Tag: Inspiration

The Tea Cup of Today

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118:24

 In the midst of a frenzied afternoon at work today, I paused to read an email from my daughter Amy:

“I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot lately:  “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  The last two words, “in it”, are what have me thinking. The phrase makes it seem like it’s a special place – a porcelain cup, specially made, specially prepared – to rejoice, to revel, to live fully in — when you are in something like a cup of tea, surrounded.”

Any given second, any given breath, we are within the walls of a day. We can’t see tomorrow – and so we can only treat it with what we can’t see – with hope (but how great is our hope when we think about Jesus)? We see only today, and our hands, and our feet, and our loved ones, and whatever else God has given us for today. “

What Amy wanted to tell me is that today is not only a special time, but a unique and wondrous place designed by God for us to live and breathe in.

The porcelain tea cup of today.

I smile at the thought of today and of pink porcelain cups.

by D. G. V.

*** Author’s Note: this link leads to a poem I wrote for my daughter Amy.

Originally posted 2012-07-26 22:33:36.

Solomon in All His Glory

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.   Matthew 6:28-29 ESV

What about clothing? Jesus marvels at how we worry about outward appearances. He points to the lilies of the field and challenges the mind to consider their comeliness.  What you see in a lily is beauty in its entirety:  a flower with no added trappings to make it more beautiful than it already is.

The Lord plunges into the very depths of our understanding.  King Solomon’s silken robes, rings of gold, crowns of precious gems, and other glittering ornaments are, in our Lord’s appraisal, pathetically inferior compared to the splendor of God’s creation.

Our lives are as the lilies of the field; the fullness of real beauty emanates from within. Everything we reflect to the outside world are blossoms of growth from the innate potential that our Creator endowed upon each of us at birth.  As we cultivate the measure of faith, hope and love that we hold in our hearts,  no earthly adornment can augment the essence of loveliness that springs forth in our lives, a blessing to others,  to the glory of God.

D. G. Vachal © 2012

***Photography: Yellow Lilies by Poppy 

Originally posted 2012-06-13 18:12:49.

Where to Start When Trials Arise

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of  whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1

There is a strategy, a great principle for facing the battles and conflicts of life in the 27th psalm, condensed by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the following words:  “Always start with heaven and with God, and then come down to face the problems on earth, as you find them in the light of what you have already seen through God’s light”.

Never start with man, never begin with an earthly perspective. Many failures are the result of starting at the wrong place to find a solution.

Why do we start with God?  The first thing we notice in the first few verses is the psalmist’s overwhelming confidence and assurance, not in himself, but in God.  Let us consider the reasons for this unshakable certainty.

The Lord is his light. Light is the opposite of darkness and despair, and in the light, we see things  clearly. When we are in the midst of trials, we grope in darkness:  we have limited understanding, and we blindly grapple for human solutions. But we can look up to heaven and to God for light and understanding, for the Lord shows us another way, another kind of life, a way out of darkness. For He Himself is the light in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who proclaimed, “I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12

The light of life.  The radiance that illuminates our pathways as we live our lives on earth. What a tremendous promise and assurance!

The Lord is his salvation.  When we turn to God, He guarantees our welfare, by showing us the way of escape.  Through Christ, God delivers us out of the kingdom of darkness and translates us into the kingdom of light.  It is a glorious transformation: despite the presence of sufferings, we are rescued out of the stronghold of tyrannical darkness, in understanding and in spirit, and we are elevated to a position of peace, strength and safety.

The Lord is the strength of his life.  In spite of the formidable forces of the enemies of our life and our soul , when we look to God and rely upon Him, we have the confidence of a limitless Power behind us, Whose strength and resources are boundless.

As we look to the Lord before anything else, in whatever circumstance we are in, we ultimately acknowledge Him to be our light, our strength and our salvation.  And from this principle flows the wellspring of our confidence and assurance in the face of trials, even at their very worst.  Whom then shall we fear, and of whom shall we be afraid?

1 Reference: Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Sermon, “Seek My Face”

Originally posted 2012-06-01 01:30:13.

Setting the Lord Always Before Us

“I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Psalm 16:8 KJV

King David revealed one of the great secrets of his life, what kept him going in the midst of great adversities and tragic events: that he set the Lord always before him, being constantly aware of God’s nearness and presence. And we can say that this was also true of the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived a life of constant prayer and communion with the Father.

Let us consider what might be components of this significant guiding principle in life.

The first aspect is a determination, an act of the will, and a definite decision to practice this guideline.  We live busy lives in a world where “life seems to be organized for us”.  It is alarming how the years pass by so swiftly, and we often wonder if we have accomplished what we purposed to do.  We must insist, therefore, to take control of our lives and live it according to what we believe are the right paths, because if we do not, our lives will be governed by the tyranny of external events, the pressures of business, meetings, and day-to-day living, and we ultimately forget the needs of our immortal soul.

The second aspect of this practice is the art of recollection, speaking to ourselves and reminding ourselves of God and our relationship to Him.  Upon waking, we consciously dismiss thoughts of doubts and temptations and deliberately remind ourselves that we are children of God and heirs of eternity. And we meditate upon the implications and outcomes of belonging to God.

These components involve the action of diligently seeking the presence of God, to know that He is not simply a philosophical concept: He is a Person, and we can come before Him, speak and fellowship with Him.

One practical way we can attain this is to spend time reading the Bible, where God reveals Himself to us, and the more we read God’s Word, the more we are made aware of His Presence.  It must not be fitful, but rather a regular and systematic daily reading, to go through the book from Genesis to Revelation year by year. And we need to spend time in prayer, talking and listening to God.

These are the ways we set the Lord before us, and we must do it always, through trials and triumphs, through storms and calm, always.  And like King David, we shall not be moved, whatever befalls,  because the Lord is at our right hand.

Reference: David Martyn Lloyd-Jones Ssermon: Set the Lord Always Before Me

Photograph: Great Bear Lake by LCT

Originally posted 2012-05-26 00:41:11.