10 million miles

…let your mom do your child’s laundry.

The situation: Vivienne spent a glorious week with my parents. Before sending Vivienne back to us, my mom offered to wash all of her clothes. I said, “oh no, Mom, don’t worry about that; you’ve done so much for us already”. Of course, she did it anyway.

The pay-off: All week long - when I dress Viv in the morning, hug her before bed, wrestle her in the afternoon, kiss her at night - I inhale glorious whiffs of the Tide and Downy that for years has been home. And it makes me miss my mommy.

(Even though I’m sure my mom had no ulterior motives (and I really mean that), I’ll be sure to remember this tactic when my own grandchildren visit me; it’s a fabulous subliminal way to enforce your scent upon them and their parents, causing them to pine for you for weeks to come… Actually, this is a fabulous tactic to enhance any type of relationship, really. In fact, if I’m offering to do your laundry for you, you’ll know that I’m just trying to secure whiffs of myself in your subconscious heart.)

P.S. Thanks, Mom, for lightening our load (literally!) and filling our home with thoughts of you!

…concerning the welfare of our brothers, of course. ‘Thought I’d share the Scriptures that I’ve been meditating on yesterday and today:

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3: 16 - 18

and

“Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” Proverbs 21:13

With all of the legitimate cries for help these days (sponsor children! build homes! fund clinics! feed mouths! educate single mothers! and on and on), it’s hard to discern the ways that I am to help, specifically.  When the fliers, commercials, and email forwards don’t end, I can start to feel down right crumby - inadequate to participate in the needs of countless people all over the globe. I often pray, “God, I think I’m about all used up just loving the handful of tangible people in my life - let alone people groups miles away. But You know my heart is just to do what you want…”

‘Seems like John had a vision of my life when he wrote a personal prayer, “…if my heart condemns me, you are greater than my heart and you know all things.” How fabulous that God cuts through the web of my self-condemnation and points me in the right direction because He knows my heart better than I do.

So, for now, God has given me a great deal of peace from these two Scriptures to focus on loving…

* the needy brother who I actually see with my eyes

* the poor who I actually hear with my ears

If I keep my heart open, I bet this’ll keep me busy. (Actually, I hear someone already… Lia’s awake! Gotta go!)

Father, open our hearts and open our ears so that we can see the needs you intend for us to meet and hear the cries you intend for us to answer.

You may have noticed the popular trend towards a type of Christian humanitarianism: you know, sell your possessions, give to the poor, etc…

Noble generosity, no doubt! Impressive obedience, for sure!

But perhaps, our humanitarianism is fueled by a misreading of Scripture.

Take, for example, the story of the rich young ruler. One of the Top Ten Inspiration Texts for Christian humanitarians. Maybe you know the story in Luke 18: 18 - 34. Basically, a rich young ruler asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

(Notice, the guy’s totally focused on what he can do to gain a gift that is only distributed out of God’s generous grace.)

The guy claims to keep all of the commandments. Impressive, but he’s still not able to save himself. So, to make the matter obvious, Jesus points out that the one thing he lacks is to “sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

(This is where we humanitarians highlight Jesus’ command, scribble notes in the margin, and start selling our gadgets on ebay. Perhaps we’d profit from reading further and closer…)

Turns out, the guy can’t do what Jesus asks; he’s too rich.

Jesus points out that no rich guy can enter the kingdom of heaven.

And we’re all rich. (In some form or fashion.)

So, alarmed and helpless, I ask with Peter, “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus refocuses our gaze: “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Oh, so we cannot sell everything and distribute to the poor in order to inherit eternal life. Jesus said it best: it is impossible.

You’ve gotta read the whole passage for yourself, but it seems to me that although Jesus kindly points out that, yes, we will be rewarded and recompensed for any sacrifices we do make, He is quite clear that He is the one - He is the rich young ruler - who will sell everything for us and distribute gifts to the poor.

He even wraps up the scenario with an explanation of how he will sell everything to purchase our inheritance: “See, the Son of Man will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon, And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

He is the one will purchase the inheritance of eternal life.

With God, this is possible.

Once again, I find that the Scriptures are so rarely about us, and so often about Jesus. Hallelujah.

So, I officially cut and paste this passage of Scripture from my “How to Convince People to Sell Everything They Have and Give to the Poor” folder into my “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty and Generous and Wonderful that He Should Love a Tight-Fisted Legalistic Sinner Like Me” folder.

***

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’”And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said,  “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Matthew 13:45

I was thinking about the way in which Jesus worded Matthew 13:45.

Folks say that, from this verse, we must learn how important it is to sacrifice everything in order to pursue Jesus, the supposed “pearl of great price”.

But, maybe we misinterpret this oft quoted verse.

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls…” not “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl of great price.”

Perhaps Jesus meant that the Kingdom of Heaven is Himself as the merchant man, seeking, loving, and purchasing His beloved Church.

Perhaps WE are the pearl of great price.

It would make sense then, despite many-a-convicting sermon, that we can’t “sell everything” for Christ.

No one ever has; no one ever will.

That’s not a glory we have the right to wear.

It is His glory to give everything for us.

It is our glory to thank Him and continually surrender more and more of ourselves to this Great Love.

This is the glory of being found.

Did you see Constantina Tomescu-Dita break away from the conservatively-paced pack halfway through the marathon? Did you see her run, and run, and run; setting the pace that she intended to follow, instead of being influenced by the other runners? I mean, really, did you see her run and run and run?!

Sadly for me, it was a flash in the pan; I could have watched it all day long.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

Passing by our neighbor’s freshly paved driveway, Vivienne asked why they had a green ribbon tied from one post to another across the driveway. I explained that the ribbon would remind everyone not to drive or walk on the driveway until it dried. In a moment of realization that our neighbors were tucked nicely in their house at the time and might like to emerge at some point, Vivienne exclaimed, “What about them?! They can’t carry themselves!”

It was then that we realized the freedom of “outside of the lines”: walking through the grass…

And it was then that I fell in love all over again with my daughter’s imagination: that thin, elderly, garden-loving couple trying to pick up their own gangly feet and legs to somehow float down their own driveway…

“A slothful loiterer in a religious house, under pretence of sanctity and austerity. Compounded of abbey and Danish lubbed, fat.”

Note to self: don’t be this.

(from The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten by Jeffrey Kacirk)

if nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies. - author unknown

My friend, Jan, was right when she said I would love this email forward. I won’t be posting anything new for the week, so let this inspire you in my stead!

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye… and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.  Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this?  It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

 Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body’s cells. Today’s research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

…that when I don’t eat meat, I have peaceful, regular ole’ dreams. When I do eat meat, I have more violent, disturbing dreams.

My theory? Meat must react with the body to inspire the passion and violence necessary to kill more meat. Plants, on the other hand, must inspire the peace and stability to maintain one’s land, to produce more fruits and vegetables.

Kinda explains why many peaceful folks are vegetarians, and conquering warriors are meat-eaters.

Makes ya think…

Makes ya want eat a carrot…

Peace out.