Are You The Pearl Or The Irritant?

"Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear and that they may learn . . ."  Deuteronomy 31:12


We are surrounded on all sides these days with ministers and lay people reminding us that we are where we are right now because God wants us here to learn something.  Sometimes  --  but not always  --  this is true.


I once asked God what my role on this earth actually was.  Clearly and distinctly I got the response.  "You are a catalyst."  Lo and behold when I look back on my life, I have found situation after situation where I have been used to effect change.  So, you see, I believe that not all lessons are meant for us.  Sometimes we are placed in difficult situations because our boss, our neighbor, a casual acquaintance needs to grow stronger.


Now that I know my role, I can take a little more relaxed view of my world.  I probably need to quit bellyaching so much about some situations, and when I find myself doing so, I'm reminded that sometimes the lessons are meant for me.




The time I was told my role, I reminded God that sometimes I can be vulnerable to pain also.  I don't mind being used to bring change where it is needed.  But is there any way it could hurt a little less?


I'm reminded now of the "birthing" of a pearl.  We know that a pearl's very existence requires a grain of sand or other irritant to cause an oyster to secrete the substance that surrounds the grain and turns it into a pearl.  Sometimes the pearl turns out to be a perfect size and shape.  Sometimes it turns into a baroque.


When I was very young, I saw a movie about discovery of a pearl that showed great promise.  In order to be sure, a pearl specialist had to polish and rub it down to find it's worth.  There was a big to do about it.  The specialist sat at a wooden table out of doors with a breathless audience watching.  In the end, the specialist dropped the irritant, not a beautiful pearl, into the pile of unusable nacre.  I suspect it was an honor that nature had chosen that oyster to attempt to make a pearl from an irritant, whatever the final outcome.


Perhaps we should feel honored when we find ourselves in situations where we are being used for others to learn and grow.  In the end, it is for God, our specialist, to determine the value of the pearl, just as it was His judgment as to whether our life experiences were meant for us to learn or teach or both.  We can accept our roles or fight them.  I suspect either way, student or teacher, we will have learned from each other.  Is there any other way?  And, by the way, God, I am honored to serve, even if it hurts.

I Am With You

". . . and lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world."  Matthew 28:20


How many times as a child did the words "I'm here", from your parents, give you comfort?  Think how much more of a comfort it was when Jesus said it to his disciples.  I am with you alway  . . .  I will be with you until the end of the world . . . You will have my help and support through thick and thin . . . until I return at the end.


Do we call on him for solace when we need help?  Do we thank him when it's done? To God, the Father, God, the son, and God the holy spirit do we give our thanks?  I am lonely, I am scared, I need your healing touch.


To God, the son, the holy spirit . . . thank you so much for your help.  I feel my anxiety lessened.  My fear is subdued.  My pain has numbed.


I praise your name for your help.  Amen

How It Will Be

". . . That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left . . ."  Matthew 24:39-41


My sense some weeks back was that I should read about prophesy right now, and that I should begin with Matthew, not the Old Testament.  My NIV Rainbow Study Bible makes this easy, as the passages are color coded.  Coincidentally -- or not --  I've reached prophesy about the end days just as our world seems to be experiencing some of the signs of them.  Part of me hopes not, because I think I still have a lot left to do here.  But, of course, I also look forward to being in the presence of our maker and his son.


The passage today says people working side by side could see different fates at the end.  One could be taken and the other left -- men and women alike.  Imagine that.  People could disappear before our very eyes, or we could disappear before theirs.  Of course we expect to join our family and friends as they collect around God's throne.


I'm reminded of the joke about the individual who arrives in heaven only to be shocked to see others he had expected would be sent to the hot place.  He inquired why everybody was so quiet.  God said not to mind them.  They were just surprised to see him there.


Good reason to get ourselves straight with the Lord before the real end is nigh, don't you think?

A Word To The Wise And Myself

"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."  Proverbs 16:32


If you read my Issues blog today, you will know that I let myself get riled this weekend.  I wish I had prepared this devotional before, rather than after, the experience.  But I don't know that it would have prepared me for the evil onslaught of the strangers with which I was dealing.


Circumstances can surely blindside you sometimes and if you don't wander around with your shields up, you sometimes take one in the gut.  And you also sometimes deliver one to someone else's as well.


I guess it's not possible to be on guard at all times, but it would probably help if we at least try to hit our center before we start our days.  We might be better armed if we would do that.


Now, I'm not concerned about the friends of my friend.  They didn't behave any better than I did.  In fact, they probably behaved worse considering they knew nothing about what was going on and acted like they did.  But if I lost that long-time friend it would be sad.


I guess when we are dealing with a load of junk ourselves, it would probably be advisable if we remembered others are probably dealing with a load of junk, too.

Our Job In The End

"Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house."  Matthew 24:17


As Jesus left the temple, after announcing to the teachers there all the woes that would come upon them, he told the disciples to look at the buildings.  He said all the stones would be torn down.


The disciples wanted to know when it would all happen.  They wanted a sign of his coming.


He told them to beware of the fake Messiahs.  He says the signs will be wars and rumors of wars.  He speaks of famines and earthquakes.  He who stands firm will be saved in the end.


Jesus wants everyone to understand that Christians in Judea are to flee to the mountains.  We are to leave the roof and the field without taking anything with us.


Over and over we see signs of the end.  Quakes like the one this morning in California.  Quakes here and there.  Wars everywhere like in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Ukraine.  We hear now of Iraqi Christians seeking shelter in the mountains.  But is this the end time?  That's just it.  The Bible tells us that nobody knows or will know.


It will not be announced that morning that this is the day.  It will just happen.  And our job is to walk away from everything and to be faithful to Jesus until the end. 

Not On The Outside Anymore

"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."  Matthew 21:43


Some passages of the New Testament have always bothered me.  They are the ones where Jesus assures any non Jewish people that he did not come to earth to save them.  He tells us more than once that he came to save his own kind  --  the Jews.


I find it more than a little hurtful that he implied, through a non Jewish woman, that we were curs that receive his attention like scraps under a table.


Therefore, I find Matthew 21:43 a refreshing change from his usual words.  In this scripture he seems to be telling the Jews that they will lose the kingdom of heaven to a people who will produce its fruit.  Certainly Christianity produced worldwide fruit, multiplying and growing through until this day. 


Now, I don't feel so badly, Jesus.  Maybe we Christians are "a people" of whom you spoke.

This, Too, Shall Pass Away

". . and this, too, shall pass away. . .".  This partial quote is from a speech made by Abraham Lincoln.  He told the story of a king from the far east who asked his wise men to make up a statement that would apply to all situations, good or bad.






I walked up the stairs to the library, watching my surroundings.  I saw a somewhat familiar face, but it had changed just enough I wasn't sure.  As I started to pass by, the face said, "I know you".


I mentioned a name, a question to my voice.  She confirmed.


I'd run into her once before at Wal-Mart, maybe about seven or eight years ago.  I'd grabbed and hugged her too hard that time -- just enough to irritate her  --  so I was careful not to push.  She rose from the bench and embraced me this time.


"How are your boys?" she asked.  I answered and added a note about my daughter and her kids.


"Do you remember my son?" she asked, describing the one she meant.  A visual image of a cute, sweet little boy, who had always been friendly to me, came to mind.


She described how her son had grown to manhood, attended college and worked with kids.  He had grown to be a wonderful person, as I would have expected.  Then she told me he was dead, cut down by heart trouble on a basketball court.  At least he was having fun at the end.


I have tears in my eyes as I write this today.  That wonderful little boy became a wonderful man and then he was gone.


She talked about how they had known of his heart problems since childhood.  "And we got to have him for twenty-three years," she said.  The positive spin that soothed her aching heart.


"I know why you took him when you did, Father," I said.  "You wanted him with you."


In a recent sermon Joel Osteen said God never leaves us in the valleys of life and when He brings us out, He makes things better for us than before the valley.


Part of me grieves for the ache in her heart -- and the hearts of her husband and the other three children.  The rest of me admires the courage and faith with which she faces life, as well as, death.


The hole in her life will never completely heal, I guess, but the ache will lessen as she remembers his beauty and sweetness.  Her life will go on and grandchildren will arrive periodically.  She'll have more good times to balance the bad.


This, too, shall pass away, may not mean that she will never grieve again.  But it does mean that she will crest the top of the hill once more and more joy will be in her vision.


And then at the end, she, too, will reach her time and he will be waiting with other loved ones to escort her to her Lord.