Taking Off The Blindfold

Blindfolded we dance

Sun still shining as we sing

Darkness holds no fear

By Martha L Shaw – ©  5-29-2015

I was not what you’d call an athlete as a kid but I was active, running and biking and playing games without fear.  I wanted to swing the highest and bike the fastest.  We played games with masks fearlessly and when it was someone else’s turn I laughed as they wandered.  Now as an adult with failing eyesight, darkness comes unexpectedly and scares me.  Familiar hallways seem filled with obstacles waiting to hurt me.  Gone is the girl laughing with her blindfold on.  This fear is not necessary.

²³ Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble;  – Proverbs 3:23

Light . . . Darkness . . . why fear one over the other?  If I am on the path with my Lord, day and night are both alike.  He will not let me fall.    I am His.

About Joy – A Haiku

A chocolate bar

split in half and shared with you

tastes so much better

By Martha L Shaw – ©  5-21-2015

My late mother, having suffered both with poor finances and poor health, lived with me for quite some time.  One of the most notable aspects of grief, for me, was times of joy while alone . . . no longer having her to share it with.

I thought of this as I did my morning devotionals about singing in joy to the Lord.  Praise and joy NEED to be travel partners which was made more difficult in an earthly way when I lost Mom and for a time lived alone.

How obvious yet awakening this connection is!  My joy is made complete in sharing!  How true this is and what better way to experience this than in praising the giver of all joy!  Praise Him with me!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

“Yes, I KNOW!”

Do I understand?

“Yes, I LOOKED!”

Did I truly see?

“Yes, I was LISTENING!”

Did I really hear?

Thank you Lord

for your patience and love!

By Martha L Shaw – ©  5-19-2015

As humans and perhaps especially Americans, we want instant gratification. We’ve gone from drive-up windows to wrist watches with APPs. Maybe this is why, as a Spirit-filled believer, I find the following interesting. The word “discern” comes from Latin roots meaning “to sift apart.” It was of added interest to me that the word as used in Corrinthians was the Greek word “anakrino” which takes things even further adding “to inquire into, to scrutinize.” No room for assumptions or snap decisions on our part.  Perhaps His timing being unlike our own is far more related to our impatience than I would care to admit.

LIVING WATER

The river flows

whether or not

I choose to swim.

By Martha L Shaw – ©  5-18-2015

Biblical literalists will not like what I am about to say but I pray that they let Him speak anyway. As I read my devotional this morning the author reminded us to bring our most secret thoughts to the Lord who will cleanse them of darkness through His great love. I cannot speak for you, but I do not always do this. Thinking of Adam and Eve hiding their nakedness comes to my mind with the realization of my having always wondered how “they” could be so foolish. God could see that they were naked. But, in my youth I missed the point since the author was not promoting the sale of animal skins or fig leaves nor truly referring to the physical body. Then, as now, the point is the relationship, the love and trust and going forth into the world in testimony. If I do not lay down my nakedness before the Lord, my hands, filled with my secret fears and brokenness, are full and cannot then receive the gift He is holding out to me freely given! He is not holding back, I am. Am I willing to see reality and to receive Him?

No Longer Spinning In Circles

The Gardener

He prepared the soil,

pulled the weeds,

gave the seed

all it needed.

“It is good” He said.

Does the flower know it’s beautiful?

By Martha L Shaw © 3-9-2015

I wonder if we realize, deep within us, that the Lord intends us to love ourselves? Be with that. Do you? Do you really? Do you, instead, focus on societal or familial expectations or false beliefs? Do I . . . can I love the one theLord intended me to be whether or not friends approve of my choices? Is not His will alone my top priority? Can I accept or truly reflect His love if I do not love myself? I believe our society can negatively affect our priorities but I also believe living in Him surpasses all else, if we listen and follow. He’s got this.

Locust and Wild Honey Diet!

An oddly dressed dude in the outskirts of town, a on peculiar diet, preaching an unexpected and surprising message . . .  THESE DAYS such an event would go viral on Twitter but back in Jesus day, would you think this would draw much attention?  No newspaper, cell phone, internet . . . but John the Baptist drew crowds by crying in the wilderness and while existing on bugs and wild honey . . . and think of the bee stings . . . and countless folks heard him speak of the one coming after him.  That being said, don’t you think solving your challenges and mine is easy for God if we let Him? . – From Thoughts Over Morning Coffee Martha L Shaw

Soar! Like A Chicken???

The Parable of the Talents

    ¹⁴ “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents^[a] of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷ So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸ but the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

   ¹⁹ “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

   ²¹ “His master replied, ‘well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

   ²² “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

   ²³ “His master replied, ‘well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

   ²⁴ “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

   ²⁶ “His master replied, ‘you wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

   ²⁸ “‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. ²⁹ for everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  – Matthew 25:14-30

There is a story from an unidentified source about an eagle which happened to hatch among chickens.  He was raised with the chickens and having only this experience to build his life on, he for all intents and purposes became a chicken himself.  He pecked like a chicken, clucked like a chicken, and moved about like a chicken.  One day, he saw an eagle soar high above him in the sky and as he noted the wonderful beast looked like him; his brothers said “don’t get any ideas.  You could never do that.  You are just a common chicken.”

I laughed when I heard a version of this familiar tale and yet also conceded that we, as humans, are much like the eagle who lived the life of a chicken.  We tend to stick to the pecking order we’re in.  We tend to go along with the expectations of those around us even when it is opposed to our true nature.  We often do not take the risk of faith and live the life our hearts and souls yearn for.  We are eagles who cluck like chickens.

Consider, for a moment, a different variation on the same story.  Consider a chicken that looks up and yearns to soar like an eagle.  He takes a risk or a leap of faith if you will.  He seeks communion with other eagles.  He learns.  He soars.

In either story one can ask “Is it a chicken or is it an eagle” and yet it doesn’t matter.  The real point of the story –or both stories – is that as Christians, we have a choice.  We can live in this world as this world dictates, or we can realize we are in this world but of the Kingdom.  Christ lives in us.  We can do all things through Him.  Not only that, we are His disciples and as such are called to bring His light, His power, His love, to those who do not yet know Him.

We are the chicken in the last illustration and we were made for more than pecking.  We were made to soar!  True, like the eagle in my first illustration, we will be ridiculed by the other chickens which will peck at us and tell us all that they are certain we cannot do.  They will mock us, but we know Christ is within us and we were made for more!  This is an amazing gift and as we learn to focus on His gifts to us, we will find that through Him we truly can soar!

Fix your eyes on Christ, my brothers and sisters, and spread your wings!

“For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves”. – 1 Peter 2:15-16

 

With A Grateful Heart

¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. – Colossians 3:16

Lord, your love for me is beyond measure

and mine for you grows every day!

The warmth of your embrace

makes me forget my troubles for a time.

 Help me to grow stronger in You

so that I may be the servant you created me to be!

Amen

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By Martha L Shaw © 10-20-2014

More Than Enough!

My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, “When will you comfort me?”  

Psalm 119:81-83

Are you seeking  the Lord’s promise, His comfort?  I am.   Comfort presents a soothing image like this perhaps:

 The sun is streaming through my bedroom window, the sounds of birds are singing and children at play outside while rushing off to school  .  . . the afghans, quilts, pillows and things I’ve created provide comfort.  I am, at this moment designing something of that sort to provide comfort to someone I love.  I know my gift will be appreciated.

Still, it will not be quite enough.  We cannot, in our humanness, provide “enough.”  As I read what the Psalmist writes “when will you comfort me” I am convicted.  For, like him I know the Lord’s promises, know they are real, know they are mine, and know they bring me more than enough  . . . as only He can.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1-3 My heart is troubled.  But I am working on that because He loves me.  Just as the throw I design and make for the one I love will provide warmth and comfort, so then will the Lord provide in much greater ways than my love can do.  So, I will stitch, I will pray, I will listen, and I will wait.  I already know how my story ends, for He already won for me the victory!  

Thoughts Over Morning Coffee

We struggle with our faith having read much, attended church services, etc. Consider the 12 named followers of Christ, His apostles, who dropped everything and said yes when He said “follow me” and with NONE of the information we possess. REMARKABLE.