Psalm 104

 Is winter a place - a dull, dim, cold place?  Can I open a door and walk into winter, or better yet, walk out of it? 

 How did this happen?  This morning I woke up and found myself in winter.  The sky was grey, hiding the sun that should have been there up above my world.

This winter place is quiet – not like the sunny days of spring, or of summer.  I find that sunshine and light are sound as well as sight.  They greet my ears and my heart, singing a beautiful bright tune – a song that’s easy to follow, easy to sing. 

So I question, “God, why did you create the seasons?  Why not always give us mostly sunshine and some cool breezes?”

But, today I read Psalm 104.  Oh!  This psalm is so beautiful! 

Many scholars believe David wrote this Psalm, but it doesn’t matter whose pen it came from.  It clutched at my heart and almost screamed these words, “Diane what makes you feel that you can complain about a few dull, drab wintery days, when you look at what our amazingly beautiful God did to make the amazing, beautiful world that you are part of?"  

The writer spoke of God making the clouds his chariot, riding on the wings of the wind and making the flaming fire His messingers.

It spoke of God’s created earth as if it were alive – fleeing from the sound of His thunder, water rising and moving to its appointed places, bound from going too far.  One verse mentions that the earth is satisfied with the fruit of God’s work.  The Psalm tells of all the animals, fish, and birds looking to God for their food in due season – filling them with good things.  I love that the Psalm even mentions a small part of this vast creation - the rock badgers – such unimpressive animals in the realm of large and fancy created things.  I read  “The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.”

And of course he mentions the seasons.  “He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.  You make darkness and it is night…”  

So when I stop to think about the truth of God’s reason for seasons, it makes sense.  And it even gives me a warm feeling to know that He had a plan for the earth and for His created earthlings.  So I know that He has a plan for me – and you as well.

Ok, I think God gave me a bit to think about on this drab, dull winter day.

Love you all,

Diane

Book Review

 A look at “Joyfully Aging” A book by Richard Bimler.  

It’s been an interesting read – bogged down a little bit in the middle but certainly included some truly interesting and helpful information.  I understand that Mr. Bimler is a Lutheran Minister who, I was surprised to learn, may have been a Clergyman on staff at a church we attended in the Kansas City area many years ago.  

I will borrow a few of his thoughts as we go along, then you can decide whether you’d like to purchase this book, or to borrow mine.

Mr. Bimler discusses the importance of laughter for our physical health as well as emotional and mental health.  This book is full of little snippets to laugh about – as long as you’re willing to laugh at yourself.  

He also discusses the importance of community – not just sitting around having an “organ recital” with others our age but reaching out to those that can use our help, our smile, our concern.  That was one of the main challenges I felt he stressed in the book.

He has a chapter about taking care of our bodies, exercise, healthy eating, rest, etc.  I liked that he said about a healthy body not being the end-in-itself, but a means whereby we can serve others.  

Mr. Bimler also brings in some items that I really appreciate.  He quotes other authors who have wisdom to share – historical figures who have demonstrated the fact that age does not mean “dead.” And most importantly, he brings to light scriptures that talk about the subject.

All in all, it was a good read, and I would recommend it.

At this point, I’d like to discuss chapter 44.

This was a chapter called “Got Change?”  That one really made me think, although I truly enjoy some changes that I’ve encountered in my 85 (almost) years of life, I do not buy in to the present cultural worship of “change.”  

The following thoughts are mine, not Mr. Bimler’s.

A couple of my issues stem from the words I hear regarding things “old.”  As if there was nothing good about the past, no important lessons to be learned from history.  It seems to have been forgotten that ALL new technologies, inventions, etc. have a basis in the work done before by our ancestors.   

The words echo in my brain, “It’s new – so it’s good.”  “It’s exciting so we need it to give us joy and fulfillment.”  “It’s necessary” – for what? I ask.  “It hasn’t been tried before, so it needs to be tried.”

And then the words, “You wouldn’t understand how important this is.” or "There is no question, you really must acknowledge that change is good.”  

It’s as if, before the present technological age, there was no joy, no excitement, nothing to help us achieve what we need in life, and no information that could help us to be the blessings that this world needs.

Now I have to say, I’m writing this on my computer, having checked my sources on Wikipedia, making sure that spell check didn’t misunderstand my intent, sitting in a warm house with a cup of leftover, microwaved coffee by my side and ignoring the spam calls on my cellphone. So what does that say about my lack of buy-in to technology? 😊

Love you all,

Diane

He Hears our Prayers

I recently heard a beautiful song by a trio of Christian women.  The message was about the presence of God in the life of a Christ follower.

The setting was a mountaintop.  The woman and the “Shepherd” were talking together.  I surmised that she was asking why God had allowed pain and loss to follow her in her life on earth and why God did not answer her prayers. 
 
“Why?  Why?” she would say. “I asked for …… and you didn’t answer.”

Do you ever question God like that?  I know I certainly have, and even now, it sometimes becomes my plea.  Oh, how I wish I could hear His reasons.  I wish I could see the future.  But when I do, I wonder if, while seeing the future, I would still ask the question, “Why?”

But sometimes these days, I’m grateful that the “why” is lost in the presence of opportunities to say, “Thank you.  Thank you, God, for not answering my prayer in the way I wanted.”  Thank you for protecting me from myself – from my short-sighted wishes.

I cry, “why?”  I cry “how?”  

I cry “God please fix it now!”

My prayers – they whine like howling wind, 

with what, and why, and where and how.

Living in this broken world seems more than I can bear.

I need your help, I need your voice, I need your love and care.

I’d fall without the sure conviction 

that you’re always standing there

to hold me close and listen as

I come to you in prayer.

Even though there are still pains and problems in this world, I choose to believe what the Scriptures tell me – God loves his children and wants the best for them.  

We read in the Bible - 
 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

If you, then, though you are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:10 (NIV)

The Lord is my shepherd. . . He restores my soul. Psalm 23 (NIV)

The song ends with the shepherd pointing to the valley that this woman has just crossed.  He points out the path she walked – sometimes on her own, and sometimes with his help.  He points to the paths she wanted to take - the ones He prevented, 
and the times when she really couldn’t go on, so He carried her. 
 

Father please forgive me when I whine.

Please help me understand.

You know the trials that I can bear.

You hold me in your hand.

And He does.  God bless you dear friends.

Diane

Is Christmas over?

Another Christmas has come and gone,

let’s think of pictures seen.

Angels’ singing of Jesus' birth

announcing peace to all the earth.

The manger just outside the town

where God’s own Son was to be found.

The child who came as Mary’s son - 

the promised, long awaited one.

We hear of Jesus wondrous birth

and sing of glorious peace on earth.

We praise the baby in the hay

and pause to celebrate the day,

But soon we pack it all away.

For one more year we put away

the trappings of that special day.

With trees and lights and treasures fair,

we put the crèche with Jesus there.

Instead 

Let’s take Him from his manger bed

and watch the holy life he led.

And  

walk with the Son of God and see Him 

die upon that cursed tree.

Then

Christmas might be just the start

of Jesus living in our hearts.

Have you come to the end of Christmas?  Should Christmas have an end? 

As we’re putting our decorations away, as we clean up the house and get things back to normal, maybe we could think of what normal should really be.

Should we leave the decorations out all year?  Should we try to duplicate that Christmas feeling?  Should Christ have a more prominent place in our day-to-day lives?  Will he?

For me, this year’s Christmas celebration is over.  It’s been an unusual one, not the most festive or the most exciting, but it did center greatly on the most important happening that has ever been seen on earth – the birth of Jesus, who came to this earth to live and to die for us, and to show us the way to The Father.  And in that, I have had an awesome reason to celebrate.

I ask myself this question; has this Christmas changed my life?  Has this Christmas changed me?  Has this season of concentrating on the birth of my Savior made a difference?  Oh I certainly think so.

Tomorrow, when I start to “undecorate” the house, I will not be putting Jesus away for another year.  This year, as I looked at Christ’s birth in a different way, I found so much more about God to worship and to love.  He will not be living in a box in the attic; He will be living in my heart.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, 

but Christ lives in me. 

The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, 

who loved me and gave himself for me.

(Galatians 2:20)

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”  
Luke 2:10-12 NKJV

Almighty power! 

Bound in tiny human flesh. 

Eternal Spirit! wrapped in time 

and fragile swaddling dress.

Beauty only dreamers dream about 

slept in a lowly stall. 

The voice that spoke the world in place, 

this night would not be heard at all. 

That dark cold manger cradled more 

than human eyes could see. 

It cradled Love, and sacrifice, and life eternally. 

It cradled Hope when hope is gone 

and cradled joy without a cost,

because the baby lying here has come to save the lost. 

He came to be our 

Light giver,

Life saver, 

Creator and King. 

He is our Shepherd, 

Our Savior, 

Our Water, 

Our Bread. 

He is LOVE gently placed in a rude manger bed, 

and He proved that our God would do just what He said. 

So, this Christmas let’s see Him, 

see just who He is -  

that babe in the manger, 

our God held in flesh.

 

Let’s see the love flowing from heaven’s great throne 

and know Jesus has come  

to make us His own.

May you be blessed as you look at the Babe in the manger who is forever our Lord.

God's Song of Forgiveness

    

Floating on the breeze, I hear 

touching, poignant, crystal clear – 
  a song of heavenly majesty
  a message sent from God to me.

The song was born, as God's heart broke 

when His creation sinned.  

He named the song forgiveness.

It would bring us back to Him.

Beating in the heart of God the Holy song began,

forgiveness,

oneness,

purity was coming back to man.

The song, expressing love divine - 
a gift for all the world,

the priceless symphony of hope,

God's holy, triumph song unfurled.

It spun through heaven on starlit beams, 

and came to rest within

the virgin Mary's loving arms

in the town of Bethlehem.

As you listen to God's song this Christmas

may you know that this is true

the Son of God came down to earth

to sing God's song for you.

That song came to earth when God’s Son was born in a stable, in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago.  It is a song of love, of triumph over sin, a song of hope for each of us.  It’s a song of forgiveness.

May you feel the love that comes from the voice and heart of God in this song.  It’s meant for each of you this Christmas.

Love, Diane

Gruchow, D.M.

These my Christmas Dreams

Xulon Press, 2008

It Happened in the Garden

 Dear Friends,

It's the time of the year when we all begin thinking about the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  As is usual for me, I'm writing  about the reason we celebrate.  Would you journey through those thoughts with me?

The Wall
and the Promise

God walked with a man and a woman in a beautiful garden.  He knew them, because He had created them.  He knew their strengths and limitations and they knew Him.  They saw Him, felt His presence, and talked with Him. They were His children. They were held in the arms of their Father.  They were family.

But as time went on, they chose not to follow His direction, and they chose to listen to another voice.

That changed everything.  With that choice they built a wall that would stand between them and home – between man and woman and their Maker.  God wouldn’t live with that wall.  It wasn’t His wall. He told His children they were to leave the freedom of the garden.  He would no longer be right there in their sight because of the wall they had built. 
 
But He also promised that someday, when “The fullness of time” had come, He would send a someone to carry that wall away.  That "someone" would be the Son of God.  And of His own free will, in His humanity, He would be the perfect one to destroy the wall.

The Son of God would walk with mankind.  He would feel their humanness and would know of their desire to live within the wall.

The Son would live as a man, but only as God had originally planned for mankind to live.  He would live as a clear unblemished, see-through man, and He would remind them of the beauty they had shut out with the wall.  And through Him  they would then see their Father, once again.

And it happened!  When the fullness of time had come – it happened.  

But when the fullness of the time had come, 

God sent forth His Son, 

born of a woman, born under the law, 

to redeem those who were under the law, 

that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Galatians 4:4  (NKJV)  

God sent His own Son to tear down that wall. The Son pulled the wall down on himself - the wall that was made of the bricks of sin and self that we humans want to love, or use, or keep.  The Son chose to take that wall on his own shoulders, and it killed Him.

The sin that men love killed the Son - the perfect One. He was the only one who could destroy the wall.  He gave His life to destroy the wall.  

But that was not the end.  The Son rose from the grave.  He not only overcame the wall of sin, but He overcame death - the horrible result of man walking away from God’s presence.

No longer does the wall need to separate men from God.  Because of what our promised Savior did, we can come back home to our Father.  We can walk with Him in the garden again. 
 
We can!  If only we will look up and reach toward His welcoming arms.

We can!  If we but trust in the name of Jesus, The Christ, The Son of God.

Love, Diane