Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.
They are more desirable than gold,
    even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
    even honey dripping from the comb.
They are a warning to your servant,
    a great reward for those who obey them. (Psalm 19: 9 -11, New Living Translation)

                I love honey comb.  It is a real treat on the rare occasion I find some. Last week, we were at the outdoor farmer’s market, here in Whitby, and there was a honey vendor’s stall. A small block of honey comb called my name. It wasn’t cheap but I splurged anyway.

                The bee keeper explained to me some of the process of harvesting honey comb. They put each piece in the freezer for 24 hours. There is a slight risk that the queen bee has laid an egg in the comb and freezing it kills the eggs.  Good to know as I really wouldn’t want to spread some honey on my toast and see a wiggling larva looking up at me; don’t need the extra protein that badly!

                Honey is a biblical metaphor for a life that is good, a sweet existence. The Promised Land was called a land flowing with milk and honey. “And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.” (Numbers 14:8) It is said that the manna God gave the Israelites in the desert tasted like honey wafers. God promises that his people will be nourished well. “But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.” (Psalm 81:16)

                Then, of course, we get our text that proclaims that God’s Word is “sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.” Psalm 119 expresses the same, “How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.” (119:103) Although I prefer the honey metaphor, the Message Bible expresses it this way: “God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.  You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.” Now just maybe, if you put the honey on top of the strawberries…

                But the preamble to these sweet verses is equally important to help us understand just how the word of God nourishes us and sustains us and why the word of God is essential for our well-being. “The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.” (vss. 7 -8) God’s Word warns us when we sin. God’s Word replaces ill-thoughts with good thoughts.  

           “Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
            Keep me from stupid sins,
                from thinking I can take over your work;
            Then I can start this day sun-washed,
                scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
            These are the words in my mouth;
            These are what I chew on and pray.

            Accept them when I place them
                on the morning altar,
            O God, my Altar-Rock,
            God, Priest-of-My-Altar.” (Psalm 19: 13 -14, The Message Bible)

                I know that I could always stand to be a little sweeter. How about you?

Dale

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden - except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” (Genesis 2: 16 -17, New Living Translation)

           Our nearly six-year-old granddaughter, Amelia, is a very smart, independent little soul. Recently, she asked her mother for a snack. She received two cookies. Then she happily went back outside while her mother went off to another part of the house. When Katie came back, a little while later, there was a stool up to the kitchen counter, an empty cookie package on the counter and cookie packaging on the floor. When asked, Amelia readily admitted that she had helped herself to more cookies. How many more?  Maye six or so, she blithely said. We can, perhaps, appreciate her independence at getting her own snacks, but she needs help with her decisions about getting more healthy snacks if she is still hungry – cheese, yogurt, fruit. But who among us is ever really satisfied with just one or two treats and don’t wish for more of the same? Try and eat just one chocolate!

            Maybe, it was the apple core on the ground that first gave Adam away after he ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of good and evil. (I know it wasn’t an apple per se and it was their self-awareness of their nakedness which gave them away, but humour me.) They had a cornucopia of lush, delicious fruits to eat from the bountiful garden but couldn’t resist the temptation to eat the one and only fruit which was forbidden. I have no idea why God would create such a tree of the knowledge of good and evil or put it within easy arm’s reach and then forbid eating from it. It would seem that God was testing Adam and Eve. They failed gloriously and left us, forever more, with humanity’s mess of sin.

            I have always appreciated that tongue-twister of paragraphs in Paul’s letter to the Romans where he admits how hard it is to choose to do the right thing and so easy to do the wrong thing. Perhaps, he had this Garden experience in mind when he wrote, “For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots…”  (Romans 7:5, The Message Bible) Of course, we are not thinking about an extra cookie or the second or third chocolate out of the box, but behaviour, words and actions, that lead us right down the garden path and eventually out of the garden all together. “I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.” (7: 19-20, TMB)

            More cookies, please? No? That’s OK, I’ll just help myself anyway. When You are not looking.  Sorry about the crumbs!

           Yet, we are not alone with this turmoil of good versus evil within us. “You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.” (7: 4 -5, NLT) It is now possible to drop the forbidden fruit and in letting go of the sin that grabs at us, to live in new, abundant ways that are pleasing to God. Using Christ as our guide and template, we turn away from the temptations and affectations of living with our poor and ugly choices and find ourselves with all sorts of healthy, wholesome, life-enhancing opportunities to live freely and abundantly. We find ourselves welcomed back into the Garden. “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (Romans 5:11, NLT)

            That’s the way the cookie crumbles!

 Dale

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

“Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” (Psalm 37:7, New Living Translation)

          A long time ago, I used to love to go fishing at my parents’ cottage on Lake Steinburg. I would get in the boat and set out for some part of the lake. It wasn’t a very big lake. But on many a lazy summer’s day, I would get out, not far from the shoreline, turn off the motor and just slowly drift along. I never set down an anchor. If I got too close to the shore, I would paddle back out to deeper waters. I‘d cast out my line and hook with a worm as bait.  I’d light up a cigar and just enjoy the out of doors. The truth of the matter was that I really didn’t care if I caught anything. That would mean I would have to reel the fish in, take it off the hook, throw it back and start over again. Catching a fish would interrupt my blissful reverie. I might spend a couple of hours just drifting in summer breezes.  Lots of time to unwind, think, pray and relax.

            I read an article recently which expounded the importance of taking time off in the summer for R&R. It is important to unplug from the stress of work and routines and recharge our whole-body system.  We owe it to ourselves to have some down-time, some fun, some serious (?) playtime. We work through very busy, demanding and stressful schedules, whether  in a workplace, at home or even in retirement sometimes.  Our lives can be dictated to by our calendars, our clocks and our lists of things to do. The article gives six recommendations for a meaningful rest break. Yikes, now I have an agenda even for my down times!

But for what it is worth here they are:  1. Take it when you can – even if it isn’t perfect. 2. Make a list of things you might enjoy doing. 3.Small is good. 4.Practice a bit of quiet. 5.Reflect purposefully. 6. Block it off and pay yourself first. (Eilleen Chadnick, Globe and Mail)

We read in the Gospels that Jesus took time-outs from his hectic and busy schedule.  He would find some secluded spot where he would pray and think. After being inundated with the demands from people to cure illnesses, listen to their stories and requests, he needed some “me-time.”  He practiced what the Psalm advocated: be still in the presence of the Lord. The Message Bible puts it this way: "Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him." In the busy, noisy, demanding lives we have, we need time to get away from the madness and seek and renew our relationship with what and whom  deeply and truly matters and that includes our relationship with God. We time to reflect, pray, ponder,

Such quiet times helps put things in better and healthier perspective. If we were to read the whole of Psalm 37, it reminds us that even though the world is full of problems, sinful people, wickedness and the like, our time with God restores our confidence and assures that God is still in charge. “Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.” (v.8) In fact, when we start to get really angry and upset about the state of the world, the Psalm tells us to chill out. “Stop being angry!  Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper - it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.” (vss.8-9)

Being still in the presence of God helps us to find inner peace, some personal sanctuary in troubled times, some sense of spiritual and psychic balance. These critical quiet times help us develop the strength and resolve of then meeting the demands of the world around us. The reconnect us with our centres and core of our beings. They help us to refocus on our priorities and relationship.

            I know that the summer is late now. But it is never too late to make the time to stop and smell the coffee, as the old saying goes. “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 4:10)

            Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
            thy wings shall my petition bear
            to him whose truth and faithfulness
            engage the waiting soul to bless.
            And since he bids me seek his face,
            believe his word, and trust his grace,
            I'll cast on him my every care,
            and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer! (W.W. Walford)

Dale

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” (Matthew 6: 19 21, New Living Translation)

            So, yesterday, Susan asked me whether I knew that we had packed my old skill-saw and brought it with us to our new apartment.  Well, of course, I did. You never know when I just might get a powerful urge to rip something in two. I will be all set.

            We have a small storage area in our apartment. It is now chock-and-block filled with everything that we couldn’t fit into the rest of the apartment. Heaven only knows what may be in those several boxes and bins.  Even though we discarded piles and piles of unneeded stuff, we still have a crammed storage space of miscellaneous who-knows-what.  Oh well, our children can sort it all out when we are gone.

            Perhaps, it is human nature that we hang on to what is old, unneeded and ends up as clutter and baggage.  It is one thing to hang on to keepsakes, old photos, memorabilia that may elicit fond memories, emotions and a few good stories.  But it is when we cling to the old, hang on to the past, embrace nostalgia that we get stuck and mired or overwhelmed in emotional debris and useless sentimentality.  Or worse – we store up regrets, grudges, complaints, criticisms, judgments, envy, malice, sins, habits, worry, anxieties,  etc. One might think that these are not treasures, per se, yet we put high value on them and give them precious status in our lives. We hang on to them dearly.  They come with a high cost to our own welfare, relationships and outlook on life.  Even so,  it is hard to let them go.

            But Jesus urges us to put these things in proper perspective. Don’t let these things define us. Don’t let them hold us back from a more abundant form of living. Don’t let our baggage and our past weigh us down.  For some of us, in the light of Jesus Christ, it is time to clean house, to let go of all the attitudes, behaviour and brittleness that fills our minds, spirits and hearts. None of that matters anymore. It is of no use. It is not worth the bother. We are made new. We get a fresh start. We get a better perspective if we don’t have to peek up over the jumbles.

            But we are not striving for mere emptiness. Instead, we are seeking to fill our lives with the attributes of Love, Forgiveness, Compassion and Joy. We open up our minds, hearts and spirits to let the cleansing breath of the Holy Spirit sweep out the old and bring in the new. We should have an enormous capacity to live the right and best way – to follow Jesus Christ. “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.” (Philippians 2: 1 -5 The Message Bible) Or simply put in other translations: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (NRSV)

        Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me
        Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me
        Melt me, mold me
        Fill me, use me
        Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me
        Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me

Dale