A Shimmering Shower of White Pearls

Author: Sally Y. Ross, March 1, 2001

As I sit here by the window sipping a cup of herbal tea and contemplating my future, my eyes are drawn to the cool beauty of the large plum tree that dominates our backyard. The branches, which are covered with a multitude of fragrant white blooms, sway playfully in the breeze. I smile, hoping that the appearance of so many flowers on the tree is a sign that there will be plenty of sweet juicy plums this year. Each time the b reeze touches the branches, flower petals are released and they drift lazily to the ground. Something in the scene so moves me that I feel compelled to put down my cup and rush outside to stand beneath the tree.

As I stand there with face uplifted and arms raised to the heavens my senses seem so vibrantly alive, and I breathe in the fragrant Spring air, which is filled with the sound of birds singing in the trees all around. The gentle breeze caresses my skin and I am enveloped in a cloud of flower petals, which like a shimmering shower of white pearls, drift slowly to the ground. Suddenly my heart is filled with incredible joy, and I am so thankful to be alive at this time and in this place, so thankful that I am a much loved, much blessed child of God. As tears flow down my cheeks the words written at James 1:17 come to mind:

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17

As I stood there basking in the warmth of God's love, it occurred to me that my Heavenly Father is like a mighty tree whose presence dominates all else. I thought about how His many attributes, such of love, joy, peace, mercy, patience, kindness, graciousness, gentleness, forgiveness, comfort, healing, loyalty, justice, and strength, to name a few, are like branches extending out into the heavens. It came to me that the flowers on each branch are like blessings, or "good gifts" from above. The Tree watches over us, and at the times in our lives when the breezes of change rustle the branches, Good determines the type of blessing that we need. And like a shimmering shower of white pearls, His "good gifts" and "perfect presents" abundantly flow down from the heavens to enrich the lives of each one of us.It also occurred to me that there are periods when trials and tribulations rage through our lives like a fierce winter storm, disturbing our peace and creating havoc in our spirit. At times like these our problems may cause us to question our faith and doubt whether God loves us or even hears our prayers for help. We may even come to feel that we are being tried, but as James 1:13 brings out,

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:” James 1:13

Instead, we should view our tribulations in a far different light. God loves us and He not only hears, He also answers our prayers. But we cannot come to him with doubt in our hearts. We must BELIEVE that the Tree exists and that it is there for us in our times of distress. God allows tribulations to enter our lives not as punishment but to teach us lessons, and to refine our faith. We must BELIEVE that whenever a nd wherever and however we need the Tree, the Tree will lovingly spread its branches over us. Once we have endured our tribulations and the lessons have been learned by means of our faith, the fierce storm clouds of adversity will gradually subside. And as the darkness in our lives and in our hearts gives way to the glorious light, the Tree causes it's branches to rustle, and we are abundantly showered with blessings, flowing down from the heavens like soft shimmering pearls.And all of this came to me on a beautiful Spring day as I stood beneath the Tree.

“But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.” - Psalm 5:11

Sherry and Jim Heard
Inspirational In Jesus

Who Should We Honor?

Webster defines honor as:“High regard or great respect given.”

I see a trend across America and that is a subtle disrespect for the older folks and replacing it with a lifting up of the youth. Yet the blessing for the youth can only come from the older generation. If we want to reach our youth let us reach our old folks by showing them honor and respect the way God has taught us in His word. The Bible says,

“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls…” Jer.6

Just the fact that old folks are old-fashioned is the very thing that the youth need to learn, not the ways of the world!!! Let the older generation be heard!! Let the rest rise up and show honor and humility to those who have been in this world much longer, to those who have walked with the Lord through thick and thin, in good times and bad. This is wisdom that this generation needs to hear!

Sadly as the youth are exalted, contemporary music is filling the sanctuaries and out goes all the old hymns and the Gospel music that were sung with conviction and power. How contrary this is to scripture. May God give us eyes to see what Satan is so slyly doing to the church, how he is deceiving the hearts of the simple. May we as God’s people take a humble look at the condition we are in and realize that we lack the power that the earlier Christians had--even just 50 years ago things were so different. May we admit our failure to show honor to those who are older, to those who have wisdom that only can come with age. They just might be able to tell us what we are doing wrong and what we can do to change things around. Maybe then our unsaved neighbors and relatives would come to know this glorious salvation and the Lord would pour out His spirit on our land in a way we have not witnessed yet in our generation. If we would but humble ourselves, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble,”(James 4:6)

It is the older generation, which deserves our honor. They are the ones that the church should be seeking to reach. I have been in many churches where there are few, if any, older folks there. The leadership instead consists of the young men who have no one to answer to that is older. The young men in the Church have no one to go to for direction they need to raise their families and to rule their homes. This is also true for the women. Titus 2 teaches us of the importance of the aged being there to teach the younger. Oh, how we need our old folk!!!
This touches me in a personal way right now as I just lost both parents in less than a year’s time. What a great void I now feel and am realizing how much I took for granted. Even if our parents were not what we thought they should have been, God still worked through them to help shape and mold our lives. No one can say that he or she does not need their parents and yet I see this lack of honor growing very strong, even in the conservative circles. The Bible clearly says we are to honor our mother and father and by doing that, He will greatly bless our lives, our churches and our world.

Worship

I have been blessed and challenged by a book I am reading. Here are some of my notes.

Quotes from A. W. Tozer in his book

WORSHIP: THE MISSING JEWEL

What is the chief end of man? That we might be worshipers of the Most High God.

Tozer describes real worship “to feel in the heart”. A person who merely goes through the form and doesn’t feel anything is not worshiping. Worship means to “express in some appropriate manner what you feel... And what will be expressed? “ A humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder.” It is delightful to worship God, but it is a humbling thing and the man who has not been humbled in the presence of God will never be a worshiper of God at all. He may be a church member who keeps the rules and obeys the discipline, and who tithes and goes to conference, but he’ll never be a worshiper unless he is deeply humbled. A humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe. There’s awesomeness about God, which is missing in our day altogether; there’s little sense of admiring awe in the Church of Christ these days.


God meant that a convert should learn to be a worshiper, and after that he can be a worker. Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel.” Peter wanted to go at once but Christ said, “Don’t go yet. Wait till you be endued with power.” Power for service? Yes, but that is only half of it. The other nine-tenths are that the Holy Ghost may restore to us again the spirit of worship. Out of enraptured, admiring, adoring, worshipping souls, then God does His work. The work done by a worshiper will have eternity in it.

Is it possible to have religious experience and not be a worshipper? Yes, look at Cain. He had a religious experience, but God did not accept him. To worship acceptably, I repeat, is to be born anew by the Holy Ghost through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and have the Holy Spirit of Christ teach is to worship and enable us to worship.