Close to thee

“Close to thee.”  That phrase came to mind one recent afternoon when I noticed two trees growing unusually close together.  A small tree--an offspring of the bigger one?--was snugged right next to the bigger tree. Why, I'll never know, but the sight reminded me of the hymn that begins:

Thou my everlasting portion,

More than friend or life to me;
All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Close to thee, close to Thee,
Close to thee, close to thee;
All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.

If hymns are part of your spiritual music fabric, you may recognize the lyrics as coming from the mind of blind Fanny Crosby (1820-1915). She’s generally credited with more than 800 hymn lyrics, many still well-known.

In this case, the music came before the words.  A Long Island, New York, man, a hat-maker by trade, was also a musician who composed Gospel music. When he came up with this tune, he invited Crosby to listen as he played it on the piano. Afterwards, she remarked, “That refrain said ‘Close to Thee, close to Thee, close to thee, close to Thee.” Then, with her remarkable memory and command of rhyme, she composed and dictated the hymn’s three verses, all of which have that refrain.

We’re apt to forget how much of a life story is reflected in a hymn or Gospel song. This song refers to a pilgrim journey, toil and suffering, and finally the “gate of life eternal.”  Fanny Crosby spoke from the heart of a pilgrim who knew hardship, blinded in childhood as a result of a doctor’s error.  One time a minister told her it was too bad God allowed her to be blind.  She quickly responded, “If I had been given a choice at birth, I would have asked to be blind...for when I get to heaven, the first face I will see will be the One who died for me.” 

 

From what I've read, Fanny Crosby lived "snugged up" to God. No wonder the words came to her so easily: "Close to thee."

 

Chill!

My now-adult children taught me a new vocabulary word, “chill,” implying cool it, let it go, leave me alone. My son’s housecat, “Rosebud,” expresses it better than anyone (or any critter) I know. She seems to consider it her royal privilege to take over the recliner and “chill,” despite the presence of two busy little boys, 18 months and three years, in the same room.

Oh, cats.

But I’m leaning that stopping to “chill” isn’t all that bad.  With the memory lapses of aging, I find myself writing a lot of “remember” or “do” lists. Those lists glare at me and point fingers as they say, “You can do this, don’t be slack!”  But even as I check off my tasks, underneath all that busyness rumbles concern for friends and loved ones troubled by family problems, illnesses, and disappointments.

But sometimes I get tired.  Out of steam.  I need to sit down in my favorite recliner, get those feet up, sip some water, and take a life break.  Do I continue to mull over those problems? Well, yes--until the Lord reminds me to “chill.”  Take a time-out, with Him, and in my nearby Bible.

One of my favorite psalms admonishes me:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him. (Psalm 37:7 NIV).
“Be still” is also translated “rest” in the King James and New American standard versions.  It’s an interesting word in the original Hebrew, daman, and used only one other place in the Bible, in Job 30:27.  There, it is paired with a negative so means “not rest.” Job is complaining about his circumstances and his unsympathetic friends, so much so that he can’t “be still.”  Here’s how "not"-daman (not rest) has been translated (along with possible digestive issues they imply):
“My bowels boiled, and rested not.” (KJV)  [The "trots"?]
“The churning inside me never stops.” (NIV) [IBS? Bloating?]
“I am seething within, and cannot relax.” (NASB) [GERD?]

When I watch Rosebud “chill,” she certainly isn’t worrying herself into an upset stomach.  Sometimes she’s purring, happy to have a place for a time-out, at least until a busy little guy interrupts her solitude. Then she's off to another quiet place rather than fret (or growl) over the problem. (Sometimes, that "other place" is her S-curved scratching post.) Interestingly, the phrase “do not fret” occurs three times in the first eight verses of Psalm 37.  I think God is trying to tell us something about how we approach life....maybe that sometimes we need to take a “chill” break--with Him--for perspective.

Paul's Think Tank: final instructions

Last of a series on Philippians 4:8.


An older neighbor who is battling renal failure and other
complications of diabetes gave us this orchid with a
note to "remember me by it." She gave specific
instructions of how to keep it blooming for years. I thought
this plant was the best way to finish illustrating
Paul's counsel to counter anxiety and worry  with thoughts of
God's love and wonderful future for believers!

When I was sick with pneumonia this spring, I was ready for any advice the doctor could give. He knew best: a powerful prescription and a strong cough syrup to better control my “cough-your-insides-out” hack. As I write this, a week after the worst of the illness, I’m grateful for the medical care available to me. As I’ve been thinking and writing about Philippians 4:8, I’ve come to see it as a “prescription” for the germs of anxiety and unbelief that can infect Christians and leave them miserable.

Paul knew the best medicine: to keep your eyes on Jesus. Paul suggested practicing this by rejoicing in all things, seeking to be gentle rather than troubled or harsh, and praying with thanksgiving. Then he added a second “medicine” for fear and anxiety: to get your eyes on the skies, thinking less about troubles and more about the praiseworthy attributes and works of God. And so the “think on” list--certainly not complete, but a good start for realigning our spiritual focus: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

In considering what this looks like in real-life, I quickly thought of someone who has every reason to complain. A teenage diving accident broke her neck, leaving Joni Eareckson Tada paralyzed from the neck down. Today she’s known as a best-selling author, respected mouth-artist, and active advocate for the disabled. But fifty years of paralysis has taken its toll, and she suffers with chronic and often excruciating pain. In an interview with Today’s Christian Woman (Nov. 21, 2015), Joni was asked what helps when she’s in pain and unable to do anything about it.  Her answer: she asks her caregivers to pray for her, and she sings or quotes a scripture over and over in her head. She especially likes hymns because the tunes stick in her mind and heart through the day. At the time of the interview, the second stanza to “Be Still My Soul” especially helped her “think on” the right things:

Be still, my soul, Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul, the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Not until Heaven will we know a perfect world. But that doesn’t diminish God’s power or trustworthiness when life’s problems leave us frustrated, fearful, or anxious. Swedish hymnist Lina Sandell Berg, who helplessly watched her pastor-father drown when he fell off a boat in a storm, knew what it was like to trust God in unimaginably difficult circumstances. In one of her better-known children’s hymns, she expressed the challenge we all face: to trust God in whatever comes:

Neither life nor death shall ever from the Lord his children server;
Unto them His grace He showeth, and their sorrows all He knoweth.

Reject anxiety. Think on these things.  Praise God for all that He is!

Think tank: "any praise"

The "flowers" of hydrangea are actually the "bracts" or stem ends. They
seem to explode with praise for their Creator!

A series on Philippians 4:8.
In her book Calm My Anxious Heart, Linda Dillow tells the story of a military wife whose romantic notions of living overseas were soon cloyed by the language barrier, loneliness, and everything strange about another culture. She was done, done, done—and ready to move home to Mama.  Then Mama faxed her just two lines:
Two women looked through prison bars;
One saw mud, the other saw stars. --(NavPress, 1998/2007, p. 29)
Through that little couplet, the wise Mama reminded her pouty daughter that we make choices about how to look at life, even when we feel imprisoned by our circumstances. The view out the window is either mud or stars…our choice.

I think that’s part of what Paul was getting at as he wound up his list about “things to think about” as antidotes to sinful anxiety and worry. When the “negs” nag on us, we can choose to turn from them and find things worthy of praise. 

The whole marvelous plan of salvation should be at the top of our lists of things “worthy of praise.”  We have a God who:

*will never leave us nor reject us.
*calls us His beloved.
*has a plan for our lives.
*helps, not hinders us.
*can transform disappointments to joy.

 “The older we get,” wrote Charles Stanley in How to Reach Your Full Potential For God (Nelson, 2009, p. 29), most of us can look back at our lives and see how God’s purposes have unfolded over time.  If you and I have chosen to obey and live in right relationship with Him, we can look back and say, ‘I have done things I never would have thought I was capable of doing or would do.  I have things that I have never thought I would have.  I have achieved things I never dreamed of achieving.'”

 

His comment made me think of Paul’s declaration, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  And where is that? In Philippians 4:13, just a few verses past his lengthy list of “think on these things.” For when we retune our minds to Christ’s thinking patterns, God has a slate on which to write amazing life stories.

Anything worthy of praise in your life?  Feel free to bless the rest of us with a comment in the reply section.

 

Next: final instructions.

Think tank: "virtue"

Rhododendron--a short-lived beauty in our climate, but oh! How amazing!

Returning to a series on Philippians 4:8.

We tend to clothe the word “virtue” in high-collared long dresses with lots of buttons and lace that a household of maids kept mended and ironed. Really, it’s not a Victorian thing that’s gone the way of suffocating corsets and other indignities of long-ago fashion.Virtue is very contemporary.  It’s a total expression of a godly lifestyle. Dwight L. Moody, the great 19^th century evangelist, once said, “A holy life will make the deepest impression.  Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine.” Biblical “virtue” is moral excellence. 

Virtue starts with our standing for Christ, and proceeds with His standing beside us. The first is salvation; the second is what some term “sanctification.”  It’s the growing process of becoming Christ-like in what we do and say. 

In his book How to Reach Your Full Potential for God (Nelson, 2009), Charles Stanley identifies that progression. He noted that research has determined that our minds process about 12,000 thoughts a day.  That’s 4.4 million thoughts a year.  We determine what thoughts will become action. As Christians we need to take charge of our thoughts and choose to dwell on those that honor Christ and His call on our life.  Stanley suggests:

*Thinking about what Christ has done for us by dying on the cross: forgiveness of sin, freedom from guilt and shame.
*Contemplating our future home with Him in Heaven.  That’s all and everything “virtuous” in one amazing package!
 

Besides these good and hopeful thoughts, Stanley warns against choosing dark, negative thoughts:

Impure, demeaning, angry, bitter, resentful, lustful, manipulative, and greedy thoughts are not part of who you are in Christ.  Don’t relive your hurtful experiences. Avoid bringing them up from your memory to chew on them again.  Ungodly thinking doesn’t fit the profile of a godly person, so turn off any ideas that could take root and lead you astray. (pp. 82-83)

If there be any virtue…we surely find it in the Bible’s composite of a godly woman, the “Virtuous Woman” of Proverbs 31. Busy lady! But the verse that always stands out to me is the one describing how her thought life and her mouth reflect virtue:

She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. (Proverbs 31:26)
This lady knew how to live honorably and weigh her words!  If there was any virtue, she thought on those things…then spoke golden words.

 Anyone up for a Proverbs 31 review?

 

Next: "any praise"