Tag: Jesus

Good Friday

Jennifred Jones

All over the globe Good Friday is observed. Why?

Easter-time is the most exciting time of year for me. We’ve been talking about Life and Green Pastures and that leads right into Easter-time and newness and hope and new beginnings… new growth, regrowth, color, light, happy sounds in nature. Everything on earth wants to celebrate!

Many of us have had dark winter days too many days in a row, too many months in a row, too many years in a row. We need a fresh spring, a fresh start, a second chance at life. If we allow it, there is hope for us and hope for anyone, no matter what their past winter days have held for them. The snow will melt, the ice will turn into streams of clear living water which will cause a freshness, a restart to us… if we let it.

Everybody is searching for solutions, direction, help in these times of trouble. Even a brown field will sprout fresh seedlings, a dark tree branch will grow buds and flower itself all over! Baby birds will hatch on the coldest days in their warm nest.

The key to the sprout, the key to the bud, the key to the hatching is the same source of power that will give us a fresh start, a new beginning, another chance, a clean slate, and there will be no strings attached! No penance or works needed on our part, no special outfit, hat or shoes needed for this Easter service. You can think about it this weekend. What would my life look like, feel like, be like if I decided to have a new beginning?

That’s why God sent Jesus. He did all the work for us. All we need to do is say, “God help me. I need you.” and see what happens.

It’s going to be a good Friday and a good weekend!

Voices in the Wilderness

Jennifred Jones

Have you ever had something you thought was important to say, that needed to be said, that no one else was saying, but needed to be heard?

It would help people if they could hear it, it could change the direction of their life, but they were nowhere near you, you didn’t even know who they were, you couldn’t summon them to hear your words, and frankly, they probably wouldn’t even recognize what you had to say was for them.

Just a voice…a voice out in the wilderness -being absorbed only by the mossy bark on the trees and getting soaked up by the fallen leaves and tramped on.

We live in a big wilderness it seems, yet there are many voices calling out to us.

Many of the voices are loud, clamoring, demanding for attention. They hackle, yell, demean, shame, put-down, confuse, conflict, and torment, and cause us to worry and fear. They even try to make us think bad thoughts about and hate other people-including ourselves!

But, if we keep walking, keep listening and get where it is quiet again, and really listen, we can hear a still small voice saying, ‘this is the way, walk in it’. It will be unassuming, patient, kind, gentle, leading, guiding, encouraging, hopeful, filled with wisdom; it might even be a gentle warning, but it will cause us to be at peace and rest– not filled with turmoil when we hear it. It will inspire us to do good and think good about other people.

I have heard all of these voices. I have heard the voice of fear and worry and shame and hate, but I have also heard the voice of kindness, grace, hope and peace. I hear them every day in my walk through the wilderness of life.

I know what each of them feels like and what it does to me when I pay heed.

The choice is mine, which voices I choose to listen to.

Some are so tempting and convincing — to entice me to worry and fret about something I have no control over—which is about everything.

I am choosing to listen to the quiet voice. I choose to listen for the voice that wants to give me hope and cause me to do good and noble things.  I choose that, although it is harder to hear and follow, that is what I choose. Sometimes I get off the path and start listening to the louder voices, but my quest is to listen for the still small voice in the wilderness…the one that will lead me through to the clearing on the other side.

Who knows, maybe someone else that I cannot see is behind me – lost in the wilderness – and cannot hear the still small voice — but will follow my footsteps and make it through.

 

You Provoke Me!

Jennifred Jones

I heard several versions of this phrase repeatedly growing up… ‘Stop provoking me!’, ‘Don’t provoke me!’ It was usually a result of an antagonistic action. When we kids were being sassy and rebellious, mother would say, “Stop provoking me!” In other words, ‘you’re asking for it…shape up or you’re going to get it!’

What does that strange word mean? Well, it rhymes with ‘poke’… could be almost restated, prod, goad, maybe even push or stir up….(’I’m going to stir up some batter and cookies are going to come out of it.’)

To provoke someone means you are intending to generate a response…a reaction.

It’s interesting though, God uses the word provoke in a positive sense. He says, ‘provoke one another to do good works.’

That caught my attention the first time I saw it.

To me, it meant I could do or say something, all by myself, that could cause, encourage, ‘incite’, wake –up, provoke! someone to do good! That was powerful to me!

I could be a force to ‘incite’ good, to help other people want to do good for their benefit and their family’s good.

Much today tries to incite people to do bad, think bad, be bad, treat other people bad, treat themselves bad… but I, (we) have the same amount of power to incite (provoke) people to do good!

That really is revolutionary!

I am just me! Little ole’ me, yet I can be a provoker of good and be an influence wherever I go to ‘poke, prod, goad, push, stir-up, incite, wake-up, encourage, provoke, make them want to do good!!!

No rallying speech necessary… just live my life before others… happy, free, smiling, encouraging, helping, thanking, praying,  building people up in whatever their current state of affliction might be…saying something that might help them see their situation from a different angle so they don’t  give in to despair.

We can be the counter-balance.

In spite of all the provocation to do ill towards others, we can provoke others to want to do good.

Who will you provoke today?