SelahV Today by hariette petersen

WHEN WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH (Part two)

When words are not enough in this world, very often they are too much.  Our attempts to build a better bridge, fix a troubled life, and mend a ravaged heart with imperfect words and sentences, often fail to meet another's needs.  What we intend to encourage may only discourage, to comfort, further discomforts.  Words are less than a dandelion's seed blown in the wind, until they find a resting place to die.  In their death, they sprout, then dig roots and grow into another of its kind, on another day.

Have you ever tried to wipe out the dandelions sprouting in your lawn?  Mowing them only chops them down for a day.  Their roots dig deeper and the stem replenishes and sprouts anew.  Words are hard to uproot, once sown.  Sometimes words cannot be retracted simply because someone writes a retraction in The New York Times.  Once written or spoken, words take on a life of their own. They are powerful enough to change the course of things.  And often the original author or speaker is powerless to change the action or reaction they first put in motion.

Declarations of war.  Orders to execute.  The judge's sentence.  The President's pardon.  Gossip.  Slander.  Innuendo.  Whispers of the unsubstantiated.  Such words produce actions and reactions which incite, provoke emotions, create anger--actions that harm, malign, destroy.  Yet, it is further written:

"Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly." Proverbs 14:29.

Much could be said about a person who is slow to anger.  He is one who takes time to evaluate words, decipher intent, confirm intent and motives of another's words.  He is one who doesn't go off half-cocked, ready to spout the first thing that comes to his own mind at the hearing or reading of another's words.  He is one who is self-controlled, is filled with the Spirit of God and prone to show mercy, exhibit generosity, forgiveness, tolerance, kindness.  He tends to speak with humility and patience.  Foremost, he desires peace between the brethren of Christ.  When he finally speaks, he brings with him reason, wisdom, logic, and grace.

The latter person--one with a hasty temper--in Solomon's view, is one who is not able to control his emotions.  He is one who spews and sputters whatever comes to mind.  He's one who lacks understanding and does not take time to weigh his own words; he judges quickly.  He often errs.  He does not use discernment.  He is blinded by the board in his own eyes as he seeks to remove the specs from another's.  Therefore, his haste brings about all kinds of folly--misinterpretations, mistakes, unseemliness, rudeness and impatience.  None of this is love.  It's but clanging cymbals.

What can one do then with words of regret, impulsiveness, and judgment?  What can one do with words of sarcasm, condescension, or rudeness?  Words most often in my mind would probably better be left unspoken.  Unfortunately for those in my 6-foot sphere of space, or access to my sphere, I have, at times, released the thoughts within my mind with a haste too quick to retrieve.  Other times, I've been blessed to hold my tongue.  To think through my words.  To measure my thoughts and how they can be construed or interpreted by another.

When words are too much, sometimes all we can do is say, "I am sorry.  Please forgive me." selahV

WHEN WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH (PART ONE)

WHEN WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH (Part One)

When words are not enough, they search the very soul of man to say a simple thing.  They may float around inside one's mind for days and still find nothing worthy to share with another.  To reassure.  To comfort.  To encourage.  To edify.  To right a wrong.  To wipe away the hurt inside another's heart--their shame, their discouragement, their loss.  Worthy and wise words seek a way to explain.  To protect.  To caution.  To mend.  To defend.  To make a point with grace.  There's a space within God's mind where all hearts can join with Him.  If we pause long enough in that space, and calmly wait for Him to speak, we find God's grace sufficient enough to give us words clear enough to voice I am sorry, ask forgiveness, and fill the gaps of a broken trust.  Indeed, to reason and reconcile.  It is written:

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;" James 1:19.

Listening is of utmost importance to James.  Perhaps he knew this particular statement would alert the twelve tribes to pay greater attention to the message God had laid on his heart.  Perhaps he knew they would be prone to whine when they had problems.  He knew they'd succumb to pride.  He knew they would flit from faithful to faithless.  He knew they'd speak rashly, and quickly anger.  He knew they'd speak before they thought and judge before they reasoned.  "Swift to hear." Pause.  Think before we speak.  Listen to the heart, discern the spirit in which another speaks. Pray for wisdom before we respond.  Speak as we'd want to be spoken to.  Challenge, admonish and reprove as we would want to be challenged, admonished or reproved--as we'd want a stranger to treat our child.  Calmly think on these things.  selahV

WHEN WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH (PART TWO)

IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE, NOT WORDS (/link)

OIL SPILL SOLUTION, CALL BOBBY JINDAL

A COUPLE OF COUNTRY BOYS SAY THEY'VE FOUND THE SOLUTION (/link TO VIDEO).  ANYONE CHECKED SNOPES ON THIS?

Could anything be this simple?

 

CHURCH MYTHS (a series by Cyle Clayton)

A friend of mine is offering his thoughts on myths we have in churches today at his blogsite.

Grab a cup of java and go read "Wake Up and Smell the Coffee"(/link). I'm sure you won't be disappointed. And hopefully you will be encouraged, edified and challenged. selahV 

HAPPINESS LOOKS LIKE

DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE

I thought about entering a photography contest today.  The subject was "happiness".  To be honest, I searched all my photos stored on this computer and came up with a couple that pictured an obvious happiness--happiness that anyone would recognize as happiness.

This is one taken when I took Haylee to visit her cousins in Texas for the afternoon.  We went to International House of Pancakes for supper.  The girls giggled all through supper.  They were overjoyed to be with one another. A happy moment. Their happiness--lotsa hugs.

Then there's the one with Brooklyn showing Haylee and Kinsey her "happy tree" on top of Mt. Scott.  It's the first time she has been able to go to her favorite spot with her cousins.  This tree is special.  She told Haylee and Kinsey that it is where her daddy would take her and have a picnic before he died.  It was a happy spot.  Her "happiness" must be shared. 

This picture is one of my granddaughter, Kinsey, on the top of Mt. Scott.  She didn't want to climb on the boulders with her cousins and sister anymore.  She wanted to play with the pebbles.  So she sat down in the gravel-rich parking lot and made pathways with her hands.  Contented.  Her happiness is in smaller things.

This is a wind tunnel experience at the mall.  The girls begged me to put them in the machine that whirls the air around with gale-force winds.  Happiness is a whirlwind.

My happiness?  Well, it's all of the above and more.  It's getting an email today from my oldest granddaughter, Bethany.  Next October she will be having my third great-grandchild.  God has granted her wish--we're getting another G-I-R-L!!  Happiness is something we look forward to--something we can't always capture in a picture.

Happiness is a lot of things.  Little things.  Insignificant things.  Everyday things.  It doesn't take something huge for happiness to exist.  It is an outpouring of a heart filled with love and joy.  The swing that connects with a ball and hits a line drive and affords a runner to make a double.  A touchdown.   At times it can be a temporal--fleeting thing. But happiness is worth pursuing.  And worth looking for, don't you think?  How about you?  Do you have a happiness photo you'd like to share?  I'd love to see it.   

I went blog-surfing and found a gem of a photo that I thought truly captured happiness, too.  Click HERE and tell me if you agree.  I don't know the people in that photo, but it was obvious to me that they were happy.  Who wouldn't be when a newborn baby arrives?  How about you?  Do you have happiness photo? selahV

LAVISHING GRACE

 

 
"Before God becomes satisfied with us, He will take everything of our so-called wealth, until we learn that He is our Source; as the psalmist said, “All my springs are in You” Psalm 87:7. If the majesty, grace, and power of God are not being exhibited in us, God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you . . . may have an abundance . . .” 2 Corinthians 9:8—then learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time." Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Oh, to bless others as I have been blessed.  So much I am given.  So much I owe.  So great a grace is mine, so abundant.  May my fruit be manifested in the mercy and love and goodness I show others.  Not necessarily because they deserve it, but because God gave it to me even though I do not deserve it.  Yes, to love those who love me is nothing much--but to love those who treat me badly is the Light of the World.  May we each love a bit beyond than ourselves today and "lavish the grace of God on others".  Again and again.  selahV

 

RACKET IN THE ATTIC

I wrote about the insanity of squirrels in my attic this past week in my weekly newspaper column.  I showed my little granddaughter the huge red squirrel in the backyard a few days ago.  He was twice the size of most squirrels we have.  I told my newspaper readers that one of them sounded like a groundhog over my head when it flopped and fell on the ceiling.  As it turns out, I wasn't too far off.  Hubby went up there last night to check out those little buggers.  And there was, indeed, a giant rodent up there.  It's a bloody raccoon!

So now.  Here we are.  Stuck with a giant red squirrel and a fat raccoon in the attic.  They go ballistic up there every single night.  The hissing and growling is crazy!  Don't know why they are so at odds with one another.  After all, they are both rodents!

I did a google search to see how to get rid of raccoons in the attic.  Oh, my.  You don't want to know.  Besides the damage those varmits are most likely doing to the insulation, wiring and ductwork, they could both be having babies.  And if they are having babies, and we get rid of the mothers, we could have dead stinking (literally--putrid) babies rotting in the walls of the house. How in the world do we get rid of them?  My son-in-law has a trap.  And that is the next step.  My son-in-law plans to side the soffits and trim with vinyl soon.  We need to get that varmit out of there and ascertain that it doesn't have any babies.  Otherwise, this could be a very long, hot, noisy, stinking summer.  selahV 

ARE WE AMONG "THIS PEOPLE"

The scribes and Pharisees were nit-pickers.  They constantly followed Jesus and His disciples.  They watched and waited for the disciples to break some ceremonial rule.  The washing of hands.  The shucking of corn on the Sabbath.  An action, an inaction.  A word, an attitude.  If the Pharisees could discredit the disciples, then that would discredit Jesus--their leader.

"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." Matthew 15:8 KJV

They called Jesus "Master, Teacher", but challenged Him at every opportunity.  The Pharisees did not respect Jesus, nor did they honor Him.  Their hearts were far from Him and far from the Father in heaven. 

Sometimes I wonder.  Can we be like this?  We follow our brethren around.  We watch for them to stumble, to slip.  We look for a word, a phrase, a quote, an attitude to expose, spotlight, and tweet to anyone who'll read.  How close are our hearts to Christ's?  Are we among "this people"?  selahV

WHATEVER CONCERNS ME

CONCERNS THE LORD.

And at this very moment, He is perfecting all things for good.  He will not forget that I am His workmanship.  He does not forget that I need Him every moment.  He does not ignore the actions of those who mistreat me.  He has a purpose to fulfill in me and with me.  I am His child.  I can trust Him when others are untrustworthy.  I trust Him when others seek to do me harm.  I trust Him when life seems an unending trial of heartache, trouble and difficulty.  What seems impossible, is held in the palm of my Father's hand.  My name is written in His palm.  He knows everything about me--my thoughts as well as my going out and coming in.  He sees it all and knows the schemes of man who seek to harm me and mine.  He will not forsake me.

"The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands." Psalm 138:8

Oh, Lord my God.  Most High in all the earth and beyond, perfect that which troubles the hearts of those on my mind at this moment.  Assure them of Your steadfast love, mercy and constant watchcare.  selahV

DO BLOGGERS DO UNTO OTHERS

AS THEY WOULD WANT OTHERS TO DO UNTO THEMSELVES?

I wonder.  If all we bloggers took the time to consider just five positive things about a blog-host before we commented on their blog (or a fellow commenter in the stream), how would our comment appear in the stream?  What would the tone be like?  I wonder if we mentioned a few of those positive things to them in the stream, would it help us communicate better should we have differences?  Is it possible to dwell on that which is pure in blogland?  Is it possible to "do unto others as we would have them do to us"?  Or do we think so little of ourselves that we invite barbs rather than blessings?  Do we encourage others to judge us?  condemn us?  dump garbage on our doorstep?  Sometimes I wonder.  selahV 

"A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Proverbs 25:11

May 8th, Five Years Later

I am no longer a puddle on the floor.  I no longer feel tortured by each breath, nor cry with each thought of him.  I am no longer angered that others pass by, and live life--as if his life had no meaning.  I still swell with pride at the sound of his name, and slow down at the memory of his words, "chill out".  I continue "to stop and smell the roses", and pick wildflowers by the side of the road.  I try to "count every moment special, and make every moment count".  I still remember his warm for-nothing bear-hugs, and miss his just-because phone calls.  I still long to hear his voice and see the brilliance of his smile.  I wish we could still hang-out while he runs errands, and share stories of God's intervention in our lives.  I doubt that will ever change.

Time is a strange commodity these days.  It no longer feels like it is standing still, yet it never seems to fly by either.

Whenever heartache comes my way, I "remember the good times".  Sometimes I still cry.  Sometimes I still get angry.  Occasionally I wonder "why".

I've let go of the dreams I once had for him and am resting in the reality of what is left in the wake of his life.  Brooklyn.  Abby.  Love.  Sunshine.  Flowers.  Soccer games. Softball.  Playing hard, and living each moment as if there is no tomorrow.  Sharing my heart as if I will not have a chance to say all I have to say after the sun sets today.  Treating each person I love in light of that May 8th five years ago; a call to go to our heavenly home could be here for any of us--at any time.  So take no one for granted.  Forget the small stuff.  Forgive quickly.  Seize the day.  Make time to say you care.  Live with all your heart--for your family.  For friends, and strangers.  And most of all--for Christ.  

[Remembering your life, my son.  Rejoicing that you are in the arms of the Lord.  I love you, Momma]

Reckless Words are like Poop

Lately my little 3-year-old granddaughter finds it rather funny to say the word "poop".  A few days ago we were eating beef and broccoli at the mall and she was giggling and saying it as if she were saying "pass-the-salt".  So I reproved her.  Yesterday she needed a reminder.  I explained to her that you don't talk about "poop" at the dining-room table.  She asked the inevitable why?  I said "because you only say "poop" when you are in the bathroom or need to tell mommy or me that you need to go to the bathroom.  And then you should whisper it."

"Why?"

"Because it is not polite."  She didn't quite understand that word either; I tried another.  "It's rude."  She looked puzzled.  "It isn't nice, and makes other people sick when they are eating."

"Oh."

"There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." Proverbs 12:18 ESV

Certain words conjure up vivid images in our minds.  Just as my granddaughter's word conjures up rather unappetizing thoughts at the dinner-table, other words conjure up images that bespeak volumes about situations, personalities, and character.  Some words should not be spoken--or even mulled over in our minds.  They are only used to create hurt, incite anger and produce feelings of harm.  Many words should be deleted from our posts before we hit the "publish" button.  In fact, should we be writing about others--their doctrine, their viewpoints, their ideas, their personhood, their writings--I have learned it is best if we spend more time editing than creating our colorful prose before posting it on the world-wide-web.  It is something all writers should do--especially Christians.  After all, "rash words are like sword thrusts". 

Unfortunately some people take pleasure in plunging swords and twisting the blade once it enters the gut.  Other folks find writers who draw such swords funny, witty, and worthy of claiming best friends.  But then, some do not even flinch when others bring "poop" to the dinner table, either. Writing sheathed with such intent bring these words to my mind:  Sickening.  Blood-spattered.  Gall-soaked.  Thorn-piercing.  Sad.

Therefore...

I believe what comes out of my granddaughter's mouth says alot about the character of her heart.  I want her to guard her heart from evil thinking that rests within it.  I try to follow Christ and the pattern my daughter teaches her children.  I want to undergird those values and virtues.  So I try to teach my granddaughter the appropriate usage of words--that if she can't say something nice, she shouldn't say anything at all.  I also find it imperative to check my own words, usage and motive.  While I find much of the political correctness we see in the world today is bogus over-sensitivity, I do believe words matter.  Especially, the intent of words.  My words are my testimony.  I believe what comes from me, says more about me, than what my words say about others.  At the end of some days, I have not liked what my words say about me and my heart.  I make no claim to wisdom, but I really do want my words to bring healing to others.  How about you?  Rash or wise?  Which scale is heavier today?  selahV

IF SUCH IS LOVE

I find it intriguing what some will say or write that is to be understood as truth cloaked in love.  Can a child sleep peacefully in arms of hate and anger?  Can life be found in a bottle filled with poison?  Is Christian mercy truly found in condemnation?  Is self-control arrested by words of strife and discord? 

If such words are love, love me not.

It is written that: "A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit." Proverbs 15:4. ESV

It makes me wonder.  If gentleness brings forth a firmly rooted tree that bears fruit, what does harshness bring forth?  Illness and death?  Indeed, as I consider it, harsh words do bring forth such.  To pervert gentle words, one must color them with unseemly, unkind things.  One must take the time to conjure up the opposite of all that is good and kind and charitable.  One can see how the perverseness of gentleness could break the spirit of another--if, that is--if the spirit of another is the goal and subject of this passage of proverbial warning.

I think, however, this slip of Solomon's wisdom goes deeper than that.  I think it is a sword that cuts both ways.

When a person is the deliverer of harsh rhetoric or criticism, that person is whose spirit is broken--crushed, perverted--is it not?  Their words have so little life within them, they can deliver no blossoms of peace, love, joy, patience, tolerance, kindness, indeed--gentleness.  With every harsh word a person writes or delivers, they blight their own tongue with boils filled with hypocrisy.  When the boil is popped it creates a cancerous venom that touches all who hear it, read it, agree with it, or acknowledge it.  Perverse words then poison the minds and hearts of others.  These "others', in turn, spread the venom as quickly and easily as does the blood cells flowing through the veins of one's leg bitten by a rattlesnake.

However...

when one takes another's venomous spew and returns it with gentle words of kindness and grace and peace, one cuts off the flow of the harsh and hateful.  Gentleness, soft answers, and grace are the scalpels one needs to halt the perverted words of others.   

It is really pitiful when a person has to resort to saying things they feel must be said to hurt another.  It's even more pitiful when one pretends to speak their truth in love.  What truth is found in such? what love?  Just the darkness of one's own spirit is revealed for all the world to see when one resorts to negative words to produce a result one deems as positive and productive.  Does the world need such baseless, pointless, unhelpful words?  I guess in the minds of some.  But not for me, I find myself praying all the harder for such clay vessels of hardened animosity.

May kindness and the true love of Christ penetrate their spirit.  May grace surround their souls and goodness pierce their hearts.  May wisdom break its rod against the drumbeat of their minds and produce a rhythm of thought-filled worthy prose and psalms to calm the spirit of man.  And may their tongues lose their taste for perverseness and find words to soothe the minds of children who drink milk instead of chewing meat.  May the Life of Christ pour forth in humility, abundance and grace.

A more charitable prayer I cannot think to pray. Can you? selahV

I don't understand

I truly don't.  I don't understand why people take pleasure in putting others down.  I truly don't get it.  I understand when non-Christians do it.  But I do not understand how Christians can slam others, belittle them, and speak ill of other Christians. And when other Christians laugh, chuckle, agree, and laud others for such behavior, I have to wonder.  I cannot fathom the glory to God in it.  Can you?  selahV

Our Home is Like a Little Church, Review

Our Home is like a Little Church is an excellent little book to read to your children and help them understand the role a father has in his home to lead the family in spiritual things.  Authors Lindsey Blair and Bobby Giles, write in a non-intrusive way. Their rhymes share how home is where one carries out the same things that happen in a church: singing songs, praying, forgiving, reading the Bible.  On one page Tessa James, illustrates the role of a church.  Then pictured on an adjacent page is how a dad is like the pastor at church who leads his family to understand God belongs in the home as well as in church. 

This little book fills a need to help dads realize their responsibility in the home as spiritual leader.  At the same time it affirms this truth to a child.  It is excellent for this purpose.  But it also emphasizes how a relationship with God is not just at church on Sundays; it's an everyday relationship with Jesus.

My only criticism would be that the book may cause some confusion to children who have no father in the home. 

It's a great book to help encourage Christian fathers to be the spiritual leaders in the home.  Churches would do a great service to parents and children to offer this little inexpensive book to fathers on Father's Day.

I thank authors, Lindsey Blair and Bobby Giles, and illustrator, Tessa James, for the opportunity to review their little book.  Each of them is a member of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky.  Their book is published by Christian Focus Publications, www.christianfocus.com Hariette Petersen