Happy

I believe that true happiness only comes when God is at the center of your life. Happiness comes when you know you have enough, and are grateful for it. Gratitude is the key ingredient in happiness. So without God, who or what will you be grateful to? The knowledge that all good gifts are from God gives us the much needed source toward which we can aim our gratitude. Gratitude is not only happiness-inducing, it's life-giving.

"It's In There"

I have read the Bible cover to cover at least fourteen times. I know this because I was given my first "One Year Bible" about fifteen years ago and have read it every day, every year ever since. And yet, I still can't quote passages by chapter and verse. Either I just don't see the great importance of such memorization of numerical references, or I'm just a dummy with a bad memory for details. Maybe some of both. (I get a kick out of TV shows and movies where tough cops are able to pull Bible quotes by chapter and verse out of their heads when some obscure clue has been left by a looney criminal.) I once heard it said that Einstein didn't know his own phone number. He said he never cluttered up his memory with things he could look up. (And you can look that up to see whether it's true. Ha ha.)

And yet, I know what's in the Bible. Maybe not by numerical reference, but like the Ragu commercial says, "it's in there." When I read the Bible, especially the New Testament, I am reading it with an inquiring and open mind, seeking Truth. Seeking answers. I am not trying to memorize it, but the Truth of it lodges in my mind. Do I know everything that's in the Bible? No. In fact, every time I read it again, I discover something I must have previously glossed over, or was simply not ready to understand until that moment. Anyway, I sometimes wonder if I would be taken seriously about my understanding of the contents of the Bible if I were unable to back it up with a chapter-and-verse reference. And this led me to think about my grandmother.

My grandmother made the best muffins in the world. (With apologies to everyone else whose grandmother also made the best muffins in the world.) Anyway, I once asked her for the recipe. She told me you take some graham flour....I asked her how much. "Oh I don't know, I guess three or four handfuls." How much shortening? "Oh I don't know, I guess about a half an egg shell's worth." The whole recipe went like that. "A small handful of sugar." In the end the only thing I knew for sure was "one egg".

But I know for sure that Grandma made the best muffins in the world, even if she couldn't give me precise measurements. It's how you use what you know.

Where There Is No Way

We tend to forget that God can help us, indeed rescue us, in ways that we cannot imagine. We tend to think, "What's the use of asking God for help? There's no way out of this one." We make the mistake of limiting God by assuming He is burdened by the same limitations we are. Oh no no no . I've recently run across a few examples in the Bible to illustrate that point. (Of course there are many.)

When there was no water for the Israelites as they wandered in the desert, it seemed hopeless and they all complained and grumbled. But God gave them water, and he provided it through a totally unexpected source. From a rock. There's a surprise. And by the way, He did it more than once. When they cried out that they wanted meat, they couldn't imagine any way they could get it out there in the desert. But who could have dreamed that God would bring a huge flock of quail into the camp on the wind? And they flew around just above the ground where everyone could reach out and grab one.

Or how about the big one? When the Israelites reached the Red Sea with the Egyptian army hot on their heels, there was no where to go. Trapped like rats. Certainly no way out of this one. But SURPRISE, the sea parted so they could walk on over to the other side between the walls of stationary water on either side of them. Wow. Didn't see that one coming.

Oh there are so many, but here's another one I love. When Gideon went to war with the Midianites, who were seemingly as numerous as the stars in the sky, God instructed Gideon to pare down his army from 32,000 men to 300. Yeah, 300. I'm sure no one could imagine how victory would be accomplished against this enormous army with a band of 300 men. But God wanted to show that He would give them the victory, with no way to later claim it by their own might. So these 300 men broke up into smaller groups and surrounded the Midianite camp, every man holding a trumpet and a torch hidden inside a clay jar. When the signal was given, all 300 men broke the jars, exposing their torches, and blew those horns. The spectacle so frightened the Midianite soldiers as they woke up confused, they did something no one could have expected (except God of course). They were thrown into such a state of confusion and fright, they began killing each other! I don't think even Gideon knew that would happen, but he simply did as he was told. He obeyed and the result was amazing.

It also fascinates me that in each case, the help came in such surprising ways. In the case of the water in the desert, God could simply have made a big pool of water appear where none had been before. Poof. Or made water suddenly appear in all of their empty vessels and skins. Same with the meat. He could have blinked his eyes and made a big pit of roasting meat appear. He could have miraculously made the whole Israelite nation suddenly disappear from one side of the Red Sea and then materialize on the other side. God is God. He can do anything.

But what I like is the ingenious nature of these miracles. It might be too easy to pass off the more spontaneous versions I mentioned as hallucinations. Too easy to forget later. "Nah, couldn't have happened that way. I must be remembering it wrong. I was half-crazed with fear and exhaustion." But you can bet they all remembered vividly each painstaking step they had to take across the floor of the Red Sea as they passed through walls of water. I'm sure they could easily recall flowing water gushing from a rock in the dry desert. Their muscle memory would have no trouble recalling running around the camp laughing and reaching into the air to catch quail.

And they're such perfect examples for us to remember all these years later. They're vivid pictures, alive with detail. God can rescue you from anything. Anything.

So don't ever think "there's no way out of this one". Pray and believe. God has a greater imagination than you do. And He is able to "find a way where there is no way."
Pray, believe, receive.

Thank you God!

Here's a Tip

The equal exchange of selfless giving, and grateful receiving, between two people is healing to both parties in a way unlike any other.

The surest way to get rid of hate, anger or depressions is to show kindness to someone, knowing they will never pay it back to you.

Keep Watch

Easter has come and gone. Christ has risen, appeared to his followers, and ascended to heaven. I love when he said, "I will be with you always, even unto the end of the age." What a great comfort. He will never leave us. He is with us always.

I was reading in the gospel of Mark where Jesus foretells of the judgment, and of his coming again on the clouds. He says to keep watch, because we don't know when it will happen. The disciples all began keeping watch right away.


Two thousand years later we are still keeping watch. Some people keep watch by climbing to a mountain top and looking expectantly at the sky, whether literally or figuratively. The world goes on below them; friends in need, people starving, unbelievers living in darkness. These mountaintop believers can't wait for Christ's return. They are always keeping watch.


But I think that "keeping watch" means more. I think it means we need to keep watch of our own hearts, our own faults, evil desires, and sinful natures. There is a reason why two thousand years have passed without Christ's return. We are still in training. I think we are supposed to recognize the foolishness, or at least the error, of those who have literally gone up to roofs or mountaintops throughout history, expecting Christ's return on a certain day, only to come back down, disappointed. I think these are reminders to keep on keeping watch; of our own hearts. and others' needs. Yes, eternity is endless, but we are already living this day, which is after all, part of eternity.


Keep watch. For "the Kingdom will not come with your careful observations...the Kingdom of God is within you."

He Is Risen

It's Easter Sunday. He is risen. Jesus is no longer in the darkness of the tomb. No longer a prisoner in his uncomfortable human form. Although after his resurrection he appeared to witnesses in human form, even inviting Thomas to put his fingers in the holes in his hands, and even eating fish on the beach, he was no longer human in the same way as before. He appeared out of - and disappeared into - thin air. Mostly, the spectre of death no longer loomed over him. He had overcome it. And that, of course, is exactly why he rose from the dead; to show, to prove, to us that even death could not defeat the Son of God. And he had said we are all sons of God if we believe in him. So we should not fear death. In fact, we should not fear anything. One of the shortest, simplest, and most power-packed lines in the Bible is Jesus speaking to Jairus, the man with whom he travelled to heal his daughter, who was at the point of death. As they were travelling, news came to them that it was too late. She had died. Never mind bothering Jesus any more. (Mark 5:36) Jesus, undeterred, simply said to him, "Do not fear. Only believe." And kept on walking.

Those simple words have sustained me many many times. Those words, coming straight from Jesus' mouth, are like an instant tranquilizer. How can we not believe Jesus when he calmly tells us, "Do not fear. Only believe."

And here he is, on Easter Sunday, risen from the dead. The disciples need not have feared. They should have believed. But they were human, like us. They needed proof, and Jesus, knowing the hearts of men, gave them the proof they needed. He appeared suddenly to them in a locked room. And again. And again.

So today we rejoice. Jesus keeps his promises. And he has promised that he prepares a place for us in his Father's house.

Do not fear. Only believe.

In The Tomb

Today Christ is in the tomb. All is darkness. The disciples are sequestered; depressed and confused. For all they know, all is lost. It's over. Probably racking their brains trying to remember exactly what it was he said about all this. Something about destroying the temple and raising it back up in three days? You will see me no more, but then you will see me? Something like that. What else? What else? The kingdom of God is within you. Uh, something about 'now I tell you plainly. I will be crucified, but I will rise again on the third day." Or in their grief, did they even remember that promise? He was actually, literally dead. He didn't climb down from the cross. Their messiah died like a man. Like any man. Just a man.

Such were the tortured thoughts of Jesus' disciples and most loyal followers today. I doubt that they were very hopeful. I think they wanted to be, but did they have it in them to pull it off? To really believe what he "told them plainly"?

Yesterday I was a bit in darkness. I had a bad attitude. I felt disappointed and angry with myself. For no apparent reason, I just didn't like myself, and couldn't muster a really positive thought. I allowed a little self-pity and today I can't for the life of me imagine what for. I am the most fortunate of women. More blessings than I could possibly list. Yet I actually shed a tear for myself yesterday. I am ashamed of that, but I am letting it go. What it may have accomplished is giving me a glimpse into the innermost hurt-thoughts of some people I know. While I don't want to give life to these negative attitudes by thinking too much about them, perhaps I can better pray for them, having felt the cold and damp of a tiny corner of their dark rooms.

I do pray for all those who are in the dark. I pray for the lonely, the angry, the brokenhearted, the vengeful, the spiteful and the hateful. I pray that this day of darkness will give way to the Resurrection of their souls by the miraculous dawn of Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I pray that those in darkness will see the Light of tomorrow's dawn and Live.

Amen.