My 60th Birthday – Jubilee!

"Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan. This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines." Leviticus 25:10-11 (NLT)

As I was reading my Bible I came across this Scripture recently.  These verses tell me that in the fiftieth year, God commanded that each person was to return to his family property: the land was not to be harvested; slaves and their children were to be released. On God’s calendar, the jubilee year was a time for celebration, restoration to wholeness, rest, and release.

2002 was my true “year of jubilee, but I think I was too busy with children and just living life to take time to have a jubilee!  This past Christmas (actually the day after ) I turned 60...and I think it will be my magic age! I have decided that this year will be my Jubilee Year...a time to renew myself and my relationships. I have chosen to liberate myself by celebrating the life God has given me.

This year I will renew myself. I want to explore more of the world around me. See and experience new and diverse things!  I will continue taking classes to better my art and my sewing skills.  I will learn and try new skills and activities. I plan to take better care of the body I’m in—there are really no replacement parts.  “So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day.” 2 Cor. 4:16 (NCV)   I plan to take more naps and spend leisurely time with my grandchildren just listening to their ramblings about their life and interests.  I plan to spend more time doing nothing but holding my new grand baby...to take in her smell and the joy of new life.  I will let go of life’s trivialities, with those things that will not matter in eternity but I strive to have more patience with others.

I want to renew my relationships. My parents will not be with me forever. I will continue to learn from them and know my history.  My brothers, sisters and sister-in-laws are important to me.  I want to take time to speak with them about what is significant.  Know who they are and who they continue becoming and to watch as their children grow and change.

My girls and their husbands, they are my heart!  I will take time to listen to them...what is weighing on their hearts, what is important for their families and their futures.  Balancing that fine line of “advice” and meddling!  I will love each of them for who they are, who they are becoming.  Watching as each make life decisions for their families...and loving being part of their lives!

My husband, my love...I want to continue building on the foundation our 38 year marriage.  To solidify what we have and plan for our future, of times to come. More importantly, just as the ancient Israelites allowed slaves to go free, I will release those who have hurt me.  Letting go of what “lies behind...”

My friends...I am truly blessed with many “long-term” friendships. (I won’t use the words “old friends”!) Friends are the family we get to “pick” and the Lord has truly given me some priceless treasures in those He’s planted in my life.  I want to know them more deeply and continue sharing life’s joy and pain together.  

I hope to liberate myself by celebrating the life I have. Too often I can allow my mistakes and missteps to prevent me from living with joy. I want to be free to accept who I am, warts and all. I am not perfect—will never be perfect–but I am created to live in His perfect freedom. I will give the gift of myself to others, to serve others—I will be set free in order to celebrate others.

No one seems to know with complete clarity and certainty what their life calling is. I  hear people  talking about how to “find their soul.” I’ve always thought this was code to figuring out what they were going to do with their lives, who they want to be when they “grew up.”  I am thankful, because I’m not trying to find my soul anymore. I’m not looking for my “calling.”  I am honestly not trying to find much of anything I lack anymore. That is not to say I have gotten many of the things I thought I needed in my life. But, I did find my soul. I’m not sure when or where I found it, but I found it!  It also feels very complete. I made a conscience decision to be grateful for the things I’ve been given, which has been a lot.

I am not afraid of death anymore because I know that what I really want is on the other side of this life.  “Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.” 1 Cor. 13:12

So...all of this to say, getting older isn’t all that bad!   I will not stop asking and seeking (Luke 11:9) for a deeper understanding of who I am in Christ and what my place in His-story really is.  I will live with my freedom—earned after sixty years of toil—I will celebrate my year of Jubilee! (Even if it is 10 years late!)

Happy jubilee!

debi

New Year - Memorial Stones

The week between Christmas and New Year’s has traditionally been a time of reflection and goal setting for myself.  This year I have found myself thinking about the Biblical practice of erecting “memorial stones.”  The stones were erected to remind those coming after of what happened in the past.  (To read about memorial stones you can look at Genesis 28:20-22.  There are also many other examples to be found in the Bible.) 

In my mind’s eye I like to think that an Israelite family traveling through the area would see these memorial stones piled high.  One of the children would turn to his dad and ask, "Hey dad, look at that pile of rocks. Why do you think someone stacked them up like that?"  The dad would then respond, "That’s an excellent question.  Let me tell you about those stones and what they are here to remind us about.”

Lucky for this child the father knew what the stones represented. You would think every Israelite would know about the miracle God performed at that site and the meaning of those stones...not only that site, but the many other sites and memorials throughout Israel.  You would think that those stories would become part of family history that would be passed on to their descendants, yet even such important events can be quickly lost to the succeeding generations.  The memorial stones were not only to peak the curiosity of the children but to remind the adults as well. .

By simply passing on our family traditions we can create memory stones to be used as memorials - as long as the reason for them is also communicated.  We are all aware of how quickly the reasons for a celebration can be lost.  In our own society the days that have in the past been important days of the worship of God and remembrance of what He has done have been changed by a secular society into excuses for a day off work to play. (Thanksgiving is now Turkey day.  We have a Winter Break instead of time off for Christmas.)  My reason for mentioning these as examples is that if our children are to hold any of them as having any significance, then it is up to us to teach them the significance.  Even God set up a tradition for the Hebrews to carry on every year from the time He brought them up out of Egypt. It is the Passover.

My life is filled with many occasions for me to gather memorial stones. There are quiet remembrances of times spent in fellowship with God.  Sometimes there were battles with myself, with my friends, with loved ones and with enemies. There are times of defeat and moments of great, tearful, confession and prayer. There are occasions of mourning and memories of victories and celebrations.  I have had times of letting loose and setting things free.

This all brings me to my question for this New Year...What memorial stones have I set up to both prick the curiosity of others and to remind myself of what God has done? It may be that I have set something up already without thinking about it, but I also need to go beyond and do something on purpose.  

This last year my husband and I have “on purpose” re-instituted the family dinner.  My girls are grown, married and have started families of their own, but I think it’s important to be intentional about being a family...our family!  Their husbands are introduced to our quirks and foibles.  They learn our recipes, our cooking style, and our “comfort” foods.   They can begin to see how the girls interact with each other as sisters, as daughters, as aunts, as sister-in-laws and as friends.

I am intentional about spending time with my grandchildren.  Time spent re-counting stories of my childhood, of their mother’s childhood, and of important things to be remembered.  Who were those who came before us.  What I know of things past...

BUT, none of those times together can create memorial stones in our life unless they have significance for each of us.  Can we identify with each other?  Are we encouraging and teaching each other?  Are our memorial stones a place of refuge and safety?  A place where we can return to God?  Are we creating interactions with the living God for each of us?  Have we met Him?  Has He spoken to us?  Did something ever happen between us and God that changed us and our lives forever?  These are the most significant things which we are to use to erect our memorial stones.

Memorial stones are those places we can return to when we need spiritual communion with God.  These stones are memories we can return to for encouragement and comfort in times of loneliness and trials.  We can use the stones to teach our children, friends and family.  Memorial stones are places to benchmark where we are in our relationship with God and to measure how far we’ve come on this journey called life.

Do YOU have such memorial stones in your life?


HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Till tomorrow.
debi

"The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth" (Luke 3:5).

Happy New Year's

"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to shore. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms will show Your mastery; where losing sight of land we shall find stars. We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes; we ask You to push in the future in strength, courage, hope, and love."       -- Sir Francis Drake - 16th century English sailor

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New Year

Lord, make me to know my end and [to appreciate] the measure of my days--what it is; let me know and realize how frail I am [how transient is my stay here]. Psalm 39:4 (Amplified Bible)