Tag: joy

Honor- An Anniversary Reflection

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

A few days ago my beloved husband and I celebrated a big milestone anniversary. Thinking about the days and years that brought us to this occasion has been very profitable to my own daily life. Let me explain. Here in the West we mark significant occasions with many kinds of celebration or commemoration. The hallmark of these is ‘honor.’ We participate in the solemn ceremony and vows of marriage, mourn the death of a loved one at a funeral with various memories and words. Cities and nations honor fallen heroes and great leaders with parades, speeches, statues or even naming streets, buildings, and bridges after them. As we participate in these events, we take time to give honor—respect and recognition of the worthiness of another.

When we reflect on the day of our marriage, or celebrate in ceremony the worthiness of a person who has accomplished much, or are reminded of a loved one’s passing, we think about the noble, good and right things of that marriage union, the work of the hero and the life of the deceased. This is a satisfying exercise of thought. So it is with our honoring of God. We reflect on Him and His work in the world even as we celebrate and commemorate life events.

But even more helpful, I think, is the thought of places in those relationships and lives that were less than good.  Looking back on my marriage, I am reminded of the continuing need to  “… as [one] who [has] been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentle ness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other…just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.” Colossians 3: 12-13.  In the ups and downs and daily frustrations involved in living with other human beings, this is really hard. Being changed into the image of Jesus is not a painless or simple “one and done” operation. It is an on-going work of choosing to be like Him in attitude, action and words. Giving up my need to be right, or have my needs met is so contrary to my still-fallen human nature. But thanks to my Heavenly Father, the work is happening! These many years have be marked by lots of “head-butting” and exasperation but God has used those situations to deal with me and is making me more aware of my need of Him to change my heart. I praise Him and own the truth that if it had not been for His kind work in my heart, my marriage would have ended years ago. Because of His grace, I have been blessed with the joy of companionship and love afforded by the bond of matrimony for many years. For this I honor God.

So as I reflect on this anniversary, or think of a loved one’s death on the anniversary of his passing or I join in the ceremony of remembering horrific events like 9/11, I am reminded of God’s sovereign reign over all things, His love and blessing to me and others and I praise Him for the lessons He has taught me through the good and bad of these things.

Choose to honor God by acknowledging HIS might and goodness in all things

There are so many ways to be reminded to praise God for all He is and does. The birth of a baby, the delight in graduation from school, the pain of loss in the face of natural disaster or man-made misery, all call me to remember that God is on His throne. In His almighty power and wisdom, He is still in control. He loves His own and has intimate concern with every part of His good creation. He has plans for every turn of human events even when we see them as mysterious and inscrutable. He is using all my circumstances and all the events of my life to make me more like my Lord Jesus Christ.

As I celebrate my wedding anniversary, attend funeral services for my dead friend, or participate in Memorial Day Celebrations at the Veteran’s Cemetery, I am reminded of the honor due those who are the focus of the events. But even more I am reminded to honor God, the One who brings every occasion to pass. I honor Him as “The Blessed Controller of All Things” and rest in joyful peace knowing that He is “…working all things together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Question: What life events and world troubles turn your heart to God? Have you pondered the ways God is using and has used these circumstances to draw you to a rich and eternal relationship with Himself through Jesus Christ? Will you honor and praise Him today for the good and bad of your life?

 

Come Tour with Me

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Our yard and garden are glorious in summer display here at the end of July. Come tour with me and see the details of flowers and veggies. Beloved Spouse does the planning, planting and tending of the vegetable garden. Honored Mother is responsible for the flowers. Between the two of them, they have nearly 100 years gardening experience between them. When I walk in the garden I notice lots of small things. Won’t you come with me?

Let’s start with the pathway past the flowers to get to the veggies.

Let’s start our tour here on the patio at the base of the steps (coming down from our deck)

The pots at the base of the stairs are filled with a riot of red geraniums surrounded with a cloud of white and blue lobelia. To your right is a small garden with a climbing clematis. In spring the frothy pink peonies nod like debutantes swishing down the spiral stairs to the ball.

Dear Sister and her husband came to visit just before Mother’s Day and so they gave the “tie-dye” colors hanging basket to Honored Mother. The humming birds are terribly conflicted… the feeder or the flowers?!

If you could smell this rose you would nearly swoon. It is called “Double Delight.” Isn’t it a feast for the eyes? And if you were here, it would “swak” you in the nose with the dense spicy aroma of ‘rose’.

The pink rose is called “Belinda’s Delight” and I love to see it because it reminds me of a friend named Belinda who just happens to be a serious gardener (and amazing quilter). Both are beautiful.

I’m not sure of the name of this rose, but its color makes me dizzy with its intensity. It looks nearly ready to burst into flame.

You will only see the remnants of the blue delphinium this late in July, but if you’d walked this path about 3 weeks ago you would have seen the stately blue stalks swaying in the breeze.

Beloved Spouse has an amazing way with veggies. Our youngest grandson seems wired and eager to follow in his Grampa’s footsteps. Last summer when he was here to visit he came to Grampa several times a day hoping to get permission to pick –“Grampa, those cucumbers seem like they are ready to harvest.”

And now for the vegetable garden. Begin with a peek-a-boo with the cucumber blossoms. They are flanked by pots of marigolds and red verbenas that guard the garden shed.

The yellow squash are beginning to ripen. They love to stay in the center of cool below the broad leaves.

Our tomato plants are loaded with blossoms this year and there are lots of tomatoes growing bigger every day. They will probably begin to seriously ripen toward the end of August.

The chard is such a trooper. It grows and grows no matter how many times it get trimmed for the kitchen steamer kettle. The colors of the stems amaze me.

From low to high and across the way, our gardens are full of joy.

I stop to gaze at the fascinating rhythm and symmetry of the parsnip leaves. We are eager for the harvest. I love the nutty flavor. I know many folks find it a bit strong-flavored, but you really should give it a try, just cooked to tender (not to mush), lightly buttered and dashed with salt and pepper. Ahhh! Tongue’s joy.

Last stop in our tour is to look up to the (volunteer!!) sunflower plants. They are so commanding. I think they are 12 to 14 feet tall.

As we start back to the house, you can gaze across our coneflowers, petunias, daisies and sweet peas (climbing the black windmill).

Back to the patio. Have a seat and enjoy it all.

Now our tour is done, stop and have a sit in the flamingo pink chair. There are actually two of them and our standing joke is telling of the day they arrived from the big box home store. Beloved Spouse took one look at them and asked “where are the flamingos?!” (Nothing would do but for Beloved Mother and me to snatch up several yard ornament flamingos… among other garden what-nots)

Thanks for coming along on my tour!

QUESTION: What is your favorite kind of garden?

Sunshine on My Shoulder

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

February here in my area was very cold and very snowy compared to nearly all previous recorded February weather. As a consequence, today, the first official day of spring, there are large expanses of snow on lawns and fields. Driveways and curbs suffer heaps of grubby, gravelly ice. All these sordid remains of the miseries of winter are fast fading under the onslaught of sunshine—relentless, lovely, blue-sky sunshine. The patter-drip of melted snow in the gutter downspout is background to the cheerful songs of juncos and robins in the throes of spring romance.

Sunshine is so delicious to the soul after so many weeks and months of grayness. I sit facing my big window soaking in the “shine.” I smile at the pleasure of the light and warmth of the sun and as I sit, rather like a turtle on a rock, my mind ranges over the similarity of the sun to Jesus. You may be puzzled at that comparison. Let me elaborate.

In the book of John we read that Jesus declared “I am the Light of the World.” Obviously He isn’t the sun we see in the sky, but rather His Light is truth and reality for all mankind.

Ponder this: the sun is an incredibly powerful element of creation. It pulses with unfathomable energy. Though it is 93 million miles from earth it wields influence in every corner of the globe, every hour of the day. It even displays its glory by sharing its light with the moon. That entrancing silvery light, cold and in the night, is the sun second hand!

As the sun warms the earth it stirs plants to grow, giving each green leaf and blade the energy it needs to grow and flourish. That energy and life makes possible the very air we breathe and provides what we need to nourish our bodies. The fundamentals of our very existence are right there in the light of the sun.

So it is with Jesus. As His Light is shed in our hearts we are made into new creations. We flourish and grow. He and His Word are the very spiritual air we breathe and bread we eat.

 

“Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose had is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Job 12: 9-10

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the Bread of Life, he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’

                                                                                                                                                                                               “John 6:35

He lights our life with His Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides our footsteps and lights our way.

 

reading God’s Word is the way to soak in His True Light

Jesus is the most powerful light – eclipsing the sun. What joy to bask in His love and wisdom. What comfort to have Him as the One who shows me the way to live.

It is my hope and prayer that I would reflect His light just as the moon reflects the sun. The moon, even with its pale reflection of the sun, inspires wonder at its mysterious beauty. I hope that as I live for Jesus that His Light would shine through me so others see His beauty, mystery, and power.

QUESTION: Do you have the True Light of Jesus in your heart and Life? Are you reflecting His light to a dark world?

Glorious Color

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Oh! I love color! Lots of color. Swathes of color. Glints of color. As I gaze into the jewelers’ case at the emeralds, rubies, sapphires, topazes, opals, and the pearls I nearly cry for the beauty of their colors. Sitting on the patio surveying the summer garden I reel, speechless at the glorious kaleidoscope of color. I experience a deep visceral reaction to color. Always have. I dream in color. I notice color. Color matters to me. So I am intrigued when I think about the spiritual component of color and light.

This morning I am looking out at a snow-white fairyland—several more inches of snow piled up overnight. The temperatures have remained below freezing for days. The result is a gorgeous ermine-robed world. The trees, fences and even, it seems, the houses, are gray and drab background to this pristine and shining display. When the sun comes out the whiteness nearly blinds us. What is happening with this addition of ‘light’? Technically, the whiteness of the snow is the outworking of the science of optics and light. When our eyes see what we call the color ‘white’ we are actually seeing every wave length of light bursting on our retinas. In contrast, when we see an object and give it a color name, say ‘red,’ what is happening is that that object is absorbing every wave length of light except those that give our retina and brain the color message we know as ‘red.’ So every color is there in that eye-watering brightness of the snowy white. How amazing!

Every season of the year has its own color palette. Spring announces its arrival with petticoats that flash pink, blue and gowns herself in every variety of green—especially that vivid chartreuse that screams “winter didn’t win! Creation is still alive!” Autumn spangles herself in outrageous robes of orange and eye-popping yellow with broaches and buttons, sashes and swags of vermilion and copper. Winter, in her hoary vesture, at the first careless glance makes us think “it’s just white.” But look closer and see that her voluminous gown and cape are subtle and exquisite swaths of lavender, periwinkle, and slate in every shadow and expanse. Summer outdoes them all with her fiesta bright floral skirts flung with shameless abandon across the carpets of rich green. Saucy magenta, lemon, scarlet, azure and turquoise all splash across her harlequin caparison.

And then there are human faces with colors so varied they defy the categories we have foolishly limited to ‘white,’ ‘black,’ ‘yellow,’ ‘brown.’ How utterly untrue and so limited! Every face has its own unique hue: ebony, amber, alabaster, saffron, coral, rose, fawn, ecru, and russet.

Pondering this incredible array of color and the amazing processes that are involved in how we perceive color, I realize that there is an astonishing aspect of truth in what Jesus says when He declares “I am the Light of the world.”

Jesus—being Lord God Almighty—is indeed true light. Yes, the context is spiritual, but the unmistakable correlation to light and color as we know it is inescapable. Jesus—God Himself—enlightens all that is “real.”  All creation’s vastness is explained and displayed because He, the infinitely vast One, is the “reveal-er.”

Close your eyes and imagine a sunny, blue-sky day. Now think what happens when the day winds down to twilight and sinks into the black of night. Those golden sunflowers along the fence, the sapphire delphinium leaning on their supports, the crimson roses nodding on their thorny branches all begin to lose their lovely hues. As the light fades every object becomes more and more gray. They all blend into an indistinguishable mass of dun and finally disappear altogether in the darkness of night. No light, no color.

The correlation in the spiritual realm is vivid. Jesus, the Light of the world, gives color to every aspect of life.  As the Creator, He is the cause of all the light we see and hence all the color we encounter. And spiritually, when we experience the amazing reality of our sin being forgiven and removed by His death in our place, our entire outlook changes. Our spiritual eyes are opened in new life as we awake from the spiritual death of sin. In comes a flood of love, joy, and hope, all as our world no longer is dark and dead, but rather lighted by Jesus and His glorious, radiant holiness. It is no accident that God used the rainbow—that awe-filled arc of every color–to promise His own that they will not be destroyed in His judgement of sin.

QUESTION: Are you “seeing” life in living color or are you trapped in spiritual darkness?

CHALLENGE: Step out of the darkness of sin into the glorious, colorful light of Jesus. Admit your sin. As God to forgive you because Jesus died in your place. Then bask in His light.

“…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation….The Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” Romans 10:9,10, 12,13

Craving Joy

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

What is the goal of my life? What am I seeking? I think I and all other human beings universally seek joy and happiness. We want something to make our lives meaningful and delightful. Our pursuit takes us to the mall or the auto dealer, to the casino or lottery machine, to the computer porn screens and sexual encounters of every description. Others of us turn to jobs, family, travel and “experiences” as sources of validation and “happiness.” There are those who constantly change homes, remodel or build bigger, better ones in the pursuit of ultimate satisfaction. But it is quite obvious that every one of the ways we try to grasp joy is a vapor that slips through our fingers. The Preacher, speaking in the book of Ecclesiastes says:

“All that my eyes desired did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.“ Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

In this season—very late winter— I have been tempted to grouse and complain about the snow and gloom that just seem to hang on and on. Most folks here in the Inland Northwest are feeling the same. This particular winter has been a rough one. Snow. Lots of snow. Gray skies. Lots of gray skies. To be fair, there have been some lovely breaks–when the world was freshly frosted with snow making a fairyland of an ordinary neighborhood. And when the drizzle of “precipitation” has broken to a wash of glorious blue sky. But mostly, it has been a “long, dark winter.” Definitely no obvious JOY in my attitude or heart.
During this glum time, I have been pondering my faith—where is the evidence that it is real? I’ve wondered about my worship and the reality of my life “in Christ.” What does it all mean? Is it real? Am I kidding myself and just living and believing what I was raised to believe and do? Why do I not experience joy and satisfaction that Scripture says are the lot of the believer in Christ?

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:9-11

Don’t get me wrong. I have a deeply settled conviction that God exists. He is real and knowable. He has spoken authoritatively to the creatures of His creation. What I am fussing about is my response to all this. I know that He in His sovereign might has reached down and transformed my “dead-in-sin” heart to a “new creation” heart that will live forever. But somehow, my love to this wonderful God seems so tepid. I keep loving my own interests and daily thoughts more than Him and His Word. Where is the joy Jesus says is mine? What does it feel like? What is it?
I’ve just begun listening to an audio version of John Piper’s book, Desiring God. In it he lays out a case for being a “Christian Hedonist”—one who craves and seeks the joys and delights of God Himself.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines hedonism as:
1: the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life

That is an amazing thought that my spiritual life should be marked by the pursuit of pleasure and happiness in God as my overriding goal and passion. I want to be saying with the Psalmist

“All my springs of joy are in You.” Psalm 89: 7b

I’m eager to finish this book. I am being challenged and somehow, I think that as my gaze turns toward Jesus my questions will be answered more fully. Already, I know that my faith in Jesus is real. I know I am not kidding myself about the reality of God and His Heaven and His promises and His Word. Yes, I was raised to this, but all these have borne the scrutiny of skepticism and intellectual thought.
Now I am looking to wade into these waters of joyous hedonism. I am eager and excited to find delight in God alone. I have the sense that I am on the verge of a very amazing time in my life.

Question: What is your goal in life? Will you seek to know, love and enjoy God above all else? Will you experience the “joy of the LORD” today?