A Morning Cup of Tea: Psalm 4

*Author's note: A Morning Cup of Tea is twofold: It keeps me accountable to read the Bible each day and helps me to clarify my thoughts on what I read. If what I write teaches false doctrine please do not hesitate to correct me, in love of course. My hope is that each day I will write the Morning Cup of Tea, which in itself is to be an ongoing series, but also to write about autism, general daily life and such here as well.Some days are just a little easier than others to get more posts in. While right now the Cup of Tea  posts may jump from subject to subject at the moment, I do want to settle in and cover women of the bible, reading the bible through, and probably a hundred other topics I can think of. I'd just rather take those a bit more seriously and prepare before I start.

 Good morning and happy first day of spring! It's slightly chilly here in my area of Georgia, but looks to be a pretty day. At the moment my world is filled with the buzz of family life: preparing for a doctor appointment and hopefully bible study tonight; my sweet hubby is getting breakfast cooked so I can write; J is loudly vocalizing and stimming. More about that later.

    This morning in all the confusion of what to read, I finally settled on Psalms. Psalm 4 is the one I settled on for now:

1. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
2. O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah
3. But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him.
4. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.
6. There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
7. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
8. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

King James seems to be my "go to" translation of the bible. I grew up more or less using it and I feel more comfortable with it than any other translation. Even so, I end up asking a lot of questions and looking up words.
  This is a psalm of David. In the first verse he calls upon God, reminding Him of his protection when he's called before. Then he turns his words to others. "How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing?" I had to look up leasing. It means a lie, deceit. Too often we chase after things that promise to make us happy -relationships, status, toys that we collect. While all these things can be fine as long as we don't let them take over our lives, all too often we can see that they bring about five minutes of pleasure and then the realization that we were chasing after the wrong thing.
  Selah is another word that I looked up. According to my notes in the Thomson Chain Reference, selah is a pause or musical note in the psalms and in Habbakuk 3:3.  I also looked it up online and the only reference I could find there was Wikipedia, which had this to say:     Selah (Hebrew: סֶלָה‎, also transliterated as selāh) is a word used 74 times in the Hebrew Bible – 71 times in the Psalms and 3 times in Habakkuk – and is a difficult concept to translate. (It should not be confused with the Hebrew word sela‘ (Hebrew: סֶלַע‎) which means "rock.") It is probably either a liturgico-musical mark or an instruction on the reading of the text, something like "stop and listen". Selah can also be used to indicate that there is to be a musical interlude at that point in the Psalm.^[1] The Amplified Bible translates selah as "pause, and think of that". It can also be interpreted as a form of underlining in preparation for the next paragraph.
   I like the idea of using Selah as a pause to reflect on what was just said. Look at what David says in verses 3 and 4:
   3.But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him.
   4. Stand in awe, and sin not; commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
  To me, it was like David bracketed that thought. He wanted to focus on remembering that we as God's people are set apart. We should be taking the time to focus on God and pray so that we won't sin. 
  The rest of the psalm, to me, points out that we shouldn't be looking to the world to fill our hearts with gladness and peace. It's not going to happen. Only God can give real joy and safety. This psalm isn't so much a cry for help as it is, speaking of the joy and peace in David's life because he knows he belongs to the Lord. The last two verses say it all: (In my words) You've put joy in my heart, even more than in times of plenty. I'm able to sleep soundly, and rest knowing that you (God) keep me safe.
  That last verse I really would like to paint either directly on my wall or on a canvas to hang in my bedroom. Such words of comfort! I'd mentioned doing that once before and it's still on my to do list. In the meantime, even if those words never end up on the wall, we should fill our hearts with the word of God. Having them there, and letting those words influence our lives is much better.  
   
    

Gratituesday: Thankful for Storms

 If my husband were to read the title of this post, he'd give me a strange look. He knows I can handle storms, I just don't like them very well.  Especially if I am alone and the power goes out. Yes folks, I am a huge chicken who is afraid of the dark. Never quite got over that fear.
   Last night was indeed a "rainy night in Georgia." My husband was at work an hour away, and I had seen online that there were tornado warnings in a few places. On facebook were messages of batten down the hatches. My niece was online  via her cell phone, asking if there were any confirmed sightings of tornadoes in her area (there weren't).  When the storm moved into my area, the wind picked up and the thunder was quite loud at times (though still not as loud as J, who apparently enjoyed it all). The lights flickered a few times, but we never lost power in my area.
  During all this time, I was keeping up with family. The brothers and sisters in Christ that can be found in various places all over the world. I kept up with my niece until I knew for sure that she and her family were safe. I continued talking with my husband, who is fortunate enough to have a messenger on his computer at work as long as he is able to continue his job. I traded messages with others who saw that I was afraid. And the storm blew over. 
  We got some high wind, thunder and lightning, hard rain, and some hail. But it did not last all night. It stopped, to me anyway, fairly quickly after it all started. I didn't pay attention to the clock, just kept praying for those around me that I knew were in the storm's path, as well as for my son and me. I continued talking on facebook. Peace took the place of fear.
    In my personal life I'm going through a different storm. There are aspects of my health that my doctor is showing concern for, and I'll be seeing a few specialists soon. At the same time, I'm dealing with behavior issues with my son. But the storm of last night taught me that I'm not alone in all this. God is here, holding me through the storm as he does every step of the way. I have support here on earth. No matter the outcome of the storms in my life I know that I'm not alone in this. Peace has taken the place of fear.
  What about you? What are you thankful for today? Join Heavenly HOmemakers   for more Gratituesday posts. Feel free to add your own. 
 

Some Lessons are just too Hard to Learn...

And Those are The Most Important

I'm in the midst of cleaning up my act (and the house). If you have read any of the last few posts you know this. One step at a time. I'm keeping the dishes clean, I'm sweeping my kitchen, doing the laundry (and taking some steps toward putting it all away and donating what doesn't belong. I'm following Simple Mom's challenge  of decluttering one hotspot at a time for four weeks.

  But I have a son with autism. This is one of those times I really want to give up. In order to begin on my pantry I had to take off the blinders to see a moat of trash and junk that had to be dealt with before i could even begin. I knew it was there, I just chose to ignore it while I dealt with other things. The moat is gone now.  Then I needed to hang a load of laundry. The Hubby was in the bedroom making the bed, which is another task I want to complete each day. In just five minutes, the previously sleeping J woke up and noticed that the fridge was unlocked and unguarded. He took advantage of this to rid us of the sour cream. He thought it was a lovely snack. 

  Instead of realizing that it was OUR fault, both adults threw a tantrum. Short lived, but it happened. Two lessons here: 1) The fridge has to stay locked when no one is available to keep an eye on it. J only knows that he is hungry and will grab what's available. He doesn't understand a lot of times what is good for him or when to stop, and our pocketbooks are not that deep. Even if we were really well off, we can't allow him to eat anything anytime he wishes. It would make him sick.

 2)Getting angry at a child who is independent and just trying to find a snack isn't very productive. We have to vent a little sometimes, but we need to take responsibility and handle this situation ourselves. 

  Can J be taught to stay out of the fridge and ask for what he needs? Maybe. It takes time, patience, and a lot of energy. He's not dumb by any means. He can learn many things. But being human, and having a child's mind most of the time, he's going to make mistakes. We just need to figure out how best to help him.

  Am I going to give up? Absolutely not. I've worked hard the last several days on this house. I'm not discounting the countless hours I've spent before trying to figure all this out, but this time I think I understand. I wont say that house cleaning gives me great joy, but taking care of my family does. Seeing 'the abyss' turn into a home. I am disorganized, but I am changing. Not because someone else insists I have to, but because I want to. I need to. For me.

  I want a home that I can feel good about inviting others over in. I want to be able to write, or make cards, or otherwise craft, or spend time with my family without feeling guilty that I'm not up folding laundry, or sweeping, or doing dishes.  I know a lot of people don't understand why I cant get the concept of cleaning done, that it's something you "just do." That was the answer I got when I asked someone how you get things done. To me that's as foreign as handing an algebra book to a kindergartener and saying "figure it out." I'm not stupid, I'm not lazy (most of the time), I'm just overwhelmed. I hesitate to say that I'm proud of my accomplishments lately, because I see I have a long way to go, but I'm happy with the progress I'm making. My husband seems to be as well. As long as we both keep this up, especially me, I'll have a home that wont make me cringe every time someone comes by. I can invite others over for dinner or whatever. I like that.  

A Morning Cup of Tea: Jesus Quiets the Wind

Good Sunday morning to you! I am home today, due to my husband's work schedule. It will be a quiet day, just J and me.
 Today we are finishing up chapter 4 of Mark. Sometimes I just want to zip through some of the chapters because they are similar to what we just read in Matthew. But what would I learn if I did that? Reading something over and over helps the information to stick better in the mind, and you comprehend it more. My mother in law, who these days listens to the bible more than she reads, says she learns something new all the time. There are always new lessons to be learned in the scriptures if we look.
  Jesus said in v24: And he said unto them, Take heed with what ye hear:with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
 25. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
 I like the next parable where Jesus says the Kingdom of God is as if a man had cast seed into the ground. The man sleeps, and watches the field by day, and the seed grows. The man doesn't really know how. But the fruit comes up; first the blade,  then the ear, after that the full corn. When the fruit is ready, then the harvest comes. (Mark 4:26-28)
  Jesus told them more parables, and sent the multitude on their way. He wanted to go to the next place by ship.  Jesus, I imagine, was worn out from teaching and healing, so he was asleep deep in the ship. A storm came up and tossed the boat around, and the waves brought water into the boat. His disciples came and woke him.
 Master! They cried. There is a storm, don't you care that we are all going to die?
 39. And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 
40. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
41. And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
 I have a lot of "favorites" in the bible; lots of verses and stories for lack of a better word, reach out to me, touch me more than others. Jesus calming the wind and the sea always gets to me.  How often do we have storms in our own lives: loneliness, troubles that seem to come out of nowhere, fears that threaten to drown us like the sea did to the disciples and the others on the ship. And yet, if we let him, all Jesus has to do is say Peace, be still and things calm down again. All too often we (I) forget that Jesus is wanting to help. Is our faith an ongoing daily walk with Jesus, or do we have God in a bottle like a genie: we figure oh dear, I'm really stuck now, Lord please help me? He isn't a genie. He isn't Santa Claus. He is there to help us, but he also wants a daily relationship, to know your good times as well as your bad times. But when the bad times come, let Jesus say Peace, be still.