A few months ago Brett decided to switch to a paleo based diet to overcome a stomach that had decided to painfully rebel.  The diet, while restrictive of many of his favorite foods, has quelled his stomach rebellion.  The limitations to such a diet are many, he doesn’t eat grains or sugar.  So, when Brett’s birthday loomed on the horizon, I looked for a viable option to his favorite yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

I had made several outstanding smoothie recipes from a new paleo cookbook I bought and was thrilled to see  a recipe for yellow birthday cake.  When the big day loomed just around the corner I opened the cookbook, wrote down the ingredients and went shopping.  When I returned home, I called Aspen to come help me bake the cake.  She was thrilled. Baking a birthday cake for daddy, at that moment, was the most exciting thing ever.

We measured, poured, blended and stirred.  After the last ingredient had been stirred in, I was pleased to see that it looked and even smelled like real yellow birthday cake.   I poured it into the baking pan with high hopes.  I was just as thrilled as Aspen to be making a cake for Brett that he could eat and hopefully enjoy!

The cake cooled on the counter overnight.   I called Aspen into the kitchen again and she helped make the chocolate frosting.  Next she swirled it and onto the cake, then since it was so much fun, she swirled it some more just because she could.  Everyone sat down to a plate of cake and tentatively took a first bite.  All our high hopes crumbled.  It may have looked and smelled like real yellow birthday cake, but it did not tickle our taste-buds with the familiar taste of store-bought cake mix.

Too many times I try to make a my own version of God’s original plan for my happiness.   I see God’s version of happiness and I want it.   But, for various reasons I decide if I just tweak it a little, my plan will be better.  It will fit my circumstances better.  In fact, my plan can look on the outside very similar to God’s plan for me.  But, after living with my own version of happiness, I realize that it just doesn’t taste the same as original version.

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him.  Psalm 34:8

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.  Isaiah 30:21

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.  Daniel 3:28

My neighbor asked me to water her plants and feed her kitties while they are away for about 10 days.  I asked Aspen if she wanted to go with me.  She loves the kitties so she eagerly dropped what she was doing and put her shoes on to accompany me.  We enter the house through the garage.  Aspen loves to operate the garage door opener, so when we arrived she clicked and we entered while the kitties ran outside then back to be petted.  We ran our hands over the heads and backs of the lonesome kitties, and poured more food into their dishes.

Finished with taking care of the kitties, Aspen helped me fill the watering cans to quench the thirst of the plants in the greenhouse.  While I watered, Aspen spied her new favorite plant; the heart-shaped, lemon-flavored, wild edible plant.  She eagerly ripped it up roots and all to take  home so daddy could taste it.

As soon as we got home she jumped out of the car carrying her treasure and found my garden trowel.  She looked around and excitedly dug a hole in the middle of the flower garden out front and deposited her new plant into it.  She picked a heart-shaped leaf to take to daddy, who wasn’t quite so thrilled with the idea of eating a weed.  But, Aspen insisted he try it.  Finally,  he caved to the pressure, put the little green heart in his mouth, chewed and swallowed.

I perceive the new plant in my garden as a weed.  Aspen see’s it as her greatest new treasure that she picked, and dug the hole for herself.  I think sometimes God tries to plant nutritious new plants in my life and I see them as sour tasting weeds.  How about thinking kindly about the neighbors who play their music too loudly while I’m trying to sleep?  What about speaking pleasantly to the store clerk who didn’t ring up your order correctly and now you have to wait on a manager to arrive and fix the problem?  Most of the time in those situations what God wants me to do tastes sour to me and I’m not interested.  No, I’d rather just plant my own flowers in my garden.  The fun ones I enjoy, not sour tasting weeds that I’d rather not eat.

When I plant flowers in my garden, I take care them, spend time with them and help them to grow.  If I didn’t see that they get the attention they need, they would either fail to thrive or die all together.  The same holds true for the growth, or lack thereof,  of spiritual attributes in my life.  The  plants I spend time with and take care of thrive, while those I ignore, just limp along or shrivel up and die.  For example, I can choose to gossip about someone and grow that in my life, or I can choose not to.  Choosing not to is of course the sour weed that I would rather not taste.

When I choose to allow the Master Gardener help me in my gardening choices, I will grow the spiritual plants that He has chosen for me.  At first they may not appear very attractive and I’d rather avoid their sour taste, but when I love God and put Him first, all things will work together for good.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God-those whom He has called according to His plan.  Romans 8:28 (God’s Word Translation)

Aspen does not like to try new foods.  If I don’t consistantly feed her a food I know she likes, after a couple of weeks of not eating it she will insist she doesn’t like it and won’t eat it.  Peer pressure is working fairly well now that her older brother is home from college.  Left entirely up to her though, I think her diet would consist of chips, candy, pop, and eggs.

Today I took Aspen to an “Edible Wild Plants” class for kids.  After meeting inside the teacher led everyone to the great outdoors to introduce about 10 wild edible plants to the kids.  The teacher excitedly pointed out white clover flowers and leaves.  Aspen hesitantly took a bite of the white clover flower, but didn’t appear impressed with the taste.  The teacher moved on to dandelions, and plantain.  Aspen appeared only slightly interested and picked up a nut she tried to crack on a big rock.  But, the next plant caught Aspens attention, a plant with heart shaped leaves.  Aspen is a true girl and heart shaped leaves that she could eat piqued her interest.  The teacher picked the leaves and passed them out to the parents and kids.  Aspen nibbled away and wanted more, she enjoyed the tart lemony taste.  I’ll have to admit I wasn’t nearly as impressed as she was and after a small nibble discretely dropped mine to the ground.

After her taste of the tart, lemon flavored, heart shaped leaves, Aspen paid close attention to everything the teacher said, and eagerly ate every leaf he shared, even asking for more.  When we returned to the classroom, the teacher poured the sassafrass tea he had prepared before class, and set out some fried wild day lily bulbs that tasted like french fries.  Aspen drank several small dixie cups of tea and loved the day lily french fries.  When we got home she rode her bike up and down the drive way stopping to pick plantain from the grass next to the driveway.   Not only that, but when Brett arrived home from work she insisted he sample the delictable goodies she had discovered, confident he would find them as yummy as she did.  In fact, when Brett failed to taste test the day lily fries, she stubbornly took them back to him and stood before him until he did try them!  Now that’s evangelism.

My desire to spend time with God can be as capricious as Aspens eating whims.  I know that I like Him, but I want my own way and might rather do my own thing rather than spend time with Him doing what He wants me to do, even though what He wants me to do will grow my spiritual heart far healthier than the spiritually equivelant diet of potato chips, candy, and pop that I stubbornly say I want.  The more time I spend doing what I want to do the less I am interested in doing what God wants me to do.  But, when I actually taste and see that the Lord is good, WOW!  what a difference it makes in my attitude.  Suddenly He becomes everything I want!  The effect of that daily experience can fire my motivation to be as much of an evangelist about my Jesus as Aspen is over her heart shaped, lemon flavored leaves.

The checkout clerk at Lowe’s scanned our purchases and put them in bags for us.  Brett pushed the cart out the door while Aspen ran ahead.  We called her back and she bounced back into our idea of a safe range for her to wander from our sides.  Still bouncing like a Tigger she repeated for about the fifteenth time that day, “Where are we going next?”  This time Brett told her our shopping was done and we were going home.

Brett loaded up the back of the car with our purchases and buckled Aspen into the back seat.  Soon we were buzzing down the freeway in the direction of home.  A construction zone loomed ahead and traffic slowed down.  Brett, never one to stay in the slow lane, moved into the faster lane.  A quick check of the rear view mirror revealed a police car had pulled up behind us.  Brett kept an eye on the rear view mirror and commented about the near proximity of the front of the police cars front bumper to our rear bumper.  Brett pulled back into the slow lane to exit the freeway.  I watched the police officer zip past us while talking on her cellphone.  The state we live in has a law that requires a hands free device to be used while talking on the phone in the car.

The thought of a police officer brings to mind someone who upholds the law and doesn’t break it themselves.  I would like to think that if I spent the day with a police officer, I would be spending time with someone who not only enforces the law for others to keep us safe, but someone who obeys the law themselves.  Let me take this idea a step further.  We need to be careful who we look up to and follow because we become like those we are looking at.  The only way I can be sure I’m living my life making the right decisions is to spend the day with Jesus.  He died for me so I can spend eternity, beginning now, with Him.  I know that when I follow His example I am doing the right thing.  I don’t have to question my motives or my actions if I have Jesus right next to me the entire day and follow His example.

“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 NAS

With about twenty minutes to spare before I needed to leave for class, I jumped in the shower and lathered up.  The door bell rang at that very moment.  Aspen ran to the bathroom and said, “I’ll get the door Mommy.”  Having a vivid imagination, I quickly told her not to answer the door, but to run downstairs and get her older brother, who is home from college for summer break.

Colby opened the front door and greeted an employee from the electric company.  He dutifully informed Colby that unless we paid the bill, our electricity would be turned off!. Colby yelled through the bathroom door explaining the situation and asked me what he should do.  I groaned in exasperation, Brett had forgotten to pay the electric bill (again).  I told Colby to take my card, conveniently in his wallet from a previous trip to the grocery store, and pay it.  When Colby presented the card, the electric company employee stated that while he could take a bank card he preferred a check.  He explained that it was a complicated process to pay with a bank card.  He gave Colby a piece of paper with a number we could call and pay before an hour was up or he would return to shut off the electricity.

I called the number and paid the bill.  It was so simple, the money was in the bank, Brett had just forgotten to pay.  We would still be able to run the dish washer, blow dry our hair, and throw ice cubes in our morning smoothies.

Jesus died for my sins. My forgiveness is in the bank.  But, sometimes I seem to forget that it’s there and live as if my spiritual bank account is empty.  My faith occasionally seems to hover at just above zero and there are days that my love, joy, peace, kindness and goodness seem to have a negative balance.

Jesus died for my sins.  My forgiveness is in the bank. God’s gifts are waiting to be used.  I have every right to live like I am forgiven and accepted into the family of God.  As a member of the family of God, I have the opportunity to go to the family bank account and accept His gifts of forgiveness, faith,hope, love, joy, peace, kindness and goodness, just to name a few.  God has so much of it all, I’ll never run out!  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  (Romans 15:13)

We live in a house with three very small bathrooms.  Shortly after we moved in I took all my girly stuff and stuffed and shoved it into the biggest of the very small bathrooms.  There is a problem with this arrangement.  The lights in the bathroom I’ve chosen burn out quickly.  Five light bulbs line the mirror above the sink, but I am generally left with about three working lights.

Go back in time to the ’80’s.  I was a teenager and Brooke Shields image stared back at me from the covers of the latest fashion magazines.  I looked at her eyebrows; I looked at my eyebrows.  And in the words of my six-year-old, “easy peasy.”  Even then I needed tweezers or I would have had a uni-brow.  Fast forward back to the present;  without proper lighting in my bathroom I am in danger of revisiting my Brooke Shields eyebrows days.   In the poor lighting of my bathroom, I am satisfied with what I see.  But, when I step into my husbands bathroom, which has a window, I gasp in horror at my reflection.  I’m sure I break speed records in my race to get my tweezers and pluck the bushy eyebrows down to an acceptable size in the light provided by the window.

At three-years old, my oldest daughter did not like her blonde eyebrows.  She found a black permanent marker, stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom, and drew on a set of thick, black, and somewhat crooked set of brows.  I walked into my bedroom and found her admiring her new look in the mirror.  Appalled and amused at the same time I asked her why she had done it.  She replied, “Because I couldn’t see them.”

My daughter tried to fix her lack of eyebrows herself, but it didn’t turn out so well.  Later, as a teenager, a make-up sales associate helped her pick out an eyebrow pencil to enhance her brows.  Too many times in life I try to fix my lack of spirituality myself.  I do more.  It makes me look good, at least in my opinion.  But, if I could only see how my self-righteousness looks to God.  It probably looks like my daughter’s permanent black marker eyebrows did to me!

I can just picture God walking into the bedroom and seeing me with my black, permanent marker eyebrows.  The corners of His mouth must twitch just a little as He shakes His head and pulls out the washcloth and soap.   Just like I need the added light of the window to see my stray eyebrows, I need the light of the Holy Spirit shining into the darkness of my heart to reveal my mess.  It is only when I see my sinfulness that I am willing to get cleaned up.  But, I can’t do it on my own.  Just like I need the light from the window to see my overgrown eyebrows,  I need God to send the light of His Holy Spirit to come in and change me, because I am incapable of changing the desires of my heart on my own.

My human nature demands that I fix myself.  I’m usually pretty sure if I try a little harder I can do it.  That works for some things, like pounding on the lid of a jar to loosen it up enough for me to twist off.  But, all the cleaning I do in my heart just stirs up the dust and covers things up.  Only God’s love has the power to remove my sin.  Only God’s love can see through my shield of self-righteousness.  Only God’s love has the ability to still love me.  Only my acceptance of God’s love into my heart will create a new heart within me.

 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence; and take not your holy spirit from me…  Psalm 51:10-11

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.  Ezekiel 36:26 NLT

My cell phone came alive with a happy little jingle.  My sister was calling!  I answered the phone.  She talked about her daughters upcoming graduation from high school as she pulled up to the post office to run in and check her mail box.  She slammed the car door shut and walked into the post office only to discover she didn’t have her keys.  Frustrated, she walked back out to her car and confirmed what she already knew; she had locked her keys into the car.  I felt bad, since she had probably forgotten her keys because she had been distracted by talking on the phone to me.  Fortunately she lives about two blocks from the post office, so she walked home to get her spare set of keys.  When she arrived home the keys were not hanging in their usual place.  She realized she had put them in her jacket pocket which was locked in the car.  Being a single mom she had a hard time parting with the money required to call a lock smith to open her car door.

Human nature tends to be self-reliant.  We don’t  like to admit we need help with something.  We don’t like trading our pride for humility.  My sister did not call the lock smith immediately when she discovered her keys were locked in the car, she pursued her other option first and tried to save herself the pain of paying the lock smith to correct her mistake.

Surrender is the key to the kingdom of heaven.  Surrender of self-will to the will of our Father in heaven.  Surrender involves cutting off the supply of pride to our self-will and becoming connected to the will of the Father.   What is needed to live such a life?  The first thing is an entire surrender of ones life to God’s kingdom and glory.  “Yielding ourselves to live for God and His honor enlarges the heart and teaches us to regard everything in the light of God and His will.  We need to instinctively recognize in everything around us the need for God’s help and blessing and the opportunity for His being glorified.” (1)  We need to surrender our hearts to God’s love for us.   Give the key to our heart to God so He can come in and fill our hearts with love.  Fill it to overflowing with His love for us, our love for Him and everyone else He has placed in our path who needs us to share love with them.  God only wants what is best for us, when we give up our will and live in His will, His river of joy and happiness will flow through us.  The only way to live like Christ is to love like He does.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,  because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.  Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.  Romans 14:17-19

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” 1 John 4:7-81. “With Christ in the School of Prayer” by Andrew Murray pg 233

Brett and I kept one eye on the approaching rain clouds while we discussed whether to stay for the Sesame Street show at Busch Gardens or go to a 3D pirate movie.  The Sesame Street show was outside while the pirate movie was indoors.  One point for the movie.  Brett wanted to see the pirate movie.  Two points for the movie.  It would probably rain soon.  Three points for the pirate movie.  Aspen wanted to watch the Sesame Street performance.  Five points for Cookie Monster and Big Bird.  It was the last showing of both for the day.  We compromised; Brett went to the pirate movie while I stayed with Aspen to watch the Sesame Street characters sing and dance.

Just as the show ended rain drops fell from the sky.  I took Aspens hand and we raced down the street to the building showing the pirate movie.  We ducked inside the still open doors just before the rain gushed from the sky.  Relieved we had missed the down pour, I decided to look for Brett.  I’m not sure what made me think I could find him in the large, dark, overcrowded room.  But, not to be deterred, I firmly grasped Aspens hand and we stepped into the theater.  While I had been thrilled to avoid a drenching from the rain outside, I was appalled to discover that as part of the 3D experience water was spraying down from the ceiling.  I searched diligently for Brett, but I finally decided I would need to wait for the end of the movie before I would find him.

We sat down and I started watching the movie.  Everyone else in the theater wore a pair of 3D glasses.  The movie didn’t hold my attention for long.  I found it more interesting to watch the people watching the movie.  They moved from side to side in their seats and occasionally someone would screech.  Part of me wished I had picked up some 3D glasses.

The people in the theater with the glasses on became, in a sense, part of the movie; they were involved and participating.  I, on the other hand, without any 3D glasses, was just an observer watching in 2D.  I want to compare this to a relationship with God.  I can observe God and do things like go to church, pray, teach a Bible lesson, but at the same time not really be a participant in an active relationship with God.  But, what do I need to have a 3D experience with God?  I need His Holy Spirit to involve my heart in my relationship with God.  Only God himself can satisfy me.  Only when God lives in my heart will I experience a 3D relationship rather than just a 2D observatory role.  How can I have a living relationship like that with God?  We need to live like Jesus, He lived to glorify His Father rather than himself.  When we become a part of God’s family, He becomes our Father.  If we could only see that in 3D!  God: Our Father.  We would go to Him and accept everything He has prepared for us.  Accept and live all the promises He has given us.  He wants us to live in the house He has prepared for us, He wants us to eat at His table, He wants us to go to work in the family business.

When we see it like that, living as a part of God’s family, God as our Father, waking up every morning in His house, getting up and going to do the job He has provided for us; His presence becomes real, He becomes a tangible 3D experience in my life rather than just a 2D picture moving on a screen in the distance.  He becomes someone I can reach out and touch and have a conversation with rather than just being someone I am watching and not interacting with.  God’s words are truth.  We need to live His promises.  “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.  Then my Father will love him, and we will go to him and make our home within him.  John 14:23