Sunday, March 6, 2011
March 6
“When you see the unusual in the midst of the mundane, don’t continue business as usual. It may be that God has ordained that moment to be a life-changing time for you and those around you.” H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 3/6
Blackaby illustrated this with Moses’ noticing the bush was burning. It was an ordinary thing, but then Moses noticed it wasn’t being consumed--not an ordinary thing. It was in that moment that God chose to speak to him. This made me think about our winter. This is the first time I can remember that we’ve had snow almost continuously on the ground. Usually our snowfalls are gone within a week. So one day as I was walking down the driveway to get the mail I noticed scores of animal tracks in the snow--all shapes and sizes. The deer tracks weren’t a surprise for I see the deer all the time--the same with dog and cat tracks. But I also noticed tracks that could have been from a raccoon. Bird tracks, squirrel tracks, and who knows what else crisscrossed the yard. This morning I saw a mouse run across the snow-covered yard because it stood out on the white background. What I’ve come to realize is that this place is like Grand Central Station every night, but I just couldn’t see it before. This must be what God’s Hand is like in my life. It’s always there guiding, protecting, ready to comfort, but I just don’t notice it because I haven’t stopped to notice. I’m too much into myself and my plans to see God working before the dawn. I think now, even after the snow has melted, I’ll continue to “see” all the animals that visit my yard every night.
“...and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening, intensely white as snow...” Mark 9:2b, 3a
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like it.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the my chronic disorder of epilepsy when I was growing up. At least once a month I had seizures and the doctor said I would always have them though they would probably become further apart and less severe as I grew older. The real pain was that I was teased by other kids and the neighboring parents and teachers seemed to fear me. I never had friends or even dated as a teenager. The seizures suddenly stopped in my senior year of high school and I was free of them. I even stopped my medication and have never had another seizure. When my children became teenagers, I would feel a little self-pity as it reminded me of those lonely years and the excitement I had missed. One Sunday they sang my favorite song as a child, “In The Garden”, and it reminded me of the many times I sang it especially when I would walk the fields of our grandpa’s farm. At that moment the Lord laid on my heart that the illness was His Love-Gift to me and I remembered the day I was born-again at 9 yr. old because of the song “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” and He spoke, “Molly, I want to be your Friend”. I realized that my loneliness was His way of drawing me to Him, but I still felt it was too painful. He then showed me that the illness was His hedge of protection from the “wrong crowd”. For the first time I realized that being tall with long blond hair and an outgoing personality, raised in New Orleans, and having an alcoholic Dad, that I would have ended up on Bourbon Street ruining my life. For the first time I really saw God’s Love not just in the healing He brought at the right time, but even in the building of my character in the problems of life. What I hated most about myself was His Love-gift to me. Our minds may tell us things are bad when it is just another one of His Love-gifts in disguise.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing such a beautiful example of God's love for us!
ReplyDeleteI love your comparison to those things around us that we sometimes fail to notice. You seem to have a knack for it. It makes me want to look for more meaningful, GOD driven, messages in my daily walk with Christ. I love you Sis!
ReplyDeleteIt's the only way to live!
Delete