A Mother's Heart

But Mary kept all these things

and pondered them

in her heart.

Luke 2:19, NKJV

Babies are born as a blank canvas, masterpieces yet to be painted.  They are empty vessels ready for filling and use.  They have their entire future ahead of them, unplanned and unpredictable by any except for God.  What a child might be when he or she grows up is anyone's guessing game, and even after the child is grown, life can change on a whim.  Some will be great leaders and thinkers, many will fulfill their dreams, a few may never really reach their potential.  And in their hearts, mothers ponder.

Mothers want their babies to be born healthy, with ten fingers and ten toes and all the rest of the parts in place.  They celebrate the little triumphs of rolling over and foot finding, of focusing and laughter.  They learn to discern the inexpressible meaning behind the cries.  They search for the perfect strained vegetable to nourish their greedy little monster.  They encourage the crawling and the walking and the talking--at least until all that leads to adventure.  Then it's all "No, no, don't do that."

They weep on the first day of school as their little tyke toodles down the sidewalk to meet the bus.  They fret through the days, counting the minutes until their little beloved comes home again.  They sit up nights wondering, and sometimes worrying, what their baby is turning into.  As the years pass, kids trade in their Tonka Trucks for real trucks, and the hand they want to hold isn't Mom's anymore.  Soon it's graduation, college, marriage, careers.  Then grandkids come along, and Mom enjoys the new tykes so much she wonders why she didn't have them first.

Babies are born to live.

But not this one.  After the excitement of labor and delivery, after the surprising visit by the shepherds, after everything was calm and quiet once more, Mary held her swaddled bundle to her breast, eyes closed as her breathing deepened.  Joseph was close by, watchful and weary too.  And as she pressed her lips to the warm forehead of Jesus, Mary had to be wondering what His life was going to be like.

Mary knew she had brought the Son of God into the world.  Her womb had given way to Divine Life.  His arrival had been prophesied with messages of greatness and power, of kingship and glory.  Though every person born to woman makes their mark on the world, this One would change it irrevocably forever.  Heralded by angels and visions and wandering stars, visited by shepherds and later by kings, born in absolute obscurity but destined for ultimate fame, her little Boy had His life all before Him.

But as she pondered it all in her heart, did she have any insight or inkling into what the future held for her tiny Christ child?  Soon she would hear forecasts of swords and sorrow, but on that nativity night, did she know that the cradle would lead to Calvary, that the Bethlehem babe would bear the burden of the world in himself, that he would carry the sins of humanity in his body to the cross?  Did she know that of all the children who were born to live, hers alone was born to die?

And yet through Him, we would all have life, abundant life, and life everlasting.

I'm Waiting

Show me Your ways, O LORD;

Teach me Your paths.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

On You I will wait all the day.

Psalm 25:4-5, NKJV

Let's face it.  King David had some issues.

Forgotten by his father.  Rejected by his brothers.  Hated by his father-in-law.  In a short period of time, he lost his Spiritual father, his wife, and his position of favor in the kingdom of Israel.  One tradition says he took his parents and brothers to find refuge with a foreign king, who then betrayed David by killing the entire family.  In the darkest days of Israel's struggle with the Philistines, David sought sanctuary among his enemies, but was never trusted.  And when he was sent home from the battle that made him king, he found that his house had been burned, his wives and children carried off, and his 600 loyal followers wanted to stone him to death.  At the age of 30, nothing seemed to be going right in the life of the man after God's own heart.

Even after he became king, he was not without his struggles.  First he had to deal with the loss of his covenant friend Jonathan.  The kingdom was thrust upon him and immediately erupted into civil war.  He repeatedly dealt with treachery from some of his most trusted advisers.  He was beset with enemies on every hand who were constantly trying to kill him...thus so many places where David prayed for God to rise up in defense of him and literally destroy his foes.

And then there were his personal battles with himself.  He was a passionate man, moved by deep rooted passions and emotions.  Violent at times, temperamental, occasionally melancholic.  One moment singing about the righteousness of God, and the next demonstrating the worst qualities a man of God could have.  One of the most unsettling stories in the Bible is the one of David's sin--how he lusted after another man's wife to the point of inviting her for dinner, keeping her until breakfast, and when she informed him of their impending surprise, he engaged in an horrific plot of deception and murder.  The consequences of one night of uncontrolled desire wreaked devastation upon David's family and the kingdom for the last half of his reign.

But one thing I can say about David:  for all his faults and failures and frailties, he had the redeeming quality of knowing how to get it right with God.  Psalm 25 is just one of many examples in the Bible of David throwing himself into the only hands that he could, the loving hands of God.

Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses...

Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;

According to Your mercy remember me...

For Your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted...

Bring me out of my distresses...

Forgive all my sins...

Keep my soul and deliver me...

Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You...

It was not David's perfection that earned God's approval; it was his penitence.  It was his humility regarding himself and his sin.  It was the turn of his heart toward God that found God's favor.  And when a man's heart is turned toward God, God's heart will be turned toward him.

And God will hear.  And God will act.  God will not let our enemies triumph, nor will he let us be put to shame.  God will show us His ways and teach us His paths.  God will lead us in all truth, and He will save us.  He will remember us in mercy and love.  He will guide us in justice.  He will always forgive.  He will bless and make us prosper, He will give us the earth as an inheritance.  He will reveal to us His secrets and show us His covenant.  He will deliver us from the traps of the enemy.  He will turn to us in our hour of need.  He will see us as we are, and He will deliver us from all our troubles.  God will redeem!



Casey's Really Dirty Rice

2 cups of white rice
4 cups of water
2 sticks of butter or margarine
8 chicken livers
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
salt & lots of black pepper



Combine rice & water in medium saucepan, bring to a boil
reduce heat, cover & simmer about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed by rice

Melt butter in a skillet
Add livers, onion & garlic
saute, breaking up chicken livers as they cook until they are finely minced

Combine rice, liver, onion, garlic and butter
Add salt & lots of black pepper (season for taste, and for the dirty appearance of the rice)

Enjoy!  (and if anyone in your family is squeamish about the giblets, just tell 'em it's chicken so they can enjoy it too)