Retiring Swings, Balls, Bats & Life

Voice of Prayer

Psalm 75: 1  We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.

Was sitting today viewing the backyard. Within that view I saw that trimmed birch tree with a swing hung up on a very short branch and seeing the affects of the wind blasting through the area. Have not seen such terrific wind for awhile and for this length of time. Yet here is that boisterous wind again, paying its call as it travels through this gorge.
 Was observing the swing our grand-daughter uses while here visiting and it hangs on protruding small branch that will hold it securely while not in use. For it surely that swing can be in the way when my husband makes his way pushing the mower all around the lawn  to shorten the grass so it looks more manicured. Yikes, I used the word manicured....wonder what that means!

Seriously, was remembering my days of those quiet swing "times" in the backyard and the trips my mother took my sister and I to the park that was not as quiet a time.  It was a captivating drive into that park, Mill Pond Park, and it had this water fall to the right of the roadway just past the swimming pool area.
My mother made her way into the parking area for cars, and we would get out, heading towards that noisy area! If it was laughter you were after, this was far from it!   Yeah, all that bickering for five swings was too much and the threats of knocking someone over was just too much. You know the one wanting the swing made the demand by walking closer & closer to high rising swing, and feet were prepared outward to strike or give a quick hit to that someone or at least push them backward. I did not want to observe some person, young or small, being knocked across the gravel into the merry-go-around. What fun would be in that?  Yeah, I moved over to the merry-go-round, only to find me pushing it for about ten other kids.

But was remembering those days of swings, baseball bats, hard balls, and  the life of those early days. Some called them "the lazy days of summer". I called them much too long for I liked being in school. Still, I liked baseball but not as much as my sister did. But you have probably read up on the writings I have had on her before this writing today. Continuing my thought process, I remember the last days of playing baseball with our daughter and niece.
They were probably about nine years old.  I remember we had a picnic somewhere and we had tennis rackets with us as well.  The area we were headed had tennis courts and a baseball field for any to use. But I only remember having the bat in hand and I could hit it a good distance. We would play for short time and allow the girls their time at bat. Was a good time, but even then, I thought that those days might be numbered.
Then the girls grew up. They married! And life continued but not with the bat and ball in hand nor of the trumpet or violin. To how much we desire to keep in our lives on this journey we truly must find that which pleases our Father God and within that relationship, love is needed. Oh no not for things, but for other people. Yes our girls respectively grew up and their lives changed dramatically. They serve the Lord. With gladness they speak of God's goodness and love.

Within our lives, we too, see change has come. Our grand-daughter loves the swing, but I sense it will be retired someday. Maybe she will trade her swing for that double one like her grandmother uses in the backyard. It is a swing made for two people.
Oh don't get me wrong here, she surely uses her swing right now for two: with dad and with mom when they are here! Yet one day she will take her place, that position that God planned for her to stand.
People should never retire from life! As productive human beings, being transformed into the image of Christ Jesus we should act and do as He did and still does. Life still gives, it always encourages and moves. In Christ we live and move and have our being.
Our confession has been to have a long life, that we grow up in years and not out of them. We pray and confess to see our grand-daughter married and with children of her own. We pray to be on this journey, my husband and I, together for a long time. It is about doing that for which our steps have been ordered by God to do here and now! It is not about putting off life till someone retires, but that we actively pursue life and knowing others doing life in God who desire us to really live.

We still purchase those bats and balls but not for us, but for others. We still put out that swing we remember from an earlier time, but hold on dearly to the joy and laughter that comes when one sits on that wooden seat and pushes off with one foot and then raising eyes to the sky!

No, we desire not to retire not at this time, at least not from life. We believe our bodies to be whole and strong, not sick or diseased for certainly these things do not exist in heaven. And heaven has come, the kingdom  Jesus set up here on earth! There stands two trees, both birch, in the backyard, and they had to be trimmed back due to the severe winter and ice that took many trees down.  In noticing the leaf growth on the two trees, one seems well behind the other. It has not put out as many numerous growths as the other birch!
The one with the swing, well it looks vibrant and has new growth sprouting every place it can. That tree has heard the words: beautiful tree, beautiful worship songs to God and heard life spoken over it. The other birch tree, well, it has no swing, it does not look quite as good as the other. It does not have as many new leaves as the other birch has. It has not heard the sounds of that sweet voice singing praise to God, giving thanks for all the good that has come to this house and to our grand-daughter. NO.....the other tree has not heard the beautiful life spoken to it.

As long as we have breath, we should be living, really living and giving our best in strength and courage. For where we give voice to life, and take the youth by the hand, we enjoy laughter, joy and  many moments from that swing that allows us to touch heaven and change our earth!


Notice: 

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Trickery ONLY Leads to Surviving and NOT Thriving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdk_wBfH4QU

New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

To be Immersed in The Holy Spirit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7eZ40jeVNE&t=4s

You can also visit my You Tube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at:  http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV

Is That Door Locked?

Voice of Prayer

Saw this movie the other night. One scene was three people trying to get a door to open, but the door was almost frozen shut. It took two of the three people to open the frozen door. One of the younger men mentioned putting the oil to it.
Now this specific story-line is from the early 1950's and was located within a church with a priest. Yes, I must admit it is one of mystery and intrigue and that night it had a very squeaky door without oil to make it turn on its hinges easily. Of course, the door could make some scary noises in the mid-night hour, but the funny thing from this story timeline, they mentioned the oil can and to get it to oil those hinges!
 Now many probably turning fifty today would not know what an oil can is for, well, except for our son-in-law......he probably would know.
And anyone watching the Wizard of Oz, from the 1930's would know by relating to the character of the tin man. But anyone else might not have an idea of the need for an oil can. Of course, today, we like WD-40. I mean, it will remove grease from laminated floors with one quick spray!.
But then hydrogen peroxide will remove grease from new carpeting as well. ( and I mean a real chunk of black greasy, grease on soft pastel orange carpet)

There are many doors. They open up areas to be visited, like in a movie theater or to a church! Doors can be old, new, fairly new, molded out of wood products, made from plastic, can be metal, glass or just plain wood. You could paint some, remove some, and even replace the really used doors, but what about a door that is " not used"?

I saw this movie the other night, and it was made in the early 1950's and one door was boarded up     (on the inside of the upstairs room), not to be used at all, yet the covering was just a few boards, and the covering was made with hinges to swing open. Odd I thought, when the thought was to board it up and not be used at all. Yet some clever one made it real work to create a door that could swing open using actual hinges and those pieces of plain wood just nailed together was to cover another actual door!

Proverbs 26:14 Amplified Bible
14 As the door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man [ move not from his place] upon his bed.
Now in the Middle East, a door made thousands of years ago was not made with hinges but rather with pivots. Of course, too, the doors were made of stone (slabs of stone) which made for a very weighty ( and very serious) door to handle.



I wonder sometimes about folks who never leave the place they were born to visit another place: like another state, or another country. You know those are doorways too!
I wonder sometimes why so many stay pretty close to their childhood start. I also wonder why many will not try doors they might otherwise overlook while passing by on a walk or driving by while looking for a gas station. I remember us going to an art museum and a rather small science museum, and also a wild west museum. All were so different, with so many different names who either painted, collected the artifacts of bones, pottery and glass sifted out for all to see or made history while the west was being populated by vast numbers of many different people who all had one purpose. That purpose was to know God who created heaven and earth and create something out of nothing in the 'ole west!

Many doors were open to those who painted great works of art. Many doors were opened to those who searched by sifting through sand and dust that covered great works of the pyramids and the pharaohs, yes those buried deep beneath the surface of the ground.......forever covered in mysteries, darkness and dirt!
I think of those places we have visited and although all were fun and done in different periods of my life, yet the only door that remains is the one I think people, yes many people overlook. I believe many miss the DOOR! They will miss the DOOR that counts.
I see people standing in line to get to be 1st at a new casino. I see them standing to buy that lottery ticket. I see them standing in line to get................!(something, anything)

Jesus said this and was recorded for our benefit. Found in John 10:9 I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely] and will find pasture.

Entering through Jesus we have a fresh life! In Him we gain to move freely by His wisdom, power and love. Without Him we can do nothing.
If we enter by Him, we are saved. we find pasture to lie down in, be refreshed by residing by still waters to walk in paths of righteousness for His name sake.

In that DOOR, we find the Bread of Life! John 6:35 and Jesus said to them, " I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. ( see also John 6:48)
When we enter that DOOR, we find the Chief Shepherd. 1 Peter 5:4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
Entering that DOOR, we come face to face with the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)
We encounter the Lord of All (Acts 10:36-39) 36 the word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ---He is Lord of All---37 that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached; 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
We encounter the Lord of Glory ( 1 Corinthians 2:7-9) 7 but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor hear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

Yes, some folks thousands of years ago encountered doors made of slabs of stone. Whatever their thought of or way of life, they encountered doors of stone only to be put behind one when they died. To return back to the dust, gather their bones up  about a year later by loved ones who remained and carry said bones to a family burial plot.

Is that Door locked? Have you tried to enter?

Have you pushed hard to open....? Have you mentioned the Door Keeper.........Jesus? For it is in Him we find the Bread of Life, the Chief Shepherd, the Lord of All, the Lord of Glory. Oh we find so much more when we open that door and take steps forward in him.

Proverbs 10:29 Amplified Bible teaches us that the way of the Lord is strength and a stronghold to the upright, but it is destruction to the workers of iniquity.

And Proverbs 10:20 mentions this: 20 that the tongues of those who are upright and in right standing with God are as choice silver; the minds of those who are wicked and out of harmony with God are of little value.

YIKES!

Opening up to Jesus, and make our way with Him we have strength. He becomes our Stronghold in time of trouble. But the main thing, He is our salvation.

Will we see Him, see His ways and act to move through or be satisfied where we began? That bed is no place to stay. Some rest at night to be refreshed is good, but to lay down and remain is not healthy for anyone! Remaining to stay within the confines that is only for comfort is sad indeed when we can touch other people's lives and maybe visit some odd type museums. We must go through some doors to experience life. There are doors opened to attend school and be educated to write and read. Doors are open to attend high schools and colleges and yes even jobs. Doors are open to marriage, children and grand-children. Doors are open, but the one that really matters will count in the long-haul.
There is a Door talked about in Revelation 3:8 and this one is mentioned in the letter to the church in Sardis. 8 I know your [record of] works and what you are doing. See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My Word and guarded My Message and have not renounced or denied My name. 11 I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one may rob you and deprive you of your crown.

Yes Jesus is returning! He returns for His believers, who trust in Him, have sought His face and to hear Him speak. Those who have entered will have a safe place,  a victorious place....He is the faithful and true Witness...He is the origin and Beginning and Author of all of God's creation.

Unlock that door.......and speak His name..........He will be found!

Notice: 

The Voice of Prayer  has a new teaching:

Demonstrating the Glory of God

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz_4bLulmHc

You can also visit my You Tube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at:  http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV