dick's victory over the weeds on the horizon!

The heading some fellow gave Deuteronomy 23:15-25 in my translation is again "Miscellaneous Laws". God warned not to oppress a runaway slave;  Don't be a prostitute nor use a prostitute's wage to pay a vow;  Don't charge your brother interest, a foreigner can pay you interest but not another Israelite; Don't be slow to pay a vow made to God; and Don't harvest the crops of your neighbor.

Yet when I read them this week, I saw a common warning God gave to the Israelites.  I noted that these verses warn about wealth and the source of wealth. God identified the "weeds of greed."

These verses tell me not to benefit from another's misfortune or illegal gain.  These verses remind me to have honor and integrity in my financial matters.  It might appear to be convenient and beneficial to use another's misfortune to benefit my financial state or even to use ill-gotten wealth to give to God.  Yet, these verses warn that God knows the source and our motivation in building our own garden of wealth.

God promised the Israelites that if they would follow His ways  He would bless them in everything they put their hands to in the Promised Land.  God knows our thoughts and our frailties.  He knows we will try to build a garden of wealth for ourselves with our own plan.  He knows that if we allow the "weeds of greed" to convince us that we have a better way, our lives will be more complicated.  We too often choose the scheming and conniving way when God offers us the easiest way- His way, like just do what He says and not think of a "better way".  We are motivated by our calculation of  how much we can gain.  God's ways  promise us everything.

I plan to pull the weeds of greed in my heart and remember God is The giver of great gifts and God alone is the source of my wealth.