Lavender

 

I have been laying clay tile at church troweling bedding mud and filling in grout, so my hands have taken a beating.  My fingers feel like 40 grit sandpaper and crack at the corners of my fingernails.  I use cream or Working Hands salve, but I’m always looking for something better.  I heard that Lavender oil helps healing, and I have lavender oil from my soapmaking days, so I thought I’d give it a try.  The cap on the tiny bottle was stuck, and I had to use brute force to get it open.  And when I daubed the drip cap/applicator onto my finger, nothing came out.  The bottle was half full, so I knew that the problem was the little insert.  I daubed it a little more forcefully, but my finger hurt!  (Dumb idea.)  So I tapped it onto the kitchen counter.  Nothing came out.  Then I hit it a little harder.  Still clogged.  I finally gave it a serious hit onto the counter, and it worked! But, the little plastic insert popped out, and the entire bottle of lavender oil spilled onto the kitchen counter!  I grabbed nearby napkins, paper towel, and kitchen towels to sop it up.  Lavender oil was dripping over the cabinets and onto the floor, dripping into the dishwasher, running under the coffeemaker … basically christening the whole kitchen!  I got it all cleaned up, but an oily residue persisted for days. Just this morning, after 4 days, my kitchen still smells like a funeral home.  Hey, when folk are around you, do they detect the aura of Jesus Christ?  Without telling them that you are a Christian, do they just seem to detect something different about you?  John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  Hey, today, love one another.  Don’t smell like lavender in my kitchen; smell like Jesus.  So, how do you smell like Jesus?  Duh!  Read the verse again.  And again.  And again.

Ceiling Stain

 

In 1973 we had a leak in our little trailer.  Water came through the ceiling in the bathroom, and before I could patch the roof, we had a stain about the size of my hand on the ceiling.  So, I got a quart of white paint and painted the ceiling.  But in a week, the stain was back.  I painted it again, only to have it to reappear again.  The paint was water-based latex, so each time the stain bled through.  I had to get an oil-based primer to seal the stain and then paint the ceiling a fourth time.  Hey, the sins in our lives are like that stain.  We try and try to reform, but we just can’t.  We have a sin nature.  Only Jesus Christ can change our hearts and make us a new creature.  Isaiah said in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”  Only the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary’s cross can permanently cover the stain of our sins.  Only Jesus can redeem sinners and make us fit for heaven.  Thank you, Jesus, for your salvation and for our guaranteed home in heaven!

Shadows

 

Shadows are interesting.  I can use my hands to make a butterfly shadow.  I can make a dog’s head (with a moving lower lip) and an elephant head (with a moving trunk).  But none of them are real; they are just make-believe figures cast by a shadow.  A shadow is the image of an object, but not the real thing.  It can reveal the outline of the real image but fails to give very much substance of the real image.  The same is with creation.  Creation can reveal the power of God, but creation fails to show the person of God.  The intricacy of DNA and the complexity of the solar system reveal the depth of God’s wisdom, but only the Son of God, Jesus Christ the Creator, can show the grace of God.  The physical world is the shadow of God, but Jesus Christ came down to earth and became a man and revealed the complete image of God.  Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”  Our physical world points us to God, but only Jesus can save us from our sins.  And I am thankful for Jesus who has washed my sins away!

Jumbo Egg Twins

 

Saturday morning, I was excited!  No, I didn’t win the lottery, but almost.  I bought jumbo eggs Friday and fixed breakfast with them on Saturday morning.  And both of the eggs that I cracked into the frying pan were double yolks!  It’s like having two sets of twins!  But in the whole scheme of chicken eggs, it isn’t that rare.  When I buy jumbo eggs, many of them are double yolks.  But I felt very smug as I sat down to the table.  As you can tell, it doesn’t take much to make me happy.  A pretty boring life when double yolks make me happy.  Actually, there are more important reasons that I should be happy.  I Peter 4:13, “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”  What a wonderful day that will be when my Jesus I will see!