We Need to Talk

       There’s a little boy in my class who is new this year.  In his 6 years, he’s had many challenges and faces more every day, challenges physically, developmentally, and academically.  It doesn’t matter what we are doing, I could be up front teaching, we could be working at our desks, etc., but this little boy often times jumps out of his seat and runs up to me.  He only comes up to my stomach, so he’ll look up at me and say, “Miss Clock,” (Yes, he calls me “Miss Clock”…lol…we haven’t mastered my name yet, but hey, it’s a step up from “teacher”!  J)  “We need talk.”  I’ll say okay and as what he wants to talk about.  In his broken, slurred, barely understandable voice, he’ll say, “I wuv you!”  And look up at me with the biggest smile, waiting on the reassurance that yes, I love him too.

        I thought about that sweet little boy, who in most people’s eyes and in most situations seems simple.  But when he stands looking up at me with that huge, lopsided grin, there couldn’t be more love in my heart for him. 

        I’ve learned a lesson from that little guy.  I’ve made it a point that whenever I think about, I turn my eyes toward Heaven and say, “Lord, we need to talk.  I love you.”  The Lord never sees me as the plain girl I am…He sees the girl He died for and that’s more love than any of us could ever imagine.  I can always feel the reassurance that yes, He loves me too.  When’s the last time you “needed to talk” to the Lord?

“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy might.”

Deuteronomy 6:5 KJV

The Potter

        This week at school, we watched a little video about Native American life.  There was a Native American woman who was talking about making pottery.  She was describing and demonstrating the process.  She said that the first part of creating pottery is mixing the clay.  She mixes 2 different types together and it is an integral part of the process because the clay wouldn’t have substance.  The she showed us how she stepped into the clay and mixed it with her feet.  She said that when you step into the clay, it is extremely cold at first.  The more you work it with your feet, the more it warms up and responds to your body temperature. 

        I thought about how the Bible tells us that we are like clay.  As the woman was describing the process, I thought about the Lord being the potter.  How He mixes with us and creates a product of substance.  Without having Him, we don’t have much substance.  Before He lives in our hearts, we are cold: but we respond to Him and become a part of Him, in His likeness.

        Then, the Native American woman started talking about actually forming the pieces from the clay.  She said that when you start working with clay, you start with a basic idea and as you work, the clay just naturally comes together and becomes what it supposed to be.  She said that the clay is so special that you never waste it; you never throw even the smallest piece away. 

        I’m so glad that the Lord didn’t throw me away.  I was pretty basic, but he worked and worked until I formed into something in His image…which is what we are supposed to be.  The Native American woman finished up her presentation beautifully, by saying this, “When you are making a piece of pottery, you never disrespect the clay in any way.  You work with it and do what you can.  One misunderstanding that novice potters have is that you can make the clay into anything you want.  Clay will never form into something that it doesn’t want to be.” 

        Our potter gives each of us a choice.  He doesn’t disrespect us and force Himself on anyone: it’s our decision.  He works with us and gives us the choice and opportunity to be what are supposed to be.  He will never make us what we don’t want to be, but gives us the privilege and opportunity to become whatever we want for Him!

 

“But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

Isaiah 64:8 KJV

“He’s Got Me Covered…”

           This past week has seemed like a week where spirits have been low and there’s a sense of “doom and gloom” around.  I know that the elections play a big part in that feeling.  I’m not going to get all political, but those of you who know me well, know where and what I stand for.

      Wednesday, I woke up and the first thought that entered my head was that Heaven must surely be a busy place today.  They are working hard and putting finishing touches on it.  I, along with many others, feel like it won’t be too much longer.  But, that feeling of “defeat” or “hopelessness” lasted down through the week.  I, along with many others, prayed and thought, where are you, Lord?  Just as I was asking that question, I got an email from my best friend who is the librarian at a local high school.  She told me how a group of 6^th grade girls used their restroom break times to get in a circle, hold hands, and pray.  That’s where God was.  He was listening to a group of girls poured their hearts out to Him. 

She also said that the same week, a young man, who often ran with the wrong crowd and got into some things he shouldn’t, came into the library and informed her that he didn’t need a book that day.  She told him that in order to stay there, he needed to be reading something.  He said that he had started reading a Bible and was looking for answers.  She asked him what he’d found so far and his response?  “God knows what’s coming and he’s got me covered!”  Again, there was God:  showing an unsaved teenage boy that He is right there with him.

      I sat with tears in my eyes.  Here was an example of children, who no doubt had problems that were bigger than them.  Instead of walking around with a sad face, they were doing something about it.  I don’t know any of their names, the condition of their hearts, or anything else about them, but those kids touched my heart.  Problems seem huge and intimidating, the world seems further and further away from God, but it’s really just that simple… “God knows what’s coming and He’s got me covered.”

“…Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

Revelation 19:6 KJV

The Lamb

I’ve heard my dad use this story several times while preaching and it brings tears to my eyes every time.  I know I won’t do the story justice or may not even get it all right, but I wanted to share it.

       There was a man many years ago who had gotten a job at a slaughter house.  His job was to stand at the end of a conveyor belt type machine and kill the animals as they passed.  They would then be processed and prepared for market.  The job never bothered the man before:  he would kill the animals, knowing that it would feed hungry families and his job wasn’t in vain. 

       One day as he was doing his job, a lamb came through on the conveyor belt.  It was snow white.  As he took his knife and put it through the lamb’s heart, blood spilled everywhere, on the creature’s snow white coat, on the machine, and on the man’s hands.  The lamb didn’t die immediately.  The man stood watching the lamb writhe in pain and suffering.  The little lamb heaved itself up, as good as it could in the condition it was in, moved closer to the man and began to lick the blood off the man’s hands.  The lamb, gasping for air, licked and worked until the man’s hands were clean.  The blood was still pouring from the lamb, and what was once snow white, was now scarlet red.  The man stood with tears streaming down his face, surely wishing that the lamb would just lie down and stop.  The lamb finally took its last breath and died.  The man left the slaughter house and that job with tears flowing.

       I know another lamb whose blood was spilled.  I wasn’t present that day and I didn’t physically put the nails in, but while He gasped for breath and writhed with pain, He thought across the years and knew that a simple, small town girl named Amy had blood on her hands all the same.  He didn’t care that His once snow white coat was stained scarlet with my sins.  Gasping for air and in pure agony, that lamb licked until I was clean.  His hands were scarred, bloody, and mutilated, but all He cared was that mine were clean.     

“…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

John 1:29  KJV