Things are looking up!

What I saw when I looked up on my way to work--Hallowell!

Psalm 121--

            I lift my eyes to the hills-from where will my help come?

            My help comes from The Lord, who made heaven and earth.

            God will not let your foot be moved; the one who keeps you will not slumber.

            God who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

            The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

            The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

            The Lord will keep you from all evil; God will keep your life.

            The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and                        forevermore.

            On Sunday I shared with my congregation that this was my favorite            Psalm.  I actually condensed it to the simple mantra of "God is my shade by day and moon by night."  These simple words helped me to get through some very difficult times as well as to fully celebrate some wonderful times.  There were times when I said these words with confidence, and others with some doubt.  I have wept and I have smiled, I have been fearful and joyful and more often than not, thankful.

    

     After sharing this Psalm a parishioner shared that this was her mother's favorite Psalm as well only her mantra so to speak was the first line: "I lift my eyes to the hills-from where will my help come?"

            I imagined this unknown woman standing at her sink looking up out of her window asking these words, and I thought how often did her help come simply from looking up?

            How often do we become so hyper-focused on our difficult situations that we forget to look up?  What happens when we look up?  We see the sun, the rainbow, the blue or grey sky. 

When I look up from my kitchen window I see my neighbor's children playing hide and seek or climbing on their jungle gym.   When I am driving and look up I occasionally see an eagle but usually I am simply awestruck by the sky, the river I drive along on my way to work or at this time of year the foliage. 

     Other times I look up and I see grey clouds, I see rain and bare trees and I know that I am not alone in times of transition or loss.  Comfort and strength sometimes come from knowing we are not alone.

            When our son was born prematurely and was rushed to a neonatal hospital my husband looked up from his concern and despair and saw my sister and brother in-law with their new baby waiting for him, they had driven 2 hours to be there.  One championship soccer game our sons were playing in they looked up from the field to see their uncle coming up over the hill, his was a three hour drive, when I was very sick while in college I looked up after a very long three hour drive and saw my home and my dad and collapsed with relief. 

            Baby was still premature (requiring all that came with that from us and him), soccer game came and went (no memory of who won) and after a brief hospital stay so did my illness.  But what we saw when we looked up has remained, I still weep when I share these stories, we looked up and help arrived.  

Bee-ware!

God bless the bees!

Praise God from earth..

Mountains and all hills,

    apple orchards and cedar forests;

Wild beasts and herds of cattle,

    snakes, and birds in flight;-----The Message

      We are preparing for our Blessing of the Animals service, and I came upon this sunflower covered with bees...God bless the bees!  However this picture reminded me a bit of what our relationship with blessings can be...Watch out what you ask/pray for---the blessings we receive can often surprise us in unexpected ways. 

On approach, this sunflower attracted my attention because of its joyful color and because it actually grew when I thought I planted it too late.  Well, it was too late to make a sunflower house for our grandson, but not too late for the bees.  My intention to get closer and even pick the flower was quickly thwarted by the threat of a sting.

     Isn't that often the way "the best laid plans go"?  We have one intent or desire and God has another, or we pray for one thing to happen and well....the answer isn't always one we are prepared for.

     Think of this quote from Evan Almighty: "Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"  (imbd.com)

When I think of church and the things we pray for we are often surprised by the results:

-Pray for more children and when they show up....we don't know what to do with them.

-Pray for more people to come in the building and we don't know how we will pay for the oil to keep them warm.

-Pray for new members and now our committees look different.

In our own lives we may have found ourselves at one time or another receiving an answer to prayer only to be left with a “now what?” feeling.

When I pray for peace, for the hungry to be full, for the homeless to be warm, I may be naïve as to how much that prayer may cost me in my own life?

Tracy Chapman sings "Be and be not afraid to reach for heaven." 

Blessings abound all around us, I sit on my porch listening to the birds sing, the sun is warm on my back and yet the recycling bag has dumped and I also hear bottles and cans rolling around, the three dogs are barking at "ABSOLUTELY NOTHING" and I think some hornets are attempting to build a winter nest in the eaves...and that warm sun caused my ipad to overheat.

God bless us in our praying and in our receiving of the answers unexpected and surprising as they may be.