Christmas Tea Part 2...

Today I want to finish the subject I started yesterday … how people and God’s promises are like roses in many ways…

People have a tendency to want to do things their own way… force open the rose before it is time for it to bloom, but when we do, we really mess it up. If we do mess things up, but turn and ask Him for help, God will graciously come and do a miracle a lot of times IF we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, repent and turn from our sins. Remember, sin is doing what we aren’t supposed to do according to God’s Word, OR not doing what we ARE supposed to do.

Wouldn’t it be better to follow Him from the beginning, and “let the rose open” in HIS time instead of messing things up first and THEN asking for His help.

If you have a Rosebud that God has given you… a person that He has given you to love:; a friend, child, husband, etc., that you want to see in full bloom NOW, remember the Rose of Sharon that was given to Mary… He grew in God’s time… He had to FEEL the thorns to know what they feel like to us, and He is STILL patiently waiting on GOD’S time to receive the fulfillment of HIS destiny… To become that King that will bring peace to this world…

It must be hard for Him to see all the sin and suffering that is going on down here, but Jesus is waiting until God is ready to take the Roses from the garden in this world to the banquet feast of Heaven…

We need to trust God to bring that Rosebud that we love to its full bloom… We are the gardeners and caretakers, as the first man was in God’s garden… Maybe we were always meant to be caretakers of the things that God gives us to do… We are to: water by giving them the living water of life, through our modeling, feed by teaching them the Word of God, and pull out some weeds (like when our kids are little and we are bringing them up before they leave our care.

One thing, though, that we need to remember is that God said that once the weeds have grown up with the wheat, and become part of the field, HE will do the reaping and separating in their lives. All children will sin and have to make their own choices as they grow up, but even after they leave OUR care… they never leave HIS!

We are to continue to do our part of the job: water -- feed -- care for (show HIS love through our lives) those Roses. We need to be VERY careful about pruning (judging), and let the MASTER gardener do that part of the gardening.


Sometimes, as we tend the Roses that God has given us to tend, we may get pricked by the thorns, but that doesn’t mean that we should quit tending them… They still need the water and food of God’s love to come to full bloom. This is very important to remember, especially if you do foster care.

Roses are beautiful when they are cared for properly. Wouldn’t you love to be able to put a beautiful Rose, or two… or a dozen… in our Lord’s hands…when He calls us to that Heavenly Banquet?

Roses are to share as well… Once they have bloomed in our hearts… like the promises of God’s Love, Joy, Peace, the gardener usually gives them to others to enrich their lives. Go and pour out the perfume of the Rose of Sharon on those lives He brings to you, and don’t show them the thorns of self…

Garden of Love by L.B.

Garden of Love

The people and pets we’ve loved in this life,
The ones that have been with us throughout life’s strife…

Each has planted a beautiful flower
With growing love it’s major power.

When we look at the way they’ve touched our hearts,
We’ll see a garden with beautiful parts…

Flowers with eyes that smiled our way…
Rainbowed dew on leaves that sway--
The tears their hands or tongues have brushed away.

The chuckling brook of laughter bestowed
By the antics they’ve played that lifted life’s load.

We water that garden and keep it alive,
When we pass love on and help others thrive.

Don’t let your Garden of Love wither and die,
By letting the weeds of bitterness thrive.

Look up towards the Son, and let Love’s light shine,
So that someday, in Heaven, with those friends we will dine.

Linda Brock © 12/18/09

Don’t straddle a barbed-wire fence...

“Don’t straddle a barbed-wire fence…” Matthew Hagee

I heard this from a preacher that was talking about today’s world and how so many are trying to straddle the fence on so many issues. He went on to say that out where he lives, most of the fences were made of barbed wire, so he had learned, early, that it isn’t wise to straddle the fence.

I thought about that and have noticed that over the past several years, as I’ve gotten closer to God, that things have gotten more Black & White in a lot of areas as I’ve held them up to God’s Word. I think, as we get closer to the time when Jesus returns, that those that are really seeking God and His ways AND searching out the real God from the Bible and not a god that they have made up in their minds from things they’ve heard, will also see things in a clearer light.

It doesn’t matter if Jesus’ return is tomorrow or 50 years from now, each day IS closer, and we need to be ready for when that time comes. He’s kept ALL His other promises, and I believe He will keep this one, too!

Back to straddling the fence… we need to be very careful which side we get off on, though, for BOTH sides may look, on the surface, to be beautiful pastureland, and if we don’t read the posted signs, we can get ourselves in trouble.

For example, if the sign says “Beware of Bull,” and we don’t SEE the bull ourselves, so decide to cut across that beautiful pasture to fish in that beautiful stream, we could find ourselves in some major problems. If, though, we follow the sign that says “Good fishing” on THIS side of the fence, we will find a wonderful place of blessing, rest and abundance.

As a Christian, God’s Word needs to be my sign post, or map of the area, and I need to believe it AND act on it. I need to get off the barbed wire fence where I can also end up getting hurt, and be sure that I get off on God’s side!

This Little Light of Mine...

While studying for my Proverbs blog today (Proverbs 11: 10 & 11), which was about the effects of people and their way of life on their towns and cities, I thought about the verses and what they had to say.

I took a break, in the middle of my research, to listen to the President speak about his healthcare program. One thing he said really caught my attention, in light of what I had just studied. He mentioned that the healthcare programs in Utah and in Pennsylvania were doing so well and he felt they needed to be studied to find out why.

I thought about that and the fact that so much of Utah is strongly of the Mormon faith, and many of them LIVE a Godly faith in most of what they do and in the way they run their cities and healthcare systems. The area of Pennsylvania that was mentioned is strongly Quaker, and they, too, life their faith. I hope that they DO research the reasons these places have wise healthcare systems that work, but it really made it clear to me that God’s Word has so much to say for every area of our lives.

Those verses say that if I am living righteously and following Godly ways, then I will be blessed, and be able to bless those (even my town/city) around me. It reminded me of that little song I sang in Sunday School… This little light of mine…I’m going to let it shine!

One of the verses said, “Shine all over my neighborhood, I’m going to let it shine…” I think that I need to remember that this is exactly what I can do in my words, my smiles, my service to others… I think that this would make my God happy, and after all He has done for me, I want to do whatever I can for Him that will bring Him happiness and joy. I want to remember, each day, that ALL I do, should be done to HIS glory…