Happy Father's Day -the gift of gratitude

   Col 3:15 "Now may the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were also called in one body, and be thankful."  The peace of God rules, bringing unity of mind and purpose through an overflow of thanks.  When centered on what we are grateful for, those things that make us one and knit us together, we have pace in our relationships.  As a people, we so often focus on the negatives; just watch the news....We se all the little annoyances, nurse our interpersonal wounds, cry out for our own rights and afeel keenly when our expectations aren't met.  We may often feel under -appreciated for all the things we do that go unnoticed, unappreciated.  All these things can break peace and unity, filling us with strife, leaving us wondering what we had in common in the first place.  The road to redemption?  Interpersonal peace and unity?  It's paved with gratitude. 
    Today I want to express thankfulness for the dads in my life.  Just as we moms are often under-appreciated, so are they. First, to my husband... Thank you for your faithfulness, your passion, the fun and laughter you bring to our home, the commitment you have to providing for us, the diligence you put into your work.  Thank you for being the primary trash man, yard maintenance and clean up crew, and for picking up the pieces and managing the household when I'm not around.  Thank you for loving my family and always seeing the value/importance of being there for them.  Thank you for all of the Craigslist and Facebook marketplace runs that extend your day, add in a bit of craziness and leave you running from place to place to meet up with people.  Thank you for being resourceful and for working hard to make our house beautiful.  Thank you for showing our children with your life what it looks like to serve others and make a difference in our community.
 



  To my dad who now walks where anges tread and beholds the glory of the One and Only seated on the throne that is grace: thank you for teaching my construction, for being a good provider and demonstrating the good of hard work.  Thank you for not running out for good when there are times that it would have seemed the easier road.  Thank you for your passion in discipleship and mentoring families.  Thank you for all the times you listened when I talked and gave good advice.  Thank you for opening up your heart to me and becoming not just my dad but my friend.  Thank you for the beds you made me, the playhouses, and the remodeling of my kitchen.  Thank you for showing me what it looks like to grow in Christ, to fail but get up again, leaning hard on the grace and mercy of God. 
   To Jeremiah, who gazes on the Father of Light and delights in his presence, you never got to be an earthly father, through childbearing but you were a father to many - especially to your students. You were intentional in love, service and discipleship and showed the world what it looks like to lay down your life for the sake of the Kingdom and its King.  You had compassion, saw needs and sought to fill them.  Gave yourself with intention to your calling and made the world around you a better place.










  To my brothers: Matt, thank you for your devotion to your family, for giving attention to details and doing your work with excellence.  Thank you for the time and expertise you've given to others.  You've become a Jack of so many trades and grown much in wisdom.  Thank you for filling our lives with good music and the many sacrifices and services you have made/given to your wife in promoting the gifts God has given her as well.  Thank you for the times you would run on Hatcher Pass with me at Sunrise.  Thank you for the guidance you've given me on work projects.  Thank you for your sense of humor.

    Caleb, thank you for your tenderness and gentleness.  Thank you for your many examples of service and self-sacrifice to your own family and to all of us.  You've given many of us the gift of your time, your labor and skillfulness, and your presence.  Thank you for playing games with us, playing with the kids, demonstrating hard work.  Thank you for not being afraid of a job big or small and for helpiug give me a kitchen!  Thank you for your heart to do right and love God deeply.  Thank you for being a peace maker and being a man of faithfulness and dedication.  You don't run off when times get tough and you wait for God's direction rather then pushing for what's easier or convenient.
   Thanks to all the other dad's out there who have blessed me, my husband and my family.  Thank you Bill for being a man of faithfulness, a gentle spirit and a generous man who love a family and children who were not your own and who has consistently loved and been there for your own son through many hard times.  Thank you for being a rock of strength and intention, faithfully, quietly being there, working hard, seeking God and sharing your wisdom. 





Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper rev’rence, praise.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love!

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small Voice of calm.

In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow Thee.
Story behind the hymn

Song Cathedral style

Peace...because of who He is

  Do not be anxious about anything.  Ha!  Can you imagine?  Not ever being anxious for ANYTHING?  It's for real.  No joke.  When we come to joy in Him and the realization deep down in the soul - permanently that He is near and that He is good and that He is for us, and that He is ALMIGHTY Creator of all the ends of the earth for whom NOTHING is too difficult....then, really, what do we have to be anxious about anyway?  Supreme joy is ours in Him and He hears our prayers. When we cry out to Him, when we lay before Him our needs, our anguish, our future, our families, our relationships, our desires and hopes, He hears.  In Psalms David says: "Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath.  We can even thank Him in advance of our eyes seeing the fulfillment because we really can have that much confidence, peace in His goodness and sovereignty. If you really lay it all out there and realize to Whom you are speaking and how much He loves you, then laying it all down there at the seat of Mercy, the place from which proceeded by simple words the world and planets that immediately danced in orbit at His command...if He is for us, who or what circumstance can move or shake us or cause us to fear?  Why tremble before lesser things when He stands behind us and goes before us?  This becomes God's gift of peace that doesn't make sense to all the world but is like a sentry hemming us in, not to cage us but to set us free from the anxiety that would bind us up.  Peace that reminds us who we are and more Who's we are.  It quiets our hearts and stills the questions in our minds, the racing, the what-ifs. 

  And as we grow in faith, as we see and walk in what's Real and not the fake, fearful imagination of our own hearts or even the pain of what could be, what was, what is right now, anxiety loses it's power.  We become fully His, surrendered.  He can bring in a thousand interruptions to our day and we begin to see them not as interruptions but as the day He has given, the interactions He desires for us, which may look very different from our own agenda.  He can even bring in loss, cloud our vision of the future, allow family or friends to turn against us, and if He is for us, upholding us, weeping with us, we can know that this too will turn out for His glory and our good.
  This path, this unshakeable faith, this peace sets our minds free from ruminating on all the what-ifs and what could be or should be and allows us to think on what is true, what right now, right here is lovely, worthy of honor and awe, of sitting up and taking notice and then declaring it to an onlooking world.  It centers us on what is pure rather than tainted by self-interest. And with God as judge and adjudicator of what is, we know it will be just and right.  Do you see something of excellence?  Put your focus there, dwell on that. It takes practice.  It takes walking it out one baby step at a time, one faith-step at a time, coming into agreement with what is rather than what could be and embracing it.  Then, no question, peace will be the banner under which you live, the shoes that give surety to your step, the sweet gentleness that passes from your lips.

Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness,  gentleness, moderation, considerateness, be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned[e] and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

He leadeth me! O blessed thought,
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught;
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
Still ’tis Christ’s hand that leadeth me.
  He leadeth me! He leadeth me!
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
  For by His hand He leadeth me.
2
Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, o’er troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.
3
Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine,
Nor ever murmur or repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since it is Thou that leadest me.
4
And when my task on earth is done,
When, by Thy grace, the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since Thou in triumph leadest me.
Story behind the hymn
Hymn: Dated but good

Joy and Peace

   I have been meditating long on these verses, have memorized them over the years and taught them to my children, but it's consistent application has often illuded me. 

Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness,  gentleness, moderation, considerateness, be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned[e] and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

I've talked a lot about peace being a matter of perspective, where or on Whom one sets his mind, but it's also where, or on what one sets his joy.  What satisfies, thrills, delights me?  Is my primary joy fellowship with God, living in the light of His pleasure and presence and letting Him alone satisfy my need to find joy, rest in something?  Or do I misplace my celebrations in fleeting, temporary or illusive things like checking something off my to-do list, my childrens' good behavior, relationships going well, a clean house... Don't get me wrong, these are good things and we should enjoy these things, walk in gratitude for them, but that's the key - gratitude brings us back to the central, faithful, unchanging Pleasure, Giver of these transient gifts - pointing us back to that which is intransitive - stands alone.  He is the object, the Real thing, the end and the beginning not a means to an end or a dependent or situational factor.  Setting primary joy, satisfaction on any lesser thing, will inevitable lead to anxiety.  Because we are made for joy, it is our endless drive - to run after pleasure.  When we find and satisfy that in God, we have unshakeable peace.  When we seek to satisfy it in temporary things, accomplishments, people, we wrap ourselves up in anxiety over whether this will pan out, whether our to-do list will be checked off, our children happy/obedient, our relationships satisfying, our goals, needs, desires met. The good or pleasure in these things is only meant to further solidify our Joy in that which nothing and no-one can take away.  This focus, satisfaction in Supreme Joy, settles us, secures us, quiets us deep down at our core from which every other thought and action flow. 
   Do you notice that when you're anxious about things, your responses aren't the gentlest?  I know when I'm anxious, I get rough around the edges, easily riled up, tend to talk in shorter, clipped, frustrated tones because the anxiety makes me "at capacity".  I can't handle other negative stimulus or sometimes any other stimulus at all because my internal negative stimulus is leaving me all tied up in knots, stretched thin and one other thing could cause me to snap.  Anxiety causes us to live in extremes.  We become pendulums swinging from frustration and fear to transient satisfaction.  Rightly appropriated joy centers us in unshakeable peace- allows us to respond in gentleness, live out a life if moderation, be reasonable/rational in our thinking, considerate of others needs rather than our own.  It shifts our attention from focusing on our own needs and fulfillment  to blessing others because our own craving for joy has been supremely and forever satisfied.  And a life like this cannot go unnoticed.  In a world seeking pleasure in every other thing, one satisfied, gentled by satiation is evident to all.

  This is possible because God is not a God far off, illusive and disagreeable or intangible.  He is near at hand, closer than our next breath. If He's close enough to know when a sparrow falls, close enough to clothe the dawn in brilliant colors, He's close enough to satisfy, to meet us in our broken, messy places and provide an unshakeable constant, a deep, undrainable well of joy and reason to rejoice. 
  I hear these things, see them, write them and still find myself asking, "Yes, that's all great... but how?"  I think the answer to that lies in repitition, practice, reminding ourselves as many times and as often as it takes until it becomes habit, second nature.  Until we have come to see and be so satisfied in that Joy that we no longer go searching for it elsewhere because we have tapped and retapped it and found it to never grow old or run dry.  Gratitude plays a large roll too - to be continued...

1. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice,
   All ye that are upright in heart;
   And ye that have made Him your choice,
   Bid sadness and sorrow depart.
   • Refrain:
     Rejoice, rejoice,
     Be glad in the Lord and rejoice;
     Rejoice, rejoice,
     Be glad in the Lord and rejoice.
2. Be joyful, for He is the Lord
   On earth and in Heaven supreme;
   He fashions and rules by His word—
   The “Mighty” and “Strong” to redeem.
3. What though in the conflict for right
   Your enemies almost prevail?
   God’s armies, just hid from your sight,
   Are more than the foes which assail.
4. Though darkness surround you by day,
   Your sky by the night be o’ercast,
   Let nothing your spirit dismay,
   But trust till the danger is past.
5. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice,
   His praises proclaiming in song;
   Let gratefulness give all a voice,
   The loud hallelujahs prolong!
6. Be Glad - Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir      Song - Be Glad in the Lord and rejoice African style

Keeping count for Mother's Day

Where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Treasure.  It's something we count, store up, focus on, lay aside and keep coming back to.  And gradually, your heart follows, becomes like that thing that you treasure, keep track of.  That thing we place value on, our value, our worth.  As it's Mother's Day, I consider that we treasure our children, I need to treasure more the little moments- smiles, hugs, moments of sacrifice and service, expressions of love.  Sometimes, do we treasure more the "good behavior" of our children then our children themselves or place our sense of worth on the balance, the count of their obedience, cheerfulness, goodness vs their bad attitudes, messes, disobedience and feel like that balance is always coming up short of what we dream, desire for them, for us?  I know I don't want my sins counted against me and am so thankful that my Father not only doesn't keep count but sees me as perfect, altogether lovely, washed white and remembers my sins NO more!!

Some that I treasure most

    I've begun exchanging my treasure, replacing those counted failures, stored wounds with tellings, retellings, sightings of God at work, breaking through, setting free.  I'm in the process of recognizing what was in my treasure box and replacing it with that which really has value, that in which I want my heart to follow. To see and draw out the treasure, the value in others - because the heart will follow.  We maybe have little treasure boxes attached to all of our relationships - things we store up, recount...and our heart follows, reflects in that relationship the things we've hallowed, set apart.  I want to store up the beautiful.  Those things that are lovely, praiseworthy, excellent, of good report.  Then, what will my heart feel?  What will my heart reflect in my day to day and in my relationships.  If all around me, I look for, count, recount, treasure the truth, goodness and beauty of God, of others, of the situations He gives just to express his love, put a smile on my face and those that are purposed to draw me in, bring me to my knees, to surrender and dependence, to learn to be an overcomer...then my heart will expand like a flower breaking out into full bloom - it's like feeding and watering the beauty, truth and goodness inside and allowing the full expression of it to burst for in glorious day, fullness of joy.
    And. of course, there is that Highest Treasure, Great Reward Himself, storing up faith in Him, absolute trust, reliance and counting, recounting the works of His hands, the revelations and promises He gives, the sustenance and hope...Gen. 15:1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”


Jesus, Priceless Treasure
1 Jesus, priceless treasure,
source of purest pleasure,
friend most sure and true:
long my heart was burning,
fainting much and yearning,
thirsting, Lord, for you.
Yours I am, O spotless Lamb,
so will I let nothing hide you,
seek no joy beside you!

2 Let your arms enfold me:
those who try to wound me
cannot reach me here.
Though the earth be shaking,
every heart be quaking,
Jesus calms my fear.
Fires may flash and thunder crash;
yea, though sin and hell assail me,
Jesus will not fail me.

3 Hence, all worldly treasure!
Jesus is my pleasure,
Jesus is my choice.
Hence, all empty glory!
What to me your story
told with tempting voice?
Pain or loss or shame or cross
shall not from my Savior move me,
since he chose to love me.


4          Banish thoughts of sadness,
for the Lord of gladness,
Jesus, enters in;
though the clouds may gather,
those who love the Savior
still have peace within.
Though I bear much sorrow here,
still in you lies purest pleasure,
Jesus, priceless treasure!
Psalter Hymnal, 1987Story behind the hymn
Jesus, Priceless Treasure- beautiful rendition

Keeping Count

     Do you ever notice how many things we count?  From the time we're toddlers we learn to count objects, then time, to use numbers to create equations and get answers to ever increasingly complicated problems. And maybe we get stuck right there...counting problems. We begin to count our failures, heartaches, opportunities lost, hopes unrealized, all the times in a day when we could have, should have done better, differently, responded with more grace, gentleness, peace, etc.
   I was at a training seminar on Saturday and we had an exercise to make words that were meaningful to what we wanted in our homeschooling and without real intention, I ended up with Count Joy. In a moment Holy Spirit began putting a finger on that, impressing it upon me. Count Joy.  He asked me the question. What are you counting?  As you pursue peace, what are you keeping track of?  The simple answer, all the times I fail to respond in peace, feel at peace, act out of peace.  I knew what He was getting at.  I'm counting the wrong things.  I'm counting my failures, but He's counting my victories.  He's giving me the victories, and I'm so busy wrestling over this, I glaze right over victories...because I should be that anyway, right?  That should be my norm, so why count the expected.  That's my perspective, not His.  He's bringing me from glory to glory, and I'm so fixed on the things that don't look like glory, that it is stunting my growth in this area.
  The other two words that we discussed that Saturday were manifest and magnify.  If we want to manifest what is beauty, truth and goodness, we must magnify it, highlight it everywhere we see it, every chance we get. To magnify is to make something bigger, or see something as bigger.  In God's case to begin to see Him and His work more like it really is, and as we magnify that, it becomes manifest in and through us. How can I adequately pursue one thing while magnifying it's antithesis?  My best response is to confess my failures simply, humbly to a merciful, gracious God, breaking its power over me, calling it what it is in truth and turning quickly back to the goodness I pursue, desire. 

So, I'm going to start counting new things.  I'm going to write them down as a testiment of God's goodness and magnify His work in my life.  Want to join me?







 When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
 (When we count our failures, we're seeing what we in the flesh have done but when we count beauty, truth and goodness, we are counting the very works of God.)

2 Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, ev'ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by. [Refrain]

3 When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. [Refrain]

4 So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end. [Refrain]

Story behind the hymn
Song

Furthest away when you're seeking

  Does it ever seem that when you're really wanting something, pursuing something, it seems the furthest away?  Hope seems to fade sometimes right before the breaking point or turning point?  Have you tried to change the way you respond to people or situations, be more intentional about something and progressively all you notice are your failures in that area? There becomes an increasingly stark, apparent difference between what you want- who you want to be - and what you really are here and now.  Everywhere you turn seems to highlight inadequacy and the gap between what you want to be - ought to be- and what you really are, raw, right here and now in the midst of the mess of life.

  Is the darkness greatest just before the dawn? Is this just a sign that God is revealing the mess and the heart of it so He can clean it up?  Does this mean the breakthrough is right around the corner?  I have more questions than answers right now, but I cling to the hope that this desire, pursuit was placed in my heart not to have me seeking after the impossible or leave me in a fruitless search but to first stir up desire in order to cultivate the ground for the seeds of peace to be planted and thrive.  Maybe that's where I'm at right now...the ground is being churned up, prepared and it feels anything but peaceful...
   Peace has been like that for me this week.  Illusive.  More appealing than ever, yet seeming so far away.  The list of things to do seems like a mountain compared to the time to do it and right in the center of it all are my children.  These little ones that I wrap up tight in my arms or snuggle close to on the couch - taking a few minutes to love on, to hold what is most precious and tell them so.  Yet, it doesn't seem like enough.  In the midst of this, I came across this verse: Isaiah 54:14 "All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children."  Ahhh.  Yes.... This has become my earnest prayer, my hope.  Whether my schedule has me home or away, what I really want, what I need is for the Lord to be their teacher and mine.  
   

Wonderful Peace
1 Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;
In celestial-like strains it unceasingly falls
O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

Refrain:
Peace! peace! wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above;
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
In fathomless billows of love.

2 What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace,
Buried deep in the heart of my soul;
So secure that no power can mine it away,
While the years of eternity roll. [Refrain]



3 I am resting tonight in this wonderful peace,
Resting sweetly in Jesus’ control;
For I’m kept from all danger by night and by day,
And His glory is flooding my soul. [Refrain]

4 And I know when I rise to that city of peace,
Where the Author of peace I shall see,
That one strain of the anthems the ransomed will sing,
In that heavenly kingdom shall be: [Refrain]

5 O soul, are you here without comfort or rest,
Walking down the rough pathway of time?
Make Jesus your friend ere the shadows grow dark;
O accept this sweet peace so sublime. [Refrain]

Story behind
Acapella version

    Driving through the rises and valleys of rolling hills, the eastern woodland valley floor is covered with last year's deciduous, faded foliage like an invitation to come away and walk in secret places.  The trees stretch winter's bare capillaries toward the sky, willing for spring, beginning to feel life-giving circulation coursing through their dormant veins.  My eyes search each distal branch for signs, soft bulges of red, pink, white or green bursting from the internal DNA. Scattered trees carrying light, wispy pillows of pale green or bursting with Spring flowers. I search for them like I search for  Peace, hungry for every little sign of it in my life, grabbing hold of the hope every swollen bud offers, willing the evidences, manifestations of it to show. Each time I see it, I'm joyful, grateful, half surprised to

see it there right in the middle of life's chaos and craziness.  It's like the peace David describes in Psalm 23: lead by green pastures and still waters, confident of the Presence in dark valleys and being filled and satisfied right in the midst of the Enemy's camp. It's not about external circumstances but about the One who walks with us in the quiet and the chaotic places.

    Just as the roots suck nutrients in through the roots and the heart of the tree gives it life, so also, Psalm 14:30 says: "A heart at peace gives life to the body."  When the heart is grounded in in the nutrients of fellowship with God and His Words, life surges through the body, flowing out of peace. And over and over again a heart at peace comes back to faith, to confidence not in circumstances or in the fact that everything will be alright or in easy, pleasant times but in the Eternally Existing Three in One seated on His thrown in absolute power and wisdom - every expression of His person being for me and loving me and watching over me and working in me, being invested in my well-being and my being found in Him.  Confidence in an unshakeable kingdom and more unshakeable KING, learning from him and relying on Him in the midst of every little moment gives me strength to overcome my fears, quell my rising anxiety, settle my troubled, struggling heart and respond in quiet grace. I don't have to enter into the chaos of the storm or daily battleground but can be an onlooker who sees it and speaks/carries peace into it, seeing the glory of God breaking through in 100 different ways and revealing Christ to the world, through me life.  Let it be!

Because He Lives!

Because He lives - Amen! newer version
Because He Lives 
Story behind the hymn