My Oasis

I know that not every day is easy . . . know that trials and difficulties are part of life. But lately it seems I have been journeying through a personal and spiritual wilderness. Life feels dry, harsh and barren. The harder I try to move forward, the farther backwards I seem to fall. And the joy I usually find in life has evaporated in the heat of the day. In the midst of the heat and the struggle and the dryness, the wind begins to whip around; the sand swirls into a blinding storm of stress.

As I move through my desert, I try to look for the lessons in the desert, but find I struggle to keep my eyes on the truth that is greater than this single moment in time. Now I find myself in need of an oasis. Not to hide from the challenges and fears I face, but a place that restores my soul. Through the sand storm, I am finding I have the power to create my own oasis and am learning contentment in all things.

(Photo Source: best.berkeley.edu)

Grain of Mustard Seed

This fall, my son's class completed a unit on fire safety. Something about the way the information was presented created a very deep fear in him. He was fearful at bedtime, unsure of what would happen if a fire broke out in our home while he slept. He didn't want to take a shower because he might be trapped if the house caught on fire while he slept.

As I struggled to figure out how I could help him through this very difficult time, I remembered him earlier asking me what the Bible meant when it said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove ; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." (Matthew 17:20). How could he or any person for that matter, move a mountain? We live in the Pacific Northwest. He knows how big mountains are.

When I picked my son up from school that day, we talked about mountains and mustard seeds. I explained how his fear was his mountain and how small mustard seed was and how that was all the faith it would take to move that mountain of fear.

Together that day as we drove to the baby sitter's, we claimed that promise! Today that mountain is barely a mole-hill and my son's faith has grown as he learned the power of a mustard seed!

Picture courtesy of http://cacina.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/carry-the-gospel-with-you-249/

Perfection

Would that I could
Would that I be
All that the I Am
Would have me to be.
Established in faith,
Holding to the hope
That through all my trials
Perfected I'll be.

The Garden Inside You

For most of my life, I have found that churches either focus exclusively on adherence to the Biblical law or on our freedom from that law which they often communicate as the freedom to do as we please without regard to the righteousness of those actions. In my searching for truth I have come to believe that we must take the principle character qualities that the scripture uses to define spiritual maturity and apply them to our everyday lives. The more clearly we reflect those character qualities, the more in line our actions are with God's law without the arrogance I have found in legalistic churches.

When I became a mother, I struggled with how I would teach my son these valuable lessons, when the church rarely mentioned them. I wrote him a story called, The Garden Inside You. It explains how that when God created him, God planted inside of him 12 seeds that represent the essential character qualities of the faith. I detailed how the fruit of each seed would help him live a life that would honor God and how we needed Christ to care for and maintain our garden or "weeds" would grow in our garden and choke the life out of the plants God had placed inside of each of us.

This weekend he was repeatedly faced with challenging situations that required patience. As he was struggling to apply patience to the situations he was facing, we were able to have a discussion about how Jesus must be weeding around his patience plant since he was facing so many situations that needed it.

This simple little story is becoming a tool for us to discuss behavior changes or to plan ahead for possible situations he might face based on our activities. I am grateful to be able to share my faith with my son in a way that he can take it and apply it directly to his own life.

Faith

I do not trust blindly, but rather base my belief on knowledge and experience. I may not know the specific out come of my current situation, but I know from my own experience, from the experiences of others that the Father of my soul will not abandon me. He will provide me with the guidance, strength and wisdom I need to navigate life's obstical course. I can do whatever my life requires of me to achieve my mission - my calling.

Joy

Joy isn't always wrapped in ecstasy. Sometimes it is the tear-stained contentment that comes after a dark stormy night. I begin to realize that despite the current sorrow, tomorrow eventually dawns and the Father of my soul will use today's darkness to bring to fruition a greater good. It is the clam I am finding as I learn to trust that while I may not see the direct cause and effect of what I am currently experiencing, there is a bigger picture, and the end will be brighter than today.