THE WORRY TREE

THE WORRY TREE

Paresh, an Indian carpenter, was hired to restore an antique farmhouse.  He had just finished a very trying and difficult first day on that new project.  A flat tire on his truck caused him to be an hour late for work, his electric saw broke down during a critically important task and his ancient pickup truck refused to start at the end of the workday.  During the drive home (courtesy of a co-worker), Paresh did not say one word; he just sat there, shrouded in a pensive cloud of silence.

Upon arriving home, Paresh invited the co-worker to meet his family, as was the custom of his people.  But as they walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.  When opening the door to his home, Paresh had undergone an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles as he warmly hugged his two children and gave his wife a gentle kiss.

After a cup of tea, Paresh walked his co-worker to the car.  They passed the tree where Paresh had stopped earlier and his co-worker’s curiosity got the best of him.  He asked him why he had paused there before.

“Oh, that's my trouble tree,” Paresh responded quickly.  “I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don’t belong in our house with my wife and children.  So I just hang them on the tree every night when I come home.  Then in the morning I pick them up again. Funny thing is,” Paresh smiled winningly, “when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”

Think about it.  Sometimes all it takes is one night’s rest to gain fresh perspective.  For your information, I too have a “Trouble Tree.”  It’s called prayer.  Sisters and brothers, live in peace and be continually blessed!

STOP WATERING WEEDS

STOP WATERING WEEDS

Today’s devotional is based on a recent facebook posting by my daughter, Kimberly Marcelle Bass.  Upon reading it, I was immediately illuminated with the insight that too much of our time and energy is expended interacting with people, things and situations that do not edify us.  Instead of nurturing the flowers that have been divinely planted in our lives, our attention is somehow drawn (irrationally) to those persistent and negative weeds that seek to choke us and paralyze our progress.

Interestingly enough, there are at least 172 varieties of weeds that constitute an ongoing challenge for American farmers and crops.  On the Internet, one can locate numerous weed identifiers, with descriptive characteristics and photos of troublesome weeds.  Farmers rely on such sources to maximize their harvests.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had strategic weed identifiers (in life) to alert us to the presence of human weeds and their decidedly negative agendas?  In fact, we do.  Personal prayer, Word study and ears attentively tuned in to the Holy Spirit are awesome and accurate weed identifiers, which are designed to safeguard our lives and our future.  We must use them!

Kingdom Principle Number One: Try to see people and life through the lens of love. (I Corinthians 13:1-7)  This proactive and positive approach will yield inner peace and sanity.  Also, it will diminish hypersensitivity, combating our tendency to feel degraded or offended by the attitudes and actions of others.

Kingdom Principle Number Two: Avoid fellowship with people who do not honor you or celebrate your successes.  Haters are malicious weeds.  If allowed, they will deplete optimism and drain energy.

Kingdom Principle Number Three: Don’t try to contest or disprove negative opinions.  It is a supreme waste and misappropriation of time and energy.  Those who are true friends actually need no explanations; those who are not friends will likely never be convinced by whatever you say.

Kingdom Principle Number Four: Eat the fish and throw away the bones.  While at times it seems impossible, you can survive and even thrive in work environments that are loaded with outright enemies or frenemies (friendly enemies).  Feelings of offense or pride often motivate us to disregard or discard their contributions, even those that might benefit us.  Please don’t drink the Kool-Aid of Pride!  Allow yourself to be blessed by your enemies whenever GOD orchestrates and allows it to be so.  Eat the fish and throw away the bones!

Kingdom Principle Number Five: Jesus Christ is our supreme arbiter and  final judge.  He instructs His Church to let the “wheat and tares” (false wheat or weeds) “grow together until the harvest.” (Matthew 13:30)  But remember: Christ’s admonition is actually intended for the corporate church, not for individual believers.  Within your own life, you must be extremely careful to establish clear and effective boundaries between yourself and that which could potentially destroy you and your Kingdom assignment.  Decide today to stop watering and cultivating any weeds that might creep into your garden.  The Creator has seeded a multiplicity of flowers in and around your life…infinite varieties with indescribable beauty.  Focus on the Flowers; pay attention to them; nurture and water them; and, be highly favored and bountifully blessed by them.

THE HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASH WEDNESDAY

THE HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ASH WEDNESDAY

Today is Ash Wednesday, the traditional start of the Lenten season, which falls exactly forty-six days prior to Resurrection Day or Easter.  In some Christian traditions, ashes are applied to the foreheads of Christians, signifying repentance for sins.  The observance of Ash Wednesday dates back to the 8^th century A.D. when it was called “Dies Cinerum,” the day of ashes. 

Aelfric, an Anglo-Saxon abbot, gave us one of the earliest descriptions of this day: “We read in the books, both in the Old Law and the New, that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth.  Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast.”  During the Middle Ages, ashes were sprinkled on the entire head, rather than applied to the forehead as is our practice today.  To underscore the seriousness of the observance of Lent, Aelfric wrote about a man who refused to go to church to be anointed with ashes and was accidentally killed while hunting.  It was indeed a serious day!

The practice of pouring ashes on one’s body and dressing in sackcloth (a very rough material) as an outer manifestation of inner repentance or mourning is an ancient biblical practice. (Job 42:6 – II Samuel 13:19 – Esther 4:1-3 – Jeremiah 6:26 – Ezekiel 27:30 – Daniel 9:3)  Christ, Himself, alludes to this practice in Matthew 11:21 – “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” 

In the typical Ash Wednesday service, believers are summoned to the altar to be anointed with ashes prior to partaking in the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Traditionally, the ashes are applied to the forehead in the shape of the cross while the minister quotes the following scripture: “For dust you are and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)  Of course, this is the judgment of death that God pronounced upon Adam and Eve subsequent to their disobedience and fall from grace.  On Ash Wednesday, it is a powerful reminder of our own mortality and brief stewardship on earth.  Additionally, it highlights our need to repent and to fully surrender ourselves before the Christ and cross of Calvary.

Some Christians choose to ‘wear’ their ashes all day long as a witness that, though all have sinned, salvation is freely available through the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ.  Just like the Lenten season, Ash Wednesday is never mentioned in the scriptures.  However, it is a meaningful celebration whenever it is observed with heartfelt sincerity, true repentance and conscientious discernment of Christ’s sacrifice.  Otherwise, it is merely a superficial act of ritual and religiosity.

The hope of the Lenten season is both embodied and revealed in its dramatic ending: the death, burial and triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ.  On Resurrection Sunday, our ashes of mourning and repentance are replaced with unspeakable joy!  In the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that HE might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:3)

I WILL (Part IV)

I WILL (Part IV)

Kingdom Principle Number Four: Your will cannot remain aligned with God’s will if you dialogue with the devil.  The Bible describes Satan as “more subtle than any,” and this is a sober warning against entering into communication with him. (Genesis 3:1)  Consider this.  Communication is the first step in communion (intimate fellowship).  A friend of mine often points out the fact that long-term married couples have a tendency to physically resemble one another.  One day he asked me “why?”  I responded with a smile and said, “They eat the same diet, they share the same living environment, they engage in the same conversations which results in an eventual alignment of thought processes and worldviews.  Why wouldn’t they wind up looking like one another?”  There is an important life lesson embedded here.

In the words of my high school health teacher, Mr. Arthur Feldman, “You are what you eat!”  While my teacher was speaking of physical health, the same principle pertains to spiritual health.  Our will is an amalgamation (a potent blend) of every life experience that we “eat,” that is, we internalize and digest.  Therefore, our will (which is the foundation for our choices and decisions) is the primary determiner of emotional and spiritual health.  If we would be transparent enough to reveal what we have been ‘eating’ lately (intellectually, emotionally, spiritually), discerning persons could tell us how we will be ‘thinking’ and ‘deciding’ and ‘acting’ in the future.  Wow!  Our will is in a constant state of flux because it is the product of our personal interactions with life experiences and our unique responses (reactions) to them. 

Kingdom Principle Number Five: Our will can be adjusted when we choose to transcend our circumstances via a close encounter with Jesus Christ.  Since we human beings are creatures of habit, we tend to follow familiar pathways that I term ‘life momentum’ unless some outside force compels or empowers us to do otherwise.  Case in point: the man at the Pool of Bethesda.  It seems unfathomable to us that he had actually been laying there for 38 years!  But such was the case.  Periodically, an angel “troubled the water” and the first person to enter in would receive complete healing. (John 5:4) 

This man’s will had been negatively altered by his associates and by his environment.  According to John, he was surrounded by “a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered” individuals. (John 5:3)  But these powerful impediments only constitute healing opportunities for the Living Lord!

Therefore, “when Jesus saw him…and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?” (John 5:6)  Christ’s question is pivotal to our understanding.  The healing of this man’s long-term handicap would be directly predicated upon his will to seek and embrace wholeness.  But instead of answering Jesus directly, the crippled man offered excuses: “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” (John 5:7) 

Jesus graciously ignored his excuses and took authority over both his will and his infirmity with these Words:  “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” (John 5:8)  Kingdom Principle Number Six: The Word alters the will.  This fact should motivate all believers to be steadfast students in the Word for our daily attitude adjustments.

In the aftermath of his personal deliverance, some took strong exception to the fact that Jesus Christ had healed him on the Sabbath.  They were more concerned with legalism than deliverance.  A word to the wise is sufficient: ‘Never ever allow anyone to define either your will or your personal experience with the transforming power of Jesus Christ.’  I love the fact that Jesus did not argue with the religious naysayers.  His response was simple: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” (John 5:17)

Always maintain openness and allegiance to The Living Word.  He is the One and Only true attitude adjuster.  And that is why “I WILL…bless The Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1)  Amen!

AN OLD CATHOLIC MISPRINT

AN OLD CATHOLIC MISPRINT

Due to an unanticipated change of plans, I must resume the devotional series, “I Will,” on this coming Monday.  I thought I would end this week with a bit of Christian humor (with preemptive apologies to my Catholic brothers and sisters) who I hope find this story to be somewhat amusing.

In an ancient monastery in a faraway place, a new monk arrived to join his brothers in copying books and scrolls in the monastery’s scriptorium.  He was assigned to be a replicator of books that had already been copied by the other monks.

One day, he asked Father Florian (the rather ancient head of the scriptorium), “Does not the copying by hand of other copies allow for error?  How do we know we are not copying the mistakes of someone else?  Are they ever checked against the original?” Father Florian was somewhat taken off-guard by the very astute observation of this youthful monk.

“You make a very good point, my son.  I will take the latest copy down to the vault and compare it to the original book manuscript.”

Father Florian went down to the vault and began his verification. After a day had passed, the monks began to worry and went down looking for the old priest.  They were sure something terrible must have happened.  As they approached the vault, they heard crying.  When they opened the door, they found Father Florian sobbing profusely, standing near the most recent book copy and the original ancient book, both of which were opened before him on the table.  It was obvious to all that this poor old man had been crying his heart out for a very long time.

“What is the problem, Reverend Father?” asked one of the monks.

“No, no, no, no!” sobbed the priest.  Turning to his colleagues, he said “In the ancient book of the sacred rites of priesthood...the actual word they were using is CELEBRATE!”

Sisters and brothers, have a wonderful week and be continually blessed!