Rise and Go Home

Sharing a quiet time thought with you today. I'm reading in Matthew 9 about the paralytic who was brought by his friends to be healed. He had no other way to come to Jesus than through the compassion and faith of his friends. And it was their faith that impressed Jesus. How often it is that our need brings our faith into fuller focus.

And as Jesus remarked to those who thought He blasphemed because He forgave the man's sins, which is the more difficult to do? Heal or forgive? And we might ask as well, which is the greater need? We so often (as we should) pray for the strengthening of physical needs, our own and those we love. But there is the accompanying spiritual need of faith that needs strengthened all the more.

It is in the adversities of life that our faith can be enlarged, our hearts drawn closer to the heart of God. Not only physical hardships, but those of the soul, the mind, the thoughts that so often sweep over us and pull us down. Too often they are medicated away. But it is while we are in the midst of our trials and troubles that seeking Jesus brings healing to our hearts and minds.

So as with the paralytic's friends, we bring our loved ones to Jesus, to encourage their faith, to bring them hope, to heal their weary souls. "And he rose, and went home." (v.7)

Image by Gellinger via Pixabay

CC0 Creative Commons

Friendships ~ From Drops of Kindnesses

 

  We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. 

As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; 

so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.
 

~ Samuel Johnson

Image ~ Two Little Girls, Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919

Crossing Paths Again

I was talking with a friend recently about our upcoming move, and she commented that I probably would miss running into friends while out and about shopping and such. Yes, that I will miss. A friend that I hadn't seen for several years came into the restaurant where we were eating on Sunday. It was so good to catch up with how things are going with her and then hug goodbye. Then we ran into one of My Beloved's friends yesterday, and they talked for awhile.

Today a friend that I haven't seen for many, many years crossed my path at the grocery store. I was ever so glad that I didn't go shopping yesterday as is my usual routine. I would have missed a wonderful, timely blessing. 

She has been taking care of her 95-year-old mother who has had Alzheimer's for eleven years, staying at her mother's home and keeping it up for her since it was familiar to her, tending to her flowers, planting some zucchini, keeping things as best she can as her mother knew them. My friend has had shoulder replacements and has difficulty moving one arm, so her son helps with getting his grandmother in and out of bed and tending to some basic needs, while his little 3-year-old plays and brings joy to Great-Grandma, sitting on her lap and talking to her. Before caring for her mother, my friend had taken care of her father for three years before he passed on. Before that she and her husband had brought someone into their own home that they had met while camping and was caregiver to her, and before that they had brought a friend of their son's into their home and had taken care of him for three years. Sad to say, though, her adult daughter's life is a mess. She has a lot that could depress her.

But in the midst of it all, my long-time friend is a joy-filled woman. She says that some people tell her that she should put her mother in a care home. "What?!" she says, "And miss all of the love and joy I've had over these years with her? Memories I will cherish forever?!" We had a wonderful conversation about God's abundant grace and how His mercies are new every morning. Grace and mercy that she may never have known except for the difficulties and challenges of life. His grace is truly sufficient. And His love abounds.

Father God knew that my friend and I needed that conversation today. He planned it that way...for both of us, for our paths to cross once again. For her, because she doesn't get out much to talk to people. For me, because I was discouraged after listening to My Beloved's friend yesterday talk about all he is doing--writing books, speaking several times a week in different locations, visiting in nursing homes, overseeing a chaplains' group, and how so many people are so glad that he's doing what he's doing. And on and on. I came away from that conversation feeling like I wasn't doing much of anything that really mattered. Does anyone even read my little blog posts?

Then I look up today across the rows of produce, and there's my friend from long ago. And God uses that encounter to remind me that there are a gazillion ways to do good and to bring Him glory. And that what I do does matter....to Him and to others.

Long-time friends pick up where they left off. So we hugged goodbye and said that we were so glad we ran into each other today, that both of us needed that conversation, and that if we don't see one another again here, we'll look for each other up there. And please give your mama a hug for me.

So, dear one, keep looking upward and homeward, where blessings abound and God's mercies are new every morning. And remember that what you are doing today matters. A lot.

Painting ~ The Day's Catch, Daniel Ridgway Knight 1839-1924
Wiki Commons public domain

Coming Uncorked

My mind keeps going back to the gathering we attended on Saturday. Thinking that I talked way too much. Ever feel like that when you put your head on the pillow? 

I know why. I've been bottled up. Here was true fellowship, heart-to-heart interaction with fellow believers who have a deep, deep yearning for knowing, worshiping, and glorifying God. I came uncorked. 

There were six families there. I knew only two of the families before we gathered. By the time we left, I felt a kindred spirit with many of them. We all did a lot of talking... and a lot of listening. As one of the moms said, it was so good to be with people who "got it" when she talked about her innermost desires, her fears, her aspirations toward holy living. Yes, we all "got it."

We were being ministers of grace to one another, helping each other see God's hand in our struggles and His light on our paths. Reminding one another that it's Jesus who makes all the difference.

Hoping to gather with them again. And thankful for others in my life who point me Godward.

Keep looking upward, dear one. And be a godly friend--pointing others there, too.

Painting ~ Julia on the Terrace 1909, Daniel Ridgway Knight 1839-1924

Wiki Commons public domain

Kindred Spirits

You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. 

You have to go to them sometimes. 

~ A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

We were invited to a get-together with some long-time homeschooling friends today. 

Met some new ones, too. 

It was so good to see how God is working in everyone's life.

True fellowship this evening.

Photo ~ Primitive Forest Road, Welkomia via Freepik