By Judy Villanueva

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could.”

I love words that make me smile and have some definite favorites!  “Nard”, for example.  Say it and see if you don’t smile!  Now I admit that it was this word that caught my attention today as I read Mark Chapter 14 but, as I slowed down my reading and drew near to the text, much more than an amusing word spoke to my heart.  “She has done a beautiful thing to me,”  I heard Jesus say as he chastised her critics and cherished the beautiful gift she gave him. “She did what she could.”  I tend to regard God as someone who doesn’t need my puny offerings but that notion is quickly corrected when I observe Jesus receiving and relishing the blessings of love —  like from the woman who gave one coin, the Centurion who offered great faith, or the woman who poured out a jar of nard to love Jesus.

Is it on your mind to love Jesus? 

This is the question that the woman with nard seems to ask me today.  The woman mentioned in this story planned to love her Lord.  She brought to Jesus the best that she had and poured it out over him.  Love filled her heart and she gave lavishly and extravagantly. “She did what she could.” 

Love does what it can!  It is active and thoughtful.

That Jesus finds our gifts of love beautiful is a wonder to me.  It makes me want to love God better and more and with all that I have.  How do you love Jesus?   I want to love God but sometimes find it difficult to locate my nard!  What is my best, most lavish gift?

I suspect that, like this woman,  I need my heart touched and filled up with Jesus. I need to hear His voice and receive His love.  I need to spend time in His presence, sit at His feet and look at His face.  I need to let him fill my heart until it bursts.

Then and only then can I love with my best because the love of Christ in us —IS the miracle — that makes us beautiful and fragrant offerings.  Nard!  (Did you just smile?)

“Father, help me to love you better and more and with all that I have. Thank you for your beautiful love.  Amen.”  

How about you?

Is it on your heart to love Jesus today?  

How do you love Jesus?  

Are you thoughtful and active in your love for God and others?

Have you received God’s love for you?  If so, dance in it!  If not, pray and open your arms to receive it.

Worship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lnUk074PiE

By Judy Villanueva

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
 Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
 Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord, for He is coming.  (Psalm 96:11-13)

But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, for You have been my stronghold and a refuge in the day of my distress.  (Psalm 59:16)

If ever there were a tree that could sing, it would definitely be the aspen tree!  When spring arrives it unfurls its leaves and, almost as if in worship, its heart-like leaves dance in the wind and quake in harmony with its piney neighbors. The sight and sound of it draw me into immediate and joyful praise!  What makes your soul sing with joy?  Think about it.  What fills your heart and spills over into spontaneous and grateful praise? Singing God’s praises rises up from the good within us.  According to CS Lewis, praise is “inner health made audible.”  He also said:  “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.”

As I read these Psalms I notice that the “singer” not only determines that his soul shall sing, but also works to inspire his soul by cultivating gratitude and joy over God’s victories, strength, and bountiful provision!  Once again, we bump into the spiritual practice of  living awake and aware.  If we do not notice God’s activity in our days or His lovingkindness throughout our lives, if we do not work to inspire our souls with the wonders of God around us, how we will ever be moved to sing?

If hurry and worry usurp all of our attention, we may find our hands full, our minds troubled, and our souls void of joyful melodies.

How does your life sing to God? Does it?  Aspens need simply be the trees that God designed them to be in order to catch the wind and quake a happy tune. Our challenge, as Christians, is to be willing to be the individuals God created us to be and avail ourselves to being filled with the breath of His Spirit.  We don’t need to be a spruce or maple or  — just ourselves given to God.  

It is not our perfections that inspire us to sing but rather, awakening to the Holy that gives birth to song.

We were made for singing!   Start with a prayer and ask God to help you wake up and notice His goodness around you.  Then, take a deep breath…and tell your soul to sing!

“Lord, help me to sing!  I want to notice your love in this day and tomorrow, too!  Let joy and gratitude rise up and jump into a song that praises your name.   Amen.”

What about you?

What inspires your soul to sing?

Are you learning to notice and enjoy God ?

How does your life sing to God?   In other words, how do you express joy and appreciation for the gifts of life around you?

“Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord, for He is coming.”

Worship

By Judy Villanueva

Psalm 33:3-5

Sing to Him a new song;  play skillfully, and shout for joy.  For the word of the Lord is right and true;  he is faithful in all he does.  The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.  By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

Stumbling out of bed, I find my feet on autopilot heading toward the coffee maker.  It is 5:00 am and what is normally a pitch black landscape is lit up by a full moon. The pines cast their long moon shadows, winter aspens lift their branches and the ground covered in snow catches the moonlight and lifts it back up again!  Cup in hand, I can’t help but stand at the window mesmerized, drawn into the beauty of this quiet morning worship.

It looks like all of creation is standing at attention as the moon sings over it with light!

All of a sudden, I become aware of a gift being offered me, a deposit from Heaven.  I wish I could press “pause” on this moment and soak it up for hours but instead, as best I can, I join the worship!  “In this new day, Lord, help me to catch Your light and lift it back up again. Help me to sing you a new song.”

I wake up every New Years morning with great hope and energy for new things!  The day seems marked with fresh opportunities, brand new chances to be new, think new, do new! NEW!  And, somewhere buried in all the notions of new is hope, waiting to be unearthed.  For most of us, each year is made up of the best and worst, the good and the bad, the life-giving and the life-depleting experiences. We’ve probably made many stellar choices and some, not so good. By years end, our hopes have likely been tossed about and may be lying on the floor bruised and unconscious.

And, there they might stay, if it wasn’t for our God who breathes out stars and makes new days with moonlight and songs!

Have your songs become old and drained of hope?  Look up from your life to God!  He is faithful in all He does, His word is true, and His love, unfailing!  He is the One who was and is and always will be — In Him all things are made new!  As I sit writing these words, the sun is lifting its light on the eastern horizon even as the moonlight lingers in the west, perfectly choreographed — as if they do it every day!  And, I stand in between, a happy witness to Light renewing hope and filling my heart with a new songs!

“Thank you for this morning, Lord, for the moonlight and quiet worship that help me find Your face. In this new day, Father, help me to catch Your light and lift it back up again. Amen.”

What about you?

What might your new song be this year?

Do you have some worn out hopes that you need God to resuscitate?

Do you know that God’s love is unfailing and His heart always faithful?

Worship

By Judy Villanueva

I have come that you might have life, life to the full.” (John 10:10)

Standing next to the stone border that marked safe footing, my little grand daughter and I peered into an abyss of clouds that shrouded the incredible masterpiece.  So close, we eagerly strained to see what the wind and water had carved over the millennia. Staring down into the greyish lavender veil, we could see a depth of red, burnt orange and deep blues breaking through. All of a sudden, I heard the precious girl next to me gasp as the Grand Canyon opened up before her!  She could not help but smile, stretch out her arms and jump up and down. It is one thing to read about a wonder and quite a different experience to stand in front of it and feel its power surround you. Watching her delight and utter amazement blessed me.  She didn’t try to understand it, she simply received the gift it offered and danced!

There is something about these kinds of experiences that splash us with glory and offer us a gulp of life to the full.

For many years I understood “fullness of life” to refer to a life lived “happily ever after”— no worries, no pain, and a picket white fence!  When suffering did arrive, I didn’t know how to make sense of it and, even more troubling, I didn’t know how to make sense of God. I think part of the problem was with my expectations of God, what He should do and how He should do it.  I tend to forget that He is always up to something far beyond anything I could ever imagine, like Grand Canyons and massive rock walls layered in color and, little girls who remind me how to dance before beauty!  When I stop trying to control God and simply stretch out my arms in faith, I find myself at peace and open to receive the gifts God offers me, in all their unexpected packaging!

When Jesus said he came that we might have life to the full, did he really mean He came that we might have God?   

Are Grand Canyon moments designed to take our breath away and help us stumble over the One who IS our fullness?

It would explain why we discover hidden in beautiful canyons, great music, tasty bites, and blessed friendships, a shalom* that fills us fuller than full!   We drove hours and hours to get to the edge of this indescribable wonder, and when it opened up before us, God spoke! To a little girl He said, “I am here, deep and wide and beautiful!  Let’s dance!” To me, her Nana, He said, “I AM fullness of life! Behold, bow, stretch out your arms and be filled!” And, as I stood in silent awe, I heard, or did I imagine Him whisper,  “And, daughter, you are not too old to dance!”

“Thank you, Father God, that you came to give me life to the full! Help me follow beauty to your throne room, delight to your face and trials to your arms. For the Grand Canyon and all the ways you announce who you are, I am so grateful!  Fill me up! Amen.”

What about you?

Have you tasted life to the full?

What moments have you experienced that usher you into that deep place of shalom?

Does wanting to control God interfere with receiving the gifts of life that each day offers you?

When was the last time you danced before beauty?  Stretch out your arms!

*“Shalom” – completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord.” (Strongs Concordance)

Worship

By Judy Villanueva

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1)

A gentle breeze blew quietly through our room gracing us with relief from the heat that had kept us up most of the night. I’m sure I had a smile on my face as I enjoyed the goodness of REM sleep only to be nudged awake at 5:00am by my husband. “I really want to watch the sunrise on the Grand Tetons and maybe see a moose and hear the Elk bugle! Let’s get up!” It was as though he cared nothing about sleep and could only imagine the wonder that awaited us. I replied groggily, “I think we are two hours away from sunrise, honey…won’t the sun come up again tomorrow?”

Dozens of tri-pods, Nikons and iphones showed up in the dark to watch and wait for light and an opportunity to catch beauty! The beholding of beauty never seems to suffice and I always find myself wanting just one more shooting star, lightning bolt or minute in the presence of majesty.

There is something about beauty that lets us touch the glory of God and the feel of it makes us want to catch it and take it home in our pockets!

It’s hard to put into words but it’s one thing to read about the glory of God and quite another to feel pulled into the middle of it by a sunrise, moose or mountain face!

I can’t tell you how many fellow “beauty catchers” stood with us in the cold predawn hours or how many pictures I took of one mountain! I didn’t want to leave and couldn’t get enough of what felt like God’s manifest presence, breathtaking and beautiful!  Is it the glory we were made for that compels us to linger before beauty?  

And, when I’m trying to catch it am I really trying to catch God, to touch the hem of his garment?

As the light finally lifted up over the horizon and ran across the water to celebrate against the mountain face, I found that I did, too! I could feel the declaration of Divine splendor and realized that there in the middle of it all was my God loving me…just waiting to be caught!

“Father, your creation is magnificent! I know when I’m trying to catch beauty I’m really trying to catch you! Thank you for making me for your glory and helping me find it. Amen.”

What about you?

How does the experience of beauty make you feel?

Do you recognize that feeling of not wanting an experience of beauty to end?

Where did you last experience the glory of God?

We were made for His glory….linger in it and let God love you there.

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Worship!

By Judy Villanueva

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I couldn’t have been more than seven years old when I first noticed these words inscribed across the altar at church.  They seemed to jump out at me every Sunday as if teasing me to unwrap their meaning.  As a child, I imagined that coming to God and taking His “easy” yoke meant that my life would be carefree and full of laughter and love.  Indeed, it has been this but, not only this.  Life tends to pulse with both joys and sorrows and unwrapping Truth happens in layers, doesn’t it?

We plumb for its richness as we trust and agree to come, even when can’t see where we are going.

As this year comes to a close I find myself weary and particularly grateful for Jesus’ invitation to “Come”.  He knows that carrying heavy burdens weighs us down and bids us trade our wearisome loads for His yoke that is easy and light.  To be yoked is to be bound to a burden that must then be dragged around, much like an ox tied to an iron plow. But, think of it!

To be bound to Jesus is to be tethered to God!

It is to agree to submit to and learn from the One who is gentle and humble in heart.  It is to consent to trade our burdens for the one Jesus offers.  At first glance, this passage appeals to our need of rest, but a second look reveals a layer of love that invites us to soul-shaping surrender and the discovery of Zoe life, “the God-kind of life” !

The One who came… calls us to come!

Come to the One who came for you!  Come rest in His love.  Come learn from His humble heart. Come lean on Him every day and in everything! Let Him help you hold your life and unwrap the power of His Word for each day.  He knows how to carry heavy loads and can help us find rest for our weary souls.  I want to trade my yoke of worry for His yoke of peace.  I want to learn how to live well by being tethered to the One who loves me, who knows what it is to be weary and who paid a dear price for my rest.

“Jesus, thank you for reaching out to me when I was young and for helping me find my way to You. Help me to come to you today with all that burdens me and trust You. Thank you for being my place of rest. Amen.”

What about you?

Are you weary from carrying heavy burdens?  What are you dragging around?

Have you heard Jesus call you to come?  Are you in need of His rest?

Are you ready to trade your burdens for His yoke of love?

Listen for His voice that calls you to come.  God cares that you are weary and in need of rest.

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Worship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPlDKuCM79Q