We cannot but speak...

We cannot but speak what we have seen and heard… (Acts 4:20)

My eight-year-old is a talker. Everything he notices, everything he hears gets repeated. Everything that’s on is mind is spoken out loud. It can drive us all a bit crazy. It’s all innocent observation and interest, and for the most part, it’s thrilling as a mother for me to see his mind developing and watch him make new connections between principles and facts. He loves to learn, and I love that about him. But he is a talker.

One issue we have in particular is his tendency to tell everything about every scene in a movie he has seen before, spoilers and all. There is no boundary in his mind (yet) that prevents him from ruining the movie for someone else who hasn’t seen it.

He is literally unable to hinder any previous experience from making its way out of his mouth. The memory is so real, the excitement so potent, that it is unthinkable to keep it to himself alone.

I find intriguing the human process of experience-to-thought-to-words to which we are all bound. Intake determines product, “garbage in, garbage out,” “you are what you eat,” etc. I’ve blogged about that before. But it’s so true, I’ve got to address it again.

What we have been watching, we talk about. What we have been listening to, the conversations we’ve heard, are what we repeat.

What am I listening to? What do I put before my eyes? it is inevitably that which will come out of my mouth. Because we are made to be witnesses. And whether we use that element in our design for good or evil, we will nonetheless use it. Witnesses of something.

Our eyes are always seeing…what is it they see? For it is of this that we will witness. What do we hear? It is this we will repeat.

You cannot but speak that which you have seen and heard. It will come out, despite your attempts to stifle it. It is the natural flow to life.

Herein lies the beauty of God’s perfect plan. Having designed us with this tendency to repeat and reproduce what has entered our existence by our senses, He placed in us this ‘treasure in earthen vessels‘ that is so powerful, it trumps everything else! No experience can compare. And it’s ongoing… ‘further up, further in,’ so to speak. There’s no end to this amazing trip, so there’s always something more to say.

It is therefore my goal to seek Him with my eyes, studying His Word, and listen for His Voice with my ears…the ‘witness’ part is inevitable.

Nobody's a Pro

I've often observed seasoned professionals doing their job and thought, Wow, they are really good at what they do...they must not even have to think about it. All the challenges they face on a daily basis must be 'old hat.'

I don't know that I believe that anymore.

Rather, the following observations might be more accurate:

• No one has ever lived today before. Right, no surprise there.
  
• Everyone at some point of every day has reason to stop and say, this is new. I'm not prepared for this (though some of us roll with the punches a bit better than others).
  
• No one has enough experience to say unequivocally that today will be just like any other day, that all the issues it brings with it are predictable and mundane, and I will go to bed tonight not having experienced anything different from yesterday or any day previous.

The future is locked tight, and we are banned from even a peek in the window. While we can plan and predict some things, the fact remains that every (sane) human on the planet wakes up every day and must admit this: many things could happen today for which I am not prepared, and over which I have no control.

I find solace in this fact. It means, to me, that we are fundamentally equal. That I don't have to be intimidated by the experience of others much further down the road than I; we are all limited in scope and control, and that by necessity we depend on God (whether we believe Him or not) to direct our path.

"A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his path." (Prov. 16:9)

And now a sidenote:
is it this realization that propels so many wanna-be writers to delve into the worlds of make-believe when writing a novel? I recently discovered that a large number (majority, in this particular poll) are writing fantasy, science-fiction, and paranormal stuff. What sells nowadays, evidently, is the novel that allows the reader to be superhuman, or something other, with an ability to control more than in reality...or at least to escape today's reality.

I suppose that is the point in fictional writing: you are reading it to escape from the decidedly non-fictional life you lead.

Moral of these ramblings: it's okay to feel inadequate, as long as I keep moving forward.

The Voice of God

"...the sheep follow him: for they know his voice." (John 10:4)

In times of uncertainty, I have often wondered whether I was truly hearing the voice of God, or just my own wants and desires pushing me toward something. When standing at a fork in the road, it's easy to get confused and question every step.

It is at times like these when I remember the above verse, and I ask myself, "oh, my goodness--do I really know the voice of God?" and panic sets in. Tonight, during worship service, the Lord gave me clarity. The truth is: His WORD is His VOICE.

"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63)

What has been recorded in those pages is the Living Word, the Voice of Jesus, with instruction and guidance for every day.

"The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." (Isaiah 1:3)
Even 'dumb animals' know where to find their sustenance! A sheep knows where to find protection...he's been with the shepherd many times before, and he knows to always run to the same place, the same source, the same gentle voice.

I don't know much, but I know where to run for my refuge, because Psalm 46:1 says "God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble." I've run to that beautiful, living scripture many times before.

If I need comfort, I can go to the Comforter who "shall...bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you,"and soon follow a flood of words like "I will never leave you, nor forsake you," and "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

The Living Word! Yes, I know that Voice!

It is the same first voice that called me into existence from nothing, that whispered to me through every Bible story in Sunday School, that shouted to me in fiery messages across the pulpit, that planted itself deep in my soul when I memorized Scriptures. It is the one that urges me to "pray without ceasing", "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart...soul...mind...strength," "love thy neighbor as thyself," and reminds me that "greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."

No more doubting where the ethereal thundering voice from heaven is. I know that Voice! He has written that Law upon my heart, and placed in that wonderful Book specific counsel for me, just waiting in the pages to be discovered (or brought back to remembrance) in a time of need.

Thought for Today

God can't bless what you aren't doing.

"Creak" Goes the Rudder...

...as the ship of American Politics--and therefore the moral direction of our country--shifts dramatically to the left.

In the distance across murky waters, the foreboding silhouette of Hell itself emerges. Dead ahead. (pardon the pun)

The ship churns by a brightly-painted buoy plastered with a cheery sign: "Hell...where everyone's welcome!"

God forgive those who sit in the crow's nest (in 'high places') and yet allow us to continue forward.

For most of my adult life, it has been a 'given' that despite the squeaky wheels like Sheehan and other left-wing reprobates, we still had a conservative majority in America. With a (relative) conservative in the White House and a majority in Congress, I felt that I could still believe in the moral integrity of the average American.

But it seems we have been bought...enough of us to make the difference in this past election, anyway. We have determined that money is more important than human life--or, in the words of this new majority,

"MY life is more important than ANY other's, including defenseless unborn children".

A few ear-tickling words from Democrats promising to 'cut taxes for the middle class' appeals to that deep-seated greed, and we're sold. Morals are out the window.
My question here is: what about the so-called 'Christian majority' in the US? Where are they? Do they really exist? Or is it the facade of 'Christianity' that had us duped? The whited sepulchures that dominated the pew, swaying to the music, nodding and clapping at each crescendo, yet truly hearing none of the words? (see this)

What are the easy-believism preachers thinking now? What good have they done? Bowing to the left, they say that loving your neighbor means allowing him to do whatever he wants...and you automatically have to accept it. And since there is no doctrine left, there is nothing to guide people through lives, or through the polls.

I have to say, this is what we get for being TOO AFRAID TO STAND UP FOR TRUTH. We are too concerned about numbers and pleasing people and padding our pews and making everyone 'happy' (despite the fact that only the Holy Ghost can bring true joy), not ruffling feathers, that TRUTH itself has been sacrificed. >shudder<.

..but then, what about the marriage amendment that passed so easily in 10 states (not sure what happened in Arizona)? Dare I hope? Is there yet a flicker of light in the distance?

Knowing that Truth always wins, that God's promises are true, that He holds the future, I am compelled to be optimistic. There must be hope for us yet--otherwise, the Rapture would already have happened. If God sees a reason for preserving our unworthy lives even now, we must find that reason.

My hope is that this upset will start a fire beneath all of us to whom morals still matter more than anything...who fear God and strive to keep His commandments.
God help the sleeping 'conservative majority'...and help us to have the courage to be the Body you have commissioned us to be.

Help us to restore You to the helm of this wayward ship.