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“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent von Gogh I know that life is a series of small steps. We are here in this world for a duration. Then, we are gone. Some of us squander our opportunity and some of us recognize the possibilities. All of us have the option to change our response to life daily, either negatively or positively. As a Christian my worldview is different than others with different belief systems. I believe in a good good Father being over all. I believe in a personal Daddy (Abba). I believe He’s involved. But, I’m still an integral part of what happens and how I respond to what happens in my own life. Christians can find themselves battling around in their theology. They question commitment. They step this way, step back, retrace steps, or stop completely. I believe that God is helping me constantly. I believe He is involved in even the little things. So where does this good step by step process happen? How does it happen? When does it happen? We as believers sometimes bounce back and forth and even around with: He’s over all, He requires something from me, He gives, He takes. I must do more, I can never do enough. We can be confusing to those outside our faith with our indecisive answers and lives. We can be confusing to ourselves. It might be better to simply say, “I don’t know how it all works, I just know I trust the One who’s working it and I do small things, take small steps, make small strides letting Him put them all together. Right now, I’m counting my days. I’ve just lost my mother from this world. I know she is in heaven. But? I’m in a fog. What do I do? What do I do in these moments.  I do what Vincent Von Gogh is talking about. I read to a child. I listen to a friend. I hear my children. I put a dent in the decluttering of a friend’s office. I trust God to take me to the next step. I do the small things. The picture above is of my mother reading to my granddaughter a few years ago. My granddaughter sat in total rapture as she read. My mom was doing a small thing that added up to a large thing. I hope I can impact my world for God as my mom impacted hers. Until next week on Monday at some time...
Thanks for meeting me here today. See you then. Robyn & Biff Cox RR&BC, LLC©2016 http://www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com/ Come and join us for reading the bible together... Just click here
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O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Cor. 15:55 KJV — Vol 2, Ch 319/17/2018 On September 12, 2018 at about 6:30am, I stood over the body that carried me in its womb sixty-one years ago. I, along with my sisters only minutes before had watched in tears, saying sweet goodbyes as the Spirit of our mother, flew from that body that served her so well for 89 years and ten months.
I’ve never seen a spirit leave it’s shell. I’ve dreaded it. It was an unfounded dread. Mom left behind a tiny body, worn and eaten by damage and disease in these past few months. A body that in its prime stood 5’1“ tall and had never slept in a hospital bed, because of illness, until the night she fell in April this very year. This shell that lay before me dutifully carried my momma‘s soul, her Spirit, her essence. In those first fleeting minutes before they took that body away, I held that form, that cooling flesh that so lovingly wrapped my mom all these years. I thanked God for this lifeless shell that He created. You see this shell carried a Spirit drawn to adventure, blessed with a marriage of a lifelong love, and always an interested lifelong learner. This shell traveled all over the world, moved and lived from Kansas wheat fields to many states and foreign countries. This shell carried my mom from widow’s grief to China missions. This shell covered my mom. Mom, that spunky brilliant mind, that lady with panache. This shell carried the spirit of a seeker of God. This shell held God‘s child that searched over scripture, prayed over souls, and lifted up Jesus as Lord. My mom’s Spirit had flown from this shell into the place she’s longed for most of her life. You see, her Spirit accepted Jesus as its LORD when she was 27 years old. I kissed this body goodbye. And I thanked God for creating it. It had served my mom well. The essence of my mom isn’t gone. She is with Jesus. I thanked God as I held that very tiny shell that held the giant faithful follower of Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the world. She’s laughing with Jesus now. Laughing and dancing with my Daddy whom she’s missed everyday for the last forty-eight years, since he himself left his shell. They are celebrating their LORD together. I look forward to joining them for eternity. Because He IS the I AM, i am robyn cox God has more to share with us. Consider reading the bible to find nuggets for living life well and wonderfully. We would enjoy your thoughts here on RR&BCommunity. The cost is affordable affordable - Come along. Until next week on Monday at some time... Thanks for meeting me here today. See you then. Robyn & Biff Cox RR&BC, LLC©2016 http://www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com/ Come and join us for reading the bible together... Just click here Is there a difference? If so, what are the differences? Are there similarities? If so, what are they? I love church retreats. Don't you? The camaraderie, the wonderful late night chats. Laughing, singing around a fire. Early morning walks through the woods to pray alone, or together. And the inspirational speakers that force me to ask myself good questions about life with God. I love church retreats. I come home rejuvenated and more ready to face the day in day out life. Well, that is until I pull the suitcases out of the car, walk into the front door and find what destruction has been left in the wake of the life that has gone on without me. I even love silent retreats that are just alone with me and God. Do you? Both of these bring me to experience God at intimate levels. They create a yearning to remain in that place. Usually, they happen once a year and I in the past have been known to ride the wave for a good long time. But, like waves do. After a certain amount of time the excitement crashes, loses power, and basically rolls over the sands of life little more than a wave pool. Like I said, in my past, I chortled and kicked in the salty brine as I walked through the house and the chaos that the darling cherubs left. Sad to say, so my life in my past saw ebb and flow in spiritual experience upon spiritual experience. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not against retreats. We as a body of believers together need them. They are important for community, important for fellowship, important in our growth. Especially, silent ones — alone. Bible, journal, pen, silence. Oh, the things that God has shown me. I encourage you to take them regularly. But, these spiritual experiences are laced with false expectations. We have some idea that these Experiences will give us a Spirituality, a Depth. They won't. Why? Here are only five of several reasons: 1. They lack discipline of the soul. 2. They are filled with emotion. 3. They usually amount to a short time frame. We commit a day, a weekend, a week. I've been known to commit an afternoon. 4. And the hardest to honestly grapple with. They are usually self-gratifying. If man's chief end is to glorify God, a spiritual experience often falls sadly short. 5. In point of fact. Spiritual Experiences can leave me depleted instead of filled up. How many times did I return from a Women's Retreat and collapse in the bed from the lack of sleep? I can honestly say my patience with my three children tended to be a bit jarring for a few weeks afterward until I came back to that place of physical normality. Did I exhibit any signs of spiritual awakening, or change to those around me after my return? Satan wrecks havoc on an exhausted soul. Spirituality has little to do with a spiritual experience. Spirituality has to do with the day in and day out of our Soul-Life. It is in the secret crevices of our heart and mind. It is deep under that surface where no one sees. Spirituality, or the lack there of, makes us who we are. How we respond to life and how we run to Him behind closed doors in the midst of struggle and joys tell us more about our spirituality than does being a Sunday Christian, or a cookie-cutter believer. Spirituality is not surface. God is the only one that sees me in that place of spiritual depth or the lack of it. Do I live the same way when I am alone as I do when I am with others? Do I talk to Him knowing He is there all the time? Do I worship? Do I meditate on Him? Do I rejoice? Do I enjoy spending time alone with Him? Spirituality drives a life in a certain direction. Toward God. No matter what. Always toward God. The fake it till you make it never works in Spirituality. Granted there are steps to deepening our walk. Granted they are wonderful for sanctification. But those, when faked, are fateful. The depth comes from the being with Him. The depth of the Soul-Life is hidden. But, the depth of the Soul-Life is displayed. If you have ever met someone with a deep Spirituality you know it. They change your perspective on life. I have. Catherine Q. Catherine was the mother of my divorce counselor. Her husband had been a lawyer. In the 1950s Catherine and her young lawyer husband had just begun a new life in Dallas with their four young boys. As life would have it, Catherine's husband died suddenly leaving her alone, jobless, with his school debt and little hope for a good income. Catherine was instrumental in setting up and running a large church's children's program. However, the salary was sub-par. She struggled. Late '50s early '60s, making ends meet as a single-mother of four was not easy. But Catherine was well into her late 70s and 80s when I knew her. Her children were grown, they had made lives of their own. They continued to meet back at 'Mom's' house on Sundays. But, Catherine was alone. However, she was never lonely. Her eyes danced in the relationship that she walked with God. She was a wise and loving woman. There was a childlike expectation in each of our times together. She loved talking and sharing about what God was doing in her life. She encouraged me to listen. She encouraged me to take courage. She encouraged me to give my all to Christ. Catherine Q. heard me and I heard her. Catherine, standing under 5' was one of God's quiet spiritual giants. I was walking down the road of single parenting at that time. I had just gotten my degree with three kids nipping at my knees. I had fears and concerns about raising them alone. I asked her one day, "Catherine, how did you raise such wonderful men all by yourself?" Cocking her silver topped head to the side, she slid those cornflower blue eyes toward the heavens and almost giggled through the wise-aged-wrinkles. "On my knees. I raised them on my knees." That my dear friend is Spirituality in the Soul-Life depth. Are we on our knees? Are we humble enough to fall to our knees when we hear Him whisper in our ear? My prayer for us all is that we become less about the Experience and more about the Soul-Life-Depth. Because He IS the I AM, i am robyn cox God has more to share with us. Consider reading the bible to find nuggets for living life well and wonderfully. We would enjoy your thoughts here on RR&BCommunity. The cost is minimal - we know it is good for some financial commitment - but the cost is less than 3 coffees from McDonald's . Come along. Until next week on Monday at some time... Thanks for meeting me here today. See you then. Robyn & Biff Cox RR&BC, LLC©2016 http://www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com/ Come and join us for reading the bible together... Just click here  I make mistakes, do you? I make them when I am not in a state of upheaval. The physical conditions I've been dealing with, my mother being in a really bad way, and the unrest I sense in our country, as well as, the laying to rest of Senator McCain have all set me in the mood to remember better days. But they lend me to making mistakes... The unrest in our country, and the sadness I am experiencing of the arguing between well... so many people, reminds me of the Israelites in the years of wandering in the desert. So much so, that I threw this Labor day into another celebration completely. I mixed it up with Memorial Day. I lived in a foreign country so long that celebrated neither, I pretty much spread both out for the meaning of our country. We celebrate our hard work and we celebrate those that allow us to work in freedom. So, since 2006 I have thrown them both together. They are both important and they are the essence of our country. Our country remembers and parades and celebrates US. LOL! I might have mixed up the dates, but I refuse to turn tail and run from my mistake. I thought about deleting all of this when I realized what I had done, But instead, what Is written here does not change. We remember. We count our days. And we laugh at our mistakes. Here is some of what I wrote. I removed the really embarrassing mistakes. --- just sayin" I live in the United States of America. I am a proud American. I tear up when our flag stands at half-mast (a symbol that a notable citizen has died). I choke back tears when I stand and sing our American Anthem. And when I watch a memorial service like the one I saw on Saturday September 1, 2018 on TV for Senator McCain, I bawl. I love my country. But I didn't really understand why remembering well was important until I studied the Israelites journey into the promised land, I found that God has encouraged us to remember well. Of course, remembering all He has done is the most important and vital reason to remember. But I am thankful that He encourages us to remember in the word and through the 'Joshuas' in our lives. I find that Joshua shows three ways to remember well. We as believers are called to count our days and make them count for something bigger than ourselves. We are called to mark time and events. Let's take a quick look at the importance God brings to remembering. 1. Be Strong and Courageous In Joshua 1:1 we find out: After forty years in the wilderness, the Israelites got the privilege of seeing the power of God that their ancestors had experienced. After Moses died God spoke to Joshua to ... lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land He was giving them. You might remember the oft quoted "Be strong and courageous..." encouraging word found in the book of Joshua. God gives directions to Joshua about leading the people. (Being willing to 'be strong and courageous,' stepping out to do something that is beyond our ability is necessary when we fight evil.) It takes strength and courage to have faith. 2. Pray and Move Out In Joshua 3 we find the Israelite officers giving the instructions to the people: "When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, move out from your positions and follow them..." "Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you." So, we must also move out. The priests were carrying the Ark of the Covenant and as soon as their feet touched the water at the river's edge, the water above that point began backing up... And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over on dry land. Finally, in the fourth chapter the LORD told Joshua to send twelve men back to pick up twelve stones from the very place where the priests were standing in the middle of the Jordan. He charged them to pick the large stones up and carry them up to the place where they would camp that night. 3. Lay Down Stones of Remembrance to Remember Moments of Strength and Courage To Remember What God Has Done The stones were meant to bring back and lay down as a memorial among the people of Israel forever. A memorial of the day when God did a marvelous wonder and brought them across the Jordan River on dry land. These Stones of Remembrance were set down in ancient history for the children, and the children's children to be able to remember the wonder of God the Almighty. His power showed strong. Joshua 1-4 NLT referenced I'm still laughing... at my mistake. My mistake makes neither day less important. They are both a symbol of our country. Labor and Sacrificial Love. Does anyone else make mistakes? If you do, join me at the bottom of this page and comment. Let's all be gentle with each other. Because He IS the I AM, i am
robyn cox God has more to share with us. Consider reading the bible to find nuggets for living life well and wonderfully. We would enjoy your thoughts here on RR&BCommunity. The cost is minimal - we know it is good for people to pay some financial commitment just because people are more committed that way - but the cost is less than 3 coffees from McDonald's . Come along. Until next week on Monday at some time... Thanks for meeting me here today. See you then. Robyn & Biff Cox RR&BC, LLC©2016 http://www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com/ Come and join us for reading the bible together... Just click here |
Robyn Rochelle Cox
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