It's the most wonderful time of the year! The air is cool and crisp, the nights are growing longer, and the season of celebration is upon us. Those of you who know me or who have read this blog for a while know that one of my favorite themes in life is that of the four seasons. Recognizing this, my beautiful mother spent hours and hours of her time making me a gorgeous embroidery celebrating the seasons, a treasure I view and contemplate often. I truly love the so-named concerto by Vivaldi, and have since I was quite young. I truly love the turning of one season to another, and have delightful childhood memories of the beauty of New England season changes. I love how God built all of that into creation—new life to fruitfulness to rest and recovery, so it can all happen all over again in a type of death and resurrection. I think He must love the four seasons, too! And I know something else that God loves...

The Creator of All Things loves to celebrate and be with His family! As we enter this season of special days, it is good to pause and reflect on God's own recommendation for a healthy rhythm of life. 

The Old Testament is a deep look into the way sin separated mankind from God. It details the way God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants to bring mankind back into fellowship with Himself, and from that union, to invite all nations into that same fellowship. The problem of sin and separation from our holy God is real and cannot be ignored, but God generously and lovingly brought the terms of friendship to His people through the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai. Of course, much sacrifice and obedience were necessary at that point for us to be able to even be in God’s presence, and the regulations were strict and specific. But alongside the parameters for sacrifice were the instructions for a godly daily life and for numerous regular celebrations. The law is filled with them, and this is so wonderful! God wants to be with us all the time, and He wants us to celebrate life with Him and with one another. 

Deuteronomy 6: 1-6 gives clear insight into God’s heart for healthy, thriving homes and families. It clearly paints the picture that our relationship with God does not consist of just occasional large gatherings in a temple. Worship of God is central in our hearts and homes...
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These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.


Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
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Further, Leviticus chapters 23-26 give real insight into God’s heart for regular communion for the people of God. 


•    Every Sabbath day is holy and set aside for special rest, reverence, and offerings. This is one day in every seven.


•    Every year there were to be seven holy times of fasting and feasting, called festivals. These were not just momentary pauses in regular life. They were significant times of reflection and gratitude built into the yearly rhythm. 


•    Every seventh year was to be a Sabbath Year where the land and fields got a whole year of rest. 


•    Every seventh Sabbath year begins an entire Year of Jubilee. This is fascinating and involves not only letting the land rest but everyone and every place being restored to their original owners.
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God wants us to remember Him, and He wants us to let Him help us keep our priorities straight. He is not an egomaniac who demands that we drop everything and pay attention to Him because He is desperate for our attention and affirmation. He simply knows what we will get into without Him being the center of our hearts, homes and calendars. He sees our sinful nature and knows that when we forget He is the creator and sustainer of life, we begin to think all kinds of wrong and delusional thoughts. We will forget about the sanctity of life. We will forget about treating each other well and watching out for others. We will begin to do things to take advantage of one another and even to take advantage of the land. God knows that regular rhythms of acknowledging Him in all of life keep us sane.

This is also why the law requires so many offerings and acts of remembrance. When we do not stop to give thanks and to give back to the One who gave all the blessings, we lose perspective and begin to think that we have done everything ourselves. We tend to forget God, and then make ourselves the center of everything.

So as we move into autumn and winter this year, let's take ample time to remember God. How amazing it is to celebrate with God on this side of His once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross! We can look back and recognize His great faithfulness in the past, and look forward to all the future holds in hope. What a tremendous joy it can be to turn away from the anger and bitterness of our culture and to focus instead on the goodness of God. What a beautiful opportunity to slow down and savor the most lovely things of life: family, friends, forgiveness, the many gifts and blessings God has given to us, and most especially the gift of His Son—Emmanuel, God With Us. 

Let me encourage you today; God loves you so much, and wants to be with you. And He wants to move in your life in such a way that the world will see how good and pleasant it is to walk together.  All Saints Day, Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas—Pull up a seat at His table of feasting this season and celebrate with Him! 

Part of this post is an excerpt from my devotional book called Living Stones, a look into walking with God in healthy community. The three sections are Understanding Church, Elements of a Strong Community, and Building Healthy Culture. If you're looking for something fresh for personal or group study, consider ordering a copy or a few! Follow the link below:

The most wonderful thing happened to me the other day! I was spending some time with our grandchildren, and on this particular day we were reading some books together. One story we read had a character who mentioned something about hearing what God said to them. It was a sweet story, and we finished that and several others before book time spilled over into another game, but our eldest gran remained on the couch beside me. With beautiful honesty and sincerity he asked, "Grandma, how can we hear God's voice?" 

What an amazing question, and we had a terrific start to what I hope will be a long and fruitful conversation in his life, with his parents and siblings, with all of his grandparents, and with our local community of faith. And I pray more and more of us will pay attention to this beautiful possibility. There is such a constant cacophony of voices trying to catch our attention, and it is vitally important that each of us learn to hear the most important voice of all.  I posted about this in September of 2018, and would like to repost that today with minimal updates...

​I met my husband when I was all of seventeen years old.  We were both freshmen on our college aquatics team, and pretty soon we were dating.  We spent some time together that spring semester before we both had to go home for the summer—he to Texas and me to Virginia.  I remember calling his house one day that summer in the days of landline phones, and talking to his prankster brother on the phone for ten whole minutes before I realized it wasn’t Eli!  Their voices seemed so similar that I did not recognize who was on the other end of the phone.

Now Eli and I have been married almost 33 years, and I really know him. We have spent far over half of our lives together.  If you do the math, that means we have shared about 23,200 pots of coffee—imagine how many thousands of conversations that time represents, how many major life events!  He has called me from remote villages on the other side of the world, on the crackliest of connections, but I still know his voice.  I can walk into a room with hundreds of people, but I can pick his voice out of the crowd any day.  
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Not only that, but when anyone announces that my husband said this or that, I know right away if they are telling the truth.  I not only know his voice after all these years, but I know his heart and the way he thinks, too.  I know just what he would say and what he wouldn’t say--I know him.    

I really committed my life to the Lord about the same time I met my husband.  When I was a new believer, I did not know how to recognize God's voice—how to know what He really said or did not say.  But after 35 years of reading the Bible, praying, pouring over great Christian books, listening to sermons, seeking, fasting, worshipping, listening in prayer—after thousands of conversations with God, I know Him. I can recognize His voice loudly and clearly among the din of other voices competing for my attention. I know what His Word says, and will not be easily fooled by imposters.  I know His plan for my life, and will not be distracted away from it.  

God is not silent, and He speaks all the time.  He is a Father who loves His children.  He wants very much for you and me to know how to recognize His voice from the many other noises and voices we are bombarded with every day.  God created us for that very purpose—fellowship—both with Himself and with each other, and He has not just spun us out on our own. He wants each of us to know Him, and to trust Him. Down through the history of His beautiful Church, we have written accounts of the many men and women who testify to the fact that He still leads and guides His children.  And it is not some special privilege reserved for only the elite, or only those of a particular denomination or fellowship, or for those of a particular nationality, race, or gender. It is for anyone who will listen. 

How do we hear His voice?  

The number one way is the Bible, plain and simple. Another name for the Bible is The Word of God, because that is exactly what it is. Many people would try to tell you that the Bible is not special, that it has nothing to say to us in this modern world, or even that it is wrong and wicked. Some say this in ignorance, having never read it or just parroting what they have heard someone else say, but others say this because they very much wish it to be true in order to justify their own choices. 
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The reality is that over a span of 2500 years, across borders and classes and cultures, God inspired and used people to write His perfect revelation of Himself to people.  It never contradicts itself, it is filled with prophecies that have come to pass hundreds of years after they were spoken, and it is utterly true and powerful.  When you and I read the Bible, we hear God speak.  Not only does it plainly communicate God's heart through its pages, The Word also has the power to speak something new and fresh to each of us each time we read it.  There is nothing like it!  It is real truth and has real answers.  It grounds us and gives us perspective about what life is truly about. It gives up hope for today and for the future. It equips us to be people who can bring real comfort and peace and change to the people all around us. ​
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"It is important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we get alone, preferably with our Bible outspread before us. Then if we will we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our hearts.” - A.W. Tozer
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Hearing God's voice is important for all of us, but especially for our kids! They are growing up in such a different world than most of us did, and need every encouragement. This is such an important theme to me, and I've woven it into my Booksellers series. If you haven't discovered the first book yet, it's a great time to order for the holidays! It is available for order online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Walmart, or you can follow the link below...