by Sharon O | Nov 17, 2010 | Uncategorized
The dark, gray skies overhead threatened an early snow. 
Rushing shoppers, all bundled up to ward off the cold, crowded the sidewalks, lost in their to-do list for Thanksgiving.
Oblivious to their surroundings, no one noticed a small, shivering boy standing in front of the shoe store, his nose pressed against the window, barely dressed and only flip-flops on his dirty feet.
However, one man did see him and stopped, dead still in his tracks, causing others to bump into him. He didn’t notice the bumps and grumblings, but he did notice the small boy because he had a son about the same age. Thinking how he would feel if this were his son standing there, barely clothed, the man quietly slid next to the boy, the man stood there for a moment, and then said,
“They have some pretty nice shoes here, don’t they?”
“Yeah,” came the soft reply.
“Which ones do you like?”
“That pair over there… the cool running ones.”
“Oh, I”ll bet you could run fast in those.”
“Yes sir. I could. Like the wind!”
“You know, I have a little boy just about your age.”
“Oh, yeah? I’ll bet he has shoes like that.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, he does. But I have an idea.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“How ’bout I take you into the store and buy you that pair of shoes?”
The boy stood there motionless.
After a few moments,
with tears in his eyes, he looked up at the man.
“You want to buy me shoes?”
“I sure do. Your feet must be freezing and I’d love to buy them for you.”
The boy couldn’t even answer.
The man took the boy by the hand and walked into the store.
Finding the manager, the man described the pair of shoes and asked the manager to please get a pair in the boy’s size, along with some socks.
Then, he said he and the boy would be in the restroom and would he please bring the shoes and socks in there.
The manager gathered the shoes and socks and, upon entering the men’s restroom, found the man on his knees washing the young boy’s feet.
“Can’t stick dirty feet into clean, new socks and shoes, now can we?”
The young boy just stared at the man as he lovingly washed away all the accumulated street-dirt and gently dried his feet.
Feeling he was intruding on a very special moment, the manager quietly placed the shoes and socks on the floor without saying a word.
After placing the socks and shoes on the boy’s feet, the man stood up, and with hand on his hips, said, “Okay. Let’s see how they look. Walk around.”
The little boy couldn’t move.
He stared down at his feet that felt glued to the floor.
He looked up, tears now streaming down his little face, and said,
“Mister, are you Jesus?”
The boy’s words took the man’s breath away.
So overcome with emotion, the man could barely speak.
Finally, he muttered,
“No, son, I’m not. But I know Him very well.
And this is a gift from Him.”
“This is the greatest Thanksgiving ever.
Would you tell Jesus thank you for me?”
“Well, let’s go for a walk and I’ll tell you how you can do that yourself.”
After reading this writing I asked permission to post it and share it with the readers on this blog, to help us all to get into the thanksgiving spirit. Whether we purchase a pair of shoes for someone, or write a letter, send a card, or make a phone call. Perhaps it is time to tell others how to ‘thank Jesus’ for the greatest gift of all and give someone a reason to give Thanks.
by Sharon O | Nov 15, 2010 | Uncategorized
The other day looking outside I noticed
the wind blustering and blowing
as the rain poured down in many directions
and the darkened clouds
cracked the skies with thunderous roars.
Then all of a sudden
the hail came
pounding and pounding with loud earthen noise.
I watched it from the warmth and protection of the window
feeling thankful that I was inside and not out
as I heard the roar upon rooftop
tumbling onto brown green grass
turning into tiny balls of white.
The force of the wind gave the trees no choice
but to let go of the leaves that were once hanging
the beauty of glorious reds and yellows
tranforming limbs empty… barren
as the colors
now carpeted the wet and white ground.
I was in awe of the moment… time of day and season
and gently reminded of the many things
we have to be thankful for.
Remembering that:
fall…is
a time for hunkering down and finding solace in a warm room.
a steaming cup of tea.
a good book.
a phone call with a friend.
a pot of soup on the stove.
a nice glass of wine.
a hand written letter.
fall…is
a time for dying leaves and empty trees.
fall…is
the entrance into a time for giving thanks
for loved ones near and far.
fall is…
the invitation for
Thanksgiving to come and walk alongside us
as families
share food and festivities
and dishes pretty with goblets shining and steaming cups of coffee.
Thanksgiving…
where pumpkin pie with real whipping cream is
the dessert of the day
and magical moments where children and old ones
mingle and visit
in the midst of meaningful conversations
and we give thanks that we can do that this year
for we know
next year could be different.
Thanksgiving…
a time for giving thanks
for hot flames of fire dancing within the fireplace
and the Love of a God who reaches down
to save us from ourselves.
Thanksgiving…
for hope given to a world lost without it.
Thanksgiving…
for life and breath and love and dying.
Just as the leaves let go of the limb that holds them
we must let go of our stubbornness of heart
and remember to give thanks with a grateful heart
to the one who gives us choice.
For life and love and liberty
and health of spirit too.
Thanksgiving…
where knees bent and hands folded
express sincerity
from a place deep within us
to the one who
holds us close and restores our souls
barren
like empty tree limbs.
Thanksgiving…
is a time for remembering
who we give thanks to and why.
Thanksgiving…
is something special for us all.
I pray we take time to give thanks.
by Sharon O | Nov 11, 2010 | Uncategorized
Jeremiah 31:3
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
Hebrews 13:5b
God has said,
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Can you hear the promises from God to you?
This was a deep question I asked myself…
when we were sitting in a marriage retreat by John and Staci Eldredge.
Because of my ‘childhood’ and the abandonment issues.
I brought into our marriage as a young bride the ‘agreement’ in my heart…
‘no one will hurt me again.’
If my walls were high enough and my heart was shut off tight enough…
no one could enter and no one could cause hurt.
I went into the marriage with the ‘knowing deeply embedded inside my heart’…
that I was not important and I didn’t matter and in that knowing…
I made an agreement to believe…
‘what was really not true in this relationship.’
Even so… the lie continued to reinforce itself.
As my husband and I were sharing after the retreat a feeling many years ago on our first anniversary came forward for me.
I was pregnant and sitting in a sparsely furnished apartment while he worked over time.
There was no ‘dinner’ out that night. Although I do believe we did go out on a different day.
I wanted it to be our day and to feel special and it wasn’t.
I was sick and nauseated and
I was emotional…
and I was feeling non important.
The lesson replaying itself … if you really were important to him he would not be working overtime.
you are alone…you have always been alone.
We talked about that and in the frame reference from where we are now…
and it would not ever happen. If it was an important day…
work would wait.
But when you are a young person you only ‘see’ the paycheck with the over time on it…
you don’t see or feel or even think about the feelings surrounding that decision.
The opportunity for the enemy to come alongside and speak his lies…
was there… it was a prime event for him.
John said, “In relationships… interpretation needs time”.
Listen to the self talk.
Pay attention and listen to what is happening inside you.
He said, “Pain is the enemies playground for agreements, when you are in pain you are most vulnerable to the enemy and his tactics.”
As I sat alone in the sparsely furnished living room on our first anniversary night.
I told myself… “see… I knew I was not important… I know it doesn’t matter if it is our anniversary… work is more important.” The agreement I made that night set our ‘relationship’ up with the message any time he said, “I would like to go hunting, I would like to go fishing…” my internal interpretation was…
“I need time away from you and this is my way of doing it.”
That really wasn’t the truth of what was happening but because I had placed a filter around the agreement. I could only interpret his leaving as ‘you are not important enough for me to stay.’
This is more important to me.
I have learned a lot in the last 37 years.
Each of us brought in to the relationship baggage from our past.
My big one was abandonment.
As I grew closer to God I realized my husband did love me.
My husband did not purposely choose to hurt me.
We were young. We didn’t know. We both made decisions out of immaturity.
We have worked hard and we made it and it is good.
The promises above… I have loved you…I have drawn you…
I will not ever leave you…*a commentary said the verse really means never never never never never…five times… to get the point across.*
That is a lot of never’s.
I challenge each of us today to ask God to show you what kind of agreements you have made in your marriage if you are married… if not what personal agreements have you made about yourself or other relationships.
John said, “if it doesn’t feel risky it is not love.”
For love risks… to love deeply.
He said, “Your marriage will have rough waters, and deep turbulence, you will have pain and crisis moments, how you handle them as a couple will determine the strength you have in the relationship.” He says, “You live in a brutal war and the enemy does not want you strong and united.” He will whisper accusations to you just so you can replay the, “See I told you so moments.” (boy did we ever have some stretching moments in 37 years) John said,
“You must guard your relationship.
Watch your heart. Take note of your attitude towards each other and pray.”
John said “God is always after deeper healing~ deeper character building~ deeper transparency.”
He also said, “When the storms come… and they will…you must have an anchor to hold onto.”
Do you have an anchor… who loves you deeply and won’t ever leave you?
Take hold of it and cling tightly to the one who keeps you stable.
You cannot drift far if you allow Him to love you and keep you in a safe place.
by Sharon O | Nov 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
Our Pastor yesterday was sharing with us as he continued the topic of ‘knowing Jesus’.
A few more of the attributes of Jesus we don’t often think about are Grace and Justice.
He was full of grace, and compassion, and kindness and forgiveness.
He was also full of Justice for He was fully God and could not tolerate sin and evil.
Pastor said, “If you read the interactions of Jesus He deals with women much differently than He deals with the men.” The reason for that was the fact that women were low in status and had little value in that culture. They were devalued and when he ministered to them he collided with the theology of the day. (And he knew that)
He saw they had value.
He saw they were needing His touch and He saw they were searching from their heart.
That brought great chaos to the leaders of the day for He was not supposed to talk to women or heal them (remember the woman who grabbed the end of his garment?) Women were valued in the presence of Jesus and that made the rulers of the day upset with him.
In John 8:2-10 Pastor said Jesus was ambushed into a situation so that the leaders of the day would see what Jesus would do and build their case against him.
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts; where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and ask her, “Woman, where are they? no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” (Pastor said there should be a question mark there because in reality the only one who stood there without sin was Jesus and he could have thrown the stone at her and he knew that)
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
GRACE…was shown to her.
The leaders of the day wanted to ambush Jesus into judging her and in the process they became the judged. Jesus declared the truth to them and he revealed to them their hearts intention of judgement. They had to have set her up in order for them to know she was in adultery so they were more guilty than she was to catch her in the act. Just as they set Jesus up they set her up too. Pastor said, “Jesus was teaching and all of a sudden in walked these men dragging a half dressed woman wrapped in bed sheets caught in the act.” How would they know without being a part of it?
Pastor said, “Don’t we wish we could know what he wrote? It must have been revealing enough for all of them to leave.” Jesus exposed their hearts of stone and condemned the ones who were accusing. Did he write down specific names… did he write down specific sins only those who read would know about? They left…one by one.
They left…one by one… which tells me he dealt with each heart individully.
Grace was shown to the woman standing near him in a bed cloth…
transparent with her shame exposed. Grace was shown to her heart.
Grace mixed with love was shown to her with compassion. Jesus said, “leave and not only leave here but leave the life you have been living. You don’t need to live that way.”
Justice was when Jesus found the temple being used wrongfully in the selling of animals and exchanging of money. Jesus was angered and drove them out removing them with force and strength. In John 2:13-20 He was God refining and cleaning out the ones who were abusing the temple for wrong purposes. He made a whip and used his anger… the anger of God against sin and forced them out of the temple. (Pastor said, “I don’t think he used his inside voice.”)
Jesus was not just a quiet gentle person.
He was God full of Grace and Justice and He used His power when He needed to.
The ending question was this:
What part of your life do you need refined and cleaned by a grace filled powerful God full of justice and strength?
Pastor said, “Jesus became the voice for the voiceless.”
The women of the ‘day’ had no voice. They had no purpose and no value. Jesus did not stay within that law he stayed within the soul searching God laws that asked questions.
Questions of the heart.
He showed compassion when it was against the rule of the day.
He challenged those who challenged him and gently cared for those who sought him out.
He was an advocate and a Judge.
Will you also make him your Lord and Savior so he can gracefully move into your heart and show you what needs to be refined and cleaned?
This is just a little something to think about today.
God in His Holiness was gentle enough to have grace towards a women standing before him in shame wrapped in a bed sheet.
What are we wrapped in?
by Sharon O | Nov 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
We went to a marriage seminar this weekend.
It was good, it was challenging, it was thought provoking and it brought a bit of tears.
The whole topic was heavy and good.
It will take me a few days to process it all.
I will share in a few days the ‘whole idea’ of the seminar.
For now I think I will just wish you a good week.
I pray it is a good one for you.
I pray that you will feel blessed and rested.
God bless you as you press in and ask him to give you a restful renewed heart
and a spirit within you that is ready for worship.
Blessings to you on a new week ahead.
