March | 2017 | itsawonderfilledlife

Archive for March, 2017

The Light Came In

Posted in WONDER, tagged #thelightcamein, #thelightoftheworld, James 1:17, Light on March 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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An afternoon when the sun shone brightly, then clouds came, then quals of snow, and repeat.

A dinner for two … my son caught up in thoughts of his day, I caught up in wondering about, you know peace on Earth, or some other such lofty thing.

I loaded the dishwasher, he headed upstairs to finish writing a short story.

I sighed …

and returned to the dining room to clean the table.

As I entered the room, with he setting sun brightening the entire room, I sighed again …

with delight. And smiled. And thought how I love that room.

Then I thought how I love the climbing rose bushes outside the dining room doors, and how eager I am to breath in their perfume.

And how soon the two Forsythia trees, perfectly in view from the dining room, would be ablaze with yellow flowers.

And how I aced the chicken and rice soup for dinner.

And that I was thankful for the furniture in the dining room that I would be refinishing for a friend.

And, all of a sudden not only the room was lighter, but so was my heart.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows.”
James 1:17

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And Freedom Reigned

Posted in GOD, life, WONDER, tagged #andfreedomreigned, #freedominchrist, #thetruthwillsetyoufree on March 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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I LOVE to be proven wrong … especially when it means that something better than I had imagined is the truth.

There was a day, last week, when I was delightfully wrong.

A student came up to me and asked if he could interview his mom for a project. At this point, two things went through my mind … one I thought, and the other I spoke.

The one I thought, but didn’t say was, “what the heck have you been doing for the month you have had to work on this project?”

The one I thought-through, and actually voiced was, “of course, but you do realize you will have to be ready to present your project by no later than next Tuesday?”

He nodded his head, in full confidence … I smiled, turned my back and rolled my eyes, as I walked down the hallway, doubtful.

Two days later, he raised his hand and said he would be ready to present.

I felt nauseous … very nauseous.

You see, when we, as Educational Assistants, walk through the educational process with a student, their assignments becomes our assignments. Their successes or failures can easily become our successes and failures.

So he stood up, and began to share, not just what he discovered by interviewing his mom, but a fantastic slide show, and his own story about the diagnosis that was his, and how it has affected his life.

Now, this could sound sad, except that he credited his mom (and dad) for helping him to overcome the struggles he was born into and with. He expressed thanks for giving him, not only a home, but a family and hope for the future.

He not only revealed truth, but told how the truth of the Bible had set him free, through the love and devotion of his parents who chose to live out the love of God, by choosing to love and care for him.

I have known this young man for about eight years. I remember (as his peers who heard his presentation) him cowering under a desk, sobbing. I remember his fears, his lack of confidence in his abilities.

But this day, a brave and confident young man, got up in front of his peers, and told the truth about his life.

And freedom reigned.

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Divided We Fall

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged #christiansunite, #dividedwefall, #justworktogether on March 2, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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I remembered a song that I heard often as a young child recently, and the chorus went:

“For united we stand. Divided we fall
And if our backs should ever be against the wall
We’ll be together, Together, you and I”

The song came to my mind as I was reading a news report last weekend that had me dismayed as a follower of Christ, when I read the headline “Christians collide …”.

My dismay was not that Christians might “collide” or disagree, for we do not all agree on all things, much like not at Jews, or Muslims, or Catholics or Atheists agree on all things. My dismay was that it was broadcast in the public forum, because the Christians themselves took it there.

And so I gulped, and was reminded of what it is to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30), for, as James 4:11-12 (MSG) reminds us:

“Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends.
It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule,
that takes a beating in that kind of talk.”

How like children tattling on each other we must sound to God when we go to a public forum about our grievances with each other. Even the most valid complaints have negative impacts on our representation of Christ for the unbelievers in our world.

We honour God when we are united with Him, and with each other.

A good reminder, as groups of believers, as well as for myself in my relationships.

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