This morning as I pulled into my driveway after dropping my younger son off at school, I glanced down into the back yard. My eye caught sight of the old, long abandoned treehouse perched back there, noting that a limb from it's host tree had fallen and was leaning precariously against the side of a collapsing railing. I recalled the days when my sons would play there, imagining whatever it is that boys imagine while sitting high in a tree. I could almost hear the echo of their shouts and laughter. Ghosts of days gone by haunting my longing heart. How quickly they grow, and today men stand in the place of the boys I raised; the treehouse now only a monument to childhood and motherhood. Who of us, as a mother, has not looked back and wondered, no - worried - that we're doing it all wrong, making mistakes that will cause some irreparable harm to the young psyches of our children resulting in a sociopathic adult or some such? Oh, yes, you have. Don't pretend you haven't. We all have. We're mothers. We're all neurotic. Yet, somehow, despite our flaws and failings, our children usually grow to be reasonably sane and responsible. Proof that if God can use an ass to guide, He can certainly use us.
How like God to use such simplicity to call out to me, to remind me of His instruction to build monuments to His Goodness. Throughout the history of His people are stories of monuments being erected as reminders of what the Lord accomplished in their lives. These monuments were usually as simple as a large stone set in place for present and future generations to use as remembrance - "Look what the Lord has done!"
It's easy to forget. We live in the right now and the what if. Circumstances, situations, concerns arise. We look around and ahead, forgetting to look back at our monuments to what God has done, recalling that His Faithfulness hasn't changed.
Back then, the Hebrew people would trudge into the river for the perfect stone, or pile stones found in the desert. They would place the stone just so, and then pour oil over it, anointing it, making it holy. I believe God still desires that we anoint our monuments. I believe that God would have us, in times that we need to remember His Goodness, take out our monuments - our memories of victories past, of deliverances past, of provisions past - and anoint them yet again with the Oil of Holy Spirit by praying over them, declaring again, "Look what the Lord has done!" And will do. Again, and again, and again.
Just like that treehouse stands in my back yard, reminding me of days spent watching two happy, rambunctious boys climb and shout and risk broken limbs - their own, not those belonging to the tree - there are monuments throughout our lives, if we care to look.
There's a running vehicle in the driveway, a roof over my head, food in the pantry. I'm warm, I'm well-fed (TOO well-fed!) - monuments to God's provision. There's receipts for prescription medicines from a recent bout with pneumonia - monuments to God's healing, through the Wisdom He has given my Doctor. There's the memory of another Doctor saying to me, "It doesn't look as if you've EVER had mitral valve prolapse." - a diagnosis I had carried for 10+ years - a monument to God's supernatural healing. There are wrinkles around my eyes, monuments to the life of laughter that God has given me. There are worry wrinkles on my forehead, also monuments - to the fact that whatever causes me to wrinkle my brow always, always passes and God is always at work on my behalf.
As I look back over my life, I recall so many times where God has been very present. I remember a time, years ago, when we struggled financially and every Sunday evening while we were at church someone would leave a box of groceries on our porch. We still have NO idea who our grocery angel was, but the memory is a monument to the Love of God touching through the hands of His People. When we began to level out financially, the grocery angel stopped coming. We had told no-one. But God knew that He had begun providing for us in our jobs, and our grocery angel knew God, and listened to His Direction. The timing was perfect and we never wanted for anything. How intimately God knows us!
That's just our God, my friends. Intimate, Loving, Faithful. We matter to Him. The details of our lives matter to Him. Looking out at the vastness of the Universe, it's easy to consider ourselves too small to be noticed by the One who designed it all, but notice He does. Not only does He notice, but He moves closer, leaning in, listening, reminding, proving Himself over and over. And yet we still forget when the next what if comes along.
Monuments. Anointed, oil-covered monuments. Holy Spirit soaked memories of the Kingdom of God present in the mundane of our daily lives and experiences.
Won't you build some with me? Come on...let's go gather some stones!
It's easy to forget. We live in the right now and the what if. Circumstances, situations, concerns arise. We look around and ahead, forgetting to look back at our monuments to what God has done, recalling that His Faithfulness hasn't changed.
Back then, the Hebrew people would trudge into the river for the perfect stone, or pile stones found in the desert. They would place the stone just so, and then pour oil over it, anointing it, making it holy. I believe God still desires that we anoint our monuments. I believe that God would have us, in times that we need to remember His Goodness, take out our monuments - our memories of victories past, of deliverances past, of provisions past - and anoint them yet again with the Oil of Holy Spirit by praying over them, declaring again, "Look what the Lord has done!" And will do. Again, and again, and again.
Just like that treehouse stands in my back yard, reminding me of days spent watching two happy, rambunctious boys climb and shout and risk broken limbs - their own, not those belonging to the tree - there are monuments throughout our lives, if we care to look.
There's a running vehicle in the driveway, a roof over my head, food in the pantry. I'm warm, I'm well-fed (TOO well-fed!) - monuments to God's provision. There's receipts for prescription medicines from a recent bout with pneumonia - monuments to God's healing, through the Wisdom He has given my Doctor. There's the memory of another Doctor saying to me, "It doesn't look as if you've EVER had mitral valve prolapse." - a diagnosis I had carried for 10+ years - a monument to God's supernatural healing. There are wrinkles around my eyes, monuments to the life of laughter that God has given me. There are worry wrinkles on my forehead, also monuments - to the fact that whatever causes me to wrinkle my brow always, always passes and God is always at work on my behalf.
As I look back over my life, I recall so many times where God has been very present. I remember a time, years ago, when we struggled financially and every Sunday evening while we were at church someone would leave a box of groceries on our porch. We still have NO idea who our grocery angel was, but the memory is a monument to the Love of God touching through the hands of His People. When we began to level out financially, the grocery angel stopped coming. We had told no-one. But God knew that He had begun providing for us in our jobs, and our grocery angel knew God, and listened to His Direction. The timing was perfect and we never wanted for anything. How intimately God knows us!
That's just our God, my friends. Intimate, Loving, Faithful. We matter to Him. The details of our lives matter to Him. Looking out at the vastness of the Universe, it's easy to consider ourselves too small to be noticed by the One who designed it all, but notice He does. Not only does He notice, but He moves closer, leaning in, listening, reminding, proving Himself over and over. And yet we still forget when the next what if comes along.
Monuments. Anointed, oil-covered monuments. Holy Spirit soaked memories of the Kingdom of God present in the mundane of our daily lives and experiences.
Won't you build some with me? Come on...let's go gather some stones!
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