Approach Your Day With Beauty

Approach Your Day With Beauty
by Barbara Chadwick

Psalm 34:12 (The Message)

"Who out there has a lust for life! Can't wait each day to come upon beauty!"

What a way to approach your day - looking for beauty!

Some friends came into Juneau on a cruise ship and we went sight-seeing with them. We saw the Mendenhall glacier, of course, then showed them our church (so that when they pray for us they can visualize our work) After that we went to the top of Mt. Roberts on the Tram where we had lunch. It was a sunny day (can you believe it!) so we had a glorious view. On the way down we saw eagles and a mama bear with one of her cubs munching on some roots. So for Cheechakos it was an outstanding day!

"He puts a smile on my face. He's my God." Psalm 42:11b (The Message)

Could you capture on a camera the essence of the smiles of friends when they meet, the joy of discovering their journey, the blessing of the fellowship that follows?

"How exquisite your love, O God." Psalm 36:7 (The Message)

After leaving them we visited a family with a brand new baby. Is there anything more precious than this tiny miracle from God? The pride and love on the mother's face was too sweet to

behold.

The beauty of God's creation - how awesome! Look at Psalm 96:2, 5 & 12b (The Message)

"Sing to God a brand new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing! Sing to God - worship God! For God is great and worth a thousand Hallelujahs. Put every tree of the forest in the choir."

Don't you love that idea!

So, let us look every day for God's beauty in His creation, in our friend's faces, in the work He gives us to do and in new life. Let us say with the Psalmist, (Psalm 92:1-2) "What a beautiful thing, God, to give thanks, to sing an anthem to You, the High God! To announce Your love each daybreak, sing Your faithful presence all through the night."

What a way to end your day, remembering the beauty God provided during that day!

Brown Paper Pkgs & Favorite Things

This morning when I went into the kitchen there was a small brown package wrapped in string with some tiny dried roses on top. My son, Robert, asked me if I saw them. He said that a thread of a song kept running through his head when he was trying to decide how to wrap it … “brown paper packages tied up with string … these are a few of my favorite things.” I can’t wait to open it.

Thursday night a bunch of us went to see “The Sound of Music” that was put on by the Mesilla Valley Christian School drama team. It was a lot of fun. Robert actually went with us. Being my son, he’s seen the movie several times. We got to talking about how many times we’d seen “The Sound of Music.” I actually wrote a paper for a journalism class on it. There are several versions of the movie and of the play. But the most famous is the one done by Julie Andrews in 1965.

The way I remember it … it was the first time I remember going to the movies. We got in the Oldsmobile someone had given us ( my parents were attending Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in San Fransico) and drove a l-o-n-g time to get there. The theater was h-u-g-e and it was in Color! It was so amazing. I felt as if I’d been transformed to another place. The music, the colors, I just wanted to sing and sing and sing. I lived in a dream world for weeks.

My mother bought the record and we listened to that record until we knew all of the lyrics by heart. That is one of my most precious memories … my mom and I singing and cleaning and dancing around our house. In my mind, my mother was Julie Andrews, and that’s who I wanted most to grow up and be like … my mom.

Today, physically I don’t look a lot like my mom but everyone says that we look alike … I think it’s because we have a lot of the same mannerisms. You see I watched her and listened to her for years until … I knew her by heart. These memories I have and the ones we continue to make are “a few of my favorite things!”

That brown paper package sitting on the table reminds me of a whole lot of “favorite things” between me and my son. I pray that God will bring to your mind some “favorite things” this Mother’s Day.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable

—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think about such things.

9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me,

or seen in me—put it into practice.

And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8,9

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Silver white winters that melt into springs

These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites

When the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad

Your Day - A Blank Page

Your Day - A Blank Page
by Barbara Chadwick



Each day when you open your eyes you have a whole new day ahead of you, an entire blank page. You may think your day's page is already full but you have the power over your page. You have the power to insert some splotches of color onto a gray page day, to rejoice over a day already filled with color, or to fill a totally blank page with blessing others.

I am on lesson 40 in my writing course. It is titled, The Creative Process. The point is to write. The first assignment is to fill three double-spaced pages as fast as you can. It's an exercise in free writing. It doesn't matter what you write!

In the textbook the author tells about larceny in his third grade. When the teacher left the room he would take some blank pages from her desk. He'd fold the pages over then staple a construction paper cover to the back. He could hardly wait until school was over so he could begin filling those empty pages with stories!

How wonderful would it be if we could hardly wait to get up in the morning to begin filling the blank pages of our day with our story!? Then if the words and actions on that page would glorify God it would be amazing!

Jerry Jenkins says, "As a Christian the pages of our days should be sacred - devoted to God." Paul says in Romans 12:1 that presenting ourselves to God is our reasonable service. It is an act of worship. So, in a writing course to bring out the creative side in us we can just begin writing. We can write anything. We can write as fast as we can without thinking about punctuation or - consequences. However, in a life it does matter what we write on our days. Our days are not an assignment or just practice. We need to be thinking about intentionality.

When I prayed at breakfast this morning I thanked God for the day and the opportunities it presented to us. Now, after having my devotional my mind goes to the day before me. What do I have to get done today? My mind makes a list: lesson 40, a luncheon with friends, mending, grocery shopping, etc.

On the blank page of my day have I put down any intentional activities to be encouraging to anyone? (I need to include my family here!) Will I speak to anyone about Jesus? How can I share my resources with someone in need? Can I show kindness and love to someone today? (How about my family?) I keep inserting "family" here because so many times our families receive the gray or even black pages of our daily story! They must receive some of our rosiest pages.

If we could keep a tablet (of blank pages!) by our bedside and just before going to bed we could jot down whatever way our page for that day was a blessing to someone, would it help to remind us that tomorrow we have another wonderful page to fill with God's goodness and grace?

I Am Not Skilled To Understand

I really relate to the title of this poem/song by Dora Greenwell. It’s funny how the words to some songs are still relevant even almost 200 years later. There are so many things in life that I just don’t understand.

Some things are easy for me to just not understand … like why people would want to go up in a hot air balloon when they could be quite comfortable on the ground? Or why planes don’t just fall to the ground. Other things tear me up, like why did my sweet friend’s baby have to be born with so many birth-defects that he didn’t live past two months of age? And then why was it so important to her that Larry and I hold him after he was dead? Why did her boyfriend have to be such a jerk?

No matter how many days go by, I never seem to run out of things that I don’t understand, things that I just wish would stop or go away. On April 21, 2009 Texas A&M honored all of their alumni who had died. My friend, Kevin’s son’s name was called during the roll call.

I just don’t get it. I am NOT skilled to understand … why God would take my friend before her kids were grown? … Nevertheless, I thank God, He took her before her son was killed in that accident … how could you live through that? How does my friend Kevin make it through each day?

Jesus told us, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” John 6:63. Then He says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.” John 14:1

Wow, trust is such a strong concept and yet it is so fragile to hold onto. Still, God has never let me down: Comforting me through many very dark nights (I was afraid of the dark) when I was young. Healing my body from mononucleosis when I was 15. Leading me to trust Him when I wanted a child but after 3 years of trying still we were not pregnant. Then trusting that only child to Him when he turned blue and nearly died for no apparent reason when he was 5 months old. Being my friend when we moved yet again (military) and I had to start all over making friends and learning a new place. Holding on to me while Larry, my husband, battled cancer. Giving me hope of life after the kids left home and the nest was empty. Trusting that He really did know what He was doing when He sent us to live in New Mexico.

I love the tag that Aaron Shust added to Dora's song in 2007:
My Savior loves! My Savior lives!

My Savior’s always there for me!
My God, He was. My God, He is.

My God, He’s always gonna be!

My God has always been there for me … I mean even when I didn’t understand what was going on … and there’s some things I don’t guess I’ll ever understand … but “I KNOW whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day!” I pray that you will truly be able to trust God. I pray that you will read His word, the Bible, because I know that those words will breathe a fresh wind of life into you and those words will bring you peace even when you don’t understand.

I Am Not Skilled To Understand
By Dora Greenwell 1821-1882

I am not skilled to understand
What God hath willed, what God hath planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands One who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
“Christ died to save me” this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior

That He should leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange? So once did I
Before I knew my Savior

And O that He fulfilled may see
The travail of His soul in me
And with His work contented be
As I with my dear Savior

Yes, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace, from this spring
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my savior

Tag: by Aaron Shust
My Savior loves! My Savior lives!

My Savior’s always there for me!
My God, He was. My God, He is.

My God, He’s always gonna be!

What's In A Name?

by Barbara Chadwick


We had a couple visiting in church. When I asked the man’s name he said, “ My name is Sam” and I thought, “Of course!” He looked like a Sam to me.

As pregnant mothers we often look in “Names” books for the best names for our babies. We want to know how the name feels on our tongues when we say it and we want to know the meaning of the name.

I was reading I Kings 5:5 in my morning devotional and was so interested to read that Solomon was going to build a house or a temple for the “Name” of the LORD. My thought was why wasn’t he going to build a house or temple for the LORD God or for Jehovah? Why was it to be for God’s Name? So I looked in the Preacher’s Commentary and found this:

“I propose to build a house for the name of the LORD …" Not for the Lord, but for the name of the Lord. The Hebrews reverenced the name of the Lord so deeply, they would not even speak it, substituting instead the word Adonai meaning "Lord." God's name was the manifestation of the divine nature in a visible sign as a pledge of His presence. They considered the name almost as sacred as God Himself, and to build a house for His name was tantamount to building it for God. Ancient cultures, including the Hebrews, believed that to know the name of a deity allowed the worshiper to claim the power of that deity.

After reading this portion this week I was wondering about my body being the “house” for my name. For our Bible study in Sunday School I’m supposed to be memorizing I Corinthians 6:19-20: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.”

So, if I propose to “build” a place in my body for God’s Name or for the Holy Spirit to reside what will I do?

First and foremost I will confess my sins to God and ask Him to be my Savior. At that point the Holy Spirit will reside in me. If God, through the Holy Spirit resides in me I will want to do things that will bring glory to His Name. Things like, reading His Word, praying, fellowshipping with other believers. I will love God with all my heart, all my soul and all my mind; (Matt. 22:37) and I will love other people.

Reading about how Solomon made the Temple and the beautiful things he put in it made me remember that there are times I have put things in my mind that are not beautiful like books I’ve read or movies I’ve watched. Also, there are times when I let emotions that do not honor God control my mind.

Lord God, I pray that when people hear my name the picture that comes to mind will be a picture that brings honor to your Name. Also, I pray that I will not let my emotions rule my actions but that my actions will bring glory to Your Name.

Because Friends Are Worth It!

This morning a good friend called to apologize. We’d been at her house last night to celebrate the Passover (Messianic style) and things got hectic and she got upset and was a little snippy … feelings were getting dangerously close to being really hurt. But then we both decided to just enjoy the evening and not let it get to us.

Anyways, she said that earlier in the day, she was trying to set things up for the Seder outside on her front patio. The wind was really gusting. Then she’d walk into the house and everything was really calm and peaceful and then back outside and it was gusty and aggravating.

Well this morning she realized that God was showing her another way that He can speak to us. In the past she always knew that God was speaking to her about something because she had a peace in her heart but yesterday God spoke to her in an outward way … He spoke through a physical feeling of peace. There was a peace in the house and there definitely was not a peaceful feeling outside. But she just pushed through because she had a plan and she knew what she wanted. In the end we had to move everything inside anyways, because the wind was knocking over the vases. That was when things got short. I just jumped in and started moving things and she hadn’t made the decision to actually move inside yet and looks were exchanged and muttered words … well, you know the rest. If you’re any age at all you’ve experienced something similar … just fill in the blanks.

Well, this morning God woke me up talking to me about being willing to take a hit for someone else. Because I’m not usually willing to just cover for someone or to take some pain just so that someone else will feel better or whatever. Then He reminded about how willing I am/was to jump in and save my kids from pain or to save my parents from embarrassment. But I’m not so easy/willing to jump in and do the same thing for friends or even for my husband … he should be willing to do that for me … right? But isn’t that what Jesus did for me? Isn’t that what He still does for me?

The really cool thing was that God spoke to two different women about loving each other and caring for one another. To my friend He let her know that she needed to apologize for being snippy. To me He let me know that I needed to be more sensitive and ready to forgive: Because love covers a multitude of sins. Because Someone forgave us once and is still forgiving us. Because friends are worth it.

Garbage

by Barbara Chadwick


Yesterday morning, a policewoman rang the doorbell. I had just poured the softened yeast into the mixture of a beautiful new recipe. So I run to the door.

"Ma'am" she says, "the ravens have taken the lid off your garbage can and scattered the trash. Here in Juneau we enforce the trash ordinance. You have to get a bungee cord for your lid. The garbage truck is just down the street and you have to pick up your scattered trash before he gets here." I look down the street and sure enough he looks too close. I look out at the curb then back at her and swallow and say, "Yes, ma'am, thank you."

Frustration, or could there be another word! My new recipe. The yeast!

As she walks off I close the door and run to grab my boots because there's snow on the ground. Then I run out the door to try to beat the garbage man. Half the can is strewn around everywhere. Mad. I am mad! I'm picking up all this stinky garbage and the thought comes to me that the ravens brought food to Elijah to sustain him. I always thought that was beautiful until now. It's too much for one person to get before the trash truck gets here so I run in to call Kenneth for help. He's at the church studyingfor Sunday's sermon.

Finally, I get back in the kitchen and finish mixing the dough. Then I knead it. Knead it? I pounded it! When it was set in the bowl to rise I sat down at the table and ate a whole brownie. Was it just yesterday that I was trying to get dressed and had to put on three pairs of pants before I found one that fit? I made a firm decision then to go on a diet. HOWEVER, if you're mad at ravens chocolate would surely help. Right?

As I was sitting there the sun came out! In Juneau that's a major thing. It felt like God did it just for me - and I began thinking - I thanked God that He has provided enough for us that we had two cans of trash. I think of all the places around the world where they have very little daily trash.

And I asked God to give me grace. This anger I felt was not graceful nor was it honoring to God.

Then I asked Him to help me be a better steward of the resources He has blessed us with.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield. The LORD gives grace and glory; He does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity. (Psa 84:11)