Snow! Snow! Snow!

Treasured Friend,


We’ve had a snow day here in our neck of the woods. Actually, more like a snow week – three days of being shut in thanks to two feet of the white stuff. You’d think that would be rather good, in a way--a time to catch up on lots of stuff you’ve been too busy chasing around in the outside world to finish. (Come to think of it, I did get a load of laundry in.) But I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d have expected. Although Mom and I did singlehandedly (okay, with the help of one shovel between us, and one mop handle) attempt to move 500 cubic feet (including a four-foot drift jammed up against the sliding door) of the white stuff over the side of our deck, We got about two thirds of the way in before quitting in exhaustion. (She, as she’s always quick to point out, isn’t my aging parent! She shoved her way into the action with more energy and strength than it would have taken for me to resist her participation!)

In days like these, as in days of caregiving, we find within our energy stores an extra deposit from God—a strengthening for the task that feels supernatural in origin. We certainly felt that yesterday—that is, until we ran up against our physical wall of exhaustion. But, that’s the physical and clearly temporary brand of strengthening.

I reread a prayer this morning, from the quill of the apostle Paul, that speaks of a different kind of strengthening—a more permanent one—one that doesn’t leave us drained at the end of the experience and collapsing in exhaustion, but instead energizes us for a new kind of future so fabulous that we can’t even begin to imagine it. Here it is, found in the closing of his second letter to the Thessalonian Christians—a letter my pastor has been preaching through since the first of the year.

May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 HCSB).

I pray this Scripture with many of my new students as they enter their writing studies with the Christian Writers Guild (in part because of the word word that makes up a key part of the prayer). But today, I felt very much like the Lord Himself whispered this prayer into my heart—as if the Holy Spirit and the Son of God, who intercede for me always, were praying it for me. To encourage my heart. To strengthen me. To prepare me for the good work (ergon) He has in store for me. To open me to the good Word and to the good words (logos) He has for me to speak or to write. Look where this strength and encouragement finds its source: in Jesus Christ and God our Father. And it’s based in the love of God for us. It’s the source of our hope. And, as I mentioned in the lead-in, it’s eternal, perpetual, everlasting, forever, since the world began and after the world ends.

So, I pray this Scripture into your day today—may our Lord, through His love and His Mighty Spirit, show His love for you by giving you an encouragement that will last. So that you may have His hope to sustain you—the hope based in the solid foundation of His promises to you. And may this love and this hope from Him bolster in your heart a firmly planted, growing resolve to keep on with your hard tasks. May it give energy to your tired body—and vibrant life to your tired soul. And may you, now rejuvenated in His strength, do with energy and enthusiasm the work of His calling on your life. May you not only do His will, but speak His words, today and every day.

Oh, and if you're caught in a snow day (as most of our part of the country continues to be), be careful moving that white stuff. It looks fluffy and sweet--like cotton candy--but boy-oh-boy can it leave your muscles aching!

Blessings to you, my friend,

Julie

© 2010, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com

The Big Picture

Treasured friend,

In the abject dailiness of our lives--whether in caregiving, in work, in illness, in the drudgery of the mundane--the reality of who we are, what we have, and how much God loves us can seem a foggy prospect, indeed. Because I've been overly enmeshed in the mundane, and I'm downright sick of it ... I've begun meditating on the openings of several of Paul's letters this week. In them, I see the exuberance of the Apostle--reminding us of the amazing gifts God has already given to believers in Christ. As I've read and reread chapter 1 of Ephesians and chapter 1 of Colossians, especially, I've found myself bolstered in my resolve to keep moving forward with Him even in the worst of the daily days.

My hope is in sharing a couple of the phrases I've been meditating on, you'll find a similar boost to your heart and soul. So, this week we'll look at the big picture from Ephesians 1--a picture of the reality we seldom even glimpse from our exhausted and overworked perspective.

Read the passage that follows. Savor it. Ask God's Holy Spirit to make you aware of His breath of life in it; ask Him to reveal something fresh of Himself to you through these amazing words. Don't read my comments on it until after you've heard God's own voice speaking to you through this inspired portion of His Holy Word:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:3-14 (ESV)

Here's what I've noticed especially about this big picture--the greater reality. The phrases I highlighted jumped out especially to me this week--and so I dug deeper into them to discover more about the way they would have been understood by Paul's original readers. I think as you read what I learned in my study, you'll see new riches in these amazing words.

"In Him we have redemption"
In the original Greek that means something like, through Christ we hold in our hands the absolute freedom purchased by His blood. That's what we have, what we hold in our hands--the promise guaranteed by the Holy Spirit--that's the greatest of the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. At greatest cost, He purchased our slave contract from the sin that bound us up with the express purpose of setting us utterly and completely free. That's the way the word redemption would have appeared to the original readers of Ephesians 1. Yes, it's something that will be made clear to us in abundance one day, but it is also something we already have, by God's amazing grace.

"the mystery of His will"
According to my AMG Complete Word Study Dictionaries, the word mystery in the Greek had the connotation of our being let in on the secret of the inner circle--as if we've been initiated into the special group and are now privy to its most guarded secrets. We now know His will, His mysterious choices--He lets us in on what moves His heart. We get to know the very Person of God. And, here again, it's something we already have in part and will one day receive in full clarity.

"every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places"
The blessings we have aren't just physical, limited to this temporary existence. According to Vine's Expository Dictionary the word Paul used here for spiritual only appears after Pentecost, after the promise of the Holy Spirit's descending on Christ's followers was fulfilled. So the blessings here, specifically, are all about the indwelling of the Comforter, the Spirit of God sent to live in us. That's the blessing that transcends time and earthly life--He will stay with us for now and through eternity. What greater blessing would our hearts ever require than the very Spirit of God alive and working in each of us who believe in Christ?

"to the praise of His glory"
This is the obvious outcome of knowing what Paul has shown us about God's gifts and blessings to us. We see how awesome and exalted and unspeakable He is, and our response is to lift Him up, to lift our hearts and voices in awe and gratitude. The phrase appears several times in the passage--perhaps because we are so quick to complain and so slow to worship or praise. Okay, I won't speak for you--but I'll say this: I'm so quick to complain and so slow to worship.

I want to heed that reminder, and I intend to respond today by reminding myself early and often to express my worship to the God who lavished these unmerited blessings on me. I pray that as you lift your eyes from your current circumstances and onto the amazing gift of God's Spirit to you, your heart, too, will sing out in worship and praise to His resplendent glory.

Blessings and prayers,

Julie

If you'd like to dig deeper into other Bible passages, like I've done here, you might enjoy my study of John 17 in my book Praying Like Jesus, available in print, audio book, and ebook editions at http://joymediaservices.com


© 2010, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com

Caregiving, Your Calling for This Season

Treasured friend,

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've written. I've been praying for you in these weeks, but I've also been rather down. It's easy, you know, to succumb to discouragement when you've been exhausted to the bone and something small like a common little sinus bug swoops in to hold you down for the count for two weeks. You've certainly noticed--in yourself and in your caregiving charges--that so often illness and discouragement are unwilling life partners.

In that mode and mindset, still fatigued and sniffling, I opened my email today to find a newsletter to which I subscribe and an article that grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. It was written by John Ortberg, who used to be at the Willow Creek Church in the Chicagoland area, and under whose ministry I've sat in many midweek and weekend worship services over the years. And it was absolutely relevant to us as caregivers. The title is

Guard Your Calling, Frodo

Every worthy task can wear you down.

Of course, you'll recognize the takeoff on Lord of the Rings. But the relevance isn't merely cultural. Although the article is written for leaders (it was in Leadership Journal), it is just as significant for caregivers.

In this season of our lives, we often are called to sacrifice much for the sake of the calling God has placed on us to guard and care for our elder loved ones. And absolutely, the task is worthy. So, like Ortberg points out, we can expect this task to wear us down. If you doubt this (like you haven't seen it in your own life), my last two weeks bear it out in Technacolor.

I think of the words of the apostle Paul:

Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds ⌊us⌋. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the Messiah’s gift. Ephesians 4:1-7 (HCSB)

Walk worthy of the calling, my friend, the caregiving calling. For you have received the charge from Christ Himself. And you already have (not will have at some future date) not only the calling, but the equipping for the task. He has placed at your disposal and mine, all the humility, gentleness, patience, love, diligence, unity of purpose, and peace we need to accomplish our task--and of course He gives us His Holy Spirit Who holds these for us in overflowing supply. Our hope in fulfilling this calling is that our Lord who overcame the world is beside us cheering us on and propelling us forward. This is the gift of our Messiah, our Redeemer, to all of us who believe.

So, take a moment or two to follow the link above to read Ortberg's short article--as a challenge and a reminder to continue guarding the call God has placed on your life in this moment. And better yet, take many moments to meditate on and pray through the Ephesians 4 passage to begin to appropriate those amazing resources God places at your disposal. I know I'm going to camp out there for the next few days--to drink it all in, so I can pour it all out.


Many blessings to you, my friend,

Julie

© 2010, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com

(In case you can't click on the link above, here it is again: http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/currenttrendscolumns/leadershipweekly/guardcallingfrodo.html)

Reconciled: A Christmas Gift

Treasured friend,


It’s Christmas. Despite the carols, the decorations, the parties, the joy-to-the-world frivolity, I’ve had a hard time feeling Christmas in my heart this year. Mom and I never did go Christmas shopping, unless you count a handful of late-night forays onto websites to choose a few necessities for each other (things we would have bought for ourselves anyway). Maybe it’s the lack of seeing children crying on the mall Santa’s lap that kept us from getting into the spirit of the season. Or the lack of hearing those “silver bells,” unless you count the one lone Salvation Army ringer at the grocery store check-out. It certainly can’t be the lack of snow—if there’s one thing the Midwest has this year, it’s a “white Christmas.” I wouldn’t mind a little less white, truth be told.

Maybe it’s the combination of all those things. But it’s probably more than that. I think the culprit is more the numbness of fatigue, thanks to a year’s worth of accumulated hours of sleep lost. That, and a drained emotional tank. The lows we’ve experienced in the health department and the bounce of a few unexpected highs have pulled the plug on our annual allotment of feelings. Our emotions haven’t known what to prepare for on any given morning, so they’ve given up, packed it in, and left the premises.

I’m under no illusion that we’re alone in these bah-humbug feelings. I suspect that most caregivers who are looking back over a year of challenges are having a hard time trumping up the Christmas spirit.

In my blue funk, I turned—where else?—to the Word. I’ve always loved Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light” Colossians 1:11-12 (HCSB). And I pray that prayer for our household and yours this Christmas Eve morning. May He give you power. May He multiply your endurance. May you find joy in serving Him by serving your ailing loved one.

But then I skipped down a verse and found the true source of joy. I quoted it in fancy type in the bookmark column of our family newsletter. And I’d like to quote it here for you. It speaks of the birth we celebrate in this season—and Who that child in the manger really is. Let me list it out for you. As you read it, try to meditate on this description of the Christ of Christmas, as I have.

The Centrality of Christ

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him.

He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.

He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.

For God was pleased ⌊to have⌋ all His fullness dwell in Him,

and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:15-20 (HCSB)

To say He’s powerful is the grossest understatement. To say He has authority is a puny way to describe Him. He is all. Everything. In it. Creator of it. Lord of it. Head of it. Beginning of it. End of it.

And how has He used that power and authority? To reconcile everything to Himself. The word picture I see is of His long and strong arms pulling me to the safety of His embrace—where I find peace and rest as He works to set all things right for the coming kingdom, even though they’ve gone woefully wrong in this world.

That’s the Christmas spirit--the spirit of not just a baby, but of the Mighty King making Himself become fragile, so He could have a peaceful relationship with you and me. It's never really been about trumped up feelings of nostalgia at seeing candy canes and shimmering tinsel and jingling bells and twinkling lights. It's all about the powered-down rest of one reconciled with her Maker and safe in His embrace because He made the effort to make it so.

My prayer for you is that you’ll find that reconciled peace in His arms today, and in the days to come. And that this picture of the Christ of Christmas will become a source of courage and strength to you.

Joyful blessings to you and your loved ones,

Julie


© 2010, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com