Alabaster Jar

While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his Head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.

"Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to Me....She did what she could...."

Mark 14:3-6,8

So today I sliced my finger open while cleaning a counter top in the kitchen. You may wonder what that has to do with the above passage of Scripture. I'll get to that.
 
I was moving a bottle of extra virgin olive oil out of my way when it slipped out of my hand, and the next thing I know there is a flood of evoo all over the place. The bottle itself broke.
 
It may sound odd, but truly the first thing that came into my mind was the woman who broke her alabaster jar of perfume and anointed Jesus. She deliberately (and you could perhaps even say defiantly) adored, worshipped, and poured all of what she could onto Christ. Jesus even said that she "did what she could." That whole "one thing" God has been speaking to me lately seems to fit here, too. She was focused on one thing. She was not focused on what others were saying about her, how others would perceive her, or how costly (literally) her sacrifice was. She poured herself unto Him.
 
Is that what I do? Or do I break my proverbial alabaster jar open for other things? If my thoughts and concerns are transfixed on the world, doesn't that say that my treasure is stored in the world? If I am worrying about money, am I not breaking my alabaster jar upon the head of worry?
 
Financial burdens are real. Believe me, I know. I am no stranger to struggle and never have been. But why should I give all my attention to a worldly worry rather than focusing all my attention on the One who has always provided?
 
The only thing I need to be anointing in my heart is Jesus. Not fear, not anxiety, not worry. I need to trust Him. Worry indicates that I do not.
 
How does the cut finger fit into this? Well, it just made sense to me that, if I am breaking myself open for    (insert worldly thing here)   , then I am quite likely to get cut. Nothing good comes from worry. It cuts us, it hurts like you-know-what, and it can possibly lead to an infection.
 
All that I could do was take care of my wound, clean up my mess, and move forward in the right direction. I want to do what I can for the Lord. I don't want to give one more ounce of my energy to fear.

Where is yours?

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father Who is in the secret place; and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Matthew 6:6

Do you have a secret place to pray? Would you mind sharing what type of place it is? I desperately need some ideas.

Nature Tidbit #1

I am beginning to wonder just how much I am like the sugar maple in my back yard (at least, I'm pretty sure it's a sugar maple). This dry spell we've been having has practically baked it. The leaves are withering from the heat and drought. Here is the worst part: now the leaves are beginning to fall from their branches, just as if it was October rather than August. Even the two nights of torrential rain we had didn't help it. It sucked the water so quickly that it might as well not have rained at all.

It reminds me of Scripture found in the first Psalm:

They are like trees planted along the riverbank,

bearing fruit each season.

Their leaves never wither,

and they prosper in all they do.

 
Psalm 1:2 explains just who verse 3 (above) describes:
 

...[those who] delight in the law of the Lord,

meditating on it day and night.

If I choke the Word out of my life, I will wither. I will thirst. Not only will I not bear fruit, but I will wither. I will be malnourished, shriveled up just like my maple tree. I will be experiencing a time of fall when I could be experiencing a summer.

The good news is that my sugar maple has strong roots. It has that much going for it. I have hope that it will not die. I know that rain is coming. I have strong roots, too, and I know that my season of drought is coming to an end. I just have to keep feeding myself with His Word. I cannot expect two days of Bible reading to transform and renew my entire mind. I have to fix my thoughts on Him, not my circumstances and certainly not myself.

There really are quite a few nature metaphors to be found in Scripture. I wonder if anyone else thinks the way I do when it comes to looking at withering trees and so on. It seems that God chooses to speak to me this way pretty often. Maybe He would speak to us all this way if we would but be still and listen and observe. Perhaps that is one of His many glorious purposes in creating such an indescribably fascinating universe.

I think I just felt awe for the first time....ever.

Driving a country road at twilight is an experience. You should do it sometime if you haven't. I don't know why, but while driving down Old Whiteville Road, I couldn't help but notice how the pines looked like they were scraping the sky. And the sky, oh my goodness, the sky. I cannot even begin to tell you what color it was. "Dark blue" would be an insult. I am utterly amazed by how the sky changed so dramatically, so quickly, yet so untraceably from twilight to dusk to night. Things seem to glow at dusk, though I cannot explain what that means exactly. It almost felt like seeing God's breath rest on creation. And then I realized that God not only made this for me to see, but He is there with me in that very moment. I felt His presence. I really felt it, and it was more real than this keyboard I'm touching right now.

I wanted to cry, but I could not. It was something stronger than crying that I was feeling...

I can only say that it must have been awe.

You see, I often hear about "counting the cost" of following Christ. And yes, it's true that I should know exactly what it means to be a disciple before taking that step. But there comes a certain point when we need to realize that there really is no cost.

Even on my best day and in my best mood with my best intentions, my best "good deed" is like a filthy rag when compared to His holiness. There is no cost to follow Him. I have to give up things of the flesh, but I gain contentment and joy in their place. I may suffer persecution, but I will still have peace. I may be misunderstood and judged by all those dear to me, but the Father embraces me. No, there is no cost. The only cost involved is that He spent His life for a person like me. I am but a teensy speck of a speck on the timelime of history and all those that have gone before me. How many moments of unspeakable beauty have I taken for granted? How many moments of communion with Him did I miss?

How many moments have you missed?

The world sees and soon forgets. Oh, God, I don't want to be like the world. I want to see You everywhere I go, everywhere I find myself. And I want to remember what I experienced tonight for years to come. I don't want to forget. Help me to be like You.

A theme, maybe?

My last post was about being focused on "one thing." (One thing = Jesus.) Little did I know what I would read in my Bible today. Ah, yes. The infamous Martha and Mary story. I'm pretty familiar with this one, right? I've heard several sermons about it from various vantage points, and I even read a book devoted to just this one story in particular. How, then, could I possible find something new here?

But you see....it's the glory of God to hide a matter (Proverbs 25:2). We have to search it out.

 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

(Luke 10:41-42)

Only ONE THING is needed! Ding ding ding ding! The word for needed in this context is chreia --- meaning a necessity, such a thing as needed for sustenance. But...it also has a meaning of duty or business. Hmm.

What if Jesus spoke to me, "Nathalie, Nathalie. Only one thing is needed for your sustenance. Only one thing is your duty. Only one thing is really your business."

And I see that Mary chose what is better. She made a conscious choice to sit at His feet. She knew, I'm sure, that there were other things she could be doing, things that probably seemed necessary at the time, but she made a choice to focus on one thing. Him. And everything fell into place. Choosing Him led her to something that nothing and nobody could take away from her.

I have to make a choice. I cannot expect Jesus to force Himself upon me, and I need to realize where my one true duty lies. My duty does not lie to my husband or to my family or to my friends or to my country or to whatever else you could think of. My duty lies with Him. And if I make knowing Him the one thing I devote myself to, all my other "duties" will fall into place.

How could I not see this before?? Why in the world would I choose to be concerned over many things versus being concerned over just one thing? It doesn't really make rational sense to make any other decision. Martha wasn't necessarily wrong per se, but Mary made a much better choice. That's what I want...

I'm sorry if this rambles and doesn't flow very well. I just get excited sometimes.

Simplifying my mind.

Life has so many distractions. Too many. When I think of all the things that I allow to occupy my mind, it's actually quite a bit surprising how quickly Jesus gets squeezed into a dark corner somewhere. How many times have I allowed this to happen? I push Him to the recesses of my innermost being and only take Him out when it's "convenient." Sadly, when "convenient" times come along, Jesus has collected a fine layer of dust, and I'm left with a bad taste of guilt in my mouth. What's wrong with this picture? The HUGE thing that's wrong with this picture is that my life is dangerously close to allowing "convenience" to take over. God, help me. Help us all.

I re-read Luke chapter 9 today. I don't know why. Normally, I would have moved ahead and started chapter 10. I guess the Lord had something He really wanted me to ponder...........

As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

(Luke 9:51)

Strong's says that the word for "resolutely" is stērizō, meaning stable, placed firmly, set fast, fixed...strengthened...rendered one's mind constant.

Jesus was determined. He was resolved. His heart did not waver in the light of what was to come. He fixed His eyes on one thing, strengthened Himself, and rendered His thoughts on one constant.

And the Word tells us that we have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16).

This is what I want. I want to be a woman who is focused on one thing. I want my mind to be set on Jesus. If I resolve to do this and humbly accept God's grace to do so, I won't settle for a convenient Jesus anymore. My heart will be stayed on Him. And, if my heart is stayed on Him, the other areas of my life will fall into place: marriage, family, provision, prayer disciplines, spiritual growth, etc.

Jesus did many things, but leading a complicated, cluttered, distracted life was not one of them. He was focused. Just one thing. That's all I need to regularly occupy my mind with. One thing.

Him.