01/04/09

Here is another picture I took the other day at the farm. This is a pecan tree... and the sun was shining so beautifully behind it.

It is hard to believe my Christmas vacation is already over. It has been a good one and I have enjoyed this past week the most with being able to be at home more. It is also hard for me to believe that two weeks have passed since that magical weekend in Asheville. Time flies so quickly.

I was reading in my devotional today and it basically went along with the message that I heard at church today. The devotional talked about how our days are so precious. Money or things may "run out" but there is usually always a way to get more. Time is different. Time is something we can never get back and we are to "number our days." Our message today was based in Ephesians 2:8-10:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Our pastor spoke about a Samurai Sword (hope I spelled that correctly) and how it is made. This sword was used as an object lesson for us. It begins with charcoal and a sandy mixture with a metal in it. (I am no Geologist so I am doing my best here... lol) The charcoal and sandy mixture by itself is "dead"... not good for anything much. But, when they are put together through heat they are formed into ore. This ore is then manipulated through this heat many times to form a hardened steel that is so strong hardly anything can break it. The Samurai Sword is the strongest ever made, apparently.

We are like the charcoal and sandy mixture before God's grace takes over and we become a child of God. We are dead in our trespasses and sins... we are not good. When God's grace takes over we become like the ore. A hardened piece of "rock" that can then be formed into something usable. The transformation into a strong sword takes time, manipulation... and a lot of heat. The transformation in our life through Christ also takes a lot of time, God's hands of molding our lives... and, sometimes, "heat" from Him. Once we become that "sword for the Lord" we can then fight off the enemy with the resources God has given us in our growing and transforming process. We become a beautiful "workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works."

It is by God's grace that we are able to make use of our time each day. There are days I have looked back on and feel like I have truly wasted time that I can never get back. That is where I have to look and see how God has molded me, shaped me and is teaching me to use my days wisely for Him.

I'll not get it all right until I reach the gates of Heaven and see the Lord Jesus face to face, but I am thankful for all He uses in my life to teach me His grace and to use my days wisely for Him.

I tried to find the words to a hymn we sing at church a lot, but haven't found it in the books I have at home. However, we all know "Amazing Grace" so I thought I'd post those words. I just got the new Il Divo CD for Christmas and they sing it on that CD... it is beautiful. It is a song that is sung quite often, it seems. I often wonder when I hear it sung on TV or at special events if the people who are singing and listening REALLY know what they are hearing. Do they know the One True God? Do they know of that grace He bestows or are they just singing words to a "pretty song?" Take time to reflect on these words:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound!
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed.

Thro' many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come.
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise,
Than when we first begun.

Here is a nearly forgotten verse John Newton added near the end of the song:

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, Who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.