January | 2021 | itsawonderfilledlife

Archive for January, 2021

Give love to others with the dog-like love that you want to receive.

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged #doglove, #goldenrule, #lovelikeadog, #thewheatonwheaten, #thewonderdog, #unconditionallove on January 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

So, the Wonderdog … he’s so freaking cute! He has this look like he is always ready to play.

At the end of the work day … that’s when I really feel loved.

Hubby says that each day the Wonderdog is on high alert as soon as he hears the garage door open. He sits, staring at the door, ears perked, for me to open it and walk into the house. Then his excitement explodes as he jumps and runs around waiting for me to pat his head and take him for his outside afternoon ablutions.

Dogs teach us about unconditional love, adoration, forgiveness and never hold a grudge. They are the model of how to love.

There is nothing better than being loved by a dog!

As a matter of fact, I would hasten a guess that everyone who has ever been adored by a dog has thought to themselves at least once, why can’t people love like?

Here’s the thing …

We humans do not love like dogs. We don’t act like dogs (and this is not a positive statement!).

We humans are selfish. Forgiveness is not something that comes natural. Humans are all about what have you done for me lately?

Basically, we are like cats … who ignore, demand, bully and abuse. In our selfish, arrogant cat-like selves, we think, that we show love to others as a dog shows love … but we don’t.

we all want to be loved as a dog loves,
but humans love more like cats!

Added to that … we ignore, demand, bully, abuse and cancel from our lives people who treat us in a cat-like manner.

Awhile back I had a little self check, on just how like a cat I am in my expectations in relationships with other people.

I was angry … like, so angry I could spit (my grandmother’s most extreme definition of anger). Someone had said things that made me mad. They had also not said things, and that made me mad. They had done things (and not done things) that made me mad … mad enough to spit!

Actually, I was mad enough to split … I had reached the end of my patience with this individual and I just wanted to get some permanent space from them …

because I didn’t deserve to be treated like that!

Then I came home one day, to the Wonderdog, who lavished his regular excitement and adoration on me. As I played with him, I thought about how distracted I had been lately. I hadn’t taken him for a walk, hadn’t had our regular end of day snuggles. Basically, I kept him alive, but didn’t provide much else.

Then I thought about the human relationship … the one I was ready to cancel. This time, I thought about times when I was the one who was saying (or not saying) and doing (or not doing) things that made the other person mad. They didn’t cancel our relationship, they persevered, stuck their feet deep into my dung heap and waited for better days. Oh, they might have hissed a time or two (like a cat), but they stayed with me through the storm (that I, no doubt, had contributed to creating).

How could I ever expect to be given the grace of a dog-like love if I am not prepared to love others through their cat-like tendencies?

There is this verse in the Bible (and in the texts of many other religions around the world) … a motto, a maxim for life that is pure gold :

Do to others
what you want them to do to you.

Matthew 7:12

It is such a simple rule for life, until you try to live it. Easier to expect it from others than to accomplish for others. Yet … if we could adopt this golden rule into our lives, what a difference we might experience. Imagine how others might see us, how they might see our God.

So, that’s it folks,

give love to others
with the dog-like love that you want to receive.

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Twelfth Night … The Wise Still Seek Him

Posted in christmas, Faith, WONDER, tagged #almostbutnotquite, #alwayswinterbutneverchristmas, #epiphany, #evenwhentheraincloudscome, #thewisestillseekhim, #twelthnight on January 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »

It is mid day, just days after the the celebrations of the holidays (I won’t say how many or few … for fear I may be befriended by my Christmas-all-year-adoring friends) and the sky is darkening already. The day began with the most spectacular sunrise, filling the sky with pinks, oranges, corals, even almost reds … and in my heart I heard my father’s voice red sky in morning, sailors take warning.

As I sat in my living room, amid boxes of Christmas decor, carefully packed away for next year, I felt as if that beautiful sunrise was a foreboding … but that could also be due to my recent check of the weather forecast … ten days of rain are coming.

January is not my favorite month of the year, whether clinical or psychosomatic, I seem to struggle with a seasonal downturn in my mind and spirit. Rain does not help this reality.

Though I am not one who listens to Christmas tunes in July, hangs the lights just after Halloween or keeps the tree up until epiphany, I long for Christmas to last all year.

It is in January when my annual heart’s cry is similar to what we might find in the pages of Lewis’ book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,

“It is winter in Narnia,” said Mr. Tumnus, “and has been for ever so long…. always winter, but never Christmas.”

The season of hope and peace and joy and love has been replaced by rain and dark and flu season and reminders of the pandemic. It is the season of …

almost, but not quite.

That is where we are … almost, but not quite. Christ has come as the babe in the manger who grew up to die on a sinner’s cross so that we might live with the Spirit. But … he has not come back yet and that is what our souls are reminded of when the Christmas season ends … for it should never end.

We have sung our carols of hope … now we have have to put their lyrics into practise, to live the hope we sang even when the morning skies are red with warning. This is the hard work of Christmas, living it day in and day out, even when there are no festive advent chocolates to sweeten the walk.

January is not where I expect life or Christmas to be found. And that is my personal challenge … to look for, to be the vessel through which the hope of Christmas can, unexpectedly, be found.

Today is known as Tweleth Night, or the eve of Ephiphany, when many Christians celebrate the Magi’s arrival and confirmation that the new babe was the reincarnation of God. It marks the end of the Christmas season … yet,

maybe

if we have experienced the hope, peace, love and joy of Christmas,

if we, like the Magi,

still seek Him …

Maybe we can have Christmas every day of the year … even when the rain clouds come.

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.

Howard Thurman from his poem, “The Work of Christmas”

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The Love the Will Never Let You Go

Posted in Faith, life, Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #grace, #gracenotjudgement, #hereislove, #hesed, #lovingkindness, #mercy, #steadfastlove, #thelovethatwillneverletyougo on January 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »

For the New Year I had started writing a post, but that didn’t feel right. So I started a second, got to the end and it still didn’t feel right. So I started again, resulting in Friday’s post A Lament to Start 2021. I kind of love when that happens, because I feel like I am not writing simply what I want to say, but what I am led to communicate.

This is the second post, when I got to the end, then my fingers began tapping in a different direction, a different message from what I had planned.

Hesed …

A Hebrew word. Wikipedia says “the word is used of kindness or love between people.” Our world could all use more of that!

But, Hesed is more than just kindness … and love itself has so many meanings … no, Hesed is grander than these.

In the Bible, like Wikipedia, Hesed is often translated as lovingkindness but it is also translated as a steadfast love. Does this make things clearer? Maybe, maybe not.

To understand Hesed we need to understand the unconditional, compassionate, covenantal, generous, merciful, loyal, permanence that is all part of this steadfast love,

The steadfast love of God is not offered/given as a payment for good behavior, not an owed obligation, but freely and without any pause in the delivery of it.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

It is this steadfast love, this hesed, that means we live under grace (which is undeserved) rather than judgement or wrath. Hesed is the definition, the fulfillment of the good news of the grace offered to such a worm as I (Psalm 22:6) by one who knew no sin (1 John 3:5).

Hebrew scholar Dom Rembert Sorg wrote that hesed is “really the Old Testament reflex (reflected image) of ‘God is love.'”

And this hesed, this lovingkindness, this steadfast love is available to us all!

Could we be more blessed, more fortunate, more … prepared for a new year and all of the good, bad and ugly that awaits us, provided with this grace, mercy and love? We not only have a new year ahead, but we are not entering it alone, unempowered, lost.

We have the firm foundation of steadfast love that never ceases!

And that makes for a Happy New Year!

“Life is dear, but God’s love is dearer.
To dwell with God is better than life at its best;
life at ease, in a palace, in health, in honour, in wealth, in pleasure;
yea, a thousand lives are not equal to the eternal life which abides in Jehovah’s smile.
In him we truly live, and move, and have our being …”
Charles Spurgeon

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A Lament to Start 2021

Posted in Faith, GOD, life, Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #2021, #alamenttostart2021, #deargod, #lament, #lamentduringapandemic, #lamentitshealthy, #newyear, #whygod on January 1, 2021| 1 Comment »

Lord, thank you for a new day, but especially for a new year.

We come to you today, the start of new year, because you are our God, our Creator and Redeemer. There is no other like you. You were and are and will ever be … and we bow humbly to you.

We are tired, we are all tired … but you know that.

What a year our world has walked through. The new normal has affected every area of our lives from our jobs, to shopping, to school, to recreation, to socialization, to hygiene to even church. Change is always wearying, but these changes … God, it’s kind of gotten to us at times. Yet, when we look at the suffering of others, who have experienced mourning, who have experienced natural disasters, who have experienced warfare during this pandemic, we feel selfish … our new normal is nothing compared to those challenges. Yet … you know. You designed that our minds and bodies and souls work together, that we humans be together … and we thank-you for offering yourself for our rest.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

We are discouraged, we have all been discouraged … but you know that.

Lord, it has seemed that bad news has been the theme of the year. Whether it was racial injustices or riots, politics, fires, natural disasters, homeless refuges around the world and famines … we are discouraged. Our social connections have decreased and when we looked to social media for connection, anger and fear have made social media less about connection and more about division. We simply need a little good news.

” … the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1)

We are longing for loved ones, we have all missed loved ones … but you know that.

Loneliness is pandemic in our world, God. Out of fear of and protection from Covid, we have been keeping our distance from others. Our children have not been having play dates, our teens have missed going to events with peers, our young adults are missing socializing, our elders … Lord, so many are so very isolated, so very alone. We ask that this new year might be one of reunions with loved ones … we implore you to make a way out of this lonely desert.

” … do not fear (loneliness), for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

We need you … we often don’t realize or do anything about it … but you know that too.

God, we need you. If anything has taught us this in our life, this pandemic year of new normal has been our motivator. When we are tired, you give us rest. When we are discouraged, you have given us good news. When we are lonely, we only need to seek and you are there. As the doors to our church services have closed for in person worship, we have encountered the challenge of choosing to connect online, in podcasts. As all that we know of worship services has been stripped away is your plan that we come back to YOU, rather than to the practises that have been our habit, perhaps these practices have even become the focus of our worship, rather than the specs with which to see you?

“God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

We leave these heart cries with you, trusting you to gather our tears. We trust you with our sorrows and what you will allow in and through them.

You are our God and we will serve only you.

* With our first breath we cry out … crying out is a most human response. Lament is a crying out to God. It is a declaration to Him of our sorrow, discomfort, sadness. It is being real before the God Almighty, announcing to him what he already knows … it is a step of faith, an indicator of intimacy and trust. Trust to share our pain and to leave it in his holy hands. To lament is to acknowledge God for who he is, it is to cry out our distress, then it is to leave our tears, our heartaches, our sorrows with Him … an act of full trust and confidence. It is to cast our cares, our worries, concerns and anxieties on Him … for He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

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