Tag: bible

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Lessons Learned in L.A.

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I recently enjoyed a weekend in Los Angeles with my three daughters. This momma learned a few things and I thought I’d share them this week:

  1. We never know who may be encouraged when we read our Bible in plain view. I was walking on the beach within an hour of my flight landing. I could feel the tension just sliding off me as soon as my feet touched sand. In the mile or so that I walked in the sand along the ocean surf I saw three different young adults sitting and reading their Bibles. Maybe locals will tell you differently, but this was not what I was expecting to see on the beach in LA! Whenever I read my Bible at a coffee shop, café, or park people say stuff to me like Oh I should do that more, or good for you, or wow, what a reminder. So here I was experiencing that visual: People all over the world love and follow Jesus! I came away encouraged just seeing these folks and resolving to live my faith out in transparent ways. (Jesus said it in the Sermon on the Mount: Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16)
  2. I am working at practicing more acceptance and less judgment. I’ve realized how often I judge people and situations by first appearance. For instance, I learned that Nicki Minaj is a believer and has a sweet rap in the Tasha Cobbs Leonard gospel song, “I’m Getting Ready.” An employee at my hotel looked tough as nails but then God prompted me to pray for her and He gave me a prophetic word for her. She literally hugged me when we said good bye. I learned that San Francisco has already instated laws and LA is close behind that prohibit anyone not waccinated from entering a restaurant, bar, concert venue, hospital visitation, or event center. At first glance this might seem to carry logic, but I don’t see how this isn’t a new version of you can’t sit at my lunch counter! Kaiser found that over half of African Americans and Latinos are not waccinated and don’t want to be. I know many people who have already had the virus and believe their natural immunity will last. I know several women with health issues that prevent taking the jab but now, in California at least, they are shunned from society. I’m not going to judge anyone if they have it, don’t have it, don’t want it. I know that we each are trying to live our lives in the best way possible that fits for us. (Jesus again has the lowdown: “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2)
  3. We will reap what we sow, especially in the investments we make with family. I was in LA because my daughters wanted to have a mother daughter weekend together. They are successful, grown women who could fly anywhere for a weekend and be with just about anyone, who wanted to spend a weekend moving slow with their mom and each other. I felt so loved and honored. These are my favorite people on the planet! Every night as we got into our matching pjs (thank you Brooke!) laughing, cuddling, and eating chocolate I was reminded of the investments of love, patience, compassion, and listening that graced their childhood. To all you mommas out there—you will reap a precious reward one day! Keep your love on, keep smiling and laughing, keep speaking words of life over your children. (“Whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. Let’s not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not become weary.” Galatians 6:7-9)
  4. When in doubt about where to go for dinner, always get tacos! This one needs no explanation. If you can think of a good scripture to go with it, please put it in the comments!

I received such a lovely text this week from a woman who recently received my book. She said she devoured half of it on a flight and said it had changed her entire outlook. As she was ordering ten copies for friends I was reminded (because yes, I forget or I doubt) God inspired me to write this book for the times we are in now! If you haven’t already, please get my book Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion anywhere books are sold. It will encourage you, make you laugh, and give you fresh insights for this crazy life.

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Give Me Understanding

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Do you ever find yourself returning to a passage of scripture but not knowing why? I am stuck on Psalm 119.  I want to look away, I promise. But God keeps turning my gaze back to this Psalm. So here I am, in the longest chapter of the Bible, almost dead center of The Book. I’m sure He can feel my squirming.  Verse after verse about the word of God, the testimony of God, His precepts, judgments and decrees (eight different Hebrew words are used to refer to God’s Word in this Psalm) A few weeks ago I mentioned how precious His testimonies are and the very reference to His testimonies in this Psalm wrecks me! This week I’ve been struck by the phrase, “give me understanding,” which is repeated six times in Psalm 119. Have we not whispered this prayer as we read the day’s headlines? Haven’t we shaken our head and said this as we consider our friendships or perhaps even our marriages? What are these patterns in our life? What’s our purpose? Why do we struggle to walk out the Christian life in this world? Lord, give us understanding.  Let’s dig deeper.

In Psalm 119:34 we read: “Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” It makes sense that we can follow whole heartedly if we only understand. Clarity is curative, right? Lord I so want to understand to be whole toward You. C.S. Lewis said, “The most valuable thing the Psalms do for me is to express the same delight in God which made David dance.” Our hope, delight, and trust are in God. Our head knows this but sometimes our heart has to catch up!

“Your hands have made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.” (Psalm 119:73) Our identity and purpose flow out of this fact: God made us and fashioned us.  Yes, how desperately we need understanding on this point today. WHO we are is designed; we are not an accident. God made us for His heart. At the most basic level, our identity is literally stamped on every cell in our body. But so much greater than that simple fact, God chose every unique aspect of our existence: our eye-print, lip-print, fingerprint all unique. Our laugh, our gait, our thoughts, family background and experiences are unique. Who doesn’t want greater understanding in the why behind their identity?

“I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.” Here in verse 104 the writer shifts from asking for understanding to stating an impact of clarity received. We hate the false, fake ways that lead us away from real life. When we see the truth, beauty, and goodness in God’s ways, we realize the short-comings of all other options.

In verse 125, the writer states: “I am Your servant; Give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies.” I’ve prayed this one. I’m all in, God. My answer is Yes to You. Help me understand what You are saying right now! I don’t want to be the person who reads story after story of Jesus feeding the 5000, the 4000, taking care of people and not understand He wants to take care of me! Give me understanding that I may know Your testimonies! Jesus healed every.single.person who came to Him. Give me understanding when I need healing Lord! We want His testimonies to be our story as well.

“The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; Give me understanding and I shall live.” (verse 144) I’ve questioned this one: are His ways right? It hasn’t always felt right but the older I get the more I see the rightness of God’s ways and the permanence of them. Give me understanding and I shall truly live.

“Let my cry come before You, O Lord; Give me understanding according to Your word.” (verse 169) Give me understanding clearly communicates I have no resources in myself. I’ve exhausted all of my means of problem solving and gathering insight. An understanding remains which can only be revealed. God is hiding things for us not from us! He is waiting on that prayer of Lord, give me understanding!  Dear friends, may you dig into His Word this week and dance in God’s presence! May His understanding and revelation be the highlight of your week. I would love to hear what catches your heart in Psalm 119

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A Long Shelf Life

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Fun fact: our prayers have a long shelf life. No Biblical story demonstrates this more than the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth. When an angel appeared to Zacharias and told him “your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son” and Z replies to the angel, “How? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” (See Luke 1:13-18) We realize by his response, Zacharias and Elizabeth hadn’t prayed for a son in many years. They had given up on that dream, but God did not forget!

In Acts 10 a roman military officer, Cornelius, is described as a prayerful, generous, God-fearing man who encountered an angel in a vision. The angel released this amazing revelation: “Your prayers and your generosity have created a memorial before God.” The prayers of this one man were answered miraculously while the disciples witnessed the Holy Spirit move among gentiles in ways they did not conceive as possible. (See Acts 10 for this wonderful story) 

So, dear friend, if our prayers create a memorial before God, meaning they are remembered by God and for a long, long time, what’s on our prayer list? If we could sit out on the back porch with God, what would we talk about? Our loved ones? Our future, direction, and purpose? Would we pray for our family, our school or work, our nation to walk with God in fresh ways? Long after we forget these prayers, God continues to remember them and honor the cry of our heart.

One month before my 40th birthday I gave birth to our son, Samuel Cooper. Every day of my pregnancy I blessed him and prayed for him. And every night (until he stayed up way later than us) we would bless Cooper before he went to bed. We prayed about little concerns of the day like tests coming up or friendships happening, but we also prayed for God’s vision for his life. We blessed him to be a man of integrity and wisdom. We blessed him to love God’s word and to walk in His ways. We prayed all kinds of prayers I can’t even remember but God still has them. You see, prayers I’ve long forgotten are just now coming up on God’s to do list!

Cooper returned home this week from his freshman year at Baylor. Like Samuel in the Bible, it appears that a razor has not touched his head and also like the Biblical Samuel he does not let God’s word fall away from him. Cooper likes to read his Bible with me in the mornings. We sip our coffee and share insights from what we are reading. When he was a chubby little toddler and I prayed he would love God’s word and walk in wisdom, I had no idea how beautifully God would honor that prayer! I could not have imagined the young man he would become or the impact he would have in his world.

Our prayers matter– they are not forgotten! In fact, the throne of God is described in Revelation as being surrounded by twenty-four elders worshipping before the Lamb, “each having golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” (Revelation 5:8) If our prayers are this precious to God, please dear saint, don’t let up, don’t get weary or distracted! Pray the prayers of heaven and watch God do amazing things!

Sign up for my blog at www.MargaretAllen.org and find my book Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion anywhere books are sold.

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Extravagant

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“He brought me to His banqueting table, And His banner over me was love.” Song of Songs 2:4

We just bought a home in Idaho and I’ve been gathering household items to bring since there aren’t many big stores in that area. Not knowing what the former owner would leave, I bought some cute Target towels to bring with me, just in case. But I did browse the high-end stuff at Bloomingdale’s at Valley Fair just to dream. Abyss towels felt out of this world but they cost some crazy amount like $100 a towel. I took a picture of them, that’s all.

When we moved into the house, we discovered the former owner had outfitted each bedroom with lovely bedding and the bathroom with, you guessed it, Abyss towels. I wanted to cry.

You wouldn’t believe that towels could be the catalyst for a spiritual experience, but stay with me. Do you sometimes get the impression that God, yes God Almighty, actually gets a kick out of blessing you? It’s almost like you could look across the room and catch Him just smiling at you, waiting for that look of delight and wonder.

One quiet morning in the new house I was sitting with my Bible and coffee and just gazing out the window. Normally, the hundreds of aspens in my view would merely blend into a dull kind of gray, but in the quiet of this particular morning, each tree seemed to stand out individually. I held the beauty of them. A black and white magpie darted through the trees.  Geese honked overhead as they divebombed the river. The silvery light cascaded through the cottony flowers of the aspens. The entire scene took my breath away, and in the moment, I actually felt loved. Again, it was as if I could look across the room and catch Him watching me, seeing if I found delight in His gifts. Both of these moments—the towels and the morning view of aspens– felt extravagant.

It’s interesting that the definition of extravagant reflects a negative perspective: “exceeding what is reasonable or appropriate,” “lacking in moderation, balance and restraint,” and “over the top.”  But sometimes “over the top” is wonderful. Sometimes we pray that God would connect with us in an unrestrained way. We scour the old stories for new sprouts of truth and life. We look for His face in common events.

And that’s what happened for me that beautiful silver morning when the first song on my Sonos playlist was a Casting Crowns song, “Your Love is Extravagant.” The harmonies are spectacular but the lyrics just wrecked me: “Your love is extravagant, Your friendship, it is intimate. Spread wide in the arms of Christ, is the love that covers sin. No greater love have I ever known than You considered me a friend.”  The fact that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners is extravagant, over the top, love. How He made us to relish beauty and to connect with nature in a spiritual and sensuous way totally lacks moderation. The way God inspires people we don’t even know to give gifts we couldn’t give ourselves, truly exceeds reason. 

God gives good gifts to us: beauty when our hearts ache for inspiration, nature moving in a complex system with cohesion releasing peace to our tech weary eyes. He offers avenues of protection, channels of provision, streams in a desert. Recklessly, He throws reason aside and loves unconditionally. Like a lottery winner we can’t believe our good fortune that God, yes God, Almighty loves us, extravagantly. 

Have you recognized the love of God in your life recently? This week, scan the landscape for ways that God is smiling at you. Steal moments from a busy world to gaze upon beauty, walk in nature, be still, and be at peace. Let Him love you!

Do you know someone who could use some inspiration in life right now? Share this blog or gift my book, Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion. Go to www.MargaretAllen.org for “Mondays with Margaret” and other resources.

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Endurance

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“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” Hebrews 12:1,2

I joined a running club when I lived in Tulsa years ago. I remember the feeling of starting a run all nervous and excited. I would invariably start out too fast but after a few minutes I would settle into my natural pace. And once I eased into that natural rhythm of running, breathing, and relaxing, man it felt like I could run for days. The road stretched in front of me, welcoming my arrival.

I don’t know about you, but as we head toward Christmas and New Year’s, I wonder if we all need to find our stride, our natural rhythm to finish well. Could we look at December like a marathon, choosing to ease into our run, steadying our breath, relaxing shoulders, and softening the gaze? Could we allow the path to stretch out in front of us in welcome, no matter what surprises or disappointments it holds? Unlike any other year, 2020 requires us to dig deep into our relationship with God to find sustaining grace to finish well.

How do we run? Three clues stand out as instructive from Hebrews 12:1-2. First off, we run with endurance. This life is a long haul not a sprint. Organize your life with the end in mind so you can run with endurance. Secondly, we run the race set before us. Don’t run someone else’s race- you don’t have the grace for it and you will never win! Thirdly, most importantly, we fix our eyes on Jesus. It is so stinking easy to fix our gaze on problems or pain. I can lock eyes on all the wrong things- fear, lies, conspiracies, doubt, confusion, boredom, shame, annoyance and 1000 other life-sucking issues. Every morning, and throughout the day, I choose to fix my eyes on Jesus because He is the author and the perfecter of faith. He is good, all the time.

I’ve read through the entire Bible every couple of years for the last 42 years. Yet I still sit down with my Bible every morning. Why? I’m not so much seeking information as I am connection. I am connecting with a living, loving God who longs to communicate with me through His word, through prayer, special revelation and so on. I have yet to plumb the depths of God’s word! I’m almost always surprised, comforted, corrected, or inspired by scripture. 

May you run with endurance the race set before you, my friend. I pray that you fix your eyes, yes set your mind, heart, and intention on Jesus Christ. May you discover fresh insight and joy in your journey with Him. 

*A personal note about my race: writing this blog sharpens me in so many ways. I’m grateful for the opportunity to process the spiritual life with you and to find the words to wrap around this wonderful journey in Christ. My book, Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion just went into a second printing. I’m so thankful for the ways God is using Gracious Living and I truly want to steward it well. I will be taking a break from writing for the remainder of December to focus on hearing God’s plan for next year. Please send any prayer requests or topic requests for the blog as I love to hear from you. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. See you in 2021!