Restoring the beauty
Those of you who know me on a more personal level know I love to shop for bargains! I would like to think of myself as frugal instead of cheap. There are some things that you can’t help but pay full price for, but those are few and far between. I will wait for a sale, or clearance, to buy the things that are not absolutely necessary. Lately I went looking for a dress, and headed straight for the clearance rack. I had my heart set on a royal blue dress, (the color brings out my eyes,) and I found one with the original price of $72. There is no way I would ever pay that kind of money for something I didn’t absolutely have to have. I wouldn’t say the dress was a perfect fit, (that would only happen on a perfect body,) but I could zip it and it didn’t look half bad. Imagine my delight in finding that because it was missing a belt buckle the price was $7.20. Those of you who think I walked out of the store with that dress raise your hand! I do a little sewing and a missing belt buckle is not something I find daunting.
In my front yard I have a plant hangar as a decoration. This particular plant hanger was made from an antique dump rake and has 12 places for plants. It only took me a few years to realize how expensive it was to fill up all 12 places, before I added bird feeders birdhouses and chimes to some of the 12 places. Spacing everything out so it would be symmetrical and pleasing to the eye left me six places to fill with plants. You guessed it I headed for the bargain table in the greenhouse at Wal-Mart. There I found six half dead New Guinea impatient hanging pots. Now usually to save money I will buy small starter plants and repot them in my old hanging baskets, but these were a bargain. I brought them home and for the first time I thought perhaps they were not such a bargain, they looked pretty dead. Not willing to waste money I got some plant food, and fed them, then hung them up and gave them a good watering. There was not much difference the first or second day, but on the third day they began to look a little better and in less than a week they began to bloom again. Now they are full and lush hanging baskets and I am very proud of them, and my hummingbirds are enjoying them also. I brought back their beauty with a little tender loving care.
This scenario reminds me of our relationship with God. Left unattended it becomes bedraggled, shriveled, and half dead. So how do we restore our relationship with God? When someone hurts us or if we hurt someone even with an apology it takes time to restore that relationship. Some people are not very quick to forgive, while some might even hold a grudge for some time. We are so blessed to have a Heavenly Father who is happy, even anxious to forgive us if we ask. More than anything else he wants to pick us up off the bargain table and make a lush, beautiful, thriving relationship with us. And it really is just that simple to restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father, we just have to ask. Now just like my flowers that are lush and beautiful, if I fail to water them they will become shriveled, and in have to fight for life. The same thing is true of our relationship with God, we must nurture it, water it, even pursue it so it can be healthy and thrive.
As parents is important that we teach our children to have a healthy happy relationship with Jesus Christ. One way to do this is to read the book he left us, one might even call it a love letter. Another way is to talk to him every day. As a teenager one of my favorite songs was a simple chorus called: ‘I see Jesus,’ it goes like this: In the morning I see his face: in the evening his form I trace: in the darkness his voice I know: I see Jesus everywhere I go. I find just singing that short little chorus brings me closer to God. Teach children by example, find a link that keeps you close to God.
We as authors often have a muse to keep us in a writing mode. We have little tricks, habits, even music we play to make sure we stay connected to our best writing atmosphere. If we can do that for the sake of our writing, how much more rewarding would it be to restore the beauty of our relationship with God?
Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.
Jeremiah 3:22
He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:19
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Isaiah 1:18
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Hebrews 8:12