Strolling along the 6 miles of beach in Punta Banda is one of my favorite vacation things to do. The brilliant blue sky above and the glistening sun on the waves take my breath away. As I walk, I notice that there are millions of broken pieces of shells littering the beach. These once full size shells have become mere fragments of what they once were. The constant pounding of the waves have chipped away, diminished and fractured the shells. Then I see it, a perfect sand dollar. After viewing multiple broken ones, a perfectly round sand dollar peeks up at me from beneath the sand. Picking it up I am amazed that this fragile sea creature could survive the treacherous voyage unto the shoreline.

Did you know that the sand dollars we see on the beach are actually the skeletons of these marvelous creatures? 

The reason that many of them survive the journey is that they were once alive!  When they crawled along the bottom of the sandy ocean these velvety purplish marine animal had no fear of being crushed by the waves. It was only when they had died that they became susceptible to the damaging effects of the oceans waves.

This is true for us as Christians as well. We have been made alive in Christ!  Like a tree planted by a river we will not wither as long as we remain in the life-giving source, Jesus.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:3

However if we disconnect from the source of life and try to do it by ourselves, we can like the sand dollar, become brittle, dry, and eventually become broken in our fragile state.

When was the last time you dipped yourself into the refreshing water of the Word?  Do you need a time of refreshing of regeneration?

I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. Jeremah 31:25

 Father, help me to remember to drink your living water, to be refreshed and to dwell in you. I need your life giving power to stay alive and not become brittle.  Jann

What gets in your way?

Sometimes there are obstacles in our way that can hinder our progress in achieving our goals. You have heard me mention a time or two that I set a cycling goal this year. I wanted to reach 500 miles from the time I could begin cycling in the spring until it became too cold in the fall.  Early on in the season I was on a roll.  I couldn't log my miles fast enough and each day I became more and more excited to get on the bike and ride.  "I will do this in a snap", I told myself.  I even thought about raising the goal to 600 miles because I thought that I would easily surpass the original one. At the end of July I was already at 400 miles and even though I would be gone for 3 weeks in August I was convinced that I would crush this goal.  Sounds a little overconfident doesn't it? 

Obstacle #1 Time

When we returned from our trips in August, I set up a time to ride with my friend Catherine and we set out on a fabulous ride that would give me 30 miles towards my goal. We trekked along and laughed together at how fortunate we were to have bike trails and agreed that since I hadn't rode in a while that today we would take it at a slower pace than normal.  At our halfway point we found ourselves at a beautiful park and decided to rest a bit and sit on a bridge. Catherine was ahead of me, leading us to the bridge. 

What happened next would be great if it was on video!

I was either distracted by the beauty surrounding us, or I was just distracted! I began to peddle and I ran straight into the back of Catherine's bike and fell off with a loud thud onto the pavement.  Honestly I don't remember how I fell, but I had a whopping bruise on my left thigh!  Ouch!  "How did my biking shorts not rip?" I moaned, as I lay sprawled out in the middle of the parking lot.  I told Catherine that I was fine, because isn't that what we do, when we don't want people to know how hurt we are?

Obstacle #2 Trying again when we fail.

I biked again after that day several times but everyday I had a reminder of the fall.  The bruise on my thigh was about the size of a cantaloupe melon and had swollen so that there was a large bump made up of various shades of purple. Constantly I thought about the fall and wondered if it would happen again.

Obstacle #3 Leaving the past behind

Today I am 13 miles short of reaching the goal of 500 miles. Tomorrow will be the victory day of accomplishing this goal. I praise God that He has given me a good friend to cheer me on and an amazing husband that has helped me to see past the obstacles and look at the end goal.


I believe that as Christians we are always striving to press on towards the goal.

Philippians 3:13-14, "Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus."

What has kept you from from pressing on towards the goal?

Time

Failures

Past experiences?

Maybe today you are thinking that you just can't achieve it. 

Know that all things are possible when you trust in Christ.

Father, Forgive us for letting obstacles come in the way of pressing forward. Give us a new and clearer vision of what You have called us to do in your name and for your kingdom.

I love you.  Jann

 

 

 

 

This garden needs tending

We planted a garden before summer began. Before I knew it there were bright red plump tomatoes hanging on the vines, long yellow squash gently lying in the dirt as they grew to maturity, hot red peppers sticking out, just begging to be put to use in homemade salsa and green zucchini that seemed to double in size overnight. In addition to these veggies there were oregano, basil and chives that filled in the planting area.

When the garden was planted it seemed like there would be plenty of room, but as the plants grew and grew not only did I have more tomatoes than I could figure out what to do with, but also the vines of the zucchini and squash plants began to intertwine and co-mingle. I didn’t know this was possible. They were in a sense mating! :) We had some interesting looking vegetables this year.

In the beginning of the season both my husband and I would go out to the garden and pull weeds that were close to the vegetables and we would give them additional water in the afternoon. This tender caring continued for quite a long time this summer. That is until we went to Kenya. During the 3 weeks that we were gone the garden wasn’t given as much attention and when we came home there were weeds growing in and through the tomatoes, zucchini and squash. Even though the garden was not as taken care of, the produce is still coming and so are the weeds. Now the zucchini vines have spread across the beach and are looking for new territory. It seems that now I check for the produce, when I feel like it and occasionally I may pull a weed. The truth is that I got out of the habit of tending the garden and now it seems like too large of a task to begin.


This happens to me spiritually as well.


When I get out of sync with Jesus, sometimes I do absolutely nothing!
Just like with the garden I tend to my relationship with Christ, a little here a little there. Sometimes I do nothing because it seems like such an insurmountable task.

I feel frozen,
                  unable to do what it takes to get going.

This usually means that I have to come to Him and apologize for failing again.

Here is the truth of the matter.

No matter how often I go back to the master Gardener (Jesus) He welcomes me home and says. "let’s do this together".

Now, I am not saying that some pruning doesn’t happen and occasionally it may hurt, but I need someone to help me pull the weeds and set my life back into the order that it was meant to be. I cannot do it by myself! Believe me I have tried and tried. I usually succeed for a while but then I realize that I wasn’t meant to live this life alone. I end up back in the arms of Jesus.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. John 15

 

How about you?

What in your life have you been trying to do alone? Why not ask for the help the He alone can give?


Are there weeds that have crept up and have taken residence in your life?

I know an awesome gardener that wants to take care of them.

Father, Take this mess of a garden and make it beautiful again.  Restore order and fruitfulness.  Make my life what you intended it to be.  Thank you for giving me grace even though I don't deserve it.  I love you.   jann

The distracted gardener

Image by bmitd67 via Flickr

Weeds! You pull them and they just keep coming back. Early this summer I weeded one of my flower beds. I carefully took out everything that I could see that would even remotely look like a weed. Weeds will take the nutrients that the flowers need and can choke out the plants that I want to grow. Knowing this I was diligent to watch for any new weeds that would begin and immediately take care of the little boogers.

That was until we went on vacation. We had a wonderful time in the sun and i never even thought about my flowers or weeding. Upon returning home I had a little surprise waiting for me. WEEDS! Not just a few! Hundreds it seems have popped up during the time I was gone. How is this possible? Undetected under the surface were weeds waiting for this distracted gardener to look away and poof they began to sprout and grow.I didn't get at the roots and so they just grew back!

Scripture says that sin is just like these weeds.

but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:14-15

Sin undetected and unobserved will begin to steal and choke out the good things that God wants to produce in and through us.

Take some time to evaluate your own life.

• Am I harboring any bad feelings towards others?



• Are their hidden sins that I need to confess?



• Am I preoccupied or worried about something?



• Is there an area that I have taken back control of?



• Am I taking the glory, instead of giving it to God?



• Is their an area of disobedience to God's word?



• Have I allowed something or someone to take God's rightful place in my life?



• Is there unforgiveness in my heart?



• Am I giving faithfully of my resources and time?



• Am I abiding in Christ?

This list is just a beginning. Satan is trick and wants us all to be deceived. Ask God to show you your weeds and to dig out the roots that they might have in your life.

Father,

I confess to you that I too have fallen short of who you have called me to be. I have been distracted and not watchful. I ask you today to reveal to me the things that are not pleasing to you in my life. Show me the weeds that have crept in and are choking the good things that you want. I know that it may be painful and I desire for you to pull them out by the roots so that they will be gone. Thank you for promising that you will always be with me. I want to be a ReFlection of you.

Jann