I had an up close and personal encounter with a wildflower a couple of years ago. When we plant a new bed out in the field, we baby it the first year. The point is for them to grow up scattered in the grasses and among other wildflowers in a natural way, but if you don’t get them off to a good start, they won’t stand a chance with all the competition out there for ground space and rainwater.
So I was weeding the latest patch, which we had let go far beyond the normal time span. I had difficulty even finding some of the small plants amid all the waist high grass and weeds. I had nearly finished, was soaking wet and black up to my elbows, when I noticed one more low-growing weed and bent over to pull it. I did not see the bare stalk of the wildflower right between my feet, leafless and flowerless, standing three feet high. I did not know it was there until, as I bent over, it slid right into my eye like a hot wire. Which eye? The one which most lately has been operated on, the one with the shunt, the capsular tension ring, and the silicone lens, the one that already hurts the most.
The doctor and I spent nearly two weeks fixing me up after this little mishap, checking to see if there was any permanent damage, checking to see if the shunt had been knocked out of place, checking for infection, and worse, for plant fungus. As it turns out, all I had was a hematoma and a laceration, but it was an exciting couple of weeks.
That was too close and personal an encounter with a flower, but we can never be too close and personal with God. I have had to learn that. The prevailing sentiment many years ago seemed to be that we did not want to do or say anything that might make someone apply a religious pejorative to us indicating belief in something other than correct Bible teaching about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Instead of saying, “I’m blessed,” instead of saying, “God took care of me,” indeed, instead of attributing anything to the providence of God, we said, “I’m lucky.” We wouldn’t want someone to get the wrong idea, would we?
Where did we come up with that? Read some of David’s psalms. He gave God the credit for everything. Read Hannah’s song, or Moses and Miriam’s after crossing the Red Sea. Since when don’t the people of God tell everyone what God has done for them?
Read some of Paul’s sermons. He does not seem a bit concerned that someone might use what he says to give credence to false teaching. “You know that idol you have out there?” he asks the Athenians, “the one to the Unknown God? Let me tell you about him.” He tells Felix, But this I confess to you that after the Way which they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers, Acts 24:14. It didn’t matter a bit what people called it, as long as he could talk about it. In fact, he used their misconceptions as opportunities to preach the Gospel.
Maybe that is my problem—I don’t want to talk about it. It makes me uncomfortable. It has nothing to do with whether someone gets the wrong idea about the Truth, but everything to do with me feeling ill at ease, or downright embarrassed. I don’t want to be called a religious fanatic and certainly not a “Holy Roller!” Yes, I want a close, personal relationship with God, as long as no one else knows about it.
But here is the deal: If I am too embarrassed by my relationship with God to even acknowledge it, then He won’t acknowledge me either, and I am the one with everything to lose.
Go out there today and say or do something that will make someone else curious enough to ask you a question. Then open your mouth and unashamedly tell them how wonderful an up close and personal relationship with your Creator and Savior really is.
Everyone therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in Heaven. But whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in Heaven, Matt 10:32,33.
Dene Ward
So I was weeding the latest patch, which we had let go far beyond the normal time span. I had difficulty even finding some of the small plants amid all the waist high grass and weeds. I had nearly finished, was soaking wet and black up to my elbows, when I noticed one more low-growing weed and bent over to pull it. I did not see the bare stalk of the wildflower right between my feet, leafless and flowerless, standing three feet high. I did not know it was there until, as I bent over, it slid right into my eye like a hot wire. Which eye? The one which most lately has been operated on, the one with the shunt, the capsular tension ring, and the silicone lens, the one that already hurts the most.
The doctor and I spent nearly two weeks fixing me up after this little mishap, checking to see if there was any permanent damage, checking to see if the shunt had been knocked out of place, checking for infection, and worse, for plant fungus. As it turns out, all I had was a hematoma and a laceration, but it was an exciting couple of weeks.
That was too close and personal an encounter with a flower, but we can never be too close and personal with God. I have had to learn that. The prevailing sentiment many years ago seemed to be that we did not want to do or say anything that might make someone apply a religious pejorative to us indicating belief in something other than correct Bible teaching about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Instead of saying, “I’m blessed,” instead of saying, “God took care of me,” indeed, instead of attributing anything to the providence of God, we said, “I’m lucky.” We wouldn’t want someone to get the wrong idea, would we?
Where did we come up with that? Read some of David’s psalms. He gave God the credit for everything. Read Hannah’s song, or Moses and Miriam’s after crossing the Red Sea. Since when don’t the people of God tell everyone what God has done for them?
Read some of Paul’s sermons. He does not seem a bit concerned that someone might use what he says to give credence to false teaching. “You know that idol you have out there?” he asks the Athenians, “the one to the Unknown God? Let me tell you about him.” He tells Felix, But this I confess to you that after the Way which they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers, Acts 24:14. It didn’t matter a bit what people called it, as long as he could talk about it. In fact, he used their misconceptions as opportunities to preach the Gospel.
Maybe that is my problem—I don’t want to talk about it. It makes me uncomfortable. It has nothing to do with whether someone gets the wrong idea about the Truth, but everything to do with me feeling ill at ease, or downright embarrassed. I don’t want to be called a religious fanatic and certainly not a “Holy Roller!” Yes, I want a close, personal relationship with God, as long as no one else knows about it.
But here is the deal: If I am too embarrassed by my relationship with God to even acknowledge it, then He won’t acknowledge me either, and I am the one with everything to lose.
Go out there today and say or do something that will make someone else curious enough to ask you a question. Then open your mouth and unashamedly tell them how wonderful an up close and personal relationship with your Creator and Savior really is.
Everyone therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in Heaven. But whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in Heaven, Matt 10:32,33.
Dene Ward
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