Perspective {from frustration to fulfilment}

As I log into Blogger to write this post, my eye is scanning down the list of most recently published posts, and I inwardly groan.

ONE post in May?

REALLY?

I thought that once I was feeling better, after having had Ezekiel, I'd be back to my normal blogging schedule, and sharing with the world again. But no. I have failed dismally.

Or have I?

Well, if I want to look at it from the point of view of blogging to reach out to others, yes, I may have "failed".

Perspective.

THAT is the key word for me.

We had a visiting preacher at our Annual Service of Thanksgiving, last weekend. His sermon on the Saturday was all about perspective. He was particularly emphasising that THANKFULNESS is all about perspective. If we look at our circumstances from the wrong perspective, we will not be a thankful people. Change your perspective, and you will find something to be thankful for.

I think one of the keys to having a correct perspective is all about change. We need to move to the right position in order  to gain the right perspective. We need to be willing to move from wherever we are, in our thoughts an attitudes, and get to the right "place".

It's a bit like when I am walking along, all adult size, and I see something and yell to the children "did you see THAT?"

There ensues a cacophony of

"I can't SEE it"

"Where, WHERE?"

"MUUUUUUUM, I can't SEEEEEEEE it"

Then, I help them to adjust their stance, in order to see what I can see. Maybe I lift them onto my shoulders, or gently re-position them a couple of inches one way or another, to get a better perspective on what I am viewing.

THEN, we  get a different response.

"Oh YES Mum - I see it now!"

"Wow, yes"

From frustration to fulfilment.

That's where perspective brings us. Perspective brings us from a place where can easily become frustrated and disheartened, to a place where we are fulfilled by God's goodness and mercy, because we are seeing things how GOD wants us to see them. The Lord lifts us up on his shoulders, like the good shepherd lifted that wandering lamb, and brings us to a place where we can see His goodness.

It's like that old adage "the grass is always greener on the other side". Someone seems to have life better than you do. If you change your perspective, you may see your grass longer, or that you have more grass, or that you have someone to help you look after your grass, and they don't, or that your grass is getting greener, but it's just slow. Perspective.

There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. There is ALWAYS a better way to view our circumstances. There is ALWAYS a reason to rejoice.

But, we must be willing to move away from the position we are in, and see things from a different perspective.

Effort.

A teachable spirit.

Joy and contentment.

It's all needed to gain perspective.

Have I been quiet on here? Yes.

Am I failing to keep up with writing blog posts, or, if I gently nudge my perspective, am I busy looking after a precious, but slightly high maintenance baby, who will grow up soooooo fast, that I shouldn't feel bad for spending time caring for him?

Perspective shifted.

Frustration gone.

Fulfilment found.

Titus 2 - Be sober?

I was reading Titus chapter 2 recently, particularly the passage teaching about how we are to behave as young women.  It struck me that it would be a good place to study through, phrase by phrase, and see what could be learnt from it.

I am tempted to jump to things further along, but if the order we are given is the order that God put it in, who am I to argue with it??

So, what does Titus 2 say?

"That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

Titus 2:4-5

Now, let's get something straight first.  Just because it is directed to young women, does not mean that none of this applies to older women, too!  So, no running off, you older ladies! *winks*

Likewise, just because I am not an aged woman sharing this with you, does not mean you don't have to pay attention, either!

Ultimately, this is GOD'S word to us.  It is Him speaking to me, and to you.

So, the first instruction we are given?  To be sober.

Sober, in this situation,  has NOTHING to do with the lack of alcohol.  It is NOT an indictment to become teetotal.  THAT, my friends, is not a debate I will get into on here.

The word "sober" literally means to be serious.

Now, I don't know about you, but to me that sends out images of a very straight laced and sombre character.  Never a smile.  Never any laughter.

However, I don't think it is meant to be taken to that extreme.  We KNOW that the Bible says that laughter is a good thing, so it can't mean we are to be sombre all the time.  Rather, I think it relates to how we view and live out our lives in a broad sense.  There needs to be a sincerity about what we believe.  A seriousness in how we perceive God's Word, and how we live it out in our lives. A seriousness about things spiritual.

I think it is particularly crucial, when you go on to consider what follows in these two verses.  If you don't take them seriously, then you can basically go and do whatever you jolly well please in your life as a wife and mother.  But, no - the Lord first instructs us to be serious about our lives, and how we live them.

Serious about reading God's Word.

Serious about listening to God's Word.

Serious about understanding God's Word.

Serious about OBEYING God's Word.

Being serious in all these ways is crucial.  It's of primary importance if we are going to be fully committed to a life of obedience, honouring the Lord in all parts of our lives.

So many today, who are often heavily influenced by feminist thoughts, think we can throw verses away.  That we don't need to take them literally.  That they are only figurative.  That we they are cultural.  Perhaps that we only need to keep the spirit but not the letter of what it says?

But, NO!  This is VERY practical.  VERY literal.  VERY important.

What follows in these verses is of utmost importance, and so very, very precious.  God has deigned to give us words that apply to our very heart and soul, and we must endeavour to take them seriously, and fulfil them.

So, before I go any further, I want to search my own heart and make sure that I am taking God's Word seriously.  That I truly desire to honour God's ways above the world's ways, and most certainly above my own sinful heart's ways.

Am I sober? Are we serious about God, and His word to us as women?

I pray that God will make it to be so, and that I will prayerfully consider and obey what follows on from here.

Matriarchs on a Monday - Ruth - Part 2

This section, at the end of Chapter 1, is one of my favourite passages.

Devotion and commitment.

Those are the 2 words that sum it up.

It was never more real to me, than in April 2001.  We were thrilled to be at the wedding of 2 friends in Northern Ireland.  And, as a surprise to her new husband (I THINK I remember that part correctly?...), the bride said this passage to her new husband, straight after they said their vows.  It really touched my heart and was such a poignant moment.

"Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 

 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."

What utterly perfect words for a new Bride to say to her Groom!

However, we see here, that it is what Ruth says to Naomi.  Not the words that MANY would utter to their mother-in-law....I hasten to add, I would happily go with my mother-in-law! *smiles*

We see that Orpah had already made her choice.  She had initially claimed that she wanted to stay with Naomi, but her love seemed to quickly dim, and she chose to stay amongst her people.  To stay with the gods of her people.  Naomi suggests that Ruth should do the same, but Ruth's reply is what we read above.

She chose to stay with Naomi...to leave the country of her birth...and to go to an unknown land, with Naomi.

More than anything else, she chose God.

She chose to follow after HIM, and not the false gods of her past.

THIS was a choice of devotion and commitment.

It wasn't just empty words...we read of Naomi...

"When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her." 

Naomi could tell that Ruth meant what she said.  She could tell that her heart was in it...that her mind was set...that she was courageously choosing to leave all and follow.

Do you remember that passion? 

Do you remember that devotion, which filled our hearts when we chose to leave all and follow the LORD?

Of that turning away from our past life, and committing to follow the Lord, and not the world?

There are a lot of "doing" words spoken by Ruth...

"not to leave ,  following after :  I will go; I will lodge:"

She doesn't want to leave Naomi....she wants to follow after her - to go with her - to live with her.

"thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:" 

She wants to adopt Naomi's people as hers, and most importantly, to trust in God as she does.  For Him to become HERS - the one in whom she trusts, and follows with her whole heart.  Making that commitment to ultimately follow after God, as Naomi does.

She commits to following after Naomi until death.  Right to the very end.

I read this today, and realised that we so easily wander off from our commitment to the Lord.  We so easily wander off into our own way, and away from that closeness that we had in days gone by.

The hymn writer sums it up like this...

"Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?"
(William Cowper)

We do not want to be accused, as the Church at Ephesus, to have "left our first love".

We need to remember that if we do not seek to have a close walk with the Lord - to have that devotion to Him, that we ought to have - we can have no strength to do what we need to, as wives and mothers.  Our relationship with the Lord is absolutely central to all else we do.  All of our efforts to be the best we can for our family, will be absolutely fruitless without a daily commitment to the Lord.  A daily casting off of those things that would hinder us from following after the Lord.

How can I teach my children to have a heart that follows after the Lord, if I fail to demonstrate it in my own life?

Every day, I need to make that commitment afresh.  Following God's leading isn't exclusive to those called to the mission field, or into the ministry! We have to be committed in whatever path He has led us in, and for most of us that is being a wife and mother.

Ruth, too, was going to be called into that life, in a truly amazing way....which we will learn about over the next few weeks.

So, today, will you commit today?....commit to follow after the Lord.  Not allow anything to "intreat us" to leave off from following after Him with a devoted and true heart?

Oh, walk with Jesus, wouldst thou know
How deep, how wide His love can flow;
They only fail His love to prove
Who in the ways of sinners rove.

Walk thou with Him, that way is light,
All other pathways end in night.
Walk thou with Him, that way is rest,
All other pathways are unblest.

Oh, walk with Jesus, to thy view
He will make all things sweet and new,
Will bring new fragrance from each flower,
And hallow every passing hour.

Jesus, a great desire have we
To walk life’s troubled path with Thee:
Come to us now, in converse stay:
And, Oh, walk with us day by day.

Edwin P. Hood