The Window Pane

Recently I heard a woman say something terribly sad.  She said, “all men are worthless.”   She had been hurt deeply by several men in her life, but she spoke with such bitterness, condemning all men.

This post isn’t meant to belittle the hurt that anyone has suffered at the hand of another person, but I feel such sorrow for this woman, because she is not seeing beyond her pain.  And in not seeing beyond, she’s not allowing herself to experience blessings that are waiting for her, just behind the stormy clouds.

Memories

The snow was settling on the branches
of the pines, there’s was little hint of
sunshine on the trees across the drive. 
It was a beautiful winter wonderland.  

But there was a smudge on the window, and that was bothering me.  If, when I looked out that window, my eyes were glued to the dirty smear on the inside of the glass, I would never have been able to see the beauty painted on my window that morning.  There was something incredible out there to see.

There are many lessons to learn about the places that our focus can take us.  If we look at a rose and worry about the prickly thorns, we’ll never be able get close enough to smell the beautiful fragrance.  If we are afraid of getting our feet wet, we’ll never be able to enjoy splashing in the puddles.  So many ifs, aren’t there?

I believe many of us have had to handle things in our lives that were terribly difficult and painful.  It’s like picking up a rose and getting pricked with its thorns?  We aren’t prepared for it.  Life is sometimes like that.  Many times even the most worthwhile endeavors end up hurting us.  

Looking beyond the spotted glass, looking beyond the stop sign, looking beyond the pain and hurt, beyond the struggle, all these things are still worthwhile “if we look beyond.”  If we look beyond the windowpane, maybe we’ll see a beautiful picture that God has painted beyond the clouds, beyond the storm.

Look beyond the window glass.

Yes, look beyond the pane.

Look beyond perfection’s loss

while standing in the rain.

Look beyond the prickly thorn and smell the yellow rose.
If we look beyond,

and trust God’s heart

We’ll see roses in the snow.

My friends, maybe we could all try to look beyond our past and our pain.  With God’s help, I believe it will be worth the try.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT) Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Jesus told his disciples just before He ascended into heaven.  Matt 28:20 (KJV) lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Diane

The True King

 

As a child I read stories about kings and castles, about golden crowns and chariots and thrones, and about a Lion who was the king of the jungle.  

Now that childhood days are long past for me, I find that those kings and queens have lost their allure.  

But today let’s remember those childhood stories and try to imagine ourselves talking to a king.

On the far side of the forest there is a mountain on which a tall strong stone castle stands, diminishing the view of anything else.  The deep moat around it is designed to keep the likes of us out.  Everyone knows that only those with a special authority can cross the drawbridge into this most forbidding, beautiful realm.  Only a very special few can come before the throne of the king - the monarch of that kingdom.  Only a very few noblemen have the right to speak to that king. 

That is the tale from my childhood, but things are different for those of us who belong to the True King, who are citizens of the true kingdom.

THERE IS ONLY ONE

There is only one True Kingdom, and one totally unlimited ruler.  He is THE KING.  He is the Monarch of all things.  And He is The Designer, The Creator, and even more than that – the OWNER of everything!  

The Bible tells us about Him. 

"Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”  Isaiah 40:28  (ESV)

and

"He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.  He wraps up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud does not burst under them.  He obscures the face of the full moon and spreads His cloud over it.  He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness.  The pillars of heaven tremble and are amazed at His rebuke."  Job 26:7-12 (NASB)

Or

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

As The Bible describes the real KING, he grows bigger, more powerful, more unreachable, and further from our understanding with each word we read.  This is the True King.

 I’m afraid that we don’t give Him the devotion, the respect and the obedience that we owe Him.  Maybe it’s because we don’t understand what it means that He is the KING!

But if I do understand, at least in a small way, His character and attributes. and if I see myself in comparison to Him, GOD - THE KING with that awesome power, wisdom, might and greatness, then I feel small, weak and unimportant.

BUT IT’S NOT THAT WAY AT ALL, 
I AM IMPORTANT 
I’M IMPORTANT TO THE ONE WITH ALL THAT POWER.

WE 
ARE IMPORTANT TO HIM  
BECAUSE WE ARE CHILDREN OF THE KING.

Children of the King have permission to cross the drawbridge, go through the castle gates, approach the throne, get up close and whisper in the King’s ear. 

Oh yes, He is still above all, above even his children, but as his children, we have a special place in his heart.  It is a place so special that He came to earth as a man, suffered and died on a cross to sign our adoption papers, making us members of His family.   

And that alone allows us the right to approach His throne and actually sit down there and talk to our Father - THE KING.

Called to be Holy

 Dear Friends, I sometimes question the possibility of living a life that reflects Jesus. When I think of His strength in the desert, resisting the temptations of Satan, I feel so inadequate.  When I think of the hours Jesus spent just helping people, healing them, listening to them, and being present in their lives, I wonder how I can possibly be like Him.  My heart so wants to be that way, but my world sometimes interferes.  

In the Bible I read - 

.... just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."  1 Peter 1:16 (ESV)

We're called to be Holy!

We're called to be Holy - His children.

We're called to draw near to His throne.

We're called to live life in His presence.

We are called,
and He's calling us home.

Home to the arms of our heavenly Father.

Home, though we're dwelling this day on the earth.

Home to a place filled with love and compassion

Home is the place of His children's re-birth.

We're called - listen closely as Jesus directs us.

We're called to take steps that walk only His way.

We're called to give Jesus our total devotion.

We're called to be Holy each hour of the day.

He calls - holds us close, as He gently erases

the sins that could turn tender hearts into stone.

We're called to the arms of the One who forgives us

and calls us His loved ones,

His children,

His own.

Diane August 2024