A Sweet Fragrance

We have a corn plant sitting in our kitchen.  It sits and looks pretty and green, but every once in a long while it blossoms.  This week is blossom time.  Beautiful flowers, spectacular sweet smelling flowers.  The aroma fills the kitchen then spills into the other rooms of the house.  The plant’s scientific name is “dracaena fragrans” the last part referring to the aroma of the blossoms.

The blossoms of the corn plant fill the house with a beautiful sweet aroma.  It flows over and around you, envelops you.  The sweet fragrance fills the house, but coming into the kitchen it overpowers everything else, a true joy.  The corn plant got me thinking about my life, especially my Christian life.  I am supposed to be a sweet smelling fragrance for the Lord, for Jesus.  My life is supposed to rise to him like incense.  I should be so submitted to Jesus that my life becomes a sweet fragrance, an offering to Him.  If I truly live for my Saviour the sweetness of my life should be noticeable and should bring glory to God.  The world should be a better place, a sweeter place, because of me and all others who are led by Jesus.

I love the sweet fragrance of the corn plant and will be sorry when it fades away.  But it is a gentle reminder to me that my life is lived for Jesus and I should be like a sweet fragrance which brings glory to Him.

An Empty Nest

We’re empty-nesters.  Our daughter Christy was married on Saturday and Sandra and I, plus Harley cat, are alone in the house.  Now it’s not a huge transition, Christy was out a lot, but still, we have the house to ourselves.  It is a transition.

Life is full of transitions.  Christy and her new husband Christian are in the transition of single to married.  We have other friends who are in transition because their spouse has passed away.  Still others have a first child, a first job or no job at all.  Transitions, change, that is life.  Things change, we change, life does not stand still.  As I have written before, I am so glad there is one unchangeable constant in all of life, in all of the universe.  God does not change.  My Saviour Jesus will not change.  He is with me forever, in my times of transition, when things are great or when things are very difficult.  Jesus is forever mine.  If you know Him as your Saviour then He is also forever yours.  That wonderful, marvellous, incredible fact is what brings comfort and infinite joy to all of life.  Jesus is always with those who are His.  He is the giver of joy.

We’re in transition.  We are empty-nesters, home alone for the first time in 28 years.  But we are not alone, not really, Jesus is with us always.  Our family is still nearby.  And this transition, gaining a new son-in-law, is a time of great joy.

Links in a Chain

Yesterday a friend told me an interesting story.  A young man and woman were arguing on the beach.  In exasperation the young man called out to a stranger passing by them, “What colour are my girlfriends socks?”  The stranger replied to him, “It doesn’t matter what colour they are, if you don’t know Jesus you’re going to hell!”

The story is true.  What a crazy thing to say to someone asking a simple question.  What came over the stranger?  Why would he say that?  What did the stranger think he would achieve by saying such a thing?  Well in this case the young man began to think about what the person said, searched the Bible, became a Christian, went to seminary and became a pastor.  All because someone said, “It doesn’t matter what colour they are, if you don’t know Jesus you’re going to hell!”  I don’t know a lot about the story, but I am sure God was working in the heart of the young man, preparing him for the words he heard.  I am also sure God was working in the heart of the passing stranger and prompted him to give the answer he did.  God uses many things, a chain of people and events, as He works in our lives. If we choose to do so, we can look back and see Him at work in our life.  God also desires to use us as the links in the chain which leads someone else to know Jesus as their Saviour.

The question each of us faces every day is whether or not we will obey God.  Some don’t believe God exists, but that won’t stop God from working in their life.  Others believe but won’t put their faith in Him.  Many people choose to follow God, asking Jesus to be their only Saviour, their key to forgiveness for wrong and entrance to heaven.  A chain of events and people led to that decision.  Each day I, we, must decide whether or not we will be obedient and let Jesus use us as the links in the chain which will lead others to know Jesus.

A Christmas Miracle

I had a great day yesterday, skiing, enjoying snow and mountains and good friends.  Almost Christmas, friends and family seem more important than usual.  Jesus is in my thoughts even more than He is normally.  It is a special time of year.

I did a strange thing this year at the beginning of December.  I asked Jesus to make this a very special Christmas for me.  I didn’t ask Him to make sure I received lots of presents, or even any presents.  It wasn’t my favourite meal or a white Christmas.  I asked that I would see and experience Christmas again as a small child experiences Christmas.  I asked that this Christmas I would be immersed in the wonder of what happened 2000 years ago in Bethlehem.  I asked the Lord to allow me to experience Christmas in the magical way a five year old experiences Christmas.  That was my Christmas wish, my Christmas prayer, this year.  I know, it is a lot to ask, but I asked it. 

So what happened?  Joy happened.  Unspeakable joy.  Every Christmas carol fills me with joy.  Emotion wells up within me.  Every thought of Christmas is joyous, magical, incredible.  The Lord answered my prayer, a prayer I didn’t think could be answered, and I am once again experiencing the wonder of Christmas as a child.  I struggle to even try and convey the sense of wonder and joy I have this Christmas, the sense of God’s presence with me, the awe of what He has done in giving us a Saviour, Christ the King.  Merry Christmas.  May yours be as glorious as the one I am experiencing.