The Plumbline

Good people leave memories that bless us, but the wicked are soon forgotten. (Proverbs 10:7) Someone once said that history is nothing more than a bunch of collected memories. I think this might just be true. Memories are the things left behind - good or bad - that will live on in the lives of others. We don't control the memories another makes, but we can influence them with the way we live our lives. We might think all the memories we have formed over a lifetime don't amount to much but take another look at the moments that made those memories and I bet you will find they mattered! Good people leave memories that bless others. Learn to be a blessing to others and you will be creating all kinds of good memories that will live on long after you are no longer with those individuals. We might find a mixture of good, not so good, and in between memories have formed over the course of our lifetime. The ones you probably enjoy the most are the good ones. I remember the first time I

At times we all wonder why we are traveling a particular road. We cannot put our finger on why it is we are facing the challenging, and sometimes a little treacherous road we must cross. In those moments, we wonder if we made a wrong turn somewhere, or if this is the way life is supposed to be - potholes, narrow and sometimes hair-raising switchbacks, and climbs so hard you almost peter out on the way up. I guess I face those roads a little differently than some. Instead of wondering why I am on the road, I just ask! In fact, in time I come to discover something unique about every road I have traveled - I am not traveling it alone! I may have made a wrong turn - but I still don't travel alone. I have Jesus right alongside me no matter what road I am on and this one thing I know - I cannot "bail" - the road will be traveled! Keep and live out the entire commandment that I’m commanding you today so that you’ll live and prosper and enter and own the land that God prom

My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life. I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life . (Proverbs 4:10-15) We begin a lot of things, but how many of them do we actually finish? In terms of finishing, we don't do as well as we do with the beginning part! To finish well, we need to have not only tenacity, but we need to have set out on an endeavor we find worthwhile and rewarding. If the thing we set out to do is so overbearing and adds burden instead of delight, we get bogged down and often lay it aside because it is "too hard". It is like when we say we will read the Bible in a year. We find ourselves reading for the sake of reading - not really taking time to savor the truth contained within. We plug on through the "boring" chapters, get excit

Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Are you in 'union' with Christ? If so, you got a fresh start - the past has been erased. Before you roll your eyes on that one, let me assure you I know being totally free of our past it is easier said than done. In the ey

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. (Roy L. Smith) And we know that the Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God—what a gift!—and we are living in the Truth itself, in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life. (I John 5:21) We might forget this truth, but Christmas is the very best of times to celebrate the love of God. It is also the best of times to celebrate each other - family and friends coming together to celebrate the joy of the season, but also to celebrate each other! It is a time to create memories. I don't know about you, but the gathering together seems to be less and less as the family grows up and we all seem to have our own 'direction' to travel in life. Memories are made in the moments - so take the moments this holiday season to make them.  Jesus is our greatest gift - the one we receive ourselves and the one we can give to others. It is unlike every other gift - we d

Treasures come in all forms, from small to gigantic, 'observable' or 'unseen'. The 'unseen' treasures can be the most valued of all to us, but never really known or appreciated by others. They are 'just ours' - to be enjoyed and appreciated by us and us alone. Memories can be treasures - unseen by others, but treasured up in our hearts and frequented as often as we like. They aren't 'tangible' like a diamond ring, but they are appreciated and felt nonetheless. Treasures can be 'laid up' in all manners, as well. Today, if someone has way too many 'treasures' we might just call them hoarders! They make entire TV shows to show the unhealthiness of being too focused on saving all these 'tangible treasures' that one can amass, but have really little to no use of over the long range. I wonder if it is possible we also can 'hoard' intangible treasures - such as memories we should have let go of long ago because they

Cesare Pavese said, " We do not remember days, we remember moments. " There are lots and lots of moments in my lifetime that come flooding into my thought on occasion, some bringing warm feelings of pleasure and others causing just a little bit of pain as a little bit of the memory of an old wound is recounted. I had one such unpleasant memory on my recent trip with my BFF while we were just sharing a little of ourselves. What struck me the most is that she sensed my intensely deep pain as she reached out and just simply touched my arm, and in an instant, without one word from her, the pain dissipated. God has a way of helping us even when we don't recognize we need that help, my friends. In any moment, we never know when a moment remembered can become a time of healing - no words necessary, just the touch of grace. Praise the Lord! I thank the Lord with all my heart in the assembly of his good people. The Lord does wonderful things, more than anyone could ask for. The th

As Christmas is soon upon us, I just wanted to take a little time to reflect on some of the memories I have had of Christmas mornings over the years. I can remember one particular Christmas morning when the tree contained everything I wanted - kind of tom-boy toys, but nonetheless, they were all I wanted and there they were! A set of six-shooters in buckle on holsters, a little cowboy outfit in brown and yellow complete with cowboy boots! That particular year I wanted to be a cowboy. The next I wanted to be a soldier, so the tree was surrounded by green plastic army helmet, plastic canteen, and the like. It was around my fifth or sixth Christmas that the "theme" of my wishes changed to a Barbie and Ken doll, and even a Chatty-Cathy doll. Oh, I wasn't done being a tom-boy, I just found out girls asked for dolls! I grew up with a neighborhood full of boys, so I had asked for boyish toys as a result. I think I was blessed by parents that allowed me to just be me - they didn&

There is an old saying:  Something crooked cannot be made straight, and something missing cannot be counted.  (Ecclesiastes 1:15 VOICE)   Corrie Ten Boom said, " Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future ."  There is a song entitled "Dear Younger Me" by MercyMe.  The song begins, "Dear younger me, where do I start; if I could tell you everything I have learned so far, then you'd be one step ahead..." Boy, isn't that the desire of every parent?  To somehow share with our children the things we have learned in the "school of hard knocks" and repeated "recesses of rebellion".  Those memories don't have to haunt us - for they can be, as Corrie said, the key to different steps in the future. Those "different" steps may bespeak of deeper faith, a more solid trust in someone other than yourself, or a greater understanding of how to avoid the pitfalls that come our way.  If I had to tell parents these da

"Suffering passes, while love is eternal. That's a gift that you have received from God. Don't waste it." (Laura Ingalls Wilder)  I once heard it said it isn't the days in life which we really form memories around, it is more the moments in life which we latch onto and place carefully away in the recesses of our memories.  Days come and go, not really with much significance attached to any of them - they are kind of routine with no lasting memory.  Then there are those moments in time when we just will not forget the thrill, enjoyment, or perhaps the grief of that moment.  Speak with someone who has lost a loved one and they tend to remember the good things, not so much the suffering and tragedy which took the loved one from them.  Love is eternal - suffering passes - sometimes slower than we might like, but it does.  Yes, we shall endure hardship, but it is God's love which beckons us onward from the midst of hardship into the warmth of his tender arms.

You are probably not unlike me in that you put things away "so carefully" on occasion, and then you cannot remember where you put them when you need them.  Right?  Then there are times when you think this present thing you are engaged in will live on for eternity in your memories, but in a matter of time you have the hardest of times recalling the details of the event or activity you were engaged in.  Why is that?  Didn't the event or activity have enough "meaning" to form a "lasting" memory?  It was probably because other stuff crowded out the detail of that memory, causing it to fade into more of a vague recollection.  I have to ask a question this morning:  What are the memories you are leaving in your "passage" through this earth?  We are all "passing through" on this journey into eternity - either into eternity with Jesus, or a not so enjoyable one in the presence of Satan and his host of demons.  On our "passing through&