How Much, and What is All?

How Much is All? 

10/30/2014 

Around and around the questions go. It has been five days since the triggering comment was made. I don't even remember what was said, but the context was that all I have comes from God. Besides that, all that I am is because of him. He is all I need. That started my thinking, "How much, and what is ALL?"

I can look around my home and see the sofas, the carpets, the books, and the cupcake papers left from a couple mini cupcakes I just ate.. I can look around my yard and see the too-long grass, the shedding trees, the puddles of rain water, and the starlings looking for buried larva in the lawn. I can see it all, but I really don't see much of anything. I don't see parrots or flamingos, lightning bugs or dung beetles, rabbit brush or cacti. And the microscopic.......?  

 I don't see or even think about the millions of molecules and atoms my body works over each day just to keep me alive, Then there is  gravity and radiation, light waves and sound, heat and cold. Because my mind and understanding is so limited, as is all of mankind's, I know only what I know through my own experience, or by what I have read or seen about other peoples research and discovery. But ALL? I have no clue about the vastness of God's wondrous work. After all, astronomers can see no farther than the limits of their space telescopes. Oceanographers can explore no deeper than their fragile mini-subs can safely dive. Every advance in medical understanding is a mere baby-step into understanding this being called a human.

All that I have--what is all?

All that I am is too complex to even to consider. My body with its inner workings, my physical identity wrapped up in height, weight, eye color, and facial features, my DNA that decides how every cell in my body works, my mind that has continued being shaped from the time God planted my knowledge of him into me at conception--this is all me. There are spiritual gifts, talents, things I love, things I dislike, things I keep discovering about myself. But what is all and how much is it ? Only God knows.

Finally, God is all I need. That is true, but again, I can't really comprehend this concept because I usually have no idea that I really might have needs. At times I am aware of  needs I can't even pin a name on, but God knows what they are and remedies the situations before I can even pray about them. Of course there are the situations in which I have no choice but to turn to the one who gives me strength, wisdom, and provision. As for all?  I know I have had needs that God took care of before I ever understood I had the need.

I am so thankful that God's ALL is so much bigger than my all.

Oh, the marvel of ALL.

Jan



/

Birthday Time.

My eyes slowly open to walls of a darkened room and a brightly lit clock in the far corner.  Even without my glasses I can easily read 6:48. The time surprises me. I have slept a solid three hours since letting Licorice Kitty out. That is nice. I had also slept three hours before letting her out. That is also nice, but I really could use another hour or two of slumber.

So, don't ask me why I am up, why I'm sitting in a dimly lit living room, or why I'm watching the trees slowly take shape as another wonderful day is born. I guess I like being surrounded by darkness. It is comforting to me. I was going to add that I like being surrounded by silence too, but it is not silent. I can hear the hummmmm of the furnace as it takes the autumn night chill off the house. I can also hear the faint meow of Licorice Kitty as she waits for me to open the front door and welcome her in.

I oblige.

Now, in the fading darkness and with the new sounds of waking birds, I wait for activity to begin. I wait for my son and his wife to arise and find their way to the sofa across the room from me. I also wait for my son to perform his morning ritual when he is here--brewing a pot of COFFEE then perfectly flavoring and presenting a cup of it to his wife and a cup to me. Aaaah, what a perfect start to a perfect day. Strong coffee and quiet conversation can be heavenly.

Also heavenly is an aroma-filled kitchen that will soon follow. There is nothing like sausage, eggs toasted bagels and juice to start the day off right. By tonight, the morning scent will have been replaced by the tantalizing aromas of lasagna and brownies. It is October birthday party time!

We had everything figured out for celebrating three birthdays today, at least that is what we thought several weeks ago, but life in busy households can change things. Tonight is the homecoming dance. A granddaughter is going to the dance and her two brothers are accompanying her, her date, and her friends to dinner. Now what?

Well, maybe we could have a special breakfast instead. Nope. My grandson has his SAT test this morning and the rest of his family has cross country practice. A mid-day dinner was also ruled out because after the SAT test there is worship practice which includes my grandson as well as my daughter and her husband. Aaaaaand, another granddaughter is at a youth leadership retreat this weekend and won't be home until late this afternoon.

So, we are back to plan A--dinner at 5:00 for those who can make it. With the kids gone, there is more lasagna for the rest of us. At least all of us except the homecoming girl will be here for ice cream sundaes or banana splits and brownies.

These are fun days indeed.

Thanks, Lord, for time with family, birthday celebrations, lasagna and ice cream.

Jan

More and More

Lord, I prayed as I read the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 this morning, what is there in this story that I need to know. I soon discovered there were many things that spoke to me.

I knew Zacchaeus was a short man and a rich one. I also knew that he wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus as he passed by, but I hadn't given much thought to the crowd who blocked his view of the road. I hadn't given much thought either to the fact that Jesus stopped by a particular sycamore tree--Zacchaeus's tree. He could have stopped anywhere, but didn't.

We are told that the road was full of people. I have a feeling they were calling out, "Jesus, heal me!"

"Heal my child."

"Rabbi, are you the Messiah?"

They were also probably trying to touch him--this man they had heard worked miracles. So, with all the crowd ruckus, what made Jesus look into the overhead branches of the sycamore?

Then Jesus said, "Zacchaeus, come down." He could have talked to the crowd or said, "Hey, you, what are you doing in that tree?" Instead, he called the little man by name, made a strong request, then waited. Would Zacchaeus come down or not?

After pondering all these things, plus more, I had to ask myself some questions. Here are some of them:

1.  Zacchaeus didn't use his height as an excuse not to see Jesus. What personal traits, quirks, or perceived failures hinder us from approaching Jesus i.e.: I'm not good enough, I'm not talented enough, I, I, I,...?

2. A crowd of people didn't keep Zacchaeus from trying to see Jesus either. What exterior hindrances do we use as excuses not to approach Jesus ie: my yard work, my job, my time, my family--all those so called things in our lives?

3. When excuses and hindrances finally crumble, and we find a 'safe' place from which to see and hear this Jesus person, he will stop where we are (he knows our location) and will call out to us. There will be no doubt about whom he is calling because he will call us by name. The question is, will we come to him when he does call?  

I would like to apply this story to the unsaved person, and her only, but that doesn't work well for me especially after I memorized the first few verses of 1 Thessalonians 4.

"Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you to do this more and more. You know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus."    (my italics)

Paul, Silas and Timothy then continue to spell out some of those instructions about holy and honorable living as well loving in the manner God had taught them to love.

At his point, Zacchaeus's story and 1 Thessalonians blend together. Suddenly they are both about me especially during those times I become content living both an unchanging spiritual life and natural life. Unchanging means not living the 'more and more' I am urged to live. Can I be more and more holy and honorable? Can I be more and more loving , and more and more giving? Yes, I can, to the degree that I desire and seek Jesus more and more, and ignore excuses more and more. Jesus desires me to come down from my lofty perch and walk more and more with him. That is what I also want, but time after time I climb back up into the safety of my tree, hiding in the branches and content to become an observer again.

By grace, he still calls me by name. "Jan, come down. I'm coming to your house today."

"Okay, Lord, I'm coming down." I replay, then mutter under my breath, "Wait for about an hour. I have some cleaning to do first."

"I know," he says, "let me help. I'm good at cleansing."

A life pleasing to God is not about I'm not; it is not about my things; it is all about you, Lord--more and more of you because you are.

Jan

(The more and more part of this was inspired by my Bible study of 1 Thessalonians, Children of the Day,  by Beth Moore.)