Skip to main content

Blend the harsh lines

When we are first learning to color, we are instructed to stay in the lines.  I was great at coloring.  My lines were sharp and controlled.  In fact, in the 5th grade I received a reward for great penmanship.  I’m not even sure they give those kinds of rewards anymore.  But as I matured, so did life.  And life required a more blended approach.  It was acceptable to blur the lines, to smudge the sharp edges to make beautiful pieces of art.  


It is a type of “coming of age.”  You have to first learn the skill of control and staying in the lines, before you can learn the skill of blending.  And learn it quickly we must, because life is messy.  There is much tension right now, with keeping things separate.  Separate church and state; take God out of schools; keep God out of fast food (Chick Fil-A).  Wow, Really?!    And there are so many more references of this desperate attempt to separate, and to keep apart.  Segregation is a way of the past, folks, not the future.  It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.  No wonder this world is going crazy, it’s trying to separate things that should be together.  Oh, the uproar if we tried to take peanut butter from jelly! Or hot sauce from fried chicken.  Or milk from cookies.  


God belongs here.  He is in our finances: “The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.”(1 Samuel 2:7). He is in our politics: “He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed.” (Psalm 18:50).  He is in our country: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.” (Psalm 33:12).  He is in our hearts: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” He is in our sustenance: “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35).  He is in our family: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”


The uncomfortableness that we feel when we try to go through life separating the things God has designed to be together, is self-inflicted.  I guarantee the more we blend the lines and allow every aspect of our world to be touched by the Most High God, we will be much better off. 


God is in everything, how could we ever seek to separate from our creator.  Consider this: “Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!  Who has known the mind of the Lord?  Or who has been his counselor?  Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?  For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever! Amen.”  Romans 11:33.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Think Hope

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.”   Lamentations 3:21          Keep your light burning How powerful is the mind, that we can only scratch the surface of what it can do?   We can study it but after years of assiduous research, we have still ascertained only a fraction of its capabilities. One thing Jeremiah tapped into that he knew for sure, was that the mind is an instrument for hope if we can harness and focus it.   When Lamentations was written, the prophet Jeremiah was in anguish and distress.   It was a time much more desolate than today.   It was a time when no one had any real hope.   It was a time when all the bad decisions were finally catching up to the people of God.   I’ll admit that I’m often rushing here and there for meetings and appointments.   I try to get an early start, but the earlier I am, the slower I move.   Often, to be on time, I wi...

Start with Expectancy - Stay in Expectancy

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…Ephesians 3:20 Do you ever wake up in the morning feeling, blah!   Feeling like you’re just going through the motions with no real sense of joy, excitement or expectancy.   You feel like today is going to be just another same ole, same ole day.   It actually makes you linger in bed a little longer because you don’t really have anything that’s pushing you to get up and greet the day.   That’s what today was like for me. Without sounding dismissive about the blessings God is filling my life with, I’m not saying my feelings are valid. I’m just saying that’s what I felt.   I have a lot to be thankful for and I see God all around me, but this morning it took some prompting, praying and reading my Word to get my mind back on the right track.   As I was making coffee, my husband asked me, “Is everything alright?”   He notic...

Understanding the buyer

When I found this scripture in the Bible, I started laughing so hard.   It was there, waiting on me to become a professional real estate agent, so I would actually understand it. “It’s no good, it’s no good!” says the buyer; then off he goes to boast about his purchase.” Proverbs 20:14 (NIV). “The buyer haggles over the price, saying, “It’s worthless,” then brags about getting a bargain!” (NLT). Hilarious.   All of my real estate agents know what I’m talking about.   We have buyers like this.   We have seen this first hand.   This morning I grabbed my Bible, looking for it’s truths to touch my life and help me along my day, and I found this.   It just goes to show that when people start saying that the Bible is outdated and doesn’t deal with the issues of today.   Or when they say they can’t get specifics, everything is generalities and we have to come up with our own understanding.   This is how God responds to that! ...