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Amazing Grace

/ pastorpete51 / 10 Comments 
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Matthew 6:28-30 KJV

When I was a young man, I would sometimes work for various farmers during haying season. Though putting up hay was hard work, and the pay (2¢ a bale) was not much, I loved the challenge of loading those 75 lbs. square bales as fast as we could up on the truck. By the time we reached the second level, I was barely able to lift the bales up higher, so the bigger men asked me to stand up on top and stack. Then they gleefully threw the bales up as hard as they could, seeing if they could knock me over! Making a game of it, transformed our backbreaking work into great fun and it seemed as if time flew as the stack grew higher and higher. Once we reached the sixth tier, the driver would head for the barn, and I, seated like a king on his throne, would surveil my kingdom from on high. As the slight breeze from the movement of the truck cooled the sweat from my arms, I could look out over the hayfield and see thousands of tiny wildflowers, now revealed, which had been hidden by the tall grass, before the mowing. The aroma of those flowers along with that of the freshly mown hay smelled better than the priciest perfumes at the store and they remind me of today’s verse. Jesus told us that since not even Solomon was dressed in finer clothing than that field, that we should not worry, because God would clothe us as well. Then, I think of the cross, where our Lord Jesus was stripped and nailed naked to its wooden beams, while the soldiers gambled for his clothing. Then, as the blood flowed down onto the ground, Jesus paid the price for your sins and for mine, and purchased for us robes of righteousness, so that we could be clothed in heaven. There we will be dressed as He is in clothing that shines brighter than the sun and with an aroma sweeter than the freshly mown hayfields of earth. There we will be clothed, not because of our hard work in God’s harvest field, but because of the amazing grace of Jesus, who bought our salvation with His own precious blood.

A Month of Sundays

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 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Genesis 2:3 ESV

Keeping up with our grandmother’s brisk pace was indeed a daunting task and “At this rate we won’t get there in a month of Sundays” was something that she loved to say, whenever was one of us was dawdling along, behind. Yet keeping up with Grandmother, was nothing in comparison with keeping up with the Almighty. Imagine for a moment, the speed of the six days of creation. They were like God going out for a walk around the universe at a break-neck rate. God created, light and darkness, planets and constellations, oceans, and continents, and that was just the first two days!

As God continued, projects, seemed to fly off His workbench, each one greater than the one before. Then on day six, God paused, stooped down to scoop up some clay, and He formed man with His own hands and in His own image. Finally, God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and He named Him Adam. But as God watched Adam, for the first time God noticed something that was not good. Adam was alone. So, God caused Adam to sleep, and it was while he was resting, that God took a rib to create Eve as his companion. Then on the seventh day, God Himself rested. After six fast and furious days, I believe that God slowed His pace, so that His children could catch up to Him. Walking at a speed that would take a month of Sundays to go around the garden of Eden was not a problem for God. In fact, God loved that seventh day so much that the Bible tells us that He gave it a special blessing and called it Holy! If it delighted God to slow His pace to walk with us, why are we always in such a hurry? Maybe a month of Sundays in our life might be just what pleases Him most!

Editing Advice from the Orchard – Part 3 – Removing that Fire Blight

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This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 
John 15:8 NIV

Finally, we come to the last and most difficult things to prune and those are the diseased branches. In apple trees these are branches infected with a bacteria called fire blight, and every old tree has a little. Though there is no known cure, a careful pruning can extend the life of a tree for years. If the sucker growth is the most obnoxious, and the deadwood most obvious, diseased branches as well as diseased writing, is the most obtuse to deal with. You see, sucker growth will never bear fruit and deadwood cannot bear fruit, but blighted limbs may still produce a few withered looking apples. In our writing, disease is not about the double negatives, misspelled words or run on sentences, it has to do with the why’s of our craft and the motives behind our manuscripts.

Photo by Zen Chung on Pexels.com

If we are just churning out slick stories that appeal to the lowest desires of readers, there may be a bit of fire light creeping in. When we start finger pointing at the faults of others or stirring people to angry debate instead of compassionate service, it is time to ask God to heal our hearts. Eventually a blighted heart will catch up with us, and if left unchecked, will destroy the very purpose for which God called us to write. The secret is that just as trimming in the orchard is done in the Winter, God will choose the Wintertime in our life to root out a diseased direction. And in the editing of our writing, we will work best once the heat of inspiration has worn off and we can come to our pages, with passionless eyes, sharp pencils, and a determination to clear out everything that hampers a great harvest. Then we need to pray that the words we put on the pages of our life as well as our manuscripts will inspire readers to trust in God’s promises, grow in His grace and be filled with the hope that comes only from Him!