You Come, Too

What Would it Hurt?

2 Chronicles 7:14 - NIV

            . . . if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

I hope we all go to Heaven together. I hope to see and be with everyone I love, everyone I ever enjoyed, shared and taught with or otherwise walked this life with here on earth. I look forward to spending eternity with hundreds of people I love, people I know will be there with me, and I grieve for those God has yet to convince; and sometimes I even chase them a little, which I know is not my place, but God’s place; not my way, but His. It’s only because I love them so . . . but none of us can change people. People have to change themselves. Chasing only makes others run.

After a lifetime of personal discernment and study of existence, people, this world and what it all means, I have faith in the one true God. I believe:

            • the Bible is a record of TRUTH,

            • that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God,

            • that though knowing Him, we will share all of eternity together

                        • happily free of the pain and suffering of this world,

                        • safely free of our egos,

                        • blissfully enjoying the people and activities we hold dear.

I trust Him.

I believe God holds all of existence in the universe and the space in between

and that He has tried, as any cherishing parent, everything He can think of to keep us happy and safe,

            • but we keep messing up, so:

                        • He sent His SON to speak directly to us human face to human face,

                        • and finally, I believe God had to allow His SON to die in order to finally                                                 • save us from OURSELVES.

This is what I believe. If those who do not believe gave this a try  . . . what would it hurt?

Beth Lively

May 4, 2013

                       

           

Families: This is Not About PRIDE

Were Jesus here, though I don’t think He would marry two men or two women, I do think he would bless each of them when they came to listen at His feet or to welcome Him into their home for a meal. I think He would consider the members of that household a family.

I also think He would recognize they shared a household, both cared for any children, so were both entitled to share finances, taxes to Rome, medical expenses, and possessions.  If one passed away, I think Jesus would not hesitate to consider the other as next of kin and continued guardian of the children, as would others who had known and loved them. I think the family would grieve within a loving community.  I think Rome wouldn’t care as long as they got their money.

To me, Jesus would love and teach while everyone else would be kind, fair and see the truth in the obvious. Neither God nor Jesus ever condemned love. God’s army is clothed and armed in the strength of love. God gave His son to die for love. Jesus suffered willingly for love. Love always wins. 

Truth, love and the obvious.  Laws against these things should be abolished.

I Dare You to Read This!

God loves you and you are His by grace and nothing else. You are a gift--just the way you are--and He delights in you. His love is simply unconditional and has been, always--long before your time ever came. 

You search on the edges of spirituality in you studies, perhaps your poetry, but you reject even the possibility of belief in His love. Yet your actions often reflect Him to others--patience, kindness, honesty, peace, goodness, gentleness . . .

You are seeking . . . why . . .?
 

Because a tiny hot coal in your gut relentlessly urges you to. You don't know what it is, but it calls to you, and you are simply driven to your heritage--like a fledgling homing pigeon mysteriously drawn home . . . home . . . home . . .

I dare you to take the chance! Seek out a believer-- everyone of you know one, because you know me, but you know others and it doesn't have to be me. Just give Him a chance and make contact with the believer. Let go of the weak, clingy part of you that keeps you where you are, and dare to listen to a believer.

I'm telling you it's for you, it's real! God is not a religion, but rather a deity! All powerful. I have seen His power.  He can transform your life, bring you Joy, Hope, Peace, and Love deeper than you can imagine!! I know because He has rescued me.

What could it hurt to give Him a chance?

Contact me or another believer. 

On the Advent of Advent

Labor Pains

My year begins

as the rest begin to end;

my baby new year colors in

orange and rust Crayons,

In mauve and crimson markers,

and pied pencils . . .

blending softly

the subtle shades of

sable, russet,

auburn and olive.

The harvesting

of a year’s worth

of dreams and nightmares,

twelve months of

weekly aspirations

frustrating failures

sweet smiles,

all the heart and struggles

of a year

held in straw baskets--

a bounty of a life

bounds through the

crispy soft days leading

towards a Baby in a manger,

a starbright lantern hanging

on God’s finger leads the way…

My year folds its bounty into

crimson and evergreen

blankets to cuddle the

now white Innocence

born into this needy heart, then

the grays and blacks of winter’s

monochromatic mysteries

steal my breath and
Death envelops life

in a warm comforting cloak—

so like the Beginning, but

too like the end . . .

falling asleep is simple, easy,        

when a person 
freezes to death . . .

Pain is the last mark of living,

the time to gasp and rise again

a phoenix,

the antithesis of cold retreat!

So tender a seclusion,

giving thanks and Baby Jesus,

the love they radiate

wards off the night, their birth cries echoing . . .

Death passes over

once again painted away by

The Blood of the Lamb.

When the last of the jams of bounty leave the cellar

in their reverent stained glass jars, tiny green living things

come once again to head to their golden crimson russet

ends, and Life begins.

Lively 9/2012

Spiritual Leaders

A beloved pastor, Fr. Harry, celebrated his fifty-four years as a priest and  I was a part of this kind shepherd's flock some 30+ years ago.  As I sat in the pew of the small one hundred two year old chapel, I thought about the ministers and priest I have known throughout my life, wondering what it was that sent me more than one hundred miles on a Sunday afternoon to see this man I had not seen in fifteen years, not had as my pastor for thirty.

I have had many pastors throughout my fifty-eight years, both Methodist and Roman Catholic, but few were spiritual leaders to me. Most seemed wonderfully led by the Bible, while only a few blessed ones were on a level where I truly believed they were led by God, inspired through their prayer--even in the things they said when I privately sought their counsel.  While most have preached inspired sermons or been very kind, these few have shaped my understanding of faith and how I see God because I knew they had heard Him many, many times. I could see it clearly in their eyes.

My current Methodist pastor is one, this one, another. As I sat in that hard pew celebrating the mass with Fr. Harry and as I listened to him I knew the answer.  Love. The love that is God filled that man--I could see it in his eyes at eighty as clear as I did when he was only forty-eight and I was not yet thirty.   His inspiration came from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The way I see it,  whether Methodist pastors, Catholic priests,  nuns, or  friends, others have led my spirit through their conversations with God. I can see the light of God in their eyes.  Such a pleasure, love.   Such a gift.

Enough said.

Beginning to See

I am beginning to love myself, beginning to see potential for passionate and inspirational work in what future I have before me, yet every time I reach to embrace these feelings, it scares me. My heart shuts like a trap, opening for everyone but me. 

Since I was old enough to think on such things, (about 10 years old)  these feeling have seemed selfish and embarrassingly conceited. When my heart begins to soften, a million personal sins come to mind to harden it right back up, again. Climbing the walls seeking approval is exhausting. Trying to function without my own support is fruitless.

In turn, then, I find myself repeatedly dissatisfied; my shutout soul sitting outside the wall of my heart, once again put in my place where I belong.  It is cold and lonely--not conducive to being of any use to anyone else; not stable enough, full enough, to serve God. Certainly not a joyful place by any means.  Yet, I see hope these days!

I am beginning to understand my Christ, to really get the Truth, and actually believe God's love is meant for me.  I am beginning to sustain what, before I was only able to catch and hold in fleeting, precious moments, like a wild bird, or silvery minnow. 

I am beginning to Trust that God is inside my soul!  I am starting to Believe that my earthen vessel and its God given soul is very worthy of my heart's embrace, my own love showered over it like a child, cherished and forgiven; cuddled and renewed. I am beginning to heal.

Hebrews 10 outlines everything I need to remember.  It is beginning to feel like a handbook of self-love; the Prayer Warrior's Guide to Forgiveness;  a Survivor's Guide to a Full Heart.  I think I will read every word of it everyday, then maybe the next time I start to slam the door in the face of my soul, I will remember Christ is inside, and instead, offer to wash my feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Hebrews 10

The Sacrifice of Jesus

 ^1-10The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old "law plan" wasn't complete in itself, it couldn't complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution. If they had, the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins. But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt. The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can't get rid of sin. That is what is meant by this prophecy, put in the mouth of Christ:

   You don't want sacrifices and offerings year after year;
      you've prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.
   It's not fragrance and smoke from the altar
      that whet your appetite.
   So I said, "I'm here to do it your way, O God,
      the way it's described in your Book."
When he said, "You don't want sacrifices and offerings," he was referring to practices according to the old plan. When he added, "I'm here to do it your way," he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan—God's way—by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.  ^11-18Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. The Holy Spirit confirms this:

   This new plan I'm making with Israel
      isn't going to be written on paper,
      isn't going to be chiseled in stone;
   This time "I'm writing out the plan in them,
      carving it on the lining of their hearts."
He concludes,
   I'll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.
Once sins are taken care of for good, there's no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.

Don't Throw It All Away

 ^19-21So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body.  ^22-25So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
 ^26-31If we give up and turn our backs on all we've learned, all we've been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ's sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment—and a mighty fierce judgment it will be! If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God's Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us that he'll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: "Vengeance is mine, and I won't overlook a thing" and "God will judge his people." Nobody's getting by with anything, believe me.
 ^32-39Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn't touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back. So don't throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It's still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God's plan so you'll be there for the promised completion.

   It won't be long now, he's on the way;
      he'll show up most any minute.
   But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust;
      if he cuts and runs, I won't be very happy.
But we're not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We'll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.

Northwoods Hymn

In the northwoods
God whispers in the
soft tenor rustle of
birch leaves dancing
in the winds as they come
sweeping across
blue silk waters
decorated in fine white lace.

In the northwoods,
God giggles in the
rich bass of a bullfrog
in the lazy jazz of a
loon tremolo
in the soft murmur
of a duckling
in the faithful gurgle
of lake lapping
shore.

In the northwoods
God loves
in the simple silence
and spacious solitude
of sweet repose
of quiet thoughts
grown meditatively
open and brave enough
to breathe God in
like air
to bathe in Him
like water
to grow in Him
like the prairies
to live in Him
and live
and live
and live.






Lively 6/26/2012