'Tis the season for trilliums! This time of year the arboretum at UWGB is carpeted with them. It's an amazing sight, this created world in spring.

Amazing, too, is the notion that when we are at the height of joy in the seasons, we so often relax into forgetfulness of the One who designed it all. We hunger for Him in the hard times, and forget Him in the easy, happy times. How like the Israelites we still are.

Moses knew this about human nature, and warned his people, just before they entered the Promised Land: And when the Lord brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers . . . to give you--with great and good cities that you did not build and houses full of good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant--and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by him you shall swear. (Deuteronomy 6:10-13)

So go ahead and enjoy that cistern of yours, and your olive tree, but don't forget the Lord who gave you all good things to enjoy in Him. He is the only truly amazing One.

Aren't you just loving spring this year? Aren't the colors more amazing, the blossoms more fragrant, the trees fuller than ever? If our long winters serve any purpose, they certainly make us more appreciative than anyone on the planet when they depart and leave the world new and Eden-like. Praise God for His delectable creation!

Daily as I walk among our garden, observing the overnight growth and new blossoms, I marvel at how it all works. I don't need to be a horticulturalist, knowing all the intricacies of plant life and growth, to stand in awe at each new petal, every delicate fern, the heady scent of the lilies-of-the-valley, the growing lushness of the entire backyard. The beauty of the Lord is seen in each detail.

Psalm 104 speaks to God's creation and care of all things. Read it when you have a chance.

Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! (vs.1)

O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. (vs. 24)

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works. (vs. 31)

If the Lord rejoices in His works, how much more should we delight in them, for their own beauty as well as for reflecting His.

The Sabbath

When we speak of the Sabbath as a day to remember, we struggle to make it about God, desiring instead to satisfy our own hungers. Yet we are called to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." How do we go about doing that?

How do you go about doing that? In what ways have you learned to "happily engage in a concentrated time of rest and fellowship, first with your Creator, and secondarily, with others", as Elyse Fitzpatrick puts it?

Share with us the things that make the observance of the Sabbath memorable and restful for you?

My beautiful mom. I'm so grateful for her . . . her sense of fun, her wisdom, our long conversations, her interest in all things Jean.

You know, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to honor our moms on Mother's Day, what to get them, what to write on their cards, if we are fortunate enough to still have our moms with us. We want to let them know what they really mean to us, and I'm certainly one person who feels she always comes a little short of saying it all.

What about the Lord's Day? When I look forward to the Sabbath, I think about what fun things I can do, how I can relax, what I want to read and do and eat. Do I think about how I can honor God on His day? Of course not. The Lord's Day is for me to rest. And that means a free day for "moi", doing whatever I please. I guess because I am my own lord.

Perhaps we should begin to apply our sentiments on Mother's Day to the Sabbath. "Honor the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." In Idols of the Heart, Elyse Fitzpatrick gives a description of God's created intention for us on His day: Happily engaging in a concentrated time of rest and fellowship, primarily with [our] Creator and secondarily with others.

Does this describe your Sabbath observance? Or is your day all about you? What joy and peace we give up when we worship and dote on ourselves instead of Him. Let's together try to change our habits, and encourage each other to love and good works on the Lord's Day, honoring Him with our words and our gifts of time.

As we talk about sitting still and listening to God speak to us, we always come back to His Word. This, along with Creation, is His speaking to us. And this is His final Word: there are no new words to us, and all the listening we do must match up to this written Word. Anything that we think we have heard that is contrary to this Word must go.

Nancy Guthrie explains why we must listen so closely to this eternal and final Word: "The Word of God cleanses as it penetrates us and brings sin to the surface so it can be washed away. Its truth washes away our self-centered, people-pleasing, God-denying attitudes and actions so that the Spirit can fill us with Christ-centered, God-pleasing, God-dependent attitudes and actions. . . . We are washed as we hear his Word, receive his Word, live by his Word, and are changed by his Word. As his Word is applied to our hearts, as it penetrates our thoughts and shapes our perspectives, the cleansing that Christ accomplished on the cross becomes an internal reality in our day-to-day lives." (from Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament)

Good, huh?

Listening question

"This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" These are God's words on the mountain where Jesus was shown in his glory to his three friends. This is our command from the Most High God. What are we doing about it?

What are you doing about it? What helps you listen to God speak? Do you have thoughts you can share that might encourage the rest of us in our listening?

When we speak of quietness before God so we can listen more closely, some might say, "Who has time for quietness? I'm too busy to be still!"

This, this, ladies, is why God gave us nursing babies. They force us, teach us, to sit still. Okay, we may be too exhausted to think about the things of God when we have nursing babes, but we are sitting still, we are being quiet. This also is why God gives us friends in elder care facilities. Have you ever noticed how quiet your body and spirit become when you are listening to an elderly friend? I actually start falling asleep, I'm so relaxed!

The point is to calm yourself down, for heaven's sake. If you don't have time to come to Him, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, then it's very possible that you are busy with things He has not given you to do, things of your own invention, maybe even stemming from your need for importance and control.

We are not being lazy when we sit quietly with the Lord; quite the contrary. It is necessary and good part of our day. We all know that. None of the rest of our Martha-ing is any good without our Mary-ing. Our busyness is worthless without our first listening in quiet for His voice.

Today or tomorrow, take a good hard look at your to-do list and listen. Find the things that are of your own making. Can they be crossed off? If not, you may need to get up earlier before that long list begins. (This coming from someone who had every intention of listening and praying today, and left it for after the to-do list was almost done.) Maybe it should head our to-do list, the most imperative item there.

"Come to me . . . and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me . . . and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

Selah

Wow. I found this amazing picture in Ben's photo archives and I couldn't resist putting it in here. Aren't the colors amazing? Isn't the Creator of this flower amazing? Who would think of making something as intricate and delicate as this?

As we work through how we listen to God, or how we ought to, a word that came up in our study of Psalm 57 comes to mind. Selah. We find it often in the Psalms; it is commonly thought to indicate a pause in the music.

Actually, there are differing ideas of what it means, but I like the Amplified Bible's translation: Pause and calmly think of that. It could also come from a Hebrew word that means "to weigh". So we might think of weighing God's words thoughtfully as we attempt to listen.

Perhaps the theme of our listening could be Selah: Pause and calmly think of that. As we listen to the Lord speaking through creation, through His Word, and through His Son, we pause . . . we calmly weigh what He is teaching us . . . we rest in His spoken Word to us. He means for us to hear Him. He yearns for us to learn from Him. The Amplified records Jesus' words this way: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest--relief, ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet--for your souls. (Matthew 11:29)

Pause. Calmly think of that!