Skip to main content

Road Signs

            Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

          Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” (I Samuel 7:12)

            I didn’t think that there was more to say about this topic, until I read through a list of things “Boomers” should stop doing. One of them was “overdecorating for the holidays.” My problem is that I don’t celebrate holidays. I pay attention to the calendar to some extent, but I don’t live seasonally. I don’t have ways in which I recognize the road signs of life. There are people who live paycheck to paycheck, and we don’t tend to see that as a positive thing, but they’re little markers. God got them that far.

          For us, the point may not be something as clear as a paycheck. It could be a seemingly unimportant change in our behavior. We didn’t lie, we did not give into a temptation (if only for ten seconds longer than we did the time before.) You read something that suddenly made sense, even though it didn’t make sense the four times you read it before that. One of mine at least used to be a response of “No, no, no, no, no, no, no… And with that I challenge you to pray about what yours are.

          The other challenge is one I usually issue later in the  year: journaling and then reading your journals a few years down the line. If you find a road sign in your journaling, highlight it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more