Gentle Beauty

Romans 2:4 (NCV)

Perhaps you do not understand that God is kind to you so you will change your hearts and lives.

If someone were to observe me for several days they would begin to notice something about me; I am one who follows the sun.  It starts in the morning. My husband and I’s bedroom faces the rising sun and especially right now the bright glorious sunrise kisses me awake every morning.   

As I start my work day, I open all of the shades in my house and plant myself in the chair that is nearest the glorious rising sun.  Sometimes this will involve me switching between a couple chairs and squeezing myself smaller and smaller to get the last bits of direct sunshine as the sun begins to fade.  If the weather is warm enough, I’ll take my computer out on the back deck and sit in a chair that is still exposed to the sun.  As the day progresses, the sun switches to shining on the front end of my home, so I will then move to the front room or porch to soak in the sun.  Again, if the weather is warm enough, you will find me sitting smack dab in the middle of a sunny spot.  

Towards the end of the day, you will find me searching for a glorious sunset.  We usually get one out our front window or if I’m lucky enough I will drive to the lake so I can sit and watch the sunset.  I told my daughter that a perfect day for me, would be chasing an everlasting sunset.

The start of the day in the sunshine is like a gentle kiss from my Savior.   After my niece’s death 6 years ago I went through a season where it physically hurt my heart to get out of bed.  In sorrow and confusion, darkness was what I seemed to constantly feel in my heart.  During this painful season the Lord gave me Psalm 19:

1-6 (NCV):

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies

Announce what his hands have made.  Day after day

They tell the story;

Night after night they tell it again.

They have no speech or words;

They have no voice to be heard.

But their message goes out through all the world;

Their words go everywhere on earth.

The sky is like a home for the sun.

The sun comes out like a bridegroom from his bedroom.

It rejoices like an athlete eager to run a race.

The sun rises at one end of the sky and follows its path

to the other end.

Nothing hides from its heat.

This is where I began each day during that difficult season.  Reading this Scripture daily as the sun rose in my bedroom.  I loved the image of the sun coming out like a bridegroom from his bedroom.  The announcement of the sky.   

There was a joy, a joy that continued daily and didn’t fail.  A joy that started each day, and did not grow tired nor decide to check out and take a day off.  It didn’t get disillusioned by life; there was something greater than all the sorrows of this life that was worth announcing day by day.  His creation spoke a message, a silent yet powerful message, and this is where I sat my heart for a season.  As the sun rose, I lay in bed and allowed the message of the sun’s joy in life to speak to my heart.

Another reason, I fell in love with this Psalm because from the very beginning it drew me in with its gentle peace but also because it continued on tying His creation to the power of His word (7-10):

The teachings of the Lord are perfect;

They give new strength.

The rules of the LORD can be trusted; they make plain people wise.

The orders of the LORD are right;

They make people happy.

The commands of the LORD are pure;

They light up the way.

Respect for the LORD is good; it will last forever.

The judgements of the LORD are true;

They are completely right.

They are worth more than gold, even the purest gold.

They are sweeter than honey, even the finest honey.

Just as I could rest in the faithfulness of His creation, I too could rest my heart in the faithfulness and beauty of His Word.  His teachings were perfect.  They give strength.  His Word could be trusted.

When your heart has been through a war, there needs to be a time for healing.  Psalm 19 provided a safe place for my heart to heal.  It allowed me to take the extravagant beauty that I can so easily see around me and parallel it to Scripture.

There are benefits and pitfalls to being a Christian your entire life.  It provides a solid foundation that takes a lot to demolish.  However, you also get exposed to LOTS of versions of Christianity some really good stuff and some not so good.  Combine all that information with a perfect storm of tragedy and your heart, mind, soul and spirit can end up a mess.  What I learned (and still learn) is that Jesus is a gentle Savior, who knows how to gently and patiently untie the greatest of messes.  Just as I place my body physically in the light of the sun every day, spiritually, you will find me too following the Son.  Immersing myself in His Word; knowing that my understanding or use of it won’t always be perfect or clear.  But what I do know is that it is trustworthy, it is pure and it does light up my way.

In Christ,

A New Day is Here

 

Isaiah 9:1-8 has been a Scripture that I have been returning to frequently this year.  In the OT, it is titled "A New Day is Coming" but as you read through it, you realize that this prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled and that a "New Day is Here" today.  Reading these verses has challenged and encouraged me to recognize what God has offered us now and to begin to live in it on a daily basis.  Here are the verses in the NCV:

But suddenly there will be no more gloom for the land that suffered. In the past God made the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali hang their heads in shame, but in the future those lands will be made great. They will stretch from the road along the Mediterranean Sea to the land beyond the Jordan River and north to Galilee, the land of people who are not Israelites.

2 Before those people lived in darkness,

but now they have seen a great light.

They lived in a dark land,

but a light has shined on them.

3 God, you have caused the nation to grow

and made the people happy.

And they have shown their happiness to you,

like the joy during harvest time,

like the joy of people

taking what they have won in war.

4 Like the time you defeated Midian,

you have taken away their heavy load

and the heavy pole from their backs

and the rod the enemy used to punish them.

5 Every boot that marched in battle

and every uniform stained with blood

has been thrown into the fire.

As I read through verses 1-5 the concept of contrast stands out.  There is a definite difference between the way things were and the way things are now:

• Before there was gloom, suffering and shame now there is GREATNESS
• Darkness but now there is GREAT LIGHT
• War and heaviness now there is HAPPINESS, VICTORY and JOY

Scripture repeats over and over again that there is and should be a distinct contrast between the darkness that was and His great light!  It began in Genesis 1:1, where God spoke to the chaos that hung over the world and said, "Let there be light."  You can imagine what a huge contrast there was between those two moments.  The same God who said, "Let there be light" in the very beginning now declares it over us, who have new life in Jesus:

Declare the praises of Him who

has called you out of darkness into His wonderful light . 

 Once you were not a people,

but now you are the people of God;

once you had not received mercy,

but now you have received mercy.

(I Peter 2:9-10).

We are His people and we are benefactors of His great mercy!

Isaiah 9:6-7

6 A child has been born to us;

God has given a son to us.

He will be responsible for leading the people.

His name will be

Wonderful Counselor,

 Powerful God,

Father Who Lives Forever,

Prince of Peace.

7 Power and peace will be in his kingdom

and will continue to grow forever.

He will rule as king on David's throne

and over David's kingdom.

He will make it strong

by ruling with justice and goodness

from now on and forever.

The Lord All-Powerful will do this

because of his strong love for his people.

I just love these verses.  It starts out saying that, "He will be responsible for leading His people."  This revelation has been very freeing for me.  I've spent much of my Christianity, trying to get God to do things "for me and for others."  There was a sense that I had to beg Him in order to get Him to move on my behalf.  But looking at verse 6 along with what was said in 1 Peter 2:10 it has become clear to me that God is leading me - not the other way around.  We have already received His mercy, His grace and His love and we have the opportunity to follow His leadership in what He is doing.

What makes this so much easier to do is to look at who He promises to be for us: Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace!  I will admit that there are situations and times when fear begins to seep in again.  At those moments, I've been taking the time to stop, breathe and remember these truths.  "You God, have promised to be my Wonderful Counselor, I am listening for your counsel right now!  You are the Prince of Peace I receive that peace right now!"  These truths have released me from the "need to always be in control" of how situations turn out and instead turn to trusting in Him to lead me and guide me.

"Power and peace will be His kingdom and His kingdom is ever expanding. He rules it with justice and goodness."  These words have helped calm me and give me insight into how to recognize His hand.  His kingdom is always growing, am I making room for it to expand in my own life? 

What will the results and effects of His kingdom look like? 

• power 
• peace 
• justice 
• goodness. 

James 3:17 gives us more things that we can look for:

• purity
• peace
• gentleness 
• easy to please

Knowing the fruit of God's operation will help us to recognize His leading and become more confident in following His voice.

The foundation to help us move in all this is - love (vs 7).  Not just any love either, His strong love!  These are the places in which we can and should rest.  We are living in the times declared by Isaiah.  Let us walk confidently and joyful in the light of His love, mercy and grace following Him in His wonderful counsel to expand His kingdom.

In Christ,

Photo courtesty of Melanie Guest Photography

Smorgasbord Tuesday: Fruit of the Spirit Gentleness

Maracuya (Passion Fruit)

We only have a couple weeks left looking at the fruits of the Spirit. I am kind of sad because I've really enjoyed the whole process. I've learned a lot about the Holy Spirit during this process; I hope that you have learned some new things too!

This week's fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. I think people tend to attribute this trait as a feminine quality, but the more I've been reflecting on it I think men can and should be really good at this fruit, too. I've come up with a definition of gentleness from “Jaime's dictionary:”

Gentleness:
the recognition that you have
the power to break, harm or destroy
the object you are interacting
with because it is precious, fragile
and inferior in power compared to you.
Because of this you choose to restrain your
power and instead use your power to
protect it for its benefit.

I came to this definition by thinking about when we tend to use the word gentle. The scenario that came to my mind was when we talk to toddlers who want to see a baby. The phrase you always hear is, “Be gentle.” Why? Because we recognize the toddler has the power to hurt the baby and that they need to consciously restrain their power in order for the baby to be protected from harm.

Like I said earlier I think as a society we tend to attribute gentleness as a feminine trait but I believe it can be a very masculine trait if men would recognize the meaning of gentleness.

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not exasperate your children;
instead, bring them up in the training
and instruction of the Lord.

The Lord is very clear that fathers play an important role in training their children to know and understand the Lord. Men by design are powerful creatures in both statures and in word. One of the ways they can achieve the goal of bringing up their children is by treating their children with the gentleness and this can only be learned by being with the Lord.

Philippians 4:5
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

I think this verse clearly points out that one of the evidences of the nearness to the Lord will be gentleness. If gentleness is lacking in your personal life I would suggest doing a few things. One is to get near the Lord. This can happen through prayer, worship, reading your Bible and fellowshipping with others.

The second thing I would suggest is to take time to reflect on what gentleness means. This understanding of gentleness has already started helping me respond to my kids in a more gentle way. I am recognizing that I have power with my words. My words can either destroy or protect their spirits. By consciously recognizing this fact it has helped me to restrain myself when I interact with them. I don't have to prove my “power” to them by being forceful with them. Often times, I think disciplinary struggles flare when there is a power struggle going on. In the end, the parents lose their tempers and gentleness is the farthest thing from their minds (of course I know this only from observation not experience :). The parent is trying to prove to the child that they are in control. However, when you eliminate the power struggle because you are the one in the place of power, you will find that it will be much easier to discipline and to do it with gentleness. You are the one in power in your relationship with your children you do not need to establish this over and over again. If you've “lost” that power with your children, then first reestablish this as a fact in your own mind. You are in control and you have the power to protect or crush your children's spirits. Since you have that power choose to restrain it and use it in a manner that protects and nurtures your child instead of in a way that crushes and destroys their spirits. (For more on parenting check out my post on Training Children.)

Finally, for the greatest understanding of gentleness meditate on the character of God. As we have seen with all the fruits; these character traits are from God ALONE and He blesses us with opportunity to have them in abundance in our lives. He is the All-powerful One. He is the Creator of the Universe! He is powerful we are not! He could choose to force Himself upon us and have us follow Him out of fear and trembling alone. Instead, He restrains His power and came to us in the form of a man, Jesus.

Zechariah 9:9
See, your king comes to you,

righteous and having salvation,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

Or look at I Kings 10:11b-12

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart
and shattered the rocks before the LORD,
but the LORD was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake,
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12 After the earthquake came a fire,
but the LORD was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Look at God and how He desires to come to you. As we talked about last week He desires to bring us to repentance through kindness. He also has approached us with a gentle spirit. Gentleness in no way lessens who He is rather it enhances His amazing power.

I hope you enjoy this week basking in the gentleness of the Lord, and letting those around you benefit from His gentleness coming out of you!