Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Hidden Dust

June 17, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

AAAchoo. Packing to move sure stirs up the dust. hidden dust

I consider myself a good housekeeper. I dust regularly. But, when I began to empty out shelves and pack away books and knickknacks, the dusty back corners loomed at me. Tiny scraps of paper, dust bunnies, cat hair.

My nose twitched. My eyes watered. As I grabbed the dusting cloth and furniture polish, I pondered. “Sniff. Now where did I pack the facial tissue?”

How could I have not seen all that dust lurking? Because the things of my life – books, heirloom figurines, family photos, mementos –  were hiding it. I regularly dusted around them, maybe even lifted them and dusted underneath. But the pesky specks settled in the far back depths, unseen until I emptied the shelf. I thought to myself. Hmm. Perhaps I should take more time on a regular basis, say every few months or so, to empty the shelves and dust more thoroughly. If I could find the time…

A faith lesson tickled my mind –

Sometimes, God moves us in order to shake up the dust a bit. He takes us from our comfort zones where life has settled around us, and in the process of rearranging and weeding out the things we have gathered to us, our patient Lord reveals the accumulation of specks we have neglected.

Perhaps a negative attitude towards someone.

Maybe a lie we regret telling.

The time we acted less that Christian,yet left unconfessed.

LIttle things we have tucked away in the back of our lives and not tended to very well. But no one sees that, do they? Over time, we may not notice it either. We have cluttered up our life-shelf with other things. The more current things get our attention. Those we confess, and clean away. Yet, these other things in our past continue to accumulate in the depths of our souls.

Today, I found a message from God in some dust bunnies at the back of my shelves: Cleaning up my act may mean rearranging things in my life so God can point out to me the areas I have neglected – the ones out of sight.

Perhaps I need to carve out more time with Him on a regular basis so He can help me reveal my past mistakes. That way, they don’t build up. Maybe, I can do that while I am dusting my shelves more thoroughly in the new place. With each swipe of the dusting cloth, my Lord will show me where I need Him to wipe away my sinsfrom the corners of my heart.

Lord, help me find the time to do both, and, no matter how arduous, rejoice in it.

Where will you find God today?

 

 

Posted in Life Experiences | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Broken, but Bearing

June 12, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

garden of grace

 

 

Along the river bank at my family place in the Texas Hill Country is an old cypress. Long before my birth, it’s trunk was bent in half by a raging flood. Yet, it’s not only lived but thrived. Its shady limbs continue to stretch out into the waters.Some reach high towards the sky. Each year it bears fragrant cypress balls, and is a celestial highway for squirrels. In times of flood and storms, it is a refuge for the birds.

Christians are not immune to tragedy in this broken world. But, as Rick Warren says, even then, we can still bear fruit because we are grafted into Christ’s loving strength and merciful grace.

“…do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Romans 11:18-19

Others see there is hope in our eyes not washed away by our grief-stricken tears, Even in our deepest sorrow, there is a peace. And that, my friends, speaks volumes without one whispered word.

Posted in Christian, Nature | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Thorned for a reason

June 9, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

ID-100169178How do you see someone who is being a thorn in your flesh?

I am struck by David’s words in 2 Samuel, Chapter 16 when Shimei, a relative of Saul, curses him and pelts him with pebbles  David, God’s anointed king, could have ordered the man to be imprisoned or killed. But instead, he tells his soldiers to leave him alone because, “It may be the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.” (vs.12)  David also indicates that God may have told the man to curse him. Why? My guess would be as a test of humility. The interesting thing is this happened while David was in a low period in his life. His own son was trying to dethrone him and kill him.

Is there someone in your life who just rubs you the wrong way? Maybe it is a neighbor who always complains, a coworker who is a backstabber and gossip, an in-law you just can’t please, or even a ID-100156152member in your church who likes to find fault with every little thing. How will you react? When our tolerance levels are like a rain gauge in a drought, it seems people just get on our nerves more than when our lives are overflowing with happiness. Is it because it is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, or might it be because God is sending us a message to lean on Him a bit more instead of on our own understanding and strength?

Christ came to love the unlovable, which if I am totally honest about it, includes me. Who am I to judge others?

Perhaps the best thing we can do when someone needles us is to take it to God. Maybe He is allowing this person to be like a sticker burr between our toes for a reason.

  • Is He using them like a mirror to reflect a sin we have yet to deal with in our own lives? (Remove the log in your eye before you comment about the speck in theirs idea.)
  • Is He testing our humbleness, or our faith-strength?
  • Is He preparing us to deal with someone ten times worse who is just around the bend that He can see coming into our lives even though we cannot?

True–Christians, in turning the other cheek,  are not called to be like wimpy spaghetti noodles and people should be held accountable for their actions. But, Scripture tells us to give thanks to God in all circumstances — that goes for those we just cannot seem to get along with at the moment.

Maybe if we all had the attitude of King David, it would then open the pathways a bit wider to spreading Christ’s message of forgiveness and love.

 

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Little Drips

June 4, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

Recently a foul odor whisked through my living room.  In my somewhat open-concept space, the kitchen is separated from the living room by a half-wall, so I ran the disposal – nope. I emptied the trash- no, not that.  With a shrug, I sprayed some air freshener just as my Bible study group arrived. But, they began to smell it as well.  It became more predominate as the evening progressed.

What was it???

After they left, my foot hit the carpet by the couch and a felt a squish. The carpet was wet! Moving the couch, which butts up to the half-wall that separates the kitchen from the living room, revealed the source. The wall was bulging, the baseboard cracked and the carpet tinted blackish-brown where it met the wall. We had a leak!

It seems one of the apartments above us had a crack in the disposal drain pipe. Water had been dripping down the wall and pooling behind ours on the first floor. Mildew had taken over as well as tiny water bugs. YUK . IMAG0015 (1)

When they opened the wall, it all cascaded out, along with the stench.  It was pretty nasty. It took two maintenance men and a carpet/mildew specialist, all with skills I did not possess using materials and lots of tools I didn’t have, to clean it up. That took time. The wall had to dry, the carpet had to be sanitized, stretched and dried. The sheet rock replaced, and new baseboards installed. Finally, a fresh coat of paint was applied.

What struck me is that the same can be said of the little sins in our lives. Nothing big by the world standards, mind you. The white lie to a friend, using the office copier for personal use, sleeping in instead of having your prayer time, being purposely rude to someone in traffic, not quite tithing in the offering this week because that dress on sale needed to be in your closet,  losing your temper with your kids and saying something cutting about their character instead censuring their actions, never quite apologizing to a hurt friend, watching that soft porn movie or reading that steamy romance novel…

…drip, drip,drip behind the walls we build up. No one needs to know, right?

But eventually, some physical evidence will emerge. It may be restless sleep, a tendency to be grouchy, muscle tension, or a sour stomach.

It may take more than just you to solve the problem if you let it go too long. Of course, Our Lord is the master fixer – the only true One who can make our mess clean and pure again. His mercy can cut through  the walls we’ve  built to reveal the accumulative effects of our “little drips” sins. But He may bring in other people or tools to help do the clean-up work. It may be a passage in Scripture or a sermon by your pastor that whacks the first blow at the wall. Perhaps a close friend to pray over you, or a Christian counselor,  will provide the tools or the know-how to eradicate that pesky little sins that have been eating at you deep inside where you thought nobody could see.

You will probably have a part in the process as well. It will take time. It may get a bit nasty. But it will be worth it.

..because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.   Leviticus 16:30

...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22

Posted in Devotional, Life Experiences | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Daily Bread or Doughnuts

May 29, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

ID-10067177I stared at a freezer full of the same ol’ stuff I’d been eating for weeks on end. Veggie burgers, frozen vegetables, skinless chicken breasts.  I opened the fridge to the same stuff. Reduced fat this and that, no-calorie dressing, salad bags, zero-fat Greek yogurt. Sigh – Losing a pound or so a week on this healthy diet gets monotonous at times. I crave French fries, grilled cheese, a chocolate shake, Alfredo pizza, Mexican food. Lord, why does all the good stuff have to be so bad for me, so high in calories and ssoooo tasty? When I was younger I could eat it all and not gain an ounce.  I grumbled under my breath, grabbed a protein drink and some celery stalks, and slunk to the couch to read my assigned Bible passage.

Half way down the page, my mouth opened into a large “o”.

The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”  (Numbers 11:4-6)

When God told them through Moses that pork and shell-fish were a no-no, did they complain as well? Possibly.

I’m no different. I can continue to pig out on fast foods and shell out my money on prepackaged meals, or choose to buy healthier, fresh food choices and exercise more. I can be thankful for what God provides from the earth for my nourishment, or crave the sugary, fatty, salty, and carb-laden man-made things that I can’t or shouldn’t have and grumble about it.

The Hebrews had herds of animals with them and money to buy grains and fruits as they wandered past other nomadic tribes in the wilderness. But did they consume them after the first were tithed to God? The BIble doesn’t say. It does say that God gave them manna –  the bread of the angels – to be their wholesome daily supplement. Each daybreak they were provided just enough for one day, except the day before the Sabbath when the Hebrews received two day’s worth of manna so they wouldn’t have to labor on their commanded day of rest.

What was God teaching the Hebrews? Two things. Rely on Him each day and He will provide what we need, but not necessarily what we want.

He wishes to teach me the same thing.  In my diet, as in every aspect of the rest of my daily life, I need to rely on Him to provide my needs.  I shouldn’t whine because I can’t eat or buy certain things. But unlike the Hebrews, I am still in Egypt.  In today’s pre-packaged, credit-happy world, it is way too easy to buy more than we make, eat three times a day what people used to consider an occassional treat, and waste more time on useless entertainment like Tv, video games and social media sites than ever before. How easily we can become enslaved!

I need my Lord, each day, to help me choose between what He wants to provide and what I want to grab or grumble about having.  Promised Land up ahead or stay in Egypt.

Maybe it would be easier if God isolated me from the world and gave me the food I should eat to lose weight each day at daybreak – just enough for that day.

Give me this day, my daily bread.. but, not the doughnut, Lord.

Nah, like the Hebrews, I’d probably grumbled about that as well after a few months.

Posted in Devotional, Life Experiences | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Skirting His Presence

May 27, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

HA altar-301-XL

courtesy of Gordon Henry, photographer

In the church where I work, it is customary to leave a remnant of the consecrated bread and wine in a cabinet on the altar called the Tabernacle. (The white curtained area under the brass dome and the cross.) That way, Christ is always present in the Sanctuary. It’s a tradition that stretches back as far as the regulations in Exodus, which was carried into the early Catacombs where the first Christians worshipped, and is still practiced in many churches today where the Holy Eucharist (Communion) is celebrated.

Exodus 25:8, 30  “Then have them build a sanctuary and I will dwell among them…Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times..” 

A perpetual candle on or near the altar area is lit, to signify that the consecrated elements representing Christ’s body and blood are present in the Tabernacle. When the candle it a glow, it is customary to bend a knee before the altar to honor God and to recall that one day every knee a shall bend at the name of Jesus. (Philippians 2:10)

Throughout the week, I bop in and out of the Sanctuary. I straighten the hymnals and distribute offering envelopes, visitors cards, etc. I place bulletins  at the entrance and put one on the organ bench for the organist.  ON the lectern, I leave large-print Scripture passages as well as the prayer list for the readers. I change the hymn board numbers. I take deliveries of candles, unleavened wafers, wine and linens to be placed in the locked sacristy until they are needed for the services. At times, I pray in there as well.

Each time I enter, I can walk down the center aisle, bow to the Tabernacle, and then go about whatever it is I came to do. Or, I can sneak in the side entrance, go down the side aisles, and bypass the altar. Well, truth be told, if I am in a hurry, I often sneak in the side. I don’t take time to approach the altar, dip my knee reverently and quietly, and then proceed with the reason I entered. I’m just going to dash in and back out again.

One day, God convicted me. That quiet, booming voice inside my heart asked, “Why do you ignore my Presence?”

I slipped to the altar, knelt and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

How often do we skirt God during our day? Aren’t there times we feel Him tug on our shirt and say, “Hey, smile and nod to that person over there,  give that homeless beggar a dollar, call so-and-so because they need to hear your voice, or stop and pray for this person whose name I have flashed into your brain?”  But in our busy-ness we skirt His whisperings and go about our tasks. We  try to schedule a time to read His Word, to speak to Him, and hopefully to listen. But, much of our day is  – “I’ll get back to you on that, Lord.” That is, until we need HIm. Until we get that phone call, slam on our brakes in a near-miss, or feel anxiety inch into our chests. Then, we bow a knee, right?

God is always present in our lives once we have “tabernacled” with Christ and allowed Him to become a part of our hearts. We cannot escape God. Like Adam and Eve we don’t have the privilege of being able to hide from Him. He will seek us out.

The Psalmist wrote, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Psalm 139:7

I found God (again) today in the church sanctuary where I work – a reminder that His presence is always there with me.  LIke the perpetual candle flame dangling from the gold chain to remind anyone who enters that God is in their midst, I have Christ’s light inside me to remind me His in in the midst of me.

Lord, let me never choose again to ignore you, or try in my hurriedness to skirt around You. May that tabernacle remind me to always bow a knee before You and acknowledge You in my day.

Posted in Biblical, Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Averted eyes

May 20, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

I have begun to power walk, well for me it takes all my power to do this, for a half hour early every morning after I have my Bible and coffee time. I live in a large apartment complex, and a few other people are stirring at that daybreak hour. ID-10018835 However, I have begun to notice something that disturbs me down to my core. Averted eyes.

Today, I passed seven people, and only one looked at me and returned my smile – a child. Everyone else turned away, or changed directions when they saw me approaching with my water bottle, walking shoes, and sweat-beaded brow. Now surely an overweight, sixty-year old 5’2′ woman is not threatening. So, instead of thinking it was all about me, I began to observe that they reacted the same way to others who were heading for their cars, walking their pets or taking out their trash. No one acknowledged the presence of anyone else. Heads down, eyes averted, they went about their business.

What happened to the friendly “howdy” and wave? When did people become so wary, so sullen, and so solitary? When did we begin to disconnect from each other? Is cyberspace to blame? Population growth? Unstable economy? I think those may be symptoms, but the disease is greater than that.

People are lost. They have no hope. They need a Savior.

Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. Job 8:13

How can we help people to hope again?  By showing them our hope that is unmovable.  .

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Psalm 62:5

I will continue to walk, and continue to nod and smile. Maybe the small silver cross I wear will catch their attention. Perhaps they will see something in me they are lacking. And maybe, just maybe, after our eyes begin to connect, they will let me get close enough to wish them a good day and to tell them I hope God, who is the source of my hope, blesses them. I just might be the one person who smiles to them, or acknowledges them positively with caring eyes.

I also hope I start to jiggle less and less as I walk more and more .But, at least now God has given me a purpose outside of myself for my morning strolls. I walk to bring hope to averted eyes.

Posted in Devotional, Life Experiences | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

Rose Glow

May 16, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

IMAG0006A while back, my great-niece made me this rose. Rather ingenious, it is a silk flower and greenery glued around a tea light. She painstakingly hollowed out the rose, inserted the tea light, and then glued it all back together. You have to flip the switch underneath before it can softly glow from the inside out.

You see where my train of thought is going with this, right? You and I are that rose. When we ask Christ, the Light of the World, into our hearts He glows from within us and it oozes out of our countenance for the world to see. It enhances the beauty we were created to display because it comes from deep down within the center of our core. He has painstakingly glued us back together after we were broken and the world tore us apart. Now, we are a thing of beauty because we reflect Him as the center of our lives.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

But, here is the thing. Christ allows us the free will to turn His glowing presence in our lives on for others to see, or to turn it off. We are not so attractive when we are not glowing with His love and mercy. Each day, each situation, each encounter, we have the option to turn our attitude over and flip the switch– to be His Light shining into the darkened hearts of a hurting and bewildered world or not.

Who will you glow for today? Will it be a child in tears over a bully’s remark, a store clerk who is having an unappreciated, frazzled day, the homeless man with the cardboard sign, or your family member who just walked in the door and barked at you after a tough day?

 

Posted in Christian | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

A Tree Grows in… What??

May 12, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

10307430_10153104667781002_242652077577200201_nA friend posted this photo from knoxville.com on Facebook. It’s making the circuit, so maybe you’ve seen it. At first I laughed…then my mouth formed an “o.”

God spoke to me in volumes about tenacity, strength through adversity, and determination to become the beautiful creation He has in mind for you to be.

That car must have been there long before the tree was little more than a sapling. Yet, somehow, this tenacious little piece of bark pushed through metal, leather, springs and rust to stretch out into the sky.Year after year it struggled to grow, and eventually sprawled out beyond the boundaries that contained it. Limbs shot from its ever-increasing trunk until it overcame what had held it back.

The same God-given weather – rain, sun, cold and heat – that nourished the tree deteriorated it’s captor. Windows, once hardened by glass, shattered. Metal, once molded for strength, crumbled. What was once an obstacle became a pathway to the light, and a container to guide further growth.

If you are facing obstacles right now, I hope this picture of a tree sprouting healthy and strong from an old rusty car gives you hope. Through the struggle,no matter the diversity you face, you will become what God intended you to be if you don’t give up. Anything is possible if you rely on God. Keep stretching, keep reaching for Heaven’s goodness. God will provide.You will overcome any adversity if you turn to Him.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Isaiah 40:29

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

.

 

Posted in Life Experiences, Nature | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Soul Sniffles

May 7, 2014 by juliebcosgrove

ID-10070268It started with a tickle, like a feather under my nose. Then, the scratchiness in the back om tongue. By this morning, my head was stuffed with cotton, my throat burned, and a shallow cough had settled into my chest. Yep – I have a cold. It’s okay – it’s not contagious over cyberspace, so you don;t have to click off.

As nasty as a summer cold is, I found a God-message in it.

Do our souls react to sin the way our body reacts to germs? I think so.

At first sin is a mild irritant, but if we let it enter in, the Holy Spirit will make us uncomfortable as it tries to defeat the sin, the way our bodies’ white corpuscles attack a cold germ. It may take a lot of sneezing to get it out of our system. Not pleasant, but for the best.

Ignore the sin even more, and it can even make us sick. We begin to feel out of sorts and irritable. If we don’t confess the sin and try to live our lives with it, it digs in deeper to become a full-blown infection, just like a cold can turn into pneumonia or bronchitis.

Like taking cold and cough medicines, confession may not be pleasant. But it is necessary if we are to heal. The earlier we begin treatment, the quicker we can nip the symptoms in the bud.

There are other things you can do. Let your prayer be like a facial tissue- expel your sin and then toss it away.

Like hot tea, the vapors of mercy can soothe you. And to prevent your sin from infecting others, forgiven can be like a hand sanitizer that keeps the sin from re-entering our hearts. In fact, when we encounter a negative, grouchy or hurtful person, maybe we should grab our spiritual armor the way we dig in our purses and pockets for the hand sanitizer bottle when someone sniffles or coughs. God’s Word is the best defense to keep our souls healthy.

When you have a cold you are supposed to rest because you are weak. Are we not supposed to rest in the arms of our Lord when we feel spiritually weak?

The experts say to intake lots of water if you feel a cold coming on. Jesus said He is the Living Water. If we intake a huge dose of Him in our lives, will that help flush out our sinfulness? Oh, and you are to increase your Vitamin C. For the spiritual sniffles, is the Vitamin C otherwise known as Christ? Do we not need more of Him in us?

Hmmm. Is that why they called Jesus the Great Physician?

Posted in Christian, Devotional, Life Experiences | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »