The Things That Matter

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is as strong as death…
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.
Song of Solomon 8:6-7

Last evening, right about sunset, in the shadow of the McDowell Mountains, I was honored to lead a couple in renewing their wedding vows. There, in the presence of Almighty God they renewed their faith in each other and faith in God and bound themselves together in sacred vows for the days ahead.

For the big occasion the “groom” had squeezed into the Air Force uniform he wore almost 52 years ago when he first pledged undying love. His “bride” was radiant, in her bed, on oxygen, with her hospice nurse nearby.  Diagnosed with a raging, terminal cancer just five weeks ago, she asked her family to call for a minister. Sensing that she would not be here in a month to celebrate their anniversary, she wanted to renew their vows now.  The groom was overwhelmed and their children and grandchildren looked on with pride and deep joy.

I had a hard time sleeping last night as I kept replaying that scene in my mind. I knew that I had been a witness to something transcendent and wondrous. I had been given insight into the things that really matter, the things that really count.

When I worked for hospice we would commonly say that there are five things a patient needs to say before she or he dies. Those five things are:  

1.    Forgive me
2.    I forgive you
3.    I love you
4.    Thank you
5.    Good-bye

As we sought to help patients to a good death in saying these five things, it occurred to me that this was not only a good way to die……it was also a very good way to live!  Yes, today is the day to say, “forgive me.”  Today is the day to say, “I love you” and to celebrate those we love.  Let’s not let another day slip through our fingers. Let’s pick up a phone. Write a note. Give a hug. Say “thank you.”

In today’s text Solomon gets it right again:

     If one offered for love all the wealth of one’s house, it would be utterly scorned.
 
Take time to today to love. 

Grace and Peace,

Tim Smith

Weekly Bible Classes with Tim Smith
 
Every Wednesday through the summer
At the Franciscan Renewal Center
(Garces Room of Piper Hall)

Wednesday Noon – 1:00 P.M.
Songs for Life’s Journey:  The Psalms of Ascent
 
Wednesday Evening 7:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.
Profiles of Spiritual Maturity:  The Letter of James

Beauty of it All!

¹¹ God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. ¹³ That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-this is the gift of God.  Ecclesiastes 3:11-13

Some years ago I was visiting the Phoenix Art Museum on a day when girls and boys who were blind and visually impaired were touring an exhibit created just for them. I delighted in just seeing them that day, their curiosity and fascination as they touched and examined sculpture and pieces set up for their enjoyment. 
 
But there was one little boy I will never forget. I watched him as he peered through thick glasses scrutinizing a large painting. With freckled nose pressed right up against the canvas he was trying to make out what he was seeing. “Poor little guy,” I thought, “he’s so close to it he can’t take it all in. It’s all too big for him to see.” 
 
Like that little guy, you and I stand so close to the daily grandeur of what God is doing that we can’t yet take it all in.  The scope and magnitude of God’s wondrous creation and redemption of you and me is too big for us to grasp! Truly we see through a glass darkly.
 
In today’s text, the wise Solomon assures us that “God has made everything beautiful in its time.” He also says that God has “set eternity in our hearts.” That means we were created for eternity and, with a God-like longing, to see the big picture and to know how everything fits. But Solomon concedes that this side of heaven we “cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”  It’s just too big and wondrous for us to take in right now!  But one day we will see the big picture, and we will understand and we will stand in amazement.
 
Until then, Solomon advises: Be happy and do good. Eat and drink and find satisfaction in what you do. This is God’s gift to you!
 
Yes, this is God’s gift to you today. So go ahead and celebrate this and every day. God’s got the big picture, and it’s beautiful! 
 
Grace and Peace,
 
Tim Smith

Weekly Bible Classes with Tim Smith
Every Wednesday through the summer
At the Franciscan Renewal Center
(Garces Room of Piper Hall)

Wednesday Noon – 1:00 P.M.
Songs for Life’s Journey:  The Psalms of Ascent
Wednesday Evening 7:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.
Profiles of Spiritual Maturity:  The Letter of James

Blessed Be the Tide!

‘Blessed be the name of God from age to age,
   for wisdom and power are his.
²¹He changes times and seasons,
   deposes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
   and knowledge to those who have understanding. 

Daniel 2:20-21

I was awakened early this Fourth of July morning with a jolt. Long before my alarm sounded I was awakened with a strong realization: “Truly we are a blessed people!”  And I couldn’t go back to sleep.
 
I thought for a while on the question that writer Peggy Noonan put to famed historian David McCulloch while they were at Mount Vernon. Noonan asked: “How did so many gifted men, true geniuses, walk into history at the same time, the same place, and come together to pursue so brilliantly a common endeavor?”  
 
McCulloch replied simply: “I think it was providential.” 
 
I then thought of one of history’s providential players, the Rev. John Witherspoon. Born far away from America in the small village of Gifford, near Edinburgh, Scotland, Witherspoon had trained to be a Presbyterian minister. Then from the far off colony of New Jersey he received the call the serve as president of a small Presbyterian college, the College of New Jersey, later Princeton. Packing up his wife and five children, Witherspoon sailed off to help this fledgling school established for the training of gospel ministers.
 
Landing on America’s shores in early August of 1768, Witherspoon professed an immediate love for his new country. Just six years later, on July 4, 1776, this immigrant to America would put pen to paper and commit his very life, fortune, and sacred honor to the American dream.
 
On that fourth of July, Witherspoon felt the providential moment before them and stood to address his fellow delegates. With a strong Scottish brogue he began: 

There is a tide in the affairs of men, a nick of time. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to consent to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon your table, which ensures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning by every pen in this house…For my own part, of property I have some, of reputation more. That reputation is staked, that property is pledged, on the issue of this contest; and although these gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulcher, I would infinitely rather that they descend thither by the hand of the executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country.

Thanks be to Providential Tides—A blessed Independence Day!
 
Tim Smith 

Weekly Bible Classes with Tim Smith
Every Wednesday through the summer
At the Franciscan Renewal Center
(Garces Room of Piper Hall)
 
Wednesday Noon – 1:00 P.M.
Songs for Life’s Journey: The Psalms of Ascent
 
Wednesday Evening 7:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.
Profiles of Spiritual Maturity: The Letter of James

SUMMER HEAT

³While I kept silence about my sin my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
⁴For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Psalm 32:3-4

It was already 91 degrees at 5:30 this morning when Rita and I set off on our walk. By the time we trudged back home the sun felt merciless, bearing down hard. “How different our walk felt this morning,” I said. How different it felt from just a week or so ago when we were reveling in the unusually cool days! The mornings were so wonderful and life was good!

Then the summer hit! And on this morning’s walk we didn’t feel like stopping to watch the birds as we used to enjoy. We didn’t pause to talk to the dogs along the way. Nor did we park ourselves on a bench and say of the morning, “Isn’t this all so grand!”

No, there was a zip missing in my step. My get-up-and-go felt like it had got up and went.

Then, after coming back home I read a few psalms hoping to raise my spirits. And as I read I came across this text where David struggles with his own kind of summer heat. There is something happening in David’s life that he compares to the scorching summers of the Judean Desert. His juices are dried up. Something heavy presses hard on him day and night. His “strength,” he says, is “dried up as by the heat of summer.”

But David knows that his problems are not remedied by running off to the beach or mountains. David says his problem is that he has “kept silence” about his sin.

To keep silent, and not run to the heavenly Father with sin, will always weigh heavy on his children. We will feel it for sure. Even our body language shows it as we lumber along under a heavy weight. Our joy and strength dries up.

But good news comes in the next verse as David shows by example how to beat the heat:

⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity;I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

No sin is too big. And no sin is too small. For all who go to Father will experience ready forgiveness and strength renewed.

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32:1

Tim Smith

Weekly Bible Classes with Tim Smith

Every Wednesday through the summer

At the Franciscan Renewal Center

(Garces Room of Piper Hall)

Wednesday Noon – 1:00 P.M.

Songs for Life’s Journey: The Psalms of Ascent

Wednesday Evening 7:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.

Profiles of Spiritual Maturity: The Letter of James