Michelle Adserias

Bowing to a Greater Power

Today the heavy, humid air carries the promise of afternoon thunderstorms. I pull out my bike and get on the road while the skies are still mostly blue.

As I ride, I notice the leaves on certain trees have flipped over. Their high gloss surfaces are bowing toward the ground, revealing their matte undersides. One particular bush shows off the silvery hue on the backside of its leaves. Unless I make the effort to take a closer look, I only see this silver lining when rain is on its way.

I did a little hunting to find out why certain trees are prone to showing the backs of their leaves during stormy weather. Here’s what the Farmer’s Almanac had to say:

Before a cold front arrives with its clouds and rains, the wind is often from the southwest. With the wind in this direction, the plant or tree orients itself to get optimum sunlight, and the leaves are in an unstable position with respect to the wind moving past them. This instability makes the leaves flip over. The unstable leaves then foretell the approach of a cold front which is likely to bring rain.

I try to draw the parallels, find the teaching point God has hidden in the overturned leaves. I like the idea of being oriented to the light; of reaching to maximize our exposure to God. But the idea of being unstable and vulnerable in this position doesn’t seem to work. Shouldn’t we be more stable when we’re reaching for God?

But the more I think about it, the more I believe this is a picture of who we are when we draw near to God. The more we reach toward Him, the more He shows us our own weaknesses and shortcomings. The more He humbles us. It can make us feel a little unstable, shake our confidence.

Which is exactly where we need to be to enjoy the best of God’s blessing. When we are unstable in ourselves, we look to God for our stability. Or, as Paul put it, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10b)

Like the leaves humbly yielding to the passing wind’s force, we find ourselves humbly bowing to God’s power as He moves through our lives. Though it can be a bit unsettling, it’s a good thing! Our weaknesses are really our greatest strengths – one of the many paradoxes in scripture. When we can’t, God can. He longs to prove Himself mighty in our lives. I’m so thankful God reassures us in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

“And He (God) has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Promises

Today a blanket of gray-blue clouds slowly rolls east while the sun sinks on the western horizon. Diffused sunlight, my friend calls it “God light,” pierces through the gray rain curtain and is diffused once again. We drive toward the rain, heading home from a long day, and watch the intermingling water and light paint a double rainbow in the evening sky. It begins as only a partial arch, but gradually grows into a complete rainbow, a celestial overpass spanning the highway ahead.

As we race ever closer to the rainbow, we begin to clearly see one end of it casting its multi-colored light on the golden wheat fields and summer-green forests. What looked like plain, old yellow-hued sunlight just moments ago is now a full-color display.

I wonder how Noah reacted when he saw that very first rainbow. It’s a treat for me to see one, but a treat I have enjoyed several times each summer throughout my life. Noah was about 600 years old before he saw his first rainbow. It must have been quite an amazing sight — all that color splashed on a dreary backdrop of gray water and sky! And Noah didn’t have modern science to explain how light waves have different lengths, to which God assigned different colors, some of which are invisible to the unaided human eye. He only saw something beautiful and miraculous in the heavens.

And that it was, a beautiful, miraculous sign from God. The rainbow symbolism has been hi-jacked by certain special interest groups in recent years. But in Genesis 9, God proclaimed it a sign of His promise to never flood the entire earth again.

“And it shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant which is between Me, and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. (Genesis 9:14-15)

You know, I always thought the rainbow appeared to remind us of God’s promise. I find it intriguing that God says it is a reminder to Him. Surely God could never forget any of His promises. He’s the only one I can always count on to keep a promise. Maybe when His patience with human shenanigans is wearing thin, considers raining down judgment… quite literally! Then He remembers the rainbow and holds back.

But God will not be patient forever. He’s made another promise, one we don’t like to talk about as much. He’s promised to return and judge all mankind and this earth. God will keep His promise not to flood it again, but it will be destroyed.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and it works will be burned up.” (II Peter 3:10)

God never breaks a promise.

Pretty sobering, right? Well, the story doesn’t end there. There’s one more promise that gives this story a happy ending.

All who love and follow God can look forward to the new heaven and the new earth God will create for our eternal home – an earth free from sin and its trappings. You can read about it in Revelation 21:1-4. And that’s a promise!

Jubilee

Today we plant our two small raised beds between cloud bursts. Usually I have plants in by now, but the cool and rainy spring delayed the season. We line up our plants and get started.

This year’s “garden” will be a breeze compared to those in years past. One year, in a moment of inexplicable insanity, we planted our entire fenced in area… about 340 square feet. Compared to the 1-acre garden my grandpa used to plant, it was relatively small. Compared to the average family garden today, it’s pretty big.

By the end of that year I had picked, packed and pickled gallons of beans, pickles and peppers. I had chopped, blanched and frozen ample corn, beans, zucchini and broccoli. There were tomatoes in the freezer, and in jars, and on the window sill, and in salsa. And I’d given away enough vegetables to feed a small country. Even the stuff that was buggy, or spoiled, or frost-nipped didn’t go to waste. We had chickens. Chickens will eat almost anything.

I think I suffered burn out! God provided three years’ worth of harvest last year, so I asked Pete if we could declare a year of Jubilee. He agreed. That was three years ago.

God remembers, though we sometimes forget, we do need rest from time to time. From creation, the Father has provided sunlight for a good day’s work. After a good day’s work (or night’s work, for those who work second or third shift) it’s good to rest.

God also set aside the Sabbath so we could rest, and rest in Him, one day each week. “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work…” (Exodus 20:8-10a)

Then God ordained seasons of planting and harvest so field work would not be endless. And every 49 years, provision was made for His people, even the soil itself, to rest from toil. In the year of Jubilee the fields were left fallow. Better yet, debts were forgiven, slaves were freed and ancestral lands were returned to their rightful owners. No wonder it was also known as the year of liberty!

Our teeny tiny garden is planted in record time. I walk away with a jubilant bounce in my step, thinking of the other projects I’ll have time to work on because the garden will not be all-consuming. These three years of jubilee (yes, I know that’s a couple more than God set aside), of rest and liberty from hard labor, will renew my body… but not forever. Next year all our canned goods will be used up and it will be time to take on the big garden again.

God gives us brief bodily reprieves here on earth – and they’re good! The eternal rest and liberty our souls enjoy in Christ are oh-so-much better. Once we decide to follow Christ, we live a life of jubilee… freed from sin’s tyranny and welcomed to rest in Him. “Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16)

Wonderfully Made

Today I wander through a stand of hardwoods. There are trilliums everywhere, as far as the eye can see, bold and showy and white as freshly laundered linens. In the sun-drenched sea of triune trilliums, one catches my eye, like a perfectly placed accidental in Debussy. One trillium dares to be different, sporting four petals rather than the standard three.

I move in for a closer look, regretting I don’t have my camera in hand. I’ll add this to my mental checklist of plants that defy their names: white birdfoot “violets”, native Wisconsin prickly pear (don’t cacti belong in a desert?), and tamaracks –the “evergreens” that turn gold in the fall and drop their needles.

I’ve always had an affinity for natural anomalies. Maybe it’s because I’ve always felt like one myself. Only 2% of the population has red hair. Only 7% of the population has blue eyes. I have both, the rarest combination of all, occurring in only 1% of the world’s population.

According to Myers-Brigg, my personality type is INFP. That means I’m a sleeping volcano, usually subdued but capable of passionate eruptions over the things I value and believe. I love people and avoid people, depending on my mood. I enjoy long, quiet hours just thinking, feeling, observing, and creating. Only about 2% of all people share these qualities.

Probably because of my personality bent, I prefer whitewater canoeing, cooking over the fire and fishing to shopping, decorating (and cleaning) my home and long days at the spa. What can I say? I’m a misfit!

Sometimes being a misfit leaves me feeling lonely and misunderstood. My friends, bless their souls, love me as I am whether they really understand me or not. Only the other misfits, eccentrics, and non-conformists in my life feed my need to “belong.” We are the four-petaled trilliums, white violets, and needle-shedding tamaracks; unique and somewhat isolated in a forest of social conformity.

Most of the time, however, I’m content, comfortable in my own skin. I am true to who God created me to be. I don’t pretend to be someone or something I’m not. Nor do I believe God would want me to. He created this red-headed, blue-eyed introvert for His own special purposes. He asks only that I surrender my will to His, and allow Him to make the me that I am more like Christ. When no one else understands, God does. When no one else knows my heart, God does. When no one else is nearby, God is.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. (Psalm 139:1-3)

If you’re like me, feeling like you don’t quite fit in, I just wanted you to know you’re not alone. Don’t be discouraged. God is with you. He understands. He intentionally created the you that you are, and uniquely equipped you to accomplish things for His kingdom that no one could do better than you. Seek Him, His kingdom and His righteousness. He promises to pile on additional blessings when we put Him first.

Hope Fulfilled

Today I enjoy the payoff for those April rains. The mayflowers along my tree line are in full bloom. Several spring bloomers go by the common name “mayflowers.” In my childhood home we assigned this name to round-lobed hepatica. I have only a few in my yard, but they’re thick in the woods behind my parent’s house.

As a child, I loved picking small bouquets of these dainty flowers, in their various shades of lavender, blue, white and pink. Their fuzzy stems would push through fall’s brown litter and burst open. Early bloomers, they were showing off alongside the bloodroot, before the wood anemone, mayapples, and trilliums got started with their spring displays. Each year I looked forward to holding them close to my nose and soaking in their heavenly aroma. In mild years, they would appear early in May. When the winter was harsh, their arrival would be delayed a bit. But I knew they would not disappoint me.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” (Proverbs 13:12a) We can all think of times we’ve set our hopes on uncertain things, only to nosedive in disappointment when they don’t work out as we’d hoped. The vacation cancelled because of unexpected illness. The home improvements delayed by car repairs. The solitary moments interrupted by divine appointments. Or the promotion (with raise) that was given to someone else in the department.

“…but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs13:12b) When we set our hopes on things which are certain, we’re never disappointed. And, of course, the only certain things in this world are the things of God. The redemptive power of Christ’s shed blood. The constant, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The immutability of God’s divine nature. The reliability of God’s Word. The certainty of eternity.

As surely as winter ushers in spring, our faith in Christ’s sacrifice ushers us into God’s family. (John 1:12) As surely as God sends the spring rains, He sends His Spirit to indwell every believer. (Ephesians 1:13) As surely as the unchanging march of the seasons, God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) As surely as the mayflowers bloom, the truths in God’s eternal word live and grow in our hearts. (Isaiah 40:8) As surely as summer follows spring, eternity follows mortality. (John 5:28)

Our hope is in the Lord. He will not disappoint us.

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