Sweet Adversity

Wealth is certainly a most desirable thing,

but poverty has its sunny side,

and one of the sweet uses of adversity

is the genuine satisfaction which comes

from hearty work of head or hand,  

and to the inspiration of necessity,

we owe half the wise,

beautiful,

and useful blessings of the world.

 

Louisa May Alcott.

Hungry?

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). ….the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth.”

John Piper

It bears repeating.  I am too easily fattened and dulled by  the perpetual parade of apple pie this world has to offer.  No wonder I have little hunger for my daily bread.  Maybe if I weaned myself of the sweet and oh so smooth confections that tickle my taste buds and pad my hips without fortifying my soul… maybe if I stopped drinking so deeply from the fountain of frivolity… maybe then the hunger would grow.  The kind of hunger that settles for nothing less than my Daily Bread (Mat 6:11), the Pure Milk (1 Pet 2:2), the Heartiest Meat (1 Cor 3:2), and springs of Living Water (John 4:14). 

From Leftovers to Crumbs

I have been listening and re-listening to Bebo Norman’s “My Only Hope” paired with thoughts of this poem by Wilbur Rees. 

“I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,
but just enough to equal a warm cup of milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don't want enough of God to make me love a homeless man
or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want the warmth of the womb not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack
I would like to buy $3 worth of God please”

Wilbur Rees

Bebo sings;

“I want a crumb, but you are a feast
I want a song, but you are a symphony
I want a star, but you are a galaxy
And I have resolved that I'm much better off
In what you have for me.”

If I don’t want to offer leftovers to God, how much less do I want to be blessed with only $3.00 worth of His grace and blessing and goodness (and I’m not talking just in pleasant circumstances, here).  No.  No leftovers on my part.  No satisfaction in crumbs.  I will feast on Him today.

I want to run, it's my nature to run
And I want to fight, it's my nature to fight
And I want to live, but you tell me to die
I have resolved that I'm much better off
In your hands than mine

I'm begging you to hold on tight
Begging you to hold on tight
Begging you to hold on tight
Begging you to take my life from me

I want a crumb, but you are a feast
I want a song, but you are a symphony
I want a star, but you are a galaxy
And I have resolved that I'm much better off
In what you have for me

I'm begging you to hold on tight
Begging you to hold on tight 
Begging you to take my life from me

So tell me you won't let go
Tell me you won't let go
Cause you are the only hope for me

Take my life from me, It's the only hope for me
Take my life from me, It's the only hope for me

And I'll never want for more
I'll never want for more

Firstfruits

 

I am reminded once again, “Be faithful, believing that this moment, this task of being the keeper of this home and tender of these hearts is my calling and is my  form (a form, not solely) of temporary worship.”  Am I choosing to magnify Him in the moment?  Am I choosing to center myself on this task/ministry/calling and see it as opportunity for me to display  my faithful heart or am I treating this task as a distraction? Am I giving Him and my charges the “firstfruits” or are they getting the stale, dry, sparse, bruised and battered leftovers of my devotion?

“We don’t like thoughtless love, food, passion or friendship…we like true love, wholesome food, pure passion and friendship that puts the other first…

What does our Lord and Master want from us…nothing less….”

Wow. I love (hate!) the visual image of “leftovers”. I do NOT want to offer leftovers to God. Despite my not wanting to, I wonder how often I do and am shamed and sorrowed to say that it is often. The wording in Sarah’s “Leftovers” post just made me feel like scales dropped from my eyes. I will be thinking and evaluating the plate of praise that I serve Him today, in my relationship with Him, and with those He has placed in my path to love and serve… that it won’t be cluttered by take out and leftovers, but that it will be a double portion, hand mixed and served up with the firstfruits of all my devotion.