But we have this treasure in jars of  clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.                                                                                2 Corinthians 4:7

There is an incredible variety in types of containers for everyday use available to us. We have glasses and mugs to drink out of. These can be made of glass, plastic, styrofoam, stone, ceramic or even paper. There are containers to store food from plastic Tupperware to old fashioned glass jars. 

In the era of my grandmothers, the variety was not so great. Our proper "city" grandmother had crystal goblets, with matching plates, in which to serve refreshments to the ladies in her canasta group. On special occasions, she made us coke floats in tall, thin everyday glasses. I have no memory of how left-overs were stored. Maybe this was done on the sly, for appearance's sake.

Our warm, loving "country" grandmother had glasses to drink out of, but for storage of items and especially for canning fruits and vegetables, she used glass jars. (The family name is Ball, and I was an adult before I realized that every family didn't have their name etched on the side of their canning jars!) They were the standard jars, either pint or quart sized, depending on what was to be put into the jar. She would carry the steaming-hot liquid to-be-jelly and pour it into the pint jars on the kitchen table. Larger vegetables, usually cucumbers selected to be transformed into pickles, needed the larger jar.

There is one thing that all these containers had in common. What was really important was what was on the inside of the container.

The lovely etched crystal glasses of our grandmother would never have impressed the ladies with their hats and white gloves, if we had sneaked outside where Jessie the gardener was digging and filled them with mud. (I shudder to think what the consequences of this act would have been!). They were lovely, delicate glasses, but unless filled with well- blended lemonade or the ever-popular drink of their girlhood in the 1890's, ginger ale, they would not have been so beautiful.

Granny's canning jars were plain glass with no frills. There was nothing impressive about them on the outside. When filled with sweet, sticky muskedine jelly, however, they became holders of great treasure.

We humans are all just jars. Some of us look really good on the outside. Some of us look rather plain. The important thing is what is on the inside. There's a lot of dirt and sludge inside us, until we find a source that can make us new inside. Jesus Christ does just that. He fills us with treasure, His treasure of the secret to living life to the full and never stopping!

As the verse at the beginning of this blog says, we are carring His treasure, but in jars of clay. In ancient timea, most everything was put into clay vessels, from olive oil to be shipped to foreign ports, to wine that was drunk by an individual. The disadvantage that what was inside was unseen. Clay is hardly transparent. Treasure or trash, it was hard to tell from the outside.

We are followers of Jesus Christ with a treasure within that can't be seen. What needs to be done to show that treasure others, which is the natural reaction to having something incredibly valuable.

One way is that this treasure can be poured out. You scream, "I can't do that! I'll lose it! It'll be wasted!" But God's economy is not the same as our economy. The last will be first and the first will be last. (Matthew 10:31) The more we give out, the more of Him we have. The goal is not to keep or accumulate, but to get to know God more and to share more of who He is. The more that is poured out,the more joy.

Jesus set the example for us when He loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:2) We receive the most satisfaction when we do the same. The way to the ultimate meaning in life is to know Him and to give up all to Him. Again, the economy of God is one of receiving by letting go.

The other way to find out the contents of a clay jar was to break the jar. By being broken we can share the treasure with them most people. God is incharge of how we are broken and by what, but He also promises never to leave us. He weeps with us and holds us up. He becomes our strength and gives us His power. He gives us comfort far beyond what we could ever have experienced, had we never been broken.

He is there, holding us, entrusting us with His treasure. He can be trusted. He showed His love by giving everything ...for us.

He's Got My Back!

God leads us down bumpy roads with uniquely taylored twists and turns, designed just for us. When we are on the journey, it's often extremely difficult to understand why. Again, as in so many things, we have to trust His heart. He is looking at His specialized plan for each life, as He designs the road, and His plans for us are very, very good. (Jeremiah 29:11).

I am now on a road many have traveled, the path of back trouble. My special case began last summer when we moved our mother to assisted living. Sometime during the hauling of boxes, lamps and furniture, I sprained my back. Upon taking said back to the doctor, it was discovered that I have three or four arthritic knuckles in my spine. And that very spot is where all my weight centers when I stand.The doctor is working on complete healing of the area, as well as strengthening the muscles around the area, training them to take the load.

This particular design in my specially-designed road is significant because I can no longer stand for very long. I can walk, sit, kneel and lie down in comfort. But standing sets off inflamation in my lower back that causes pain and more therapy. I feel like I'm 102 years old when I sit, while everyone else stands in church. I'm no fun at all at a social gathering, having to find my parking space on a sofa or chair and stay there. I have to make passing conversations brief, since lingering and listening causes problems later.

This has been really, really irritating when I need to be with people. I love people. God made me, like my father, with a deep love for and desire to be around people. Communication is essential for me. It energizes me.

The limitation on the back is not just inconvenitent when I want so much to get up and talk when there are people around. I can't help my mother much any more. With an elderly person, much of what you do for them is to stand and hover. It takes them a long time to move. Sometines you stand and listen for a long time, while they think of what it is they want to say, or the rest of what they wanted to say. I love being around elderly people, but I can only come over, sit and talk now.

I have stayed home from church, parties, family gatherings, shopping and numerous other things, because they involved standing. I have found that Alleve doesn't work by way of great digestive discomfort. Over and over, I have said to God, "Why this? Why now?"

Trying to bend my will to what God has planned for me, I reluctantly did a word search for everywhere standing is important in the Bible. The most meaningful were as follows:

            Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today...
            The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still.
                                                                                                         Exodus 14:13-14

Applying this here and now, I need to stay in the place where I am and trust God. HE will work good
out of this, even if I don't see it. He'll eventually deliver me from the pain (no pain in Heaven, right?) but, in the meantime, He will fight for me.

            I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry.
            He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.
            He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.
                                                                                                          Psalm 40:1-2

Again, I am to wait. He will hear me. He'll either lift me out of the slimy pit of pain, or He'll give me a way to grow more closely to Him in this time. Or BOTH!

            No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful.
            He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,
            He will also provide a way out, so that you can stand up under it.
                                                                                                           I Corinthians 10:13 

It's tempting to whine and complain. It's tempting to focus only on myself. It's tempting to fall into despair. But here God promises that He won't give any more than I can bear. He will give a way out that I can stand up under.

Could it be more clear? He stands with me in the place I am. He is developing patience and who knows what else in me through this. He will give me a way to bear it. And, one way or the other, He will deliver me from the pain.

Isn't He wonderful?!!!

Hello, My Name is Barbara and...

I'll confess it here and now. I didn't watch the Super Bowl! I watched dozens of football games, night after night, weekend after weekend, this fall. I have heard hours and hours of earsplitting cheering. screaming and whistling. I have heard hours and hours of well-dressed former players/coaches describe play by play actions on the field, peppered with anecdotes about the players' lives. I have watched college or professional players smash into each other, get up and do it again, and again, and again. I have watched players injured and interviewed, penalized and praised. I have watched uniforms of every color of the rainbow, except pastels (though the Oregon Ducks have come closer to this than anyone else!).

And now I am home alone with the dog, while everyone else is off at THE party of the winter, while I ice my aching back.

I like the people at the party and people in general. I like dips, mini-hotdogs wrapped in crescent rolls and sweet snacks. I like the excitement of being at a place where others are excited. I like the screen that makes the players almost as large as life. I am sorry I missed all this.

But God in His mercy was good to me. Despite missing the atmosphere, the food and the people, despite the pain of my once-again-inflamed back, I DIDN'T HAVE TO WATCH FOOTBALL TONIGHT!

I adore my still-handsome husband. I respect the sport he has lived and breathed since seventh grade.  I want to support him in every way. There's no place I'd rather be on this planet than being with him, taking a walk or eating out. I even enjoy sitting in a room with him, just watching television. But, until next summer, IT WON'T BE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!

Goodbye is Not Goodbye

Goodbye is Not Goodbye                                                                            Barbara Flanagan

My friend Connie has gone to be with the Lord. I picture Him opening His arms and holding her, saying, "I'm so glad you're home!" She really didn't have to suffer long, compared to what it could have been. But all that suffering is over.

She was brilliant. When she graduated from high school, her parents couldn't afford for her to go to college, she took the Civil Service exam. Her score was so high, she was immediately sent to Washington, DC, to work for a high government agency. She had interesting tales to tell of her time there, including a time when she discovered a plot to blow up the World Trade Center as it was being built!

Life was rocky after that, but she raised three gentlemanly, refined sons, practically by herself. She worked as an account, being very steady-on and detailed. You could set your watch by her, she was so punctual. She exuded a quiet strength, which was as strong as steel. Connie was extremely unassuming.

But the strongest thing about her was her faith in God. It was quietly displayed in everything she did. Her humility was sometimes taken as weakness by those in her past. But weakness it was not. She lived out Isaiah 30:15, “In quietness and trust shall be your strength."  

Connie deeply loved her family. She was especially close to her granddaughters. She felt that God had given her a daughter-in-law to live with who was just about perfect. Her son and daughter-in-law had taken her in to help with their young daughters, while her son traveled. This arrangement may have benefited them, but Connie felt like it was a total blessing for her. She loved being there with them.

I will miss her. but so will many others. Her quiet life touched the lives of so many people.  A person can have influence on this planet for a period of time, but I think it was Christ in her (Colossians 1:27) that gave her such an attraction to others. It was the gift of a wonderful, giving personality through which God worked.

Life has purpose. There is meaning in our daily existence. God takes what is black and white in the life of a person and infuses bright, rich colors of meaning. This was seen vividly in Connie's life. I am so glad that she was my friend.

Goodbye is not goodbye. I will see her again