Salty Zebra

  Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.   2 Corinthians 9:7  How are you? It’s a question we ask others all the time, but do we really mean it? Are we really interested in how they are doing? Much of the time, I would guess we are not, because we don’t even pause to hear the answer or follow up. Our culture, at least where I live, has come to see it as a greeting, not a question. We are conditioned to reply “fine” or “great” or “ok.” It is very uncommon to hear anyone say anything else. My husband went through a season where he defied the cultural norms of this question-greeting and he actually followed up on it. He would ask people what “ok” meant to them, where their percentage was. Did ok mean 51%? 60%? 75%? He wanted to know how people were really doing, and wanted them to know that he cared about it. It led to dozens (hundreds?) of interesting conversations, and all...

Image created with the assistance of ChatGpt   She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.   Proverbs 31:26  Proverbs 31 has always held a special power over me. It reflects a goal that I feel I fall far short of and could never achieve, but I so desperately want to. One year, when I only had two little ones, My husband gave me the most thoughtful gift for Mother’s Day. He and the boys (ok, him – they were way to young to help!) wrote out how they felt like I fulfilled each line of this poem. It met me in a place I so needed and encouraged me in my motherhood and wifely duties. Now, I didn’t think then, nor do I now upon reflection, that I actually fulfilled those things, but hearing from someone whose opinion I so respected that he felt that I did meant the world to me!   Proverbs is a book of wisdom and so it only makes sense that wisdom would be one of the critical aspects of the “Wife of Noble Character.” And how is her wisdom expresse...

   Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, Ephesians 5:15  Interestingly, we explored this verse last Spring while doing the study, For Such a Time as This . What I wrote about then holds true today, but I feel like it has just a little more depth, a little more insight. I love how God’s Word is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword ( Hebrews 4:12 ). We can look at the same verse over and over, and each time we learn something new, but perhaps this is partly because we are not the same person that looked at it before. Since then, we’ve grown, changed, learned new things. The verses are the same, but we are not.  When you zoom out and look at the whole passage in Ephesians, we see that, according to verse 17 , living as wise involves understanding the Lord’s will. A few weeks back we talked about how to discern God’s will and growing in our ability to hear and trust His guidance. God brought Isaiah 30:21 to my attention that...

  Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.   1 Corinthians 4:2  This last year, God has been putting on my heart that I need to make sure that what I have isn’t just sitting there, it is accomplishing some growth. The clearest way to see this is with our money. An interesting blessing that came through my husband’s layoff last year was that I became more involved in the finances, much more involved. One of the things that stood out to me initially was that we had a significant amount of money sitting in an account that didn’t really earn much interest. Much of our savings my husband had put into laddered CDs that were earning better, but this money, which we had intentionally kept liquid in case we needed it, was not pulling its weight. I learned about High-Yield Savings (HYS) accounts last summer and we moved the money there where it has been happily growing ever since. I even looked at what bills we paid just a few times a year, ...

  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.   1 Peter 4:11  I’m a very open person. I’ve been accused of “processing publicly.” When something’s on my heart I share it, and I don’t limit it to the people in my house or in my home group, I share it with the world on my blog. Well, I share it with the people that God puts my blog in front of and I’m not entirely sure how many or who that will be, so I figure it’s just public knowledge. In the suggested reading today ( Matthew 5:14-16 and 1 Peter 4:10-11 ), Jesus talks about how we should be like a city on a hill, letting our light shine and not diminishing it. Paul also commissions us to use the gifts that God has given and allow them to glorify Him.   Today’s verse tells me to live at 100%. I...

  "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, 'This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.'" Luke 14:28-30  In Western Washington, if you drive out to the coast, you’ll pass through some beautiful country. About halfway between I-5 and the ocean, you come across the little town of Elma. There are forests and hills, rivers and even giant metal sculptures to keep you entertained. You might drive right past without noticing them during the day, but if you make the drive at night, you’ll notice flashing lights on top of two giant towers up on the hill. These towers, WNP3 and WNP5 collectively known as the Satsop Power Plant, are the stark reminders of one of the biggest failures in our region, really our country. Let me tell you the story.   Back in th...

Image created with Gemini But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.“ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 1 Corinthians 12:9  Have you ever given God a wish list of how you think He should use you in this world? Almost like a resume, have you said that you are really good at certain things and would really shine if He gave you an opportunity in a certain area? I know I have.   In my young adulthood I wanted to be a missionary. Many people in my family have done this for generations and I’ve dreamed about it since I was a child. I’ve read missionary biographies, sat on the edge of my seat during missions presentations at church, sought out opportunities to visit with missionaries, everything I could think of. I prayed, oh how I prayed! I went on a couple of short-term mission trips which taught me so much and blessed me abundantly, but the door never opened ...

  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11  Have you ever been sure that God is doing a thing, but you can’t quite see it yet? Does everything just look like an impossible mess around you, but you’re absolutely certain that God’s going to work it out somehow? Take heart, He absolutely will! Today’s verse promises us that God will put everything together just right in His perfect timing. If things aren’t right yet, God’s not finished yet.   You know who had to live this out in a very challenging way? David. He had a wild youth serving as his family’s designated shepherd, watching over the flocks and keeping them safe, but this was not seen as an important or valuable job in his day. In fact, as the eighth and youngest son in the family, he wasn’t even invited to dinner when Samuel the prophet came for a visit. The family didn’t know th...

Image created in collaboration with ChatGpt depicting the upper room being prepared for Jesus to observe the Passover   For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Ephesians 2:10  I so enjoyed looking into the language and background of our verse for today! I was most drawn to the phrase at the end where it talks about how God has prepared good works in advance for us to do. There are a lot of tools out there that can help you break down the original language of the Bible and see how different passages relate to each other. I’m particularly fond of the site, Blue Letter Bible , where you can click “Tools” on the left side of a verse and access at your fingertips a wealth of information. Through this tool today, and a few others, I was led on a journey through the New and the Old Testaments.  To start with, the phrase “prepared in advance” comes from the Greek word proetoimazō  which means, “t...

   Sometimes life isn't ideal. Let's face it, most of the time it isn't! So, we do what we need to, to make things work. In my "Making It Work" posts, I share life hacks and ideas that have helped me so that, maybe, they can help someone else too. I hope you enjoy! This is how I used to do laundry: several loads washed and then piled up on a couch  or bed followed by one massive folding session Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3  Less is more. We hear it all the time, but do we believe it? I often don’t, or at least I don’t live in such a way that shows that I do. I think it’s kind of like my purses. It really doesn’t matter what size purse I carry; I will fill it. If it is a tiny clutch, I will fill it. If it is a mega satchel, I will fill it. So, I have to be careful what size purse I use or I’ll throw my shoulder out! Turns out I have a tendency to do this with my life as well. Whether I have a little ability o...

  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  Ecclesiastes 3:1  Our incredible, all-knowing, imaginative God created rhythms and seasons in the world. Trees require the fall to let go and the winter to rest so that in the spring they can have new growth for summer’s bounty. The moon circles the earth every month, it’s gravity pulling on us in different ways and causing changes in the ocean’s tides – but what many don’t know is that the gravitational pull of the moon actually stabilizes the earth’s rotation, keeping our seasons on track and our axis tilted properly. Even day and night are rhythms that our bodies require to live and function well – throw it off with something like jet lag and you’ll get a crash course on it’s importance. Nothing in this life lasts forever, except for our perfect and eternal God.  This week I enter a new season. Twenty-seven years ago we moved into this house and I was pregnant with our firs...

used with permission from Sara's Art Life Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23  Do you think much about your heart? You do if it aches, if someone breaks it, or if it is full. Both of my grandfathers suffered heart attacks and had heart surgeries, my paternal grandfather had several. Now, I know that the author was referring to our spiritual hearts in this passage, but I think there are correlations and I’d love to explore them with you here today.  Most of us don’t think about our physical hearts very often unless something goes wrong. When was the last time you thought about the heart beating constantly in your chest? When was the last time you told it to beat? And yet it continues, faithfully, minute after minute, hour after hour. But once something goes wrong, it jumps to the front of our minds. After you’ve had a heart attack and/or surgery, it’s hard not to think of it. In those times, we are really careful about guard...

Image is a collaboration of myself, Gemini and ChatGpt I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. Proverbs 8:17  It’s a cycle, a healthy one for once! The more we seek wisdom, the more we find wisdom, the more we want wisdom in our lives, so we seek it more and so on. The same is true with God, for “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” ( Proverbs 2:6 ) and “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” ( Job 28:28 ). All true wisdom comes from God. There is worldly wisdom as well, but it goes towards the intellectual, not the eternal. The wisdom that is represented in this verse, and the rest of the chapter, is one that calls out to us in the streets. She seeks after rulers and peasants, the intelligent and the foolish. Likewise, Jesus died for each and every one of us and His Holy Spirit cries out to our hearts with the ultimate wisdom, come to God and lay aside your sin and shame.   Wisdom s...