Polishing Jewels...

     This post is going to take a slightly different approach then most you'll find here. For this post, starting with the 2nd paragraph, you'll be reading an analogy. It's one I heard from a friend at church, and one that I've expanded to fit into a longer story. I'm not going to tell you what it means...at least not now. It holds a lot of truth, a lot of my own story, and a lot of things that may be obvious. If they are, then I guess you know me pretty well ;) So, here goes:

     A man was working outside. His sons were helping him in other areas, but only those he chose were able to help him here. One of his younger sons had recently been permitted to enter, and what he say was not what he expected.

     "Dad, what's that?" he asked.

     "Well son," the father replied, "that's what I'm working on: the king's crown." He placed his hand on the large golden object and showed his son the holes in the sides.

     "See these holes here? A precious jewel will go in each one. That's what we are doing back here: preparing each of the jewels that will go into the crown."

     His son looked on in awe. "So, what do I do?"

     "You get to pick one of the jewels from the chest there," he said, motioning to the rather large, oak box in the corner of the work area, "and then you will work on polishing it until it has no spot or blemish."

     The young boy walked over to the chest, lifted the lid and looked in. Inside were all manner of jewels, in all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes, each one different from the rest. What they did have in common, though, was a covering of spots and dirt.

     The boy looked and looked. Each jewel was special, but none quite caught his eye. And then his eyes fell upon a bright green stone. It was covered in dirt and spots like the rest, but something about the way it sparkled drew him to it.

     "Now that one is a fine jewel, son," came the father's reassuring voice, "be very careful as you polish it."

     With a happy obedience, the son picked up the green stone, took the cloth his father handed him, and walked over to a spot under a tree. He began to polish and polish and polish, so much so that he started to get tired, but he kept at it.

     Soon, the jewel had almost nothing on it. It shone brightly, and the boy could see inside of it. As he gazed into the center of the stone, his mind felt a calming peace and joy come over him. The sound of footsteps brought his mind back, and he looked up to see his father standing over him.

     "Very good son. May I see what you've done?" he asked, reaching down his large, worn hand. A smile crossed the boy's face as he handed the jewel to his father. He watched as his father looked at each part of the stone, felt each side, and nodded his approval. Then the father knelt down and placed his hand on on the boy's shoulder.

     "You've done your best son, and I'm very proud, but this jewel is quite ready to be polished any further."

     The smile on the boy's once happy face turned to a frown. "What do you mean?" he asked.

     "Well, you see these white areas here? Those are small fractures in the stone: little parts that you can't polish away. I have to use a special tool to repair those."
     The boy's shoulder's sagged and his head drooped. He had taken a liking to this stone, and now he couldn't work on it anymore. He couldn't polish it further. But then his father's hand lifted his head, and he found his eyes staring directly into the deep caring gaze of his dad.

     "Son. This jewel is your gift to the king. Until it is finished and placed in the crown, it will be yours. But if I don't repair these fractures now, they will spread further quickly...and your jewel will split. Go, work where you were before. I'll call you when I'm done."

     The boy wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes. "How long will it take?"

     "For each stone the repair time is different," came the father's reply, "but I think this one won't take too long."

     Happiness returned to the boy's face, and he left to go back to his previous task. He worked and worked, always listening for his father's voice to call him. He had been working for sometime, and the work had become noisy, but he was still listening as best he could.

     Suddenly, he stopped. Was that his name he had heard? Were the repairs done? He listened, but he didn't hear anything. Then again, his father wasn't one to call twice unless some time had passed or if it was dreadfully urgent.

     Putting down his work, the son ran to the gate that separated the work areas from the polishing yard. He pulled the latch, swung the gate open slightly and poked his head through the opening. He saw his father working at his bench with his tools. Stepping inside, the boy voiced his questions.

     "Father, did you call me? Are the repairs finished?"

     His father turned at the sound of his son's voice. Seeing the hope in his face, he walked over and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

     "Well son, what do you think?"

     "I think you did call me. The repairs must be finished!" he exclaimed joyfully.

     The father chuckled, glad to see his son excited to continue his task. He stood, took his son's hand and began to walk towards the bench.

     "Why don't we go see?" he said, smiling.

     The boy followed, eager to see what his father had done, but also hoping that he could have his jewel back.

     I know you are probably wanting to know what happens, but to tell you the truth, I don't know the rest. The story isn't finished yet. But as I continue to develop new pieces, I will compile them into posts like this one and you can read the rest. For now, may God bless you as He has been blessing me!

Vision...

     Vision is a wonderful thing. Your two eyes work together to allow you to see exactly what you want to see. But when you look at one thing, you can't look at something else. Say you look at something close. Then things far away will be blurry; our of focus. But if you look at something far away, close things fall out of focus. The same thing happens in life. We can tend to focus on one thing, whether it be up close or far away. But there's one thing we should be focusing on: God.

     You see, God is always the same. So, regardless of whether you look at something you're experiencing right now or something far off in the future, God will always be the same. Guess what that means? When you focus on Him...well, you'd think everything else would get blurry, right? It's actually the other way around! When you focus on God, everything else you could possibly look at comes into clearer focus! When you turn your focus to be on God, you stop looking at the world the way you see it and start to look at the world the way God sees it. You stopping seeing your life the way you always have, and start seeing it the way God always has.

     It's always a struggle to keep your focus on God. Especially when things in life start to come at you. You feel like you have to focus on what's happening to get through it. Or maybe your focus just starts to slip and you don't notice until long after your eyes have found themselves somewhere else. Either way, both describe my life in the past. Just like everyone else, I'm guilty of letting my focus slip from God. And yet, every time my focus does slip, I turn my eyes to Him once again and find more than I remember leaving. And every time, He continues to reveal more to me about what I'm here for.

     While at Children's Ministries Institute (CMI), I found that I'm more suited for a support role. I have some good leadership qualities, and could be a leader, but not if that role puts me out in front. However, if that role involves me be the lead in supporting others...well that's right about where I should work best. God's been showing me how these two roles, leader and supporter, work together specifically in my life...but He hasn't shown me where to put them to the best use yet. Or...at least not their more extended use. You know...like what I'm called to do.

     I am however putting those roles to use in my work with the local chapter of Child Evangelism Fellowship. I can lead by teaching the children in my classes and taking responsibility for various things around the office, and I can support by making sure the computers run well, developing easier methods of getting certain jobs done, and doing the backstage work to get our new website up and running.

     Vision. Through the vision God has given me in my two eyes I can see what He is doing now. I can see what He will be doing soon...and I can catch a small glimpse of what He will be doing in the future. All three levels of focus have me excited, and although it'll be sometime before I get to that final level...it's more than worth the wait. So...where's your vision focused?

A Promise is a Promise...

     As the title of my blog suggests, my life is a landscape. It's where work is done to make the abode of the owner more presentable. Who is the owner? Jesus Christ. He owns this landscape and He is the one working in it to make it into just the kind of landscape He's envisioned for it. So it makes sense then, since this landscape is my life, that I would want to know what Jesus is going to do in it to make it better. How do I do that? By reading the Word of God.

     Recently I started reading in the Psalms. I've been reading straight through a book of the Bible in my personal devotions for some time now, and Psalms is where God had me go about 2 weeks ago. Having 150 Psalms to cover means I've got almost 5 more months in Psalms...but I know God's going to work through it. God's Word is living and powerful. It always has something new for you when you revisit a passage, and it can always speak to right where you are in your life, but only if you open your ears and listen. Always make sure to ask God to show you what He wants you to see before you read. When you do, it's amazing what you'll find...like what I found the other day in Psalms 15.

     In Psalms 15, King David rhetorically asks, "Who can dwell with the Lord?" And what does David do, but write a song that sings of all the things the righteous man of God should do. It's a good summary of what each Christian needs to be, so I'll post the verses here:

Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever.

That is the kind of man I am striving to be. One who has all of these qualities. But the other day, when I read this Psalm, it wasn't all of the qualities that stood out, it was just one: and keep their promises even when it hurts.

     You see...I promised I would do something for a friend of mine...for Karis. Our courtship ended a few days ago, but not for any of the reasons your mind may jump to. The courtship was drawing us towards marriage within the next year, and neither Karis or myself are really prepared for what that entails. Sure God could move miraculously and prepare us both faster than we could imagine, and maybe He still will, but for now...we're just friends. But back to my promise...I promised that I would be here whenever she's ready. It could hurt, after all...I don't know when she'll be ready...and that could be quite some time. But a promise is a promise...and I intended to keep that promise.

     It may be that when she's ready...that God would have our relationship remain at just friends...or it may become so much more than that. I don't know what will happen. But in my heart...in my heart I couldn't be any more sure about the eventual outcome. Regardless of what I may feel, I have a promise to keep...and I'm going to keep it. Because regardless of the outcome, that's what God would have me do. He would have me keep every word I say. After all, what are words if you really don't mean them when you say them? I don't know the answer, but I do know this: I've meant every word I've said. Every single one...