Short beds and narrow quilts

The bed is too short on which to stretch out, and the blanket is too small (narrow) to wrap oneself in. Isaiah 28:20

Well, I must admit that I have never seen this scripture before, and the context is amazing...

I am a quilter, for those of you who don't know this tidbit of info. I spend a great deal of time making quilts for customers to fit their beds. There are beds of all shapes and sizes. There are cribs, twin, full, queen, king, super king, California king, camper, cot, extended twin, and nappers. The frames that hold them make as much difference in the size desired as the measurements of the mattress. Do they want it to drop to the floor or just cover the mattress to reveal the dust ruffle? Is it a water bed or have solid-sided frames? The bed is meant to fit the person sleeping in it, and the bedding is sized to cover the bed, and thus, the person. I picture the Dr. Suess character in one of his books (One Fish, Two Fish? It has been a few years since reading these to my children) with his head sticking out one end and his feet the other. We just cannot rest in a bed that is too short or too narrow. We have a hard time sleeping when we have nothing to cover ourselves with. Even with the cloth over the top of us, if the sides are not covered, we still get chilly and can't rest. There is no sleep, and we are miserable.

So why is the bed too short and the blanket too narrow?

Judah is ruled by a bunch of drunks and they set up their own systems of rule while not being able to think straight. Having never been drunk myself, I have had times when my brain was so foggy from illness that I could not have made a decent decision, let alone rule over someone. These guys (yes, they were guys!) made a deal with death instead of living in the Life of God. They thought that nothing could possibly go wrong, lying to themselves and everyone else about the results of living the way they thought were wise. God then sets out the Cornerstone passage...the foundation of Jesus in the new testament...on which people can live stable, secure lives. He compares their foundation with His and comes up with their bed being short-sheeted! Who knew? God knows that anything man-made will not cover us, warm us, and give us rest and a good night's sleep. We will drink to dull the pain, not build the bed long enough or weave the blanket wide enough...we will always be left wanting for something, though we have no idea what...we wonder how our measurements were that far off, but what true reasoning has a drunk? Things become clearer when we drink of God's wisdom, sober up, and see the lies for what they really are. We get the plans from the Lord for the size of bed we need, the pattern for the quilting and bedding that will best suit and cover that bed, and using those measurements we will be satisfied. We don't have to stumble around looking for the answers that are already there. We can sleep secure in confidence that He is watching over us in love and not judgment. He says those who believe will not be disturbed in heart and soul. We won't be packing to run away from the coming danger, for He will not send it our way. He will cover us in the midst of the day of destruction and invite us to sit on the high ground while the waters wash away the sinful in the valley below, kind of like Noah, but we will be able to see the destruction that comes to those who believe the lie. Noah was spared that...he found the carcasses of the dead, but didn't see them get washed away.

This may sound harsh, but the verses before this say that He will give them His Word in the simplest of terms...Word for Word, Line on Line. Not complicated, and not indecipherable. He will make His will so known that a child can understand it, but the drunken, deceived mind cannot take it in. They will get what they have chosen, though God pleads with them to sober up, clean off the vomit, and come to their senses. Not a pretty picture...but like those who minister on skid row, pleading with the drunks to come in where it is clean and warm and safe and loving, many laugh at them and continue in their squaller. They have no perspective or reasoning to see the deplorable condition they are in. The ministers see the potential all people have, even those in the alleys, and yearn to help, and some do respond, but most do not because they cannot believe that real life is available to them. They stick with the deception that this is how life has to be for them. And we weep for them, but cannot change their minds. We see, and they don't, just as God sees us and what we can be, and we cannot. We find it hard to imagine a life better, peaceful in the midst of the storm, but He keeps appealing to us to see the reality of it. He offers us a quilt made with love on a bed that is plenty big enough, firm and stable, on which to rest our weary bones in comfort and safety.

And Lord knows, right now, just how good that would feel for my aging, aching bones. I'm coming to rest and hope you will join me...nighty night.

More than food and clothing

For life is more than food and the body more than clothing...Luke 12:23

Well, the wedding is over, the senior recital is played and done, and the relatives have come and gone. In all of life's events we seem to have 2 questions...what shall we wear and what will there be to eat? The senior recital was played in a floor length dress (though the professor pointed out that he could not get her to wear shoes under it...yes, she played barefoot!). The sash had to be picked up on the way so that the beading around the waistline would not scratch the euphonium she was playing, holding it up to her body while standing. There was cheesecake and fruit and some little cookie things, punch, and other things, though one cheesecake was a fatality when grandma missed the curb and face-planted in the parking lot at the apartment where we went to pick them up...nothing else was broken...

The wedding required the white dress, the bridemaids' dresses, the matching ties, a suit for dad and grey pants for the groomsmen. Everyone else dressed for the occasion...there were trips to the store to get mother-of-the-bride and mother-of-the-groom attire, and the groom's dad said he never paid more for that coral tie! There were invitations and RSVPs for what people wanted to eat at the reception...beef, chicken, salmon, or vegetarian fare. There were, of course, photographers, sound systems, a pastor, and other issues, but food and clothes were the 2 main ones, and everything else seemed to accompany those two. Pictures were of the cake and the people, the dresses and the rings. The reception venue caterered the food and drink.

So we have our focus...

But the day was really about so much more.

It was about joining 2 people together as a family unit, and it was about praising God who would make that happen. It could have happened without a white dress...it could have happened without food or cake, but they do set the tone for the event.

Several times it seemed that the focus veered off course a little. The ring bearer drew attention away from the bride decending down the ramp to the wedding site...I saw her because I knew she was coming...but some other people didn't see her until she hit the end of the aisle.

Herky the Hawk came to the reception and walked in during the first dance and dance of groom and mother...I don't think he meant to draw the attention away from the main event, but he did.

And this is how life is...we get our focus on the things that are secondary to the main event.

So if life isn't food and drink, what is it?

It is the kingdom of God. Seek the kingdom of God and all these other necessities and niceties will be added to us. It is knowing who God is, that He loves us and wants a personal relationship with us, and living to bring Him the glory through life on this earth. It is tending the needs of others, but doing it with the kindness and love of the Father who provides us the provision to give to them. It is calling people into relationship with Him as an ambassador from His kingdom to ours. 2^nd Corinthians 5:20 states this clearly...”Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf; so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Christ).”

So life is about being an ambassador for Christ. It is calling those who are estranged due to sin (that is ALL of us!) to turn back to God. Since Adam and Eve we have hidden ourselves from God. We are ashamed of our sinfulness and know that He is wholely other than what we are...I know that is a mouthful, but it is the truth...He is holy and we are not and we know it and we know He knows it and that without Him saying a word we stand guilty in His presence. God did not point their sin out to them...they left His presence because of their own guilt. And He called them back to Him. So those of us who have heard the call and come back with all our guilt and baggage and let Him clean us with the blood of Jesus have the pleasant, yet urgent, job of calling people back to God. It is a sacred calling. It is a humbling task. And it is our job as ambassadors to tell people that this kingdom is wonderful and opens its borders to all who would live under the reign of the merciful King. All we need do is present ourselves in our guiltiness and ask for mercy from Christ who died in our place. Did you really read the 2 Corinthians passage? God is appealing to you to COME...Revelations 22...the end of scripture has this same plea...COME! And we BEG you to be reconciled to Christ. No one wants to see their friends, family, and people they know go into a Christless eternity, to stand guilty before God without the merciful blood of Jesus over them.

Yes, life is about death...the death of Christ...to make our life one of uniting us as people into God's family...we are the bride of Christ, dressed in beautiful array for His pleasure. The wedding feast will be a greater spread than even my daughter's wedding. We will eat and drink without limit from the table of the groom...and that day will never end.

COME!