He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not - Lynn Dove

I know it's past Valentine's Day, but as I start to see the snow melting and I know the dandelions will be sprouting up all over our acreage in the next few months, I am reminded of the game I used to play when I was a girl about picking petals off of daisies to determine whether a boy liked or did not like me.

"He loves me..." I'd pick off a petal, "He loves me not..." and I'd pick off another petal. Dependant on whether I liked the boy in question, determined what I would do when I was down to the last few pedals. Knowing I had to land on "He LOVES me", I'd accidentally (on purpose) make sure I doubled up on pedals as necessary to make sure that the last petal worked out to my favour.

Now admit it, Girls...you did that too! Yeah, it's cheating, but sometimes you just had to make sure that "fate" was in your control, not the other way around.

Fate...it's an ugly word for Christians. We never leave things to fate, we leave it up to God...or do we? Occasionally...okay, I'll fess up...repeatedly...I try to manipulate God to see things my way. If I use the flower petal analogy, I make sure the last petal I pick off benefits me, rather than the other way around. My prayers seem to be geared towards me and my wishes rather than discovering what God's will is for me. I suppose I do that out of fear. I'm just not sure He totally understands what I'm going through at any given time. I figure giving Him a little nudge in the right...I mean, MY direction, so He understands the circumstances better is totally okay.

Are you cringing yet? I want my prayers answered MY WAY. I want God to give me what I WANT. I want God to be quick about it too! I want, I WANT... How arrogant. No wonder God is slow to answer my misguided prayers, and silent when I need to hear His voice. When will I ever learn?

I attended a Women's Worship recently at my church. "Offer Up!" was a chance to join with other women to offer up our worship whole-heartedly to our Father. I knew the moment I entered the sanctuary that my heart was not right with God. I was too busy comparing myself to the other women first. Then I had difficulty with the fact that there were a few visitors from other churches who obviously worshipped in a manner I found strange. My conservative Baptist sensibilities like "spidey senses" were "tingling". I was distracted by the other ladies, even a little judgmental I'll admit. I almost thought about leaving, thinking to myself that my church was becoming far too charismatic for my liking!

Then a still soft voice whispered, "Stay." I don't know when it happened exactly, but as we lifted our voices to Worship, I knew I HAD to be there. Soon I forgot there were other women around me and all my attention was fixed exactly where it should have been all along...on Jesus. Soon I found myself on my feet, arms outstretched, eyes closed, singing my heart out to God and my heart broke wide open. I gazed at the Cross and discovered once again that HE LOVES ME !

"I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise. I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stout hearted. May all the kings of the earth praise you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth. May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great. Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever - do not abandon the works of your hands." Psalm 138

Sunday Morning Blues - Ruth L. Snyder

The phone's insistent ring interrupted my quiet Sunday morning. "Good morning. Is Kendall there? My furnace is beeping and it's only 15 degrees in my house." It was my mother-in-law.

I glanced at the thermometer. It was -31 Celsius outside. I passed the phone to my husband and then mentally reviewed my "to do" list:

• Set the table for breakfast
• Wake up our five children
• Make cake for church coffee fellowship
• Get dressed for church
• Make sure all our children were dressed for church
• Have breakfast
• Clean up from breakfast
• Drive to church
• Shovel the snow off the walk at church
• Make coffee, tea, and juice

Kendall layered up and went outside. I thought he had left to fix the furnace until he came back in the house, stomping the snow off his boots. "The alternator isn't working in the van. I'll have to drive it over to fix Mom's furnace. The other van has tools on the seats. You'll have to move them so the kids have a place to sit."

I nodded, but inside I was grumbling. One more thing to add to my list. The morning rush continued. No more complications. Everyone was dressed, we had eaten, and we were getting coats on. Our fifteen-year-old daughter had helped by moving most of the tools. Just as I was going out the door, Kendall came in. "I remembered that I had the key to the church. I'll trade vans with you. The furnace still isn't working, so I'm going back to finish the job."

We arrived at church. Several centimetres of fresh, fluffy snow blanketed the sidewalk. I unlocked the church, plugged in the coffee maker, and recruited a couple of my children to help shovel snow. By now my head was pounding. I was scheduled to have an abscessed tooth removed in a couple days, but in the meantime it was painful. Thankfully the snow was loose and easy to shovel.

Back inside, most of the children found books to read and I returned to the kitchen to make coffee and set out the supplies for our weekly fellowship time after church. The early coffee crew soon began to drift in. Then it was time for church to start.

My next task was to figure out how best to configure the seating arrangement to discourage fighting and fidgeting. I sat between my youngest son and one of my twins and held our four-year-old daughter on my lap. The twin that didn't get to sit beside me was upset and started acting up. The pre-service singing time became a balancing act of finding the appropriate hymn and sorting out grievances before they were resolved physically. I tried to focus on the words.

After the opening hymns and announcements our pastor called the children up to the front of the church. I opened my wallet and distributed offering money. Then I sighed in relief as all the children made their way to Sunday School. My mind was still going at warp speed when I joined the congregation singing the offertory. We sing the words every Sunday, but today they hit home in a new way.

"Father God, we today bring our gifts to the altar. All our prayers, work, and play, all our hope for tomorrow. All of our failures and our success in this day we're living. All we are, and hope to be, in Christ's sacrifice giving."

"Lord, forgive me for my grouchy attitude. Thank you for your many blessings in my life. Still my heart and my thoughts and help me to hear from You today. I bring You the gift of myself - all my failures and my successes. Amen"

At times we may feel like life is conspiring against us. I often remind my children that we cannot change what happens to us, but we can change our attitude. Obviously I need that reminder too. I'm thankful that God is patient with me and catches my attention. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid the Sunday blues in 2013 - not necessarily because circumstances are different, but because I choose a positive attitude.

www.trusteesnyder.blogspot.com
(Education information)
www.ruthlsnyder.com
(Ruth's writing and family life) 
www.earlyyearssuccess.com
(Information for caregivers of children ages 0-5)
Follow Ruth on Twitter:www.twitter.com/@wwjdr

Don’t Waste Your Time in Worship – Ramona Heikel

I love Pilgrim Books, the Christian used bookstore in Calgary. One thing I appreciate about it is that it carries books published many years ago, not just the latest trends hot off the press. I like to compare Christian viewpoints of today with those from the 1980’s, or 1950’s, the turn of the twentieth century, or even older. And the frosting on the cake is that the older books—which to me are often the most “meaty”—typically cost around two dollars.

In one visit to Pilgrim Books, a shocking title caught my eye: Don’t Waste Your Time in Worship. This book by James L. Christensen was published in 1978. I’d been more and more frustrated by the worship services I was attending, and always found myself trying to analyze what had changed over the years. But according to this 30-year-old book, not much had changed!

Here are a few of the many inspiring passages that I jotted down:

To worship God meaningfully is a supreme accomplishment. For a finite person to be in communication with the Infinite is not something done on the run. Nor is it a reality when approached flippantly or grudgingly…After 30 years as a Christian minister, I am convinced that many people who attend church do not really worship God at all. They waste their time.

The church today faces a crisis in its life, partially because worship has not been properly understood. Many people, whether they admit it or not, or are conscious of it or not, attend more as spectators of a performance rather than as participants in the worship of God. A choir does our singing; the minister does our praying, Scripture reading, and interpretation.

One may waste his time in church because much so-called worship is…focused upon man instead of God…One publisher recently observed: “For a preacher to be popular, all he has to do is use a lot of humor, tell stories well, and entertain his congregation.”

The reformation distaste for the Roman Catholic Mass, in which there was no preaching and much ceremony, caused a Protestant reaction to an opposite extreme, making the sermon central and eliminating main elements of worship. In some denominations, the church nave has become more of an auditorium than a sanctuary, transforming the altar into a lecture platform. Hence, the pulpit becomes the center of attention and the key to the church’s growth.

We have heard naïve ministers who have meant well say, “We come here to recharge the batteries of our spirit, so we may go forth to serve.” …but this is not the purpose of worship. The purpose of worship is not to build up the morale of the nation or to promote the church’s programs, as one might easily conclude from some preachments…However worthy these motives…God is worshiped for His own glory. Worship is man’s loving response to God’s personal revelation in Jesus Christ. Genuine worship takes place only when God is worshiped for His own sake.

Posted by Ramona

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[Photos by Adrian van Leen on Open Photo]