Full of Thoughts

I realize I haven't written in several days, and it's not because I'm not thinking -- my mind is full of thoughts. My thoughts are scattered and my feelings fluctuate. I read about political events and ruminate on them. Is Obama ruining the nation? Is Palin a lunatic? Will the spending ever be checked? Do I think we need healthcare reform? I contemplate Adam's job prospects and wonder if we'll be moving to South Dakota in a couple of months, or if we'll still be here. Can I be happy to move? Will it perhaps be a lovely place to live? Can I bear to leave my home and friends here? I homeschool the children -- their arguments and bitter answers to each other cause me pain. But their bright intelligence and quick learning please me.

Life is full of opposites, and sometimes full of contradictions.

In the middle of all this swinging, I find I do best if I can be still. Study the politics for what is RIGHT. Leave the moving to God and trust in Him. Be consistent in my teaching and press on.

I love autumn above the other seasons, and I love the Christmas season best of all the year. Yet often it happens that trials and disruptions occur at this time of the year, to upset the joy. I want to keep the joy, abide in the stillness, hold fast to the eternal verities of beauty and peace found in the celebration of God Made Man.

I'm slowly memorizing Isaiah 40. I've done the first 9 verses, in no real hurry. I doubt I'll do the whole chapter; it's very long. But memorizing, and doing so deliberately, causes me to dwell on the words and their meanings. What should we be doing? Comforting God's people -- our message is for his people. What words of comfort can we give them? God is coming! His glory will be shown when he comes! You -- you people, are as fleeting as the dried grass of autumn, blown away by winter winds. Again, we're told -- we the New Jerusalem -- to get on a high hill and proclaim to God's people that He is here!

How much time do we spend with other missions and other messages? Do I look for opportunities to tell to my fellow-believers HOW God is clearly present in my life, today? Isn't this what a testimony is? We stand before other Christians and remind them, "God is present, working in my life. Let me tell you how." And we do.

So, I'm telling you -- God is here. He is at work. I can feel his delving, sometimes hurting, fingers, digging deeply into my life. I've felt it before, and I recognize his hands. I see the impression of his fingerprints in these doings. The trials of life often become his most precious gifts to us, later. The timeless One comes into time and does his work. That's what Baby Jesus did, and God is still about this work, this coming.

He is here.