O Holy Night

 (by Lorie Codispoti)

What’s your favorite Christmas carol?

It’s no secret that O Holy Night is my all time favorite. (I’ll paste the lyrics below in the comments.)

I love everything about this song - from its lyrics and music to the incredible story of its origin. And just when I thought I couldn’t love it any more, I find something to add to my list.

It came as I read this line…

"For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”

This is a song about an event that takes place in the darkness of a world that has long been filled with “sin and error pinning.” Yet, there’s something that breaks through the darkness. It’s something that takes me all the way back to creation, where we’re told that the Earth was formless, void and dark. There was nothing but darkness, until … “Let there be light.” (Gen.1:3)

Here’s the thing: the sun, moon, and stars weren’t even created until the fourth day. So what kind of Light manifested itself to separate the day from the night for the first three days? Easy. It was God Himself. “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all" (1Jn.1:15).

The pre incarnate Christ - the third person of the trinity - was the Father’s agent in the very creation of our world. He made it all. Then centuries later, the incarnate Christ confirmed that He is “the light of the world” (Jn.8:12).

Think about it.

A new and glorious morning - Light breaks through the darkness at both creation, and then at the miraculous incarnation.

And, as if that weren’t enough to illuminate your soul, get this:

The Bible, along with other historical records, indicates that for three hours in the middle of the day, an unnatural darkness fell over the whole land during the time that Jesus hung on the cross. This was a supernatural event, although some will try to disqualify the event by suggesting that the darkness was the result of a solar eclipse. But, a basic understanding of how solar eclipses work indicates that they never occur during a full moon and the crucifixion occurred during Passover, which always takes place during a full moon. Both NASA and NOAA testify that “the longest duration of a solar eclipse is just over 7.5 minutes.” Three hours of total darkness is outside of anything we’ve ever experienced. It was a supernatural occurrence.

However, the darkness doesn’t last.

“A new and glorious morn,” again, breaks through at the resurrection, when the Light of World overcame the darkness and sin's power over us was defeated.

But, there’s more to this “new and glorious morn.” It is a prophetic statement, pointing us to a dawn on the horizon.

In Revelation 1:14-16, John describes his vision of Christ by saying that His eyes are like a flame of fire and His countenance like the full strength of the sun (Rev.1:14&16). (This will be another supernatural display of Light unlike anything ever seen in our natural world.)

Matthew describes the return of the King this way, ““For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mt.24:27). He also describes how a time of darkness will precede this event - like it did at creation and the crucifixion (Mt.24:29). He says that when Jesus returns in this flash of Light, “every eye shall see Him” (Rev.1:7). Everyone!

Luke describes this as a cataclysmic time of darkness that will enshrine the globe (Lk.21:8-28). The intense distress will cause hearts to fail as people are filled with terror. Every unbeliever will see Him, but their experience will bring with it a different kind of mourning (Rev.1:7).

The thing that makes this a holy “night divine” is not the darkness that precedes the events I’ve mentioned, but rather, the Light that penetrates and overcomes that darkness. This Light promises believers an everlasting morning - a perpetual Light so strong that there is coming a day when there will never be a need for the sun, moon, and stars (Rev.21:23). The full glory of our King will be unveiled and unending, and His Light will illuminate our world forever and ever and ever.

As you try to picture what this will be like, let the “thrill of Hope” fill your “weary soul.”

“Fall on you knees” and sing “sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus.”

May the sound of our voices echo throughout the land and “all within us praise His holy name.”

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

Destructive Train

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Well, it appears that American Girl has jumped on the popular progressive train. They've exchanged what they used to represent (encouraging girls to embrace the joy and wonder of girlhood), and adopted a new philosophy. Their train now makes stops at stations where they entice and kidnap young girls, hoping to convince them to embrace their new agenda, which includes grooming girls into believing the myth that they can change their gender if they no longer feel comfortable being female.

This is child abuse!

Don't believe me? Research the stages that predators use to groom a child and you will find that more cars are being added as it rides the rails of an upside down agenda - one that conditions children to believe and accept a narrative that counters reality.

This warped locomotive runs on an unending supply of fuel, filled in the 1980’s by the author of modern day “queer theory” and her published work that promotes things like the idea that child porn should not be criminalized and cross generational sexual encounters should be normative, among other absurd things. (Thinking Sex by Gayle Reuben)

“Queer Theory, at its dark heart, is structurally pedophilic.” (James Lindsay)

Wake up, parents!

These are manipulative tactics. They're dressed up (literally) & served to every child forced to sit in their seat until the conductor feels they have been adequately brainwashed into spreading this false ideology.

There is no such thing as transgender. There is only male and female. We do not possess the biological power to transform into anything other than what we were created to be. You can manipulate (mutilate is more like it) your parts and play dress up all you want, but all that does is promote a confused, dystopian like world that is devoid of all reason - not to mention dark and hopeless.

Don’t support the lie!

It’s time to rescue the children and blow up this train. They should have never been forced to board confusion to begin with.

American Girl, you should be ashamed of yourself for selling out to the woke agenda of the left. When young girls bought tickets and boarded your train in years past, they used to enjoy their ride while reading about the wonderful adventures your literature provided. You captured the imagination and every passenger celebrated the wholesomeness of being a young girl in America.

Now you are masquerading under the guise of progress. But the reality is you’ve turned into a rolling series of destructive cars, all connected by a false ideology. It's one that seizes the minds of young girls and forces them to ride into a station filled with heartache and suffering.

This is the worst kind of child abuse and I hope that every parent will consider the cost before purchasing a ticket aimed at stripping children of their innocence and forcing them to face the kind of evil that is forged in the very fires of Hell itself.

Oh, by the way, American Girl...

Will you be changing your name? Seems to me that “American It” might be a more fitting pronoun for the new you.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

Reflect Truth

(by Lorie Codispoti)

"Life is a pilgrimage of learning, a voyage of discovery in which our mistaken views are corrected, our distorted notions adjusted, our shallow opinions deepened, and some of our vast ignorances diminished." (John Stott)

I can still remember the traumatic moment I was told that if I kept eating peanut butter I’d turn into a peanut. It sounds silly, but I promise you my very young self was positively horrified. And because I believed the statement to be absolutely true it weighed on me, heavily. I wondered if I could reverse my fate by ceasing to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But, was I too late? Had I now unintentionally joined the ranks of every other innocent child who had morphed into Dumbo treats?

All of us can relate to believing something to be true, only to discover that, for whatever reason, we were wrong. But how many of us are willing to put belief to the test?

To test a belief is to ask questions that have the power to correct our wrong thinking, adjust our distortions, deepen our shallow opinions, and diminish our ignorance. If truth is the standard by which we measure our beliefs then we must be willing to lay our misguided ideas of what truth is aside if they prove to be incorrect.

Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines truth as “conformity to fact or reality.” I don’t get to have “my truth” and you yours. Truth is transcendent. It exists outside of my opinion, experience, and preference. If my belief lines up with what is objectively real then I can trust that it is true because truth corresponds, agrees with, and conforms to reality. It’s universal and consistent.

People can believe whatever they want. And they do. But simply believing something does not make it true. Humans don’t turn into peanuts because belief does not create reality, it reflects it.

When talking about what it looks like to image God, Anglican bishop, N.T. Wright notes that, "Humans are made to reflect the wise, loving Creator into His world... We are angled mirrors, designed to reflect creation’s praises to the Creator and the Creator’s wisdom into his creation.”

What reality are you reflecting?

Let us pilgrims position our mirrors correctly as we continue our voyage of discovery. We may find that we need to periodically reposition our reflection, as the storms of culture try to throw us off course, but that's a good thing. In fact, it’s the only way to reject the lie that we will be transformed into anything but the image of Christ, who is the very essence of Truth itself.

Peanuts, anyone?

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

Trust The Teacher

(by Lorie Codispoti)

The art teacher handed everyone a large sheet of thick, white paper and a box of crayons. We were instructed to fill the canvas with color. Every square inch of white was to be covered with bright, bold colors. I remember spending a lot of time pressing the crayons hard and swirling little bits of color all over the page. When I finished I held up my masterpiece and felt a surge of satisfaction as I admired my work.

But, the project was only half finished.

I can still remember the horrible feeling that came over me as our teacher instructed each student to pick up their black crayon and use it to cover every speck of color on their picture. None of the bright colors were to show through the thick layer of black wax that was to overlay every canvas.

What? 

A collective gasp reverberated through the class. How could we possibly follow those horrifying instructions? The blackness would ruin every picture.

Our teacher was incredibly patient with each protesting student. She encouraged us to trust her, and promised that if we followed her instructions we would leave her class with a picture that was even more beautiful than the ones we were holding. One by one she persuaded us, and we worked until the black crayons were the smallest ones in our box. Every desk now housed a black canvas, along with a despondent student.

After making sure every student followed her instructions and there wasn't a speck of color on any picture, the teacher took her own black canvas and attached it to the easel. She picked up a little plastic tool, shaped like a pencil, and began to scratch a scene through the black wax.

The fine lines of each flower began to bloom with color, and the space above her flowering meadow was filled with colorful butterflies. The beauty that pierced through the blackness was even more vibrant than the colors were before being blackened. The more she scratched through the darkness the more amazed we were. Mesmerized by this newfound magical art, we could hardly wait for the plastic tools to be passed out.

We all live in a classroom filled with many things to be learned, and every good teacher knows that a memorable lesson is one that has the ability to captivate the attention of their students.

You may have worked really hard on the canvas of your life. Perhaps you’ve even found creative ways to fill the white spaces and incorporate every crayon in your box. But what happens when the darkness begins spreading itself so thick that every speck of color disappears? All your attempts to preserve the color are unsuccessful and you helplessly watch the darkness take over your canvas. What do you do then?

You wait!

The bell has not yet rung to dismiss you from class.

James tells us that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. And that “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:3-4)

Trust the Teacher!

With the precision of a skilled craftsman, your Teacher will pick up His tool and use it to pierce through the darkness. With every scratch He will uncover the unique scene He designed for your canvas. Each mark is a reflection of His presence as it makes its way through your life.

Your faith in the Teacher enables you to trust Him, but it does something else. As you persevere through the process and observe how He brings out each hidden color, you will notice how the black layer is no longer positioned in the forefront. The darkness has been moved and now serves as the backdrop for the Teacher's design.

Whether your canvas is the size of a poster board or an index card, every mark serves as a lesson in the timeline of your life. And, until the Teacher rings the bell and dismisses you from class, He will continue cutting through the darkness and using it for His purpose. When the curtain goes up and His light shines on the kaleidoscope of color it will not only mesmerize you, the student, but it will draw the eye of those outside the gallery and invite them to join the next class.

(Would you like to create some scratch art? Here's a link that uses black tempura paint instead of black crayons. https://www.firstpalette.com/craft/scratch-art.html )

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

The Mysterious Spot

(by Lorie Codispoti)

One day I noticed an oval shaped spot on the seat of my husband’s recliner in the den. It looked like some kind of oil. But that wasn’t the biggest mystery.

The thing that had me scratching my head (for weeks) was that this strange spot kept reappearing. Every week I noticed a new spot in the same location on his chair. I’d clean it one week, only to find it was back again the next. I was completely baffled.

If I was a superstitious person I’d of been sufficiently creeped out. But I’m not. I knew there had to be a logical explanation, so the super sleuth within went to work investigating this strange phenomenon. (I may not have a forensic lab at my disposal, but Sherlock would have been impressed with my observation skills.)

Did I eventually solve the mystery, you ask?

You betcha!

I was right about the oil, but the day I discovered how it was being transferred to the seat of John’s chair was the day I stopped trying to clean it off.

You see, every Saturday my dear husband spends the entire day in his office studying and preparing to preach on Sunday. I try to keep the house quiet and myself from interrupting him, but I needed to do a load of laundry one Saturday and that meant walking through the den to get to the laundry room. As I did, I noticed something I will never forget. John was kneeling at his recliner with his head on the seat. He was so deep in prayer that he never heard or saw me passing through.

I was right in that the spot was oil, but if I had not seen his forehead pressed into the leather on his chair, I’d of never guessed that this was the source of the mysterious spot.

“The measure of a man is not so much how tall he stands but how low he kneels.” (J. Otis Yoder)

Now, each time I pass John's recliner I’m reminded of the godly man who faithfully seeks the Lord’s guidance and blessing on behalf of those he ministers to each week. It has left an indelible mark that can never be erased.

Jesus said, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 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.” (Mtt.6:5-6)

I’m pretty sure that there were no leather recliners in the rooms that Jesus referenced, but if there were I bet they’d all have defining prayer spots.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

A Shepherd And His Sheep

(by Lorie Codispoti)

I have no experience with sheep. None. In fact, my interaction with all things ewe related can be summed up by saying that I’ve owned a few scratchy sweaters, tasted their milk, and eaten mutton for dinner (once). That’s it!

But there’s something about the imagery of a shepherd and his sheep that captures both my attention and my affection. I’m drawn to it in Scripture, and in the way an artist paints the pastoral scenery.

I’m not alone.

While this affection continues to be resident among modern day believers, it can also be traced back to the ancient Christians who found refuge in the catacombs of Rome. These caves were not only places for believers to bury their dead, but safe havens for them to gather and worship. The walls served as a blank canvas for these new believers to express their newfound understanding and love for the One who called Himself their Good Shepherd.

What is it about the image of a shepherd caring for his sheep that draws our hearts?

I’m pretty sure it’s connected to the nature of God, the nature of man, and the relationship between the two.

In the Old Testament, God likens Himself to something the nomadic herdsmen would have understood - a Shepherd. And throughout this book we see multiple prophets use the imagery to point to the promised Messiah. Then in the New Testament Jesus describes Himself as our Shepherd. He uses the metaphor in His parables, and also when commissioning His disciples to become like Him and care for His flock.

Sheep are drawn to a good Shepherd, not only for guidance, provision, and protection, but because the shepherd promises to never leave them. It’s His love put on display by His continual, faithful presence that enables the sheep to love, trust, and follow Him.

The more I learn about the characteristics of a good shepherd, the more I understand and love mine.

At the end of the day, ancient shepherds would corral their sheep inside folds made of stone walls. They would stand at the opening, where they touched and counted each animal as it entered the fold. When each one was accounted for he would lay his own body across the opening. There was no door to close so the shepherd became the door. Nothing could get to the sheep without going through him. (Do you have chills yet?)

“Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (Jn.10:7-9)

The more I learn about the characteristics of sheep, the more I understand myself.

We’ve often heard that sheep are stupid animals, but that’s not true. Sheep have a strong flocking instinct that not only allows them to band together against predators, but research shows that they can remember a familiar human face and they know the look of their fellow woolies. One study suggests that they are as good as humans at distinguishing faces in a crowd. This tells me that they have the ability to identify an imposter - a “wolf in sheep's clothing.” The foolish sheep are the ones who make themselves vulnerable by going against their instincts, thinking they can find greener pastures on their own.

Voice recognition is a key to survival for sheep. The shepherd calls each one by name and they know his voice. They will not follow any other.

“…the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (Jn.10:3-5)

The more I study Scripture the more I learn about what my relationship to the Shepherd looks like.

I think most of us can recite portions, if not all, of the 23rd Psalm. Throughout the ages, believers and non-believers, alike, have found comfort in this universal Psalm. What some may not realize, however, is that King David wrote this passage as he was looking back over his life. He’s reflecting on the relationship He has had with His Great Shepherd, from the time he was a boy herding his father’s sheep to the time he was a wealthy king.

David not only acknowledges his need as a sheep, but He points out the immutable characteristics of a good Shepherd. His care, guidance, provision, and protection are predominant throughout the passage.

There’s so much I could share about the treasures buried within these verses, but the relational aspect I want to highlight is found in one word: “path.”.

“He leads me in paths of righteousness” (vs.3b).

In the original text David is saying that God leads him in literal round paths. (From our western perspective and English translations, we can miss key points in the text.)

When you visit the wilderness where David was a shepherd boy you can still see the ancient paths carved into the steep hillsides, where the shepherds led their flocks to green pastures. And what you see is not a straight path from bottom to top, but paths that went around the hills. The path was long and tiresome, but any other way would have led to tragedy.

Shepherding hasn’t changed much in that area of the world, and the way God shepherds us hasn’t changed either. He is still leading us the long way around.

Why?

Because a relationship isn’t nurtured in the short cuts that we try to take.

We learn who God is - a loving Shepherd who loves, guides, provides, and protects His sheep, all while never leaving them to navigate life and fend for themselves.

And we learn who we are - sheep whose strength comes from recognizing the Shepherd, knowing His voice, and banding together to follow Him.

The Good Shepherd will sheer us of our heavy, dirty, old garments, and cloth us in His righteousness. It's how He leads us on this path of life. And after the long and arduous journey, when we finally reach our destination, we will have procured an intimate relationship with the One who fulfilled His promise to never leave us.

Won’t you join the fold? Let’s follow Him into eternity together.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

About Death

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Did you know that daisies have an average lifespan of seven to ten days? For those of us who enjoy them the only consolation is that these perennials will rise again next year.

The Bible compares our earthly existence to the fleeting lifespan of a flower (Psa.103:15, 1Pet.1:24). It’s “here today and gone tomorrow,” as the song goes. Compared to the vapor that James likens it to (Jms.4:14), I’d say a flower is pretty generous. (A nod to the octogenarians among us.)

This life is short and death is a reality that no one can argue and everyone wants to to escape. It’s the great equalizer that levels the ground in every graveyard and stamps an end date on each headstone.

What do you think about death?

Everyone has a theory on what will save them from the inevitable, but do any of their suggestions really offer a plausible solution to the problem of death? Whether you are a Christian, agnostic, atheist, pagan, or something else, you adhere to some kind of belief about death.

According to one poll, 54% of Americans said they didn’t spend much time thinking about death. But, when you consider that the stakes are eternal, maybe it would be wise to spend some time considering the location of your forever home.

Humans are eternal beings living in a temporary body.

That means that where you live now is going to change, and the last piece of real estate you will inhabit on this earth is your coffin. Think about it, because the way you live between locations is a direct reflection of what you believe.

The writer of Psalm 49 must have pondered the subject deeply. He found it interesting enough to begin his discourse with a riddle about life and death.

He interjects wisdom as he makes plain the not so easily understood enigma of death. His realistically grim picture is painted this way: “Like sheep, they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them…” (vs.14). He’s saying that no matter who we are - wise, foolish, rich, poor - we all die. It’s the inevitable truth that looms over every human being, and none of our material wealth can be used to either ransom another’s life or buy ourselves more time.

There’s nothing we can do to save ourselves!

The mystery of death is dark and scary, but the psalmist points out the only thing that has the ability to save us when he says, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me.” Christians know that death is merely a portal to the afterlife. The grave is not our final destination. The incarnate Christ paid the ransom to redeem us. Through the work of the cross, He and He alone seized death’s power over us, securing the authority to control our eternal destiny.

How should we then live?

If you are a Christian then you know that we die twice. The first death awakens us to the brevity of this life and reshapes our thinking on how to live out the remainder of our days, and the closer we get to the second death the more focused we become on what really matters.

Theologian and philosopher, Francis Schaeffer, was an agnostic who was radically transformed after reading the Bible. Schaeffer’s first death changed the trajectory of his life and he spent the rest of it communicating that the way we interpret reality will determine how we live.

“I’ll be there in a minute!”

It’s the excuse we’ve all used when we’re not ready to stop doing one thing in order to comply with another.

Nobody likes to think about death, but what if your clock is wrong and all you have is a minute? With only seconds before death comes knocking at your door with an eviction notice, will you use the same excuse the rich man did in Luke twelve? Confident in all that he had amassed, he thought he had plenty of time to “eat, drink, & be merry.” God responded by calling the man a fool because he had no idea that he was going to die that very night.

I guarantee that if you had a terminal illness, thoughts of your mortality would move from the back of your mind to the forefront.

One palliative care nurse reports that all of their patients fall into one of two categories: those who focus all their energy into beating the odds of their illness, and those who opt to reflect on their lives and pour themselves into their loved ones. The thing they have in common is the sobering reminder that their clock is about to stop and their life is about to end. What they do with the time left becomes their focus.

Did you know that daisies have a mind of their own - that no matter where they are planted they bloom facing the sun?

Be that flower!

The one whose clock tells her that every second of this short life matters. The one who determines to fix her eyes on the Son, knowing that the day is coming when she will be uprooted and death will no longer be a part of life. Be the flower who is confident that the clocks in heaven measure time by the Son who promises that His flowers are neither perennial nor annual, but eternal.

Be the soul who pushes up the daisies when your grave uproots death and puts it to sleep forever.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

The Joy Of Decluttering

(by Lorie Codispoti)

I’ve never liked clutter. Why? Because it feels claustrophobic and it looks messy.

The visual side of me cringes when I see someone having to remove things from their desk or counter top in order to free up space to work. This distain, however, doesn’t pair well with the pack-rat, creative, repurposing, sentimental side of me who has a hard time getting rid of things I determine have some kind of value. The challenge has always been to find a functional balance between the two.

Now, I’ve seen some pretty nasty human spaces in my day (offices, cars, homes, yards, etc.), but I’m not talking about roach infested, filth ridden environments. Clutter can exist among the most ardent of clean freaks - people whose magazines might be stacked to the ceiling, but they’re all perfectly aligned, organized by date, and void of all dust mites. This is called organized clutter, and I’m somewhat familiar with the propensity.

I know this is a completely subjective issue. What you call a collection I may classify as clutter, and vice versa. But, I think we can all agree that it doesn’t take much for an unnecessary accumulation of things to find their way into the spaces we inhabit, and overwhelm us.

According to one expert, the way to differentiate between a collection and clutter is by evaluating the emotions we experience when we view them. If you follow her steps for decluttering, you will get rid of anything that doesn’t bring you joy. She says, “Life truly begins only after you have put your house in order.” (Marie Kondo)

There's value in her statement, as it speaks to the concept of material management. Everyone knows that a well managed environment is not only more productive, but it also frees up the mental capacity to enjoy that environment. However, this idea didn’t originate with Ms. Kondo. She’s merely piggy-backing on a long established biblical principal that not only works for the things we can see and feel, but it can be applied to our spiritual house. Furthermore, applying God’s method of decluttering not only brings order, by enabling us to rid ourselves of the unnecessary clutter we’ve accumulated, but it frees up space for the habitation of genuine Joy.

Ecclesiastes 3:6 says there is “a time to keep, and a time to cast away.”

(The whole book of Ecclesiastes is about man's futile attempt to gain happiness apart from God. The writer of the book (Solomon) writes from the unique vantage point of having accumulated more material, mental, and political resources of any human being up to that point in history. Yet he concludes that none of the things he has amassed has lead to joy. None of it satisfies and all of it leaves him feeling empty. In the end, he concludes that the ultimate meaning in life is found only in knowing God.)

With every new season of life comes change, and change always requires something of us if we hope to transition well.

I recently taught on the life of Leah (Jacob’s first wife). Her story is heartbreaking for several reasons, but one of them is that neither Leah or her sister (Rachel) was willing to “cast away” the emotional clutter they had amassed over the years, and it all but destroyed their relationship.

When Peter talks to believers about loving each other with a pure heart, he says that one way we do that is by “laying aside” the clutter that hinders relationships (1Pet.2:1). Rather than casting away their heart’s clutter, Leah and Rachel chose to accumulate and keep it stored in their sinful hearts. This left no room for genuine Joy. I can’t help but wonder how different things would have been had they been willing to let go of the things that kept their hearts locked in turmoil.

What does spiritual clutter look like for us today, and how do we get rid of it?

It looks like anything that comes between you and your relationship with God. That tells me that my clutter may look different than yours, but that any collection of things the Bible tells us to “cast off” qualifies as things we don’t need - no matter how sentimentally attached we’ve become.

I like what Carla Gasser writes in her article, 5 Simple Ways To Declutter Your Soul (https://carlagasser.com/5-simple-ways-to-declutter-your.../), “While we may acknowledge the need and sincerely have the desire to declutter our souls, we lack the focus, determination, and willpower to begin this painstaking process.”

This tells me that I need something (Someone) outside myself in order to succeed in my attempt to declutter my heart.

King David recognized his need for help and asked God to “search” and “point out” the things that created a wedge between him and God (Psa.139). He knew that the only way for God to “renew a right spirit” within him (Psa.51:10) was to surrender the accumulation of destructive ways to God. We too can trust God to show us areas of our heart that need decluttering when we ask for His help.

We get rid of spiritual clutter the same way David did - by asking God to show us and to help us. While the process of decluttering may be grueling at times, maintaining a clean heart is worth every effort we spend in prayer and action.

Life truly does begin when we declutter our souls and put our spiritual houses in order. Because wherever the Spirit of the Lord resides, there is the freedom to embrace and celebrate the Joy that He brings with Him.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

Tilly

(by Lorie Codispoti)

I’ll never forget the day Tilly died.

I’m not sure how my toddler brain processed the big issues of life, but Tilly was always available to hear them. She was so patient and seemed to understand me perfectly, whether I had the words to express my feelings or not. I was drawn to her because she had freckles (like me), ponytails, and a smile that always made me feel loved and accepted. She was almost as tall as me, but I managed to carry her around with little effort. We walked together every day and she slept with me every night.

Tilly was my first doll baby and my very best friend.

One day I noticed that Tilly was injured. Her large, rubber head had started separating from her fabric body. Over time her insides started making their way to the outside. There were no doll hospitals back then so my mother placed her on the top shelf in my closet. I was very sad because I couldn’t hold her or put her in my little toy stroller for a walk. But I knew where she was and would frequent my closet to talk to her. I knew she didn’t feel good, but even though she was laying down she never stopped smiling. Somehow I felt like she would be okay.

After dinner one evening I went to tell Tilly goodnight, but when I opened my closet door she was not there. I ran to ask my mom if she knew where Tilly was and she told me the devastating news - that Tilly was gone and would not be coming back. She tried to console me by giving me a new doll (every year), but it didn’t work. I never played with baby dolls again.

My mother had no way of knowing how devastated I would be to lose this special doll. After all, I'm sure she surmised that Tilly was a toy and toys could be replaced. It makes perfect sense, but not to a toddler. To me this was a death, and my first encounter with what it feels like to lose something you love.

It's important for children to understand what death is, why it is, and where they can take their grief.

WHAT DEATH IS

Bottom line: death happens when our bodies stop working. But there’s way more to it than that. When we explain the difference between the temporary human body we live in and the eternal part of the human spirit that never dies, children begin to grasp the fact that death is merely a portal.

Be real with them though; God did not create plants, animals, or inanimate objects with a spirit that will live forever. Though Tilly was very real to my little girl heart, she was neither alive nor eternal - as evidenced by the fact that she bled stuffing and maintained that sweet smile throughout the entire time her head was falling off.

Reality can invoke sad emotions, but that’s part of the grieving process. Give your child the time and space to express their pain. It will open the door to many conversations that will enable you to instill the hope and vision of eternity.

WHY DEATH EXISTS

Everything in our world has a beginning and an end, but it was not created to be that way. Death exists because sin came into the world (Rms.5:12), and sin always leads to death (Jms.1:15).

The “Why?” questions our children ask will provide the opportunity for us to remind them of the gospel and the reason Christ came - to rescue us from sin and death (Jn.3:16, 11:25-26). The reason death is temporary is because Christ swallowed it and emerged victorious (1Cor.15:21).

WHERE WE TAKE OUR SORROW

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18)

Parents play a crucial role in leading their children to the only One who can reach into the darkest places of their soul to provide the exact measure of comfort they need for each and every moment they need it.

It’s okay to tell children that their sorrow will never go completely away. There are some wounds, like those left by the death of a loved one, that leave a permanent scar that will remind us of what caused it every time it rains. One day God will clear all the storms of grief, but until then He provides an umbrella, along with His extended arms to hold us while we cry.

I like what J.R.Tolkien said when he noted that, “The birth, death & resurrection of Jesus means that one day everything sad will come untrue.”

I will never see Tilly again, but the joy I’ve had loving and playing with my real doll babies - the kind that I can take with me - is a delight that will last for all eternity.

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