Setting the All-Things-New into Motion

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

Lent begins today. Forty days ahead to prepare our hearts for Resurrection Day. The day when Jesus overcame sin and death for us--the day the earth shook and the stone rolled away--the day Jesus set all-things-new-pattern into motion. 

So, how do I prepare my heart in these next forty days? I've thought on this a lot lately. How do I honor the sacrifice Jesus made--laying aside his deity, his life? What hard sacrifice can I offer Him? Not something temporal so that at the end of forty days I gorge myself with chocolate and potato chips, but rather, what old pattern does God want to shake out new so that I might transform more into His likeness? What would truly cause me to desire Him more?

For me, it starts with solace. Intentionally closing out the world long enough to be still and bask in God's presence, to actually shut my mouth and open my ears to His heart whispers. Not just once in forty days. Not just once a week, but at least once a day. That's easy on the slow, snowed-in days, but not on the hectic, scheduled, everyone-demanding-me days. Those days will take supernatural intervention and discipline. 

Next, it's words. Words move me more than any other form of communication. More than personal touch, quality time, acts of service,  or material gifts. When I read the written word, my heart and mind have time to synchronize. I can read and reread until my heart finally feels what my mind understands. I need to sacrifice time to read God's word and the words of His saints to fill my heart and mind with the Good News and to start the renewal process; to  transform my mind into His likeness; to put away the old ways of thinking, stop believing the lies my mind whispers and believe the Truth of how God sees me and those around me. 

Writing words is another way I plan to prepare my heart this Lenten season. As powerful as words are to read, writing down encouraging words I hear in God's heart whispers allows my eyes to see what God's saying. It allows me to remember, revisit, reread and encourage my heart over and over again. So, over the course of the next forty days, God's calling me back to journaling His private whispers.

A fellow writer, Karen Ehman, has another great writing idea on her blog today. She's challenged her readers to write one encouraging note to a different person every day. The power of words goes beyond our own hearts and can be used to honor, encourage and lift up those in our lives we hold dear, but somehow never take time to tell them just how much they mean to us. I can't promise 40 different notes, but I will consciously sit down and send out notes.

Finally, God is calling me back to my writing passion. It's been a hard sacrifice over the past ten months as we prepped and sold our home and then  moved and built onto our new home. What I thought would take only three months has now taken almost a year to complete. I knew writing would take a back seat, but it's now time to discipline myself again, with God's help, and move forward into the calling of encouraging the hearts of those who grace not only this space, but also those God's called me to write for so many years ago. It's time to write down God's words and complete the work.

Like Paul, let's not conform to this world any longer. Rather than giving up the temporal only to gorge ourselves with it again in a few short weeks, let's seek God for what He really wants to change in us. Let's let God renew our minds, start the -all-things-new process in us so that at the end of forty days we're closer to being transformed into Jesus' likeness. 

May God truly have is way in us all these next forty days!

Dawn

From Discipline to Hunger

 

"He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." Psalm 107:9

Hungry seagulls surrounded us as we tossed their feast upon the sea drenched sand. They fought and stumbled over every crumb, as though they hadn't eaten in days. The smartest - the ones  most disciplined and with the keenest eyes - caught the choicest bits in mid air.

My husband, Peter,  taunted one such hungry bird. Holding out a crusty morsel, the smart gull locked his gaze, waiting the bread's release. With every rise and fall of Peter's hand, the bird jumped and landed...jumped and landed...jumped and landed; his gaze and purpose ever fixed on that bread.

Over Lent, we've instilled three new disciplines: healthy eating, regular exercise, and praying together.

Why these? If this were a VLOG post (video blog), the first two would be obvious. Winter in New England + over 50 + office job creates a sedentary lifestyle. The prayer discipline comes from seeing our deperate world and knowing it's time to pray together,"God's Kingdom, come."

Why now? We chose Lent (40 days) as our starting point because (1) human behavior proves it takes thirty days to change old habits into new disciplines and (2) led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus endured a forty day wilderness fast in preparation for his earthly ministry. Both my husband and I feel God's moving us forward.

We sat outside a seaside church Sunday morning, gazing up at a steeple-perching seagull. I smiled, recalling the silly seagull-feeding antics of the previous day and I heard God whisper, "Move from discipline to hunger. Hunger for Jesus more than food, more than prayer or reading My Word. Hunger for Me."

Jesus, our choicest morsel - the Bread of Life - broken for me and you. His outstretched arms freely offer up grace and extend to us, life everlasting, but more than that, He offers us an intimate, satisfying relationship with our Creator - God himself.

What disciplines help you to hunger more for of God's presence?

What I'm Giving Up for Lent

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30

We sat facing the rugged hand-hewn cross where hammer and nails laid ready for sinners hands. Late winter sunlight streamed bright through old stained-glass easing the somber remembrance of God's greatest sacrifice - his Son laid down so that we might live.

Shadowed by the cross, my heart begged the question, "What material thing or sinful habit needs laying down?" My ears rang silent as our voices praised and prayed and our hands passed bread.

Then, as though I'd spoken my thoughts aloud, Pastor offered an answer. "If you're going to give up something for Lent, why not give up a burden and leave it at the cross?"

Oh, that would be a sacrifice indeed, for sometimes I cling to my burdens like a child holds onto their favorite blankie. Burdens mull and ferment and fill, making me feel alive until my heart explodes, leaving me standing alone in an oozing toxic puddle of fear and anger. That's not living. That's dying.

Father invites me to lay all these burdens down - to give them up at the foot of the cross. And if I would just trust Him - have faith that He knows what's best - I could live free and full.  

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10b

Lord,

This morning I surrender my burdens at the foot of your cross. I give you all my concerns for those situations I can't control anyway. I lay them all down, today and ask for your yoke which you promise is easy and light. I sacrifice what I know and place my trust in your sovereignty. Help my unbelief. Amen.

Promises, Promises

"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'" Matthew 3:8,9

We never practiced Ash Wednesday in our church. I only knew about it by the black smudges on my friends foreheads the next morning at school. From what I gathered, the ashes symbolized a time of self-deprivation by chocolate or some other favorite "sin" for forty days, "Friday fish fries", and the countdown to Easter when everyone returned to their old habits.

Whethere you practice Ash Wednesday or not, today marks the beginning of Lent, when Christians prepare their hearts "through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving and self denial." While this sounds good in theory, if repentance is not sincere then all our efforts to turn away from sin during Lent are only empty promises, no?

The Pharisees were all about appearances and empty promises. They showed up at Jesus' baptism and taunted John the Baptist. But John would have none of it. He saw right through their fascades, going as far as calling them a brood of vipers and challenging their faith. He said, "produce fruit in keeping with your repentance"(Matthew 3:8). In other words, your actions speak louder than your words. If they truly repented of their sins, then their lives would show it in private as well as in public. But the Pharisees thought, just by calling themselves sons of Abraham and adhering to the Law, they would be saved.

That's like us today, isn't it? Inheriting God's kingdom doesn't come through church membership or the faith of our parents. Faith comes by a sincerely penetant heart, turning away from our old ways and turning towards God, through Jesus Christ.

Romans 10: 9-10 says, "That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

This is the beginning of a pentant heart, the starting point for Lent. This is the heart-soil from which all fruit can grow.

Preparing the Way

"I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy to carry his sandals." Matthew 3:11

Did these words of John the Baptist ever trip you up? I've stumbled over them hundreds of times but never asked the question. So, I'm going to ask the question today. Why did John the Baptist call people to repent and why did he baptize them before Jesus' death and resurrection actually occurred?

Growing up baptist and fluent in Christianese, I thought baptism was all "our" idea because unlike other denominations, baptists believed in total submersion like Jesus did (Matthew 3).  But here's what bothered me: if submersion in water symbolized dying to sin through Jesus' death and rising out of the water meant new life as in the resurrection of Jesus, then how did the Jews understand what John the Baptist was talking about since this occurred prior to Jesus death and resurrection?

Here's what I've learned: First, Luke 1: 17 tells us that John the Baptist would "go on before the Lord (Jesus), in the spirit and power of Elijah...to make a people prepared for the Lord." The whole purpose of John's ministry was to soften Israel's hearts to receive Jesus' kingdom message. 

Next, most Jews believed and hoped for a believers physical resurrection from the dead, therefore, Jews understood baptism sybolism. Baptism to these Jews signified repentance (turning away from sin) and committment to God's holy ways, in preparation and sybolizing their future resurrection as God's people.

Tomorrow Lent begins -  the season we prepare the way for our hearts to receive the gift of salvation and celebrate the hope of Resurrection Day. As a family, we often didn't celebrate all of Lent, only Holy Week. But as I grow older, understand more, celebrating Resurrection Day should trump Christmas.

How do you prepare your heart and home during Lent? I'd love to hear your ideas.