Do you ever feel like the aging wine in a bottle? You've got a definite purpose (someone's going to buy you someday and drink you right up if you're the wine). You've gone through a lot of change from the time you were a bunch of grapes on the vine. But you find yourself just sitting around, day after day, week after week, month after month wondering when you're going to be ready. Ready to breathe, ready for your purpose, ready to bring enjoyment to someone. How long is the waiting and slow transformation to a good old wine going to take?
Recently I was perusing Wikipedia for some insight into the process of aging wine and I came across this paragraph:
Dumb phase
During the course of aging a wine may slip into a "dumb phase" where its aromas and flavors are very muted. In Bordeaux this phase is called the age ingrat or "difficult age" and is likened to a teenager going through adolescence. The cause or length of time that this "dumb phase" will last is not yet fully understood and seems to vary from bottle to bottle
Well, of late I have felt very much as if I must be in the "dumb phase" myself. I am enjoying most of the daily routines of life as a wife and mother, but the aromas and flavors of life seem muted. I feel as if I, like the adolescent mentioned above, am struggling for independence, for change, for growth but that it isn't happening, at least not that I can see.
I've been in this "dumb phase" before in my life, and I'm wise enough to know that you just have to accept the phase and go with it. You can't hurry it along, and all the planning and scheming in the world isn't going to get you anything but a list of things that probably won't happen. As the popular Christian saying goes, "Let go, and let God." Wait on Him and be patient. Some day He is going to pull the bottle up, uncork it, and pour me out. But His timing is perfect and until He knows I've moved past the "dumb phase" and am perfectly aged, I'm not really ready for whatever purpose this aging process is pointing me toward.
Luke 5:39 "And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
Lord Jesus, give me patience in the aging process and help me find joy in this day, even though it may feel mundane, the same as yesterday, and less purposeful than what I'd love it to be.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Micah 1
I love uncovering hidden things, and probably should have become an archaeologist, paid treasure hunter, or private detective. It's never too late!
I get my daily dose of uncovering hidden things when I (attempt to) do my Daily Bible Reading. I've got a handy little app on my phone that takes me right to what I'm to read for the day, but even so I'm not successful at this plan 100% of the time.
Today I'm reading in Micah and he's warning the people of God to pay attention, that God will be a witness against them (Micah 1:2) because of their transgressions against Him (v. 5). The fact is, the LORD has some pretty high holiness (okay, THE HIGHEST and MOST PERFECT holiness) and He's using Micah to tell the people He's about to carry out the consequences of His children's disobedience to His rules and expectations if they don't turn their hearts around and ask forgiveness.
God's been reminding me a lot lately why obedience is so important. It's not because of some random rules that He decided to suggest one day. It's not even just for our own good. When we are disobedient or sinful, we are sending a direct hit across the bow of God's holiness, saying in effect that we don't honor His holiness or His glory. Over and over again in the Bible God tells us to be obedient "for His glory." He is the Creator of the entire universe, from the greatest galaxy to the smallest micro-cell, and He made you and me. If anyone earns the title of God, He's the ONE! Of course He deserves glory!
Does God lose some holiness when we are disobedient? No, of course not. However, the transparency of His holiness and glory are veiled when we sin, and the world that does not know Jesus sees a family (the Family of God) that is dysfunctional, everybody grabbing for their own personal taste of glory instead of being unified in pointing our lives to God's glory and His alone.
My favorite part of Bible reading is application, so today I'm asking myself these questions: "What is God a witness to in your life lately? Is it something you'd like to put aside in exchange for a better thing in His eyes?" "Are you living for your own glory (a "high place") or for His (v. 3)?"
As always, God is revealing sin in my life through these verses and gently reminding me that I can choose to learn from history and repent and turn back to a humbled heart before Him so that I don't have to face His consequences AND so that I once again can say I am living my day "for Your glory, LORD, all for YOUR glory." When I can honestly say that, I'm basking in the brilliance and utter delight of it! Have you felt it? Better than lying on a boat in the noonday sun on sparkling water shimmering like diamonds is God's glory!
I get my daily dose of uncovering hidden things when I (attempt to) do my Daily Bible Reading. I've got a handy little app on my phone that takes me right to what I'm to read for the day, but even so I'm not successful at this plan 100% of the time.
Today I'm reading in Micah and he's warning the people of God to pay attention, that God will be a witness against them (Micah 1:2) because of their transgressions against Him (v. 5). The fact is, the LORD has some pretty high holiness (okay, THE HIGHEST and MOST PERFECT holiness) and He's using Micah to tell the people He's about to carry out the consequences of His children's disobedience to His rules and expectations if they don't turn their hearts around and ask forgiveness.
God's been reminding me a lot lately why obedience is so important. It's not because of some random rules that He decided to suggest one day. It's not even just for our own good. When we are disobedient or sinful, we are sending a direct hit across the bow of God's holiness, saying in effect that we don't honor His holiness or His glory. Over and over again in the Bible God tells us to be obedient "for His glory." He is the Creator of the entire universe, from the greatest galaxy to the smallest micro-cell, and He made you and me. If anyone earns the title of God, He's the ONE! Of course He deserves glory!
Does God lose some holiness when we are disobedient? No, of course not. However, the transparency of His holiness and glory are veiled when we sin, and the world that does not know Jesus sees a family (the Family of God) that is dysfunctional, everybody grabbing for their own personal taste of glory instead of being unified in pointing our lives to God's glory and His alone.
My favorite part of Bible reading is application, so today I'm asking myself these questions: "What is God a witness to in your life lately? Is it something you'd like to put aside in exchange for a better thing in His eyes?" "Are you living for your own glory (a "high place") or for His (v. 3)?"
As always, God is revealing sin in my life through these verses and gently reminding me that I can choose to learn from history and repent and turn back to a humbled heart before Him so that I don't have to face His consequences AND so that I once again can say I am living my day "for Your glory, LORD, all for YOUR glory." When I can honestly say that, I'm basking in the brilliance and utter delight of it! Have you felt it? Better than lying on a boat in the noonday sun on sparkling water shimmering like diamonds is God's glory!
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