Pots on the Porch

   Spring must be coming, even though it was thirty degrees this morning, because a porch has been lined with pots. They aren’t fancy or much too look at, a rangy bunch of mismatched colors, beigey green and grayed white, with a mix of shapes and sizes. I see them; dirt spilled here and there showing work in progress. I’m looking forward to seeing what grows in these pots. Seeds to be planted, growing where they are placed.

   Sometimes I don’t come across too fancy. I can have some really interesting hair days or dry skin or just feel off. Truth be told, I would love to just stay in my sweatpants, throw on a t-shirt, and toss my hair up in pigtails or in a ball cap for my going out outfit for the day. Shoes should either be cute and comfy or strictly optional. As a child I would refuse jeans in favor of the comfort of sweats. Still love them! And these are just the surface things, just like that assortment of pots. It is in the dirt, loamy and nutrient filled that seeds are placed and then grow. Blooming up, bountiful in growth, the pots become just an afterthought in the green above them.

Possibility

   I just had my very first skype conversation, with wonderful friends who live 8 hours away. That is so cool! Imagine being able to hear each other and see each other at the same time. March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone. That must have been such a culture shattering moment, as sound was transmitted over space from person to person. Imagine people who have never heard the voice of a loved one after moving away, being able to speak and hold conversations. The possibility of the technology was truly astounding. Now, just over 100 years later a tiny lens is built into my computer along with a microphone, and I talked to friends states away!
   Alexander Graham Bell never had the opportunity to see something like Skype and web cams, but I wondered if he dreamed of the potential possibilities the communication would one day arrive at. Now, that we have this, I wonder what will be next. Let’s keep dreaming and inventing and exploring. Maybe one day it will be a hologram or better yet, a transporter!

Row of Flowers

Sitting in church Sunday, in the pew row directly to my front and right there were several little girls sitting together. Made up of sisters and friends with the age range spreading throughout elementary school, the pew was soon covered with a variety of toys, coloring, and other little girl things. They were such fun to watch. During the worship, they were combinations of movement as they sang and danced, colored and wrote. My mother referred to them as a row of flowers. In many ways, they were just that.

A row of little lives, small but important, precious and unique moments caught and made up in their movements and actions. Planted in the love their parents have for each of them, watered as people pour themselves into them, fed with care and hope – such a beautiful little row of flowers indeed. Perhaps a hyacinth, a lupine, a daisy, a lavender, and a peony all in a row. Each has its own color, fragrance, structure, and distinctiveness. But, they are each beautiful flowers in the garden.
Looking at these little flowers in the row, I found myself wondering who else would water them, prune, weed around, and feed them. Who else will recognize their beauty and potential and pour themselves in, in an investment of future of growth? They are special flowers, will you help them to grow?

Pot Stirrer

We jokingly call others in my household pot stirrers when they bring up points of contention, throw out new ideas, or decide to address the elephant in the room. They are bringing to the forefront something which had settled to the bottom of the pot or tossing a new ingredient.
Think of a rich stew. Ingredients are held throughout, but if I just gaze at the pot from the top, I only see a few things. I don’t see what is actually all throughout the stew unless I grab my stirring spoon and stir away.
Remember, Jesus entered the city and it was stirred. The hearts of the people were rejoicing and yet, there was also stirring occurring – stirring of the elephant in the room, stirring in the new ingredients.
One of these new ingredients was in the temple. The temple, intended to be the house of God! Imagine if you were going to design and keep a house for God. How exquisite would you want it to be? How clean? How perfect? Yet, the stew pot had set there long enough that some of that newness, the excitement that carried the devotion had drifted to the bottom. While there, some of the ingredients got a bit burned.
“Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them. ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it at ‘den or robbers,’” (Matthew 21:12-23).
The house of prayer and the den of robbers – both have their roots in different verses. Jesus was calling back the words of Isaiah, “these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,” (Isaiah 56:7). A house of prayer, what a wonderful title for a house! To pray, to communicate, to talk with God – to be in the very presence of God, a vastly amazing and precious thing was being subverted into the market place. He goes on to pull from Jeremiah, “Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord,” (Jeremiah 7:11). What a transition from a house of prayer to a den of robbers.
Jesus acted as a pot stirrer that day. Not only did he see an issue, he acted. Sometimes the elephant in the room is overwhelming, a very difficult thing to address. Sometimes adding a new element to the stew is also very hard, what if it doesn’t take? Perhaps there are some burned bits at the bottom. Before the whole pot is ruined, can they be stirred up to the top and removed?
I feel as if I’m kind of in a pot stirring place right now. It’s not always terribly comfortable; some burned bits are sticking to the bottom; some new ingredients are resisting blending into the flavor. Yet, when I start thinking about me being the pot stirrer I realize that my focus is off. It is Jesus that is stirring the pot, mixing, removing the burned pieces, adding in refreshed parts. If you were stirred, what would come to the top?

Growing Up – the Process

John, born with such promise and a prophesy.  But, what happened with that potential?  Luke 1 finished with “the child grew and became strong in spirit…” 

Such detail was given to the pregnancy and then – just this little phrase.  Don’t you wish there was a bit more detail?  I do!  But, we do now know two things – growth and strength occurred.  Growth obvious means physical growth, as a toddler stretched and grew into a little boy.  Then, the little boy into a pre-teen, a teenager (perish the thought) and then a man.  Just imagine Elizabeth and Zechariah smiling and shaking their heads as John outgrew his clothes, ripped holes in his pants, and changed shoe sizes every month.  At the same time, there must have been another kind of growth occurring – a growth in maturity and understanding in God’s ways.  The hunger that is a cliché in a young boy might have also been a hunger for God’s words and love.  Elizabeth and Zechariah must each have been a part of this growth.

The other thing that happened is that Zechariah became strong in spirit.  Strength usually denotes intensity, a power, a depth, or a concentration that is a forte in someone’s life.  Note that there is a word before strong though – became.  John was not born strong in spirit, but had to become that way.  Even with such a big entrance into the world, John still had to become strong.  What an encouragement that one word is as I also work on my own becoming. 

The next part of the phrase was that John “lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.”  Why would John live in the desert?  The desert must have been a great place for learning.  Part of the desert’s appeal to John might have been the solitude.  This allowed him plenty of time to think, to pray, to seek God.  The desert is also a place to observe needs being met in unlikely ways.  There is actually a lot of beauty and growth in that austere climate, blooms, growth, and wildlife that flourishes there.  Every need is met perfectly to suit that environment.  John would have seen this and had a chance to see God provide for every need of the environment. 

Until….and there is that timing word again.  Until John appeared publicly to Israel, he left the quiet to go to his people.  God had spent an intensive training time with John to put him to work – not to just keep him on the proverbial bench.  God was training John for a reason.  This was now the beginning of putting the training into practice. 

How are you being trained?  How are you going to put this into practice?

Potential

A young man stood at an open area, looking at the two paths lying ahead.  He stood there, pondering his direction, holding off a decision until the last possible moment.   A wide, well worn track lay to one side.  He could see how it was fairly flat or most of the way, or at least appeared to be, from where he was standing.  There were signs planted along the way that were bright and easy to read.  They held a variety of messages: Just Be Nice and You’ll be Okay; Have it Your Way along This Way; The Easy Road.  Many people were walking on to this roadway.  They would pass under the banner that reads – the Life Road, Now in Highway Form.  They all looked okay; the young man couldn’t see anything really bad happening to him from where he stood. 

The young man now let his gaze wander the other direction and saw a narrow footpath leading past a sign that said, The Narrow Way – The Way of Truth.  He couldn’t see much past that gate, it took a twist amongst the trees and was lost from his view.  Some people were going that way, but it didn’t look as if it were a path that was as well traveled. 

Standing at the opening of the two paths, the young man stood and stood, shifting his weight back from one foot to another – first leaning one direction and then the other.  Helpers came along and encouraged him to take one path or the other, but in the end it was his decision.  And the young man started realizing that not only was it his decision to make as to which path to take, but what the consequences would be that followed that choice. 

A salesman came and told the young man that he would have to make a decision soon, here are some travel brochures that can provide you with information about your journey – would you just look at those beautiful pictures!  But the young man knew that the salesman could not force him down one road or another.  It was his decision, but which to choose?  The choice was paralyzing and difficulty – maybe no choice would be better than the wrong one.   A friend came and stood with the young man for a while, but finally became impatient and took the road of their choosing.  What if, the words clouded in his mind, what if I go the wrong way?  What do I do then?  Maybe I should just stand here, it seems easier, safer.   A teacher came by and told the young man the known history of the two roads.  It was all interesting, but didn’t really make the decision any easier.  The teacher, after imparting his knowledge, left the pupil and made his own individual choice and entered a road.  Standing there the young man felt mired and stuck.  Did he have the skills required to make his way on that path that was less traveled?  The ground looked like it was going to be a quite a climb up and down some hills, most likely that path was going to follow that.  The other road looked like it was better, easier, but there was something about it which gave him some misgivings.  It just seemed too easy; surely there would be unmarked pitfalls up ahead.  A coach stopped and tried to give the young man practice exercises which might help him feel prepared for either road.  The young man tried to follow the exercises, but felt a little silly doing calisthenics while everyone else just walked past. 

Then the young man felt another stop beside him, seeing a shadow of another traveler stopping.  Expecting a new lecture or some other type of gadget, task, or exercise – the young man tensed and asked who it was that belonged to that shadow.  The one who had stopped looked over and said simply – I’m here to shepherd you, to be your guide.  You can take that narrow path and you will not walk it alone.  I will go before you in every step.  I can wait here with you until you make a decision, but the decision is yours and it must be made.  

I have seen someone stop at that waiting area, holding off making a decision until the last possible moment.  And the potential that the individual carried was being wasted, just sitting there – not being used.  One path, easy it seems but with unmarked pitfalls along the way.  And the farther you got along the road, the more you would realize that it was just taking you in circles.  The other path, it was well marked with caution signs, signs of encouragement, signs showing resources.  But it did follow a much rougher route through valleys and up steep mountains.  The choice made the difference in his life, marking out the way it would go.  I’ve had to make that decision myself, choosing my own path.  It’s not always easy and I think at times I have to wipe the tears from the signs so I can read them more carefully.  But, the view from the mountain tops – it cannot be paralleled with anything else. 

And which way did the young man go?    That was his decision and he took a step and then another through a gate and onto a path. I'm coming back from the Great Banquet.  I can't wait to share with you the new paths that I will be waiting on God for.