November 11, 2013

“…To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7

Just as time moves on and ushers in change…and it is oblivious to our attempts to thwart its journey, the waters of a living and healthy river flow…And the river is life-giving and life-sustaining. In my humanness, how often to I desire to stop the flow…to stop the change…

Let the River Flow

“Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers…” Genesis 2:10

God’s design…How wonderful to remind ourselves of the intention and the purpose and the plan of our Almighty God when He created. The intrigue of His order and detail and His provision for life, was miraculous as He created the flowing river to water and sustain the life of the garden…In early civilizations, He placed cities by rivers in order that they survive and prosper. The rivers not only provided the water source and irrigation, but they provided societies with access to the trade of products, ideas, language, writing, and technology. The life and the flow of the river, helped to give life and to sustain it. What an amazing and wonder-filled Creator.

But, the river must flow. It must move and change…Scientists tell us that every river has a natural rhythm of flow, with patterns of highs and lows, varying with the seasons. This is vital to the river of life for animals, fish and organisms in the life-cycle. The flowing healthy river contributes to the life and well-being of mankind as well…but the river must flow as intended…ushering in change…collaborating with time. Interesting that creation knows to work with its Creator…while mankind chooses to work against Him.

“The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have rivers of living water flowing from his heart.” John 7:38

In recent weeks, my family has been preparing and packing as we undergo one of the big life transitions, moving from the family home. The roller coaster of emotions has been overwhelming at times for each one of us…

We need to remember.

The Ace High Ranch was a blessing to our family for twenty years. It was there that we celebrated life with our children. It was there that we home-schooled in a room designed to accommodate and to replicate the traditional classroom. Each day, our son and daughter were due in the classroom at 8:30, having completed their chores for the morning and being dressed for the day. The teacher, Mrs. Mom, had to abide by the same rules. On rare occasions I asked the principal, Mr. Dad, to step into our classroom in official capacity. (Amazing how effective that was!) It was in this room that their academics were secondary to their spiritual nourishment…Each day, we began with Bible class which included scripture and practical application…In the move, I came across their Bible journals, their memory verse boxes, and a stone memorial hidden inside one of the cabinets. During our study of the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan River, our activity for that morning was to go out on the ranch to gather stones in order to erect a memorial to help them to remember the great things that God had already done in their young lives. As I examined the small monument, each child had written their name on the stones which they gathered, six for each one of them. And then, in their hand-writing on an index card, they listed things for which they were thankful…things that God had done specifically for them. Adam wrote about the rapid healing of a broken arm. Christie was thankful that Jesus loved her!

We need to remember…

Our home was the place where each child developed their gifts and talents which God had given to them. Adam was able to pursue calf-roping, hunting, fishing, and his future occupation of golf, in addition to learning “how to’s” from his father in the work-shop and on the ranch as well. Christie pursued her love of art, cooking, sewing, dance, animals, as well as being the operator of the concessions stands for the mini-rodeos and the calf-ropings at the arena. (All of these activities directed her to her major at Baylor, Family and Consumer Science)

As each child transitioned into high-school, the ranch became the place for their social gatherings, home-coming activities, October Harvest parties, church retreats, and just hanging out. The ranch then followed them into their college years and provided them with a home with ample room to invite new friends. And, we have been blessed to call it home for our children, their spouses and four of their children, our beautiful grand-daughters.

For others, it was the place for weddings, rehearsal dinners, wedding and baby showers, life groups, Bible studies, and for several years, it was the location for the Senior Christmas celebration that our church organized. The elderly people were transported around the city to enjoy the Christmas lights and then driven out to the ranch for refreshments and caroling. It was one of my favorite activities that we hosted because it was a privilege to honor these saints…knowing that for some, that Christmas would be their last one on the earth. The magic of Christmas fell upon the room as voices were lifted in unison to worship the Great God Almighty.

For all of the incredible joy, we have also experienced the illnesses and the loss of loved ones. During these years at the ranch, we have said good-bye to my grandmother, my mother, Bill’s step-father, and his mother and father, our son-in-law’s mother, our daughter-in-law’s grandmother, a beautiful cousin…countless friends…and countless pets…

We did life there…as we all do life in our homes…It was a place of literal refuge, protection, safety. It was a place of God’s peace, when we chose to embrace it; and it was the place that we declared that in our home “We would serve the Lord.”

We need to remember.

“The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have rivers of living water flowing from his heart.” John 7:38

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month….”

Revelation 22:1-3

The greatest blessing we take from the ranch is the revelation of our Almighty God. The revelation is not dependent on location in order to be revealed, but on the faithful Holy Spirit and the willing and receptive human heart…And it was in this home that our family learned that true life and hope and joy comes from our Heavenly Father. As we lived life and experienced joys and sorrows, God revealed Himself as we studied and trusted His Word and His Truth. It was in our home that we discovered the Living Water of our Christ Yeshua…it was there that because of the promise of His Word, we experienced the flowing of the river of Living Water as our faith grew. We discovered that God truly is the River of Life…God met with us in the deer stands, on the porches, by the lake, by the creeks, in the winds, in the breezes…He revealed Himself in His Creation, in our relationships…and in our quiet times on the ranch. That is what a home is for…

Let the river flow…

Recently, the pastors of our church at Lake Hills in Austin have been teaching about the value and the importance of writing a family vision statement to empower young families to keep their focus on the specific mission of their particular family, according to what God calls them to do as they raise their children. Their messages challenged me to think back to those years…I knew that we had written our goals down…that we had attempted to keep our focus on God’s Word and His promises…but a clearly defined mission statement…I wasn’t sure…

But this trip back to the ranch revealed something amazing to me as I have taken time to work room by room…to absorb each wall…in each room…and I remembered and I realized…

When we built our home on the ranch, the first items chosen for the kitchen were Tree of Life tiles for the backsplash behind the cook top. They were hand-made tiles, beautifully made in Austin, Tx. (I have since visited the studio where the tiles were made and was given the eight remaining tiles they had from the inventory). And in our breakfast room, I had the following words painted as a border in the nook;

“…To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the Tree of Life which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7

As I sat with my cup of coffee this morning, I realized that the verse on our wall had been our family mission statement. I turned to the scripture in my Bible and read these words from the letter to the Church in Ephesus… “You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet, I hold this against you; You have forsaken your first love…Repent and do the things that you did at first…To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat…” (Revelations 2: 3-7) And I began to remember how our family has been able to overcome so many of life’s obstacles and challenges…because of our faith in God Almighty and because of His grace and mercy, because He is Truth and because His Word is true. I remembered how we overcame times of discouragement…when we wanted to give up. Times when I wondered if God’s ways could be defended in this world…times when we had been offended by friends and family…times when we had offended our children, or I had offended Bill…or he had offended me…So many times we had been tempted to forget God’s promise…and yet, as a family we were able to encourage one another and to cheer each other on…so that we could overcome the world, through God’s faithfulness…Year after year…as we did life together…And then the question came to mind, “Had we forsaken our first love? Were we passionate people for the Kingdom cause…were we, as a family, in love with Christ Yeshua?” That is our vision statement for our life-times…To be passionately in love with Him, the One who loved us first.

We need to remember…

As time moved on and as change occurred, just like the flow of the river, we were able to embrace the time…the change…the flow…And I realized that through relationship with Christ Yeshua, we were enjoying The Tree of Life in the present moments…with our Loving Father…and we have more spectacular eternity to look toward to after this life…as we let the river of life and of time flow…

For each of us, as we believe in the Lord, and as we trust Him, and as He is our first love, the river of life flows and brings life to us…and it brings life to each person in the line of its flow…just as the mighty rivers flow naturally in their river beds…bringing nourishment, and life to the lands and to the people.

Let the river flow.

The words in Ecclesiastes remind us that there is a season for everything under the sun…change occurs and is inevitable and is appropriate and is collaborative with God’s plan and purpose. We are blessed people as we embrace the natural flow of the river and as we embrace the Living Water of Jesus Christ…yielding to the perfect timing of our loving God.

Yes, change can be challenging, painful, and difficult…but, we are reminded in Revelation, that for the one who overcomes the temptation to give up…or to give in…or to give way…God promises the right to eat from His Tree of Life…the tree which offers the abundance of His love, His joy, His peace, His comfort, His presence…His Life…May we not forsake Him, our first love…

May we all be overcomers in this world as we believe in the Loving Christ and as we embrace His timing…and His change…as we move closer to Him and to His Kingdom. As we let the river of Living Water flow in our lives…

In a few days, I will walk out of the ranch house and pull the door closed behind me for the last time. I had the joy of putting up a few Christmas decorations for the new owners. They love God and they love Christmas in a big way…It felt good to share with them the goodness of our Lord…It felt good.

I will be deeply grateful for every memory that we have lived in our home. We all must close doors when the river of life and of time moves us…But what is amazing about our Loving Father is that He always opens new doors…He always is the source of Living Water for each of us…for our children, for Bill and me, and for each of you.

I pray that we each embrace the opportunity to allow God to move us as the alive and healthy river flows…bringing life…and nourishment…and encouragement, not growing stagnant, but depending on the flow of Living Water as it pours into our hearts when we are in relationship with our Almighty God…

I pray that you are overcomers through the power of the Holy Spirit in your lives…I pray that you yield to the timing of God’s ways and His plans for your lives. I pray that you overcome every temptation to live less than the great plan that God has for you…And I thank God that He is faithful to move with us and to live with us as we do life together…forever keeping our first love, Christ Yeshua, as we Let the River Flow…

I have a little sign in my home which reads. “Come grow old with me, the best is yet to be…” from one of Robert Browning’s poems. I love the sign but I think that it would be more truthful if it read…

” Come, grow old with me, with God, the best is yet to be…”

Let the River Flow…

Abundant joy,