by Alaina | Feb 21, 2021 | Sunday Scripture
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9
My dad was a biology major, it therefore stands to reason that he was probably the most excited I have ever seen him be when in third grade I was learning how to use the microscope and he was able to show me the hidden wonders of the world, revealed through the microscope’s lense. We pulled out his microscope, dusted off the old slides and examined all of them under the microscope. I was hooked! We started looking at other things beside the slides: salt, sugar, hair- oh how the world transformed looking under that lense! I remember when, after examining everything that could possibly be examined we finally stepped back and my eyes readjusting to the real size world around us, again oblivious to the microscopic world that we had just been ensconced in.
I remembered this feeling a few weeks ago sitting in church, I felt a subtle nudge that perhaps I was living life as though looking through that microscope again. Immersed in the close up details of my life, neglecting to pay attention to the rest of the big world going on around me. In my day to day life, with bills that need paid and projects that need worked on, and responsibilities to uphold, it is easy to think that this is the whole of life, that all these minute details are sum of life as a whole- but are they really?
Yes, it is the seemingly inconsequential tasks that fill up the minutes and hours of our days, and therefore our lives- but isn’t it also true that in getting immersed in all the details that we miss the big picture? Scripture reminds us that, “His thoughts are not our thoughts,” and that “His ways are higher than our ways.” They are higher, the bigger, they are better. We get so immersed in the details of our lives that we totally forget the big picture. Yes we were put on this earth to work, do laundry and pay bills. But we were also placed here to love and nurture others, feed the hungry, and share the gospel.
That Sunday I felt the nudge that I had been living too small, too centered on me, myself, I, and right now. God calls us to many small things in this life but He also calls us to many bigger things too. To a life centered on others, not ourselves. We may run a large non profit, we may give someone the nudge that they need to start a bible study that changes yet another person’s life, but if we never look up from our little corner of the world, we will miss the big things going on in the world around us, in which we could yet play a part- if only we look up.
What about you? Have you gotten caught up in life’s grind as well and forgotten that there is a whole big world going on around you? However if you are feeling like there has to be more to life than laundry and dishes I urge you to ask God what His plans are for you, and then to look up from the microscope of your life.
by Alaina | Feb 14, 2021 | Sunday Scripture
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12 NIV
I was talking to my mom in my car on the way home a few days ago, don’t worry I was wearing my wireless headset so I could talk safely, my mother was just responding to something I said and I could tell she was on a roll when- dead zone! I completely lost service and didn’t hear a word she said.
When I got a signal back I called her again and she answered saying, “I thought to myself, ‘Wow I must really be making a good point she hasn’t interrupted yet!’ ” “I don’t interrupt that much, do I!?” I said interrupting again. “Well no, you just like to join in on what people are saying,” Mom said cutting me a little slack.
That conversation got me thinking… I had been aware that I am not always the best listener, and this was something I had determined to work on, and be more aware of this year, but man, do I really do it all the time?? I attended a workshop once where the speaker said a statement, “People will say the most important thing right before they are done speaking.” How often do I miss that?
In my eagerness to jump in and show that I am listening I often cut people off, interrupting and by default showing that what I have to say is more important than what they have to say.
Christ gave us the command to “Love one another, ” and to “Do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” One of the best ways to love others is to listen and listen well to them. Sure what I have to say may be important but so is what they have to say- and regardless isn’t it more important to show love to them than to show them how smart we think we are?
With God’s help and by His grace I will work to become a better listener, this will be a focus for me this new year- what about you? Is there an area of your life in which you know you can improve but have been trying to ignore? Why not ask God to help you transform this area of your life this year? There’s no time like the present to do so!
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by Alaina | Feb 8, 2021 | Sunday Scripture
And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 ESV
Enough. We just came through a year in which I felt there was never enough. I operated most of my days in a panicked rush, hurrying to do, get and be enough. There was seemingly never enough time. Not enough money. Not enough sleep. Not enough time spent with friends and family. Never enough. I didn’t set out to live this way intentionally but by default it happened. There is always a default that takes over when we are not intentional. So I lived in lack, a self fulfilling mindset that there wasn’t enough of anything, so of course there wasn’t.
The funny thing is that when I got to the end of the year and looked back I realized that there had always been enough. Just enough sometimes, but enough nonetheless. Just enough time to force me to prioritize what really mattered. Enough money to cover the unexpected expense. There was still precious time spent making memories with family. There was enough.
After looking over my previous year I made a conscious decision. I would not live at that frenetic pace, in that scarcity mindset this year. I would choose to believe that there is enough. That’s what God promises too.
He doesn’t promise that there will always be plenty. He promises that there will be enough, that He will supply our needs. Because He is enough. There is an old Hymn that we always sang in the Church I grew up in called, “My God is Enough.” The song goes on to say about how He’s never been known to fail, that His powers still prevail. I choose to believe that. I choose to believe that even if there isn’t enough of something that everything will be ok because He is still in control and what more do I possibly need than the Creator of the whole world telling me that it will all be ok, that He is enough.
by Alaina | Jan 31, 2021 | Sunday Scripture
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
Philippians 2:12 NLT
One of the passages that stuck with me most from the Chronicles of Narnia is when Mr. Beaver responds to Lucy, saying of Aslan: “Safe?… Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” Lucy was like me, thinking that if she was to appear before this King that was also a Lion, surely he must be safe- right? How could people go before him if he wasn’t safe? As seen above Mr. Beaver set her straight, one doesn’t need to be safe in order to be good.
There is some discussion as to whether Mr. Lewis meant this as a metaphor for Jesus or whether he was just writing a scene for a children’s book without a deep metaphorical undertone. Regardless of whether it was intended or not I think it makes a great metaphor for God.
As people we tend to like categories, they make life easier! We make categorization systems for people, plants, food, books, countries- you name it! Usually we want it to fall into a system that looks like this; either it’s right or wrong, either good or bad, etc.. We like bilateral systems. We don’t tend to like gray areas of great complexity- isn’t that why subjects like politics get so controversial? What important, deep subjects in life can be easily reduced to black and white?
We do the Same thing with God. We want to categorize Him, so we say, there’s the judgemental God of the Old Testament, and then there’s the loving God of the New Testament- as if the most complex Being in the whole world could be simplified down into those 2 simple categories. Preposterous! He is loving, He is good, He is also the ultimate Judge.
In Church we tend to do a before and after; the Old Testament God is a righteous and judgemental God, the New Testament God is a kind and loving God. But God didn’t change His personality- He doesn’t change! He is a righteous and judgmental God, He is also so kind and loving that He sent his only Son to die so that we can be saved! Let us not mistake that kind of amazing love for safeness though. We must choose to love Him first and foremost in our lives or else we waste the precious gift of His son to us, and if we do that there will be eternal consequences.
No, He isn’t a safe God, but He is a good God. Therefore let us come before Him with the right attitude of awe and humility befitting His majesty, and let us worship Him.
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by Alaina | Jan 3, 2021 | Sunday Scripture
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
Genesis 11:4-5 NIV
There we were, just over a year ago, like racehorses at the gate ready to bust through and give 2020 all we had. We were going to do more, make more, and be more than we had ever had! Just watch and see! We had crazy high goals and we WERE going to hit them all. Then in the beginning of March we were totally blindsided with a pandemic. We were confident that it would only be a couple weeks and we would get our life back on track, but week stretched into week and here we are nearly a year later, little having changed.
What about all of our plans? What about all the things we were going to do? Big things, important things, good things that would bring honor and glory to God? For most of us 2020 did not turn out like we wanted it to and we were left asking God why? Why did He allow a pandemic to ruin our plans? Why did He allow all this craziness to happen? Didn’t He want all the good things we were going to do to come to fruition?
In Genesis we hear the story about the Tower of Babel. All the people of the world were speaking one language at this point and they decided they wanted to build a huge tower reaching to the heavens, because what couldn’t they do if they all came together to work on this? God saw what they were doing and that their intent wasn’t good and He confused their speech by giving them different languages so they could no longer understand each other. Just like that their plans were destroyed and people slowly dispersed to different parts of the earth. I wonder if in 2020 we were a little like these people from Genesis, hurriedly working on building our own Tower of Babel.
Perhaps our problem was not what we intended to do but rather how we intended to do these things. Were we leaning on God to show us HIs will and desires for us in 2020? Or were we hoping He was on board and we raced ahead shouting to Him over our shoulders about all the things we were off to do? Maybe He allowed this very bad thing to happen in order to give us a reminder that we couldn’t miss that we can’t do anything alone. Maybe He wants us to remember how fleeting life really is and that when it comes right down to it the only thing that matters at all is our relationship with Him. Not our todo lists. Not our big plans. Not even if we live or die- but rather where we will go when we die. We have work on this earth to do, but if we aren’t doing the right work none of it will matter. It’s not about the Tower of Babel we had in mind to work on this year, it is about the work He would have us do.
This year rather than racing ahead with our plans like we did last year I invite you to pause, and pray over all your dreams and goals and really seek His will for you in this coming year. I pray we spend this year chasing His dreams for our lives and not just our own.
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by Alaina | Jan 2, 2021 | Sunday Scripture
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8 NIV
I love color! I love playing with colors; different shades of a color, different color combinations- all of it! There is so much color in the world and so many shades- more than we can even realize! There are many mornings that I find myself driving over the lake of a local state park and I’ll catch my breath at the sunrise over the lake- it looks like an exquisite pastel painting. All misty, diffuse light with the pink and orange rays of sunlight shining through the mist. Later in the day I’ll pass through again everything is different. Later in the day, the lake is a bold picture of a bright blue of the sky, the green of the trees, and dark emerald of the water- a nearly different scene altogether. All because of color.
There are so many places in this world, ones that are absolutely saturated in color that I want to see. I can’t imagine the vivid colors of nature in places like New Zealand. I want to see the deep emerald fields of Ireland, and the sandy browns and dessert greens of the American West.
I see all this and I think how can anything be anymore vivid? Color is a way of interpreting vitality, life. When cheeks become ruddy after exertion or when we take on a tan in summer’s sun we say we look good, healthy, glowing, full of color. How can anything be any more real than this world full of innumerable colors? I tend to think of heaven generally as a golden monotone city, I know this isn’t true but when my young self heard Heaven described for the first time that is what I thought, and that is the image that still first comes to mind today. But that is all wrong. It will be full of color- so much color! More than we can possibly imagine.
The thing is that this earth is not the realest thing that there is. The trust is that Heaven is the realest- and this life is but a dim reflection of the next. I imagine when we get to Heaven and look back that we will chuckle at the fact that we thought this earth was the real deal because we will have then seen all the colors of Heaven in all their glory. And we will see Him in all His glory too.
