Bits for Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother’s Day!

Today I had the chance to treat my Mom (well, hopefully it was a treat!) to lunch at my house. Mom, Dad, and my aunt came over for lunch and just as I was placing the last dish on the buffet, Mom’s phone rang. It was my sister, Julie, and Mom asked her what she was doing. She said, “Standing here at the front door.” Yep! Julie came up to surprise Mom and I loved having them all here for lunch.

We had chicken on the grill and some cheesy potatoes (great new recipe I found that works in the slow cooker…woo hooo!!!), fruit and cheese kabobs, and veggies with dip. For dessert, we had mini cherry tarts and orange cookies with orange frosting. Did you notice…no chocolate? It just seemed that Mother’s Day should require springy, fruit-filled dessert. (pictures in post below)

It’s great to be able to share a day like this one with my Mom – and I’m very thankful for her!

This is my last official “Bits” post as a thirty year old. (Goodness! How did this year go by so fast?) I remember this time last year…looking ahead to the great jump from the twenties to the thirties…half excited about it and half dreading it. It turned out to be a wonderful year, full of blessings and great memory-making moments.

And now, here I am, at the threshold of another birthday, wondering what this year might bring. Kind of excited to see! I’m trying so hard to make the most of my moments…to learn things…to absorb…to be able to turn around and teach others out of what I’ve learned.

I told you a couple of weeks ago that I purchased The Journals of Jim Elliot and that you’d probably see snippets of it now and then. Consider it snippet time. **NOTE ** You might have to read his words a little more slowly to fully absorb them. The flow of language is a little different than we use today.

Lord, I confess to Thee that now that it is well with me I have not remembered Thee aright…how easy it is to get into service after release from chains and to be so active that it is possible to forget the One who ministered when there was no hope of escape.

Jim wrote those words after reading in Genesis 40, where the cupbearer and baker were released from prison…yet forgot to remember Joseph. Once their worlds were right again, they forgot their friend. They forgot their promises. They forgot what it was like to be hopeless.

He went on to say, I would remember Thee, Lord Jesus, because of the seven famine years coming upon the earth – the future of the entire peoples depends upon my not forgetting to make mention of Thy name.

Just think what would have happened if that cupbearer had never remembered Joseph! The day came when Pharoah needed a dream interpretation, and only then did the cupbearer remember Joseph. He thought he was just helping Pharoah…and perhaps helping his old buddy Joseph get out of prison. How could he know that the mere mention of that name would bring about deliverance for the entire nation in the years to come?

And the same is true for us…how can we know when the mere mention of God’s name might bring about a change much larger than we could ever hope to know?

Jim closed that day’s journal with these words: O God, save me from a life of barrenness…and give instead that vital contact of the soul with Thy divine life that fruit may be produced and Life-abundant living may be known again as the final proof for Christ’s message and work!

That is my hope for the year ahead…that I will experience that vital contact of my soul with His heart – and that fruit will be produced!