Little Nudges from God

Listening skills comprised a feature article in the Wall Street Journal this week.  The advice was not so much about hearing, but listening to those around you.   It is a matter not of wave lengths entering the ear, but honing one's sensitivity to the needs of others.

But listening to God -- well, of course, God takes that to another level.  Listening to God does not just mean receiving.  It means adjusting my heart -- not just my ears-- so as to respond quickly.

Over her 38 years in ministry in rural India, missionary Mary Geegh learned that kind of sensitivity to what I call "little nudges from God."  One day in struggling with a difficult co-worker, she sought God for a solution to the problem.

Mary recalled that one morning early she asked God for guidance:  what could she do to dissolve the critical feeling she had in her heart for this woman?  "Take her a fresh egg," came a thought. 

And as it is proven over and over, God's little nudges are almost always followed in our minds by a long list of excuses to not follow Him into it.

Mary dismissed the very idea.  And later when she came home midday, a chicken wandered into her little house, hopped up on a chair, and laid an egg before her.  How much more obvious could God be?

Mary still struggled with the ridiculous idea that seemed to make no sense.  What turned out was that it made no sense to her at the time, but the outcome was totally a design from God.  For when Mary reluctantly obeyed and finally delivered the single fresh egg, the woman was so grateful.

"Oh! That is just like God!" the woman said.  "He knew I had nothing to eat this day.  There just wasn't enough food for all, so I went without.  Then you brought the egg for me."

And then, that little act of what Mary thought was ridiculous obedience took root.  The egg did not just satisfy the woman's hunger that day, but impacted that family's walk with God, and as Mary discovered, "all the friction in my heart was gone."   A close relationship was nurtured between them.

That story from so far away and so long ago reminds me of those little nudges from God that I have ignored or responded too late to do anything about it.  Little do I know how God plans to use that crazy idea, if only I simply obey.  And sometimes it may be only for me to discover how much I trust God with my life.

To know the reason why is not my job.  Just to be faithful to Him.

How has God nudged me today?
How has He nudged me to obey?


And the LORD will guide you continually...

                             Isaiah 58. 11

Do not withhold good
    from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to do it.

                             Proverbs 3. 27

See that time with different eyes, see that task with a transformed heart

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times.  But that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

So J. R. R. Tolkien penned these words in his epic story The Hobbit.

And what of the story God is writing in you?  How are we responding to the time that God has given us?

I was moved to tears over this news story (to view, click this link) of the tragedy and redemption of a young man's life.  The outcome was incredible.  But what was even more remarkable to me was the faithfulness and love of his parents in taking care of him for a dozen years without knowing the outcome. 

God does not call us to be successful or significant, but faithful to Him.

For some of us, that means following God into a dark wilderness without knowing where we are going.  For others, that means following God right where we are, being faithful and available for His divine appointments and purposes without knowing the outcome.  How can anyone of us know what is "significant?"  Who is to know how God is using you?  Whether the corner office or changing bedpans, He calls us to be faithful.

For His glory,
   for His glory alone.

Whatever your task,
work heartily,
as serving the Lord and not men,
knowing that from the Lord
you will receive
the inheritance as your reward;
you are serving the Lord Christ.

                  Colossians 3. 23-24

Unsubscribe

I pulled up my emails yesterday morning and scanned through the plenteous junk mail for messages from REAL people and sites with information I need.   It is like searching through an enormous crowd for the faces of those I really love. The computer is a great source of communication, but, as I have discovered, it provides an even greater source of distraction.

A line of superfluous emails awaits me every morning.  And most of the time, I spend a few minutes deleting all of them.  It doesn't take too long, but it is a few minutes I could spend instead on what really matters. 

Yesterday, amid the pressing commercial cries of "open me or you are going to miss out," I began to push back.  I began to unsubscribe. While it may appear impossible to back out of this barrage of emails -- sometimes sent more than once a day -- there is an escape route at the very bottom of each email in the teeniest tiniest font, a barely visible "click here to unsubscribe."   I am tired of the clutter in my inbox and the urgency of "you really need this."  If I want things to be different, something has to change.  And that time is now.

What I really need is to be not distracted by the mundane any longer.

As I clicked the first "unsubscribe" button, I noticed how many retailers acted like junior high girls who have been offended, stating in so many words, "well, I don't want to be friends with you either."  Some retailers begged for reconciliation, "how about only once a week?"  " A month?"  "Special events?" And the supposedly heart-rendering "so sorry to see you go."

You are not my friend.  Don't pretend to be.

I looked up the word "subscribe" in my father's old dictionary.  The first meaning is "to write one's own name in one's own hand."  It is a promise and a commitment of precious time and treasure.

When I choose to unsubscribe
     from a covetous lifestyle
or an enslaving website
               of any kind,
      it releases me.
It is a turning from what draws away
    and a focusing on
                a higher calling.
I am choosing to subscribe
           to something different,
to Him who has written my name
         on His hands.

And in that fresh margin of time,
God sharpens my heart
                 to His purposes.


All things are lawful for me,
but not all things are helpful.
All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be enslaved
                       by anything.

              1 Corinthians 6.12

A pocketful of kindness

A young woman stood up suddenly in a morning Bible study and excused herself because she was not feeling well.  As she walked into the church lobby, she collapsed onto the carpet and died.  It was sudden and shocking for all of us.  Everyone knew her as a loving person, but when her minivan was finally retrieved from the parking lot, the evidence of her heart was revealed.

Inside the minivan was a box loaded with gallon-size zip-lock bags.  Each of the bags contained an assortment of cereal bars, a plastic bottle of water, and an item such as a knit hat or a pair of socks.  She was not just a kind person, she was prepared for the opportunity to be kind.  When she saw a needy person, she had something to offer to meet them in their need.  Sometimes it was a zip-lock bag.  Sometimes it was a compassionate conversation.  Need is not a respecter of persons.

That box was living testimony about her relationship with God.  Good deeds do not save us.  They are just the evidence of what God's redeeming does to a person.  God changes our hearts, He changes our minds, He changes the focus of our lives from me-centered to God at the core of who I am.

She spoke freely about the love of Jesus.  Her life conversed about her Savior even more so.

And whoever gives
   to one of these little ones
even a cup of cold water
because he is a disciple,
truly, I say to you,
he shall not lose his reward.
            Matthew 10.42

A ministry of small things bears that which is profound.  There is nothing too big for God.  There is nothing too small that He cannot use for His eternally significant purposes. God changes lives that way. There is no higher calling or reward than being used by God  for His glory.

Aware of it or not, skeptics around you are not watching to see if you mess up or if you are perfect, but hoping beyond hope to see if this God of yours is real. 

It is not a matter of "ought to" or even a willingness to be used by God.  Am I ready with a pocketful of kind words?  Am I ready to be inconvenienced to listen to someone?  Do I look for opportunities with eyes that see beyond the obvious and a heart ready  to respond?  Am I that kind of ready -- heart set and pockets loaded -- to love those who God puts on my path today?  Even those I live or work with?  Yes, even them.  Desperate hearts are often the best disguised.

Am I that kind of loving?

Think about it.
Pray through it.
Prepare to
    practice grace.

A different agenda

I have returned to Nightly Tea from a land where a successful day is declared when everyone sleeps through the night and the adults can get a shower.  What is "important" fades in the light of a baby's smile and laughter emerging from the basement.  It is a time when exhaustion is overruled by the cry of an infant.  And relationships are nurtured.

When our first grandchild was born and I held her for the very first time, I was struck by a overpowering responsibility.  The Bible speaks about the next generations and "those yet unborn."  This is it, I thought.  Everything I do, everything I pursue, my relationship with Christ -- all have a direct impact on this child.  And the reverberations extend to the furthest generation.

And so, this past week, I left Nightly Tea at home, and my husband and I loved on three of our grandkids for several precious days.  We sang and read Bible stories, frolicked in the snow, played restaurant and hospital, swords and knights, and raced little plastic cars.  The toys will soon be forgotten, but the TIME will not.

I wish I had realized that more when I was the mommy and the girls begged me to come play with them.  "Be there in a minute" became my first response, not as a promise but a way to put them off while other more "urgent" things swallowed up that time.  And more often than not, that "minute" meant not at all.  At the time, I would think how much I got done, but it was indeed my loss.

Singer Gloria Gaither once told a story about her young son who ran inside and called her to "come quick to see this."  She was up to her elbows washing dirty dishes. "Mom, mom, mom, mom, you are going to miss it!" he insisted.  With a great sense of irritation at her son, she followed him into the backyard.  And there before her was the most magnificent sunset.  In another minute, it was gone.  And had she hesitated even a moment, she would have missed not just the sunset, but the sheer joy of sharing that precious experience with her child.

And so, last week, I did not write.  I played.  And loved on those kids every which way I could.

We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD,
                 and His might,
and the wonders which He has wrought.
...to teach to their children
that the next generation might know them,
        the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children
so that
     they should set their hope in God...

                     Psalm 78. 4-7