The Ambiance of Light

 

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ~ Philippians 2:14,15 

What is there about candlelight that draws me to it?

Perhaps it's the ambiance it creates. 

• It never grumbles or complains
• It burns brighter and brighter
• It dances with the flickers of light
• It reflects that dance on the walls
• It comforts with warmth
• It opens up the vision 
• It draws others to it

The longer it burns the shorter it grows, but it never goes out as long as there is wick to burn.

The Reflection

So when I grumble and complain am I drawing others to Christ? Will others listen when I try to witness? Who would want to be a part of something or someone who promotes sadness and makes others around them unhappy or depressed? No one. 

The Ambiance

How can I create an ambiance of joy, peace, happiness, love? 

Perhaps by leaving the grumbling and complaining behind, giving it all to Christ.

Remember/reflect that no matter the situation, He is working things out for His purposes and our good.

The Comfort

Perhaps by living a blameless and harmless lifestyle.

Demonstrating love and kindness to all people goes a long way in the midst of a divided and hopeless people.

The Vision

Perhaps by shining as lights in the world, creating an ambiance of joy, of love, and of peace. People must first know we care before they will listen to the message of salvation. 

Heavenly Father, help me be your light. Help me create that ambiance of peace and comfort, of joy and dancing. Thank you for the privilege to shine for you even to my waning days. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Walking in the Dark

                          

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

~Prov 29:18

Back when we camped in a tent we always tried to remind everyone, the children and ourselves, to go to the bathroom before dark. There would be no street lights, no lights or lanterns hanging in campsites along the way, no way to see the path through the dark trees. In the middle of the night, there would only be darkness, the darkness that hid tree stumps, snakes, spider webs, and skunks. A thick darkness that closed in around us and chased us up the path to the bathhouse. Inevitably someone would need to go potty.  If one has to go everyone needs to go. Pity the camper whose flashlight batteries were low or gone.

I find traveling through life is a lot like a dark night in search of the path to the potty. It often feels like the walls of the world are closing in. There are wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires. I feel like I'm stumbling in the darkness trying to find the path through life. 

There is a way to find my way. One of my favorite verses to remind me that God knows how to shine his light and show me the path is found in Psalms.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

 ~Psalms 119:105 

So now the question is "What is God's vision for me and for his people?

How do we get there? 

What part do I play personally in his vision? 

I'm reminded that when God told Abram to go into a land that he would show him, Abram got up, took his wife and his belongings and went (Genesis 12:1-5.) He didn't make excuses that he had never been there before or he was afraid of the people or that he didn't want to leave his home and family there in Ur. He just went, one step at a time, one day at a time, trusting God to show him the way. 

Abram didn't have the word of God as we do. He had to be a good listener and actually, so do we. What did the verse say? "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." God is not going to speak from the clouds to give us direction. He has already spoken in his word. If God's people do not read, study, meditate, memorize, put into action the things God has told us we stand in danger of being harmed in the darkness of this world. Read the first verse from Proverbs again. " Where there is no vision, the people perish." So what do we do? The rest of the verse says he that keeps the law is happy (my paraphrase). How will we keep it if we don't know it? How will we know it if we don't read it? 

Pray for God's vision for his work in our day because he has put us here for a reason.

May I offer a challenge? Read one chapter each day, Monday-Friday. Keep a journal about what the Lord is showing you in each chapter. On Saturday review what you've read and what you've written. On Sunday, attend your house of worship and see how God speaks to you through the services in congruence with what you've studied. Follow God's lead as Abram did, one step, one day at a time. 

Heavenly Father, direct our steps in this dark world. Show us our purpose. Give us a vision for your work. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Hey Kids: 

Have you thought about the fact that Jesus has put you here in this time and this place for his purposes? He has a reason you were born into your family, your country, your region. What talents has he given you? What direction might he be pointing you? 

This week I challenge you to find a quiet place to read God's word. Memorize a favorite verse. Ask God for his plan for you each day and then follow just as Abram did. 

  

The Light in the Darkness

This year, I'd like to offer a few stories. Maybe a deeper look at Bible stories or modern stories that present a Biblical truth.

Today is a Bible story from Acts 20:7-12. I'd like to take you deeper into the story to see the sights and sounds, "the just like us" human side of the story, because the Bible is just as much about us as it is about the people who lived those stories. Enjoy.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Matthew 5:14

Children chattered and played as they walked with their parents carrying baskets of food and their lamps. Tonight was the last night to hear and visit with Paul before he sailed to Assos. There was a large house, three stories high, where they had agreed to gather. Neighbors watched as the little troop grew larger the closer they came to the house.

The ladies in the house welcomed the guests, taking the baskets and spreading the food along tables for everyone to share. A little food, a little fellowship, a little preaching, because of the buzz of the house no one noticed how late the hour had become.

Neighbors noticed the lamps twinkling into light in a third story room. “What’s going on there?” Their own lamps were going out one by one as they laid down for the night.

Eutychus, a young man, sat propped in a window to catch the night breeze and make room for the older folks to sit. As Paul preached toward midnight, Eutychus’ eyes began to droop and his head to nod. Several times, he’d caught himself from falling onto the old man seated in front of him. He’d rearranged himself hoping to wake up. He wanted to hear and he didn’t want to begin to snore. Suddenly his arms flailed and he toppled out the window to the street below.

People screamed. Lights poured into the streets. Eutychus was dead! The commotion awakened the neighbors. Paul pushed his way through the crowd, then gathered the young man in his arms. “His life is in him,” he declared as Eutychus’ eyes fluttered open.

“Hallelujah! Praise God! Thank you, Jesus!”came the exclamations from the crowd as they lifted their hands and faces heavenward.

Thank you Jesus? Who is this Jesus? , the neighbors whispered along the street. They watched as the people filed back into the house, talking, praising.

Inside the people prayed, ate, listened, and asked questions until dawn when the town began to stir again. Eutychus, the young man was helped home as the people dispersed. Neighbors watched and eyed the window where last night he had fallen.

Lamps through the night, a dead man raised alive, people praising Jesus. “We’ve never seen anything like this before.”

To think, it seemed to have started with lights shining in the dark.

Hey Kids:
What's your favorite Bible story?

I love to take a story and imagine the sights and sounds and smells that may
not be described.

Try taking your favorite story and make a list using your five senses.
In the story above:
I could hear children talking and playing.

I could smell the food spread for the visitors and the oil and smoke from the lamps.

I could see the lights, the neighbors, the people coming in,
and Eutychus propped in a window.

I could feel the breathless thud of Eutychus fall,
because I have fallen from just a short distance and the breath knocked out of me.

I wanted to taste the food because I know potluck meals are always delicious.

So what's your story. I love to have a chance to read it.

Blessings for your writing,

Gail

Be Still and Know

One final winner of the December give away... Jetta Allen! Jetta wins Edie Melson's book While My Child is Away. Jetta if you will email or PM me your address, I'll put your book in the mail as soon as the snow melts. Thank you to all the email subscribers and followers who encourage me each week. I hope I encourage you in some small way.

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalms 46:10

The weatherman predicted record cold with moisture rising from the Gulf to meet the sinking arctic air. Snow was on every mind. Hurry to gather groceries, meet deadlines, check the woodpile and the flashlight batteries.

It started with the gathering of clouds and robins in the yard. The still, the quiet, the smell, it all said snow. Then a small twirling flake, and another, and another. Faster, thicker, the white fluff clung to points grass and elbows of trees. Close the schools and make the last mad rush for milk and bread only to find empty shelves and long lines. Hurry home through driving snow, black snow. The speed of the car and the thick falling of the snow created a darkness that was blinding. But snow was white, light. How then this darkness, this blindness?

The speed of life does not wait to contemplate the Light, though the Light gently swirls around us every day. If we look below, it softly falls around our walk. If we look above, it lights gently on our faces. If we look straight ahead, the Light is there in every nook and corner of our lives. At the speed of life, Light is not allowed to shine. It's like the fear of the unknown, the confusion of being told of beauty without the ability to see. It is only when we take the time to "Be Still" that we can know that He is God. He is here to light our way, shine down on us and direct our paths.

How easily we forget and allow hurry and deadlines, woodpiles and the ever ready battery that runs our lives to keep us in darkness. "Be still. Be still and know. Be still and know that I am God," He gently calls to us. May the blessing of the snow allow us the time to be still.

Blessings,

Gail

Hey Kids:

How can you see God this week? 

Look around your feet.

Look up. 

Look straight ahead.

Can you see the longsuffering of God, His gentleness, His goodness? 
These are the fruits He can help us demonstrate but we must first see how He demonstrates these fruits to us. 

Here's a hint to get you started: 
Those winter trees you see in the yard that look dead, watch how they change in the next few weeks. Watch them come to life. 
Jesus is demonstrating how we sometimes have to wait to see the good come of a situation. 
When the tender leaves and blossoms begin to show in the spring and the gentle breezes blow, it reminds us of the gentle way God deals with us.
As that tree begins to come into full fruit, it can remind us of the goodness of God to help us grow into fruitful Christians. 
Fill your fruit bowl with longsuffering, gentleness and goodness this week.