The Fifth Basket

The year 2020 will likely go down in history as one of the strangest years ever recorded. Ask anyone over the age of seven what he or she thinks about 2020 and, chances are, the report or description offered will not accentuate the positives. Why not? Well, simply because it doesn’t seem like there are that many positives to accentuate.

It seems like every positive thing in the world has either changed, stopped, been postponed or simply discarded. People are now facing so many more issues, most of which are either government initiated or society driven, and each issue has multiple sides to be taken. Arguments, anger, hatred, distrust and myriad of other hurtful and harmful occurrences are overtaking the minds and hearts of human beings everywhere.  People who were once friends are no longer speaking because they stand of different sides of political issues. Fear is causing people to act out against others who do not see situations the same way they do, thus tearing apart friendships that, to this point, have stood the test of tyme. Not to mention, random strangers are harming random strangers just because they look different or have a different opinion on a topic. Yes, if you ask anyone about the number of positives there are to accentuate in 2020, chances are, the number they offer will be considerably less than had you asked in 2019.

So, where are the positives and how do we get them back? Is there still hope or has the ‘new normal’ of 2020 completely depleted the all reserves of optimism that ever existed? Okay, yes, that seems to be a rather negative outlook, but the way the year is going, it stands to reason that many are wondering that very thing.

Several weeks ago…or has it been months? That’s another aspect of 2020 that makes it strange; tyme goes by so fast and yet seems to take forever, but I digress. I’ll just describe it as ‘a while back’. A while back, my mother got five beautiful hanging baskets filled with Petunias and Verbena to use in decorating outside of our church. Well, with 2020 being 2020 and all, we are not having church at the church building, but rather outside at the community center so we can all be socially distant. [Insert personal opinion/comment here]. Still, as head of the beautification committee, my mother wanted the church building to look nice, so she hung the baskets, knowing she would have to drive the few miles to church every other evening to water and care for the flowers.

Have I mentioned that 2020 has had less than positive effects on people? Well, suffice it to type that my mother fell victim to the tyme and mental warp that is 2020. She forgot to water the flowers. After several scorching hot days and no water, the baskets that had been lusciously filled with green, pink and purple were now filled with nothing but brown.  One day, one of the church’s trustees stopped by to check on the building and noticed the lifeless baskets. Though it seemed pointless, the trustee watered them and then informed my mother of their dismal status. My mother was heartbroken by her lapse in memory and, after several days, basically gave up on the idea that the flowers would revive. The trustee however did not give up so easily and continued to water the brown, shriveled vines that once bloomed so profusely.

Days passed. Then a week, then two, but there were no signs to offer hope of any recovery…except in one basket. For whatever reason, there was one basket that seemed to be bouncing back. First with green, then with a small bloom, so the trustee kept watering and checking. The trustee told me of the progress and I told my mother, but my mother had given up on the idea of any real recovery. Finally one day, I suggested that my mom bring the baskets home to make it easier to keep an eye on them. She was reluctant, what with the loss of hope and all, but the baskets ended up at her house where she could see them and remember to tend to them.

It's been several weeks since the relocation of the baskets and I am happy to write that all five baskets are green and again blooming profusely with beautiful and vibrant Verbena. Only one basket however revived with both Verbena and Petunias…the fifth basket.

My mother has since tended to the flowers, removing the petunia vines from the first four baskets, but every tyme I see that fifth basket, filled with Verbena AND Petunias, it gives me hope and reminds me triple fold to never give up. You see, not only did the plants in that fifth basket fight the scorching heat to survive, but the trustee who found them fighting fought for them. Both plant and trustee refused to give up hope of survival and that is two folds of my reminder.  So, what is the third fold? Well, it’s the hope the Trustee had in regard to the other four baskets. The trustee could have looked at the four totally brown baskets and decided there was no point in watering them because they looked as though they had no hope of surviving, but instead, the trustee looked at the hope in the fifth basket and gave that hope to the other four.

You see, in this strange existence that is 2020 (and really, that is every day of life no matter the year), we all have the power to be like the Trustee and focus on the hope we see in each day and then share that hope with others around us. Yes, life is tough and it can be hard to find many positives to accentuate, but like in the case of the Trustee and the fifth basket, all it takes is one to give hope to many.

So, what is your fifth basket?  Where do you focus when you need to find hope that things will get better? Where do you look when you need to find hope that people will stop letting politics ruin their friendships … or hope that fear will cease and stop causing friends to lash out at each other … or hope that strangers will stop harming each other for their differences?

For me that fifth basket, that One Hope, is Jesus Christ. Jesus, The One and only Son of God has already overcome every trouble, problem and evil in this world. He is a constant source of hope in the bleakness that seems to be around us. Like the fifth basket, Jesus is The Hope when there seems to be no other hope around, but unlike that fifth basket, we never have to wonder if Jesus will pull us through. His Hope, His love and His wisdom will never fade or make us question anything. He is there to help us through each day and give us the strength we need to help others have hope.

The bottom line is, life isn’t easy. Troubles occur. We forget to water. The heat scorches. There are tymes that hope seems to evade us on a daily basis, but we all have the power to be a Trustee and focus our hearts and minds on the Fifth Basket and let that Hope be the positive we accentuate and the 2020 vision we share.   

 -L.D.Kirklin-

The Fifth Basket

My Hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name

When darkness hides His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way 
He then is all my hope and stay

When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh, may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne

On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand - Edward Mote-

Truly Important

I was sitting at my desk on this not so easy day. My burdens weighing so heavy on me that my heart was starting to pound and my thoughts about myself were not very good ones. I couldn't take anymore and I began to cry. As I laid my head down on my desk and let the tears begin to flow, I said allowed to myself, "I'm drowning and no one seems to notice or care". Then, just as the painful thought left my mouth, I heard the sound of a church bell. It was coming from my phone.
Recently I had downloaded a new Bible app to my phone and it sends a verse of the day...but never at 11:00. I opened the app and there was a verse:
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor. The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6
As I read the Inspiration that goes with the daily verse, it talked about heavy responsibility and burdens and how hard those can be in life. However, it went on to talk about how Jesus already shouldered the burden of sin and lifted that from us. Then it said;

"Never forget, never lose perspective or be ungrateful for the gift of life and salvation given to us by Him, for that is what is truly important."
Yes, burdens of life can be tough. We can feel forgotten, lost, cast aside, different, disconnected and unimportant. We can have money troubles, relationship troubles, work troubles. We can feel like we are at our wits end and nothing will ever get better or go right for us. We can feel the burdens of those around us. We can feel helpless, clueless and just less than we are. Burdens are tough, but thankfully God is tougher.
It's easy to let the burdens of life blur the blessings of life. It's easy to focus on what we don't have rather than what we do. It's easy to see what's wrong rather than look for what's right. The thing of it is, easy usually isn't best. It's the things worth working for that are worth having. The effort makes us appreciative and we'll want to keep and take care of that for which we worked.
So, we need to work hard to see the blessing not the burden. We need to work hard to see what we have instead of what we don't. We need to work hard to see what's right instead of what's wrong, because hard work offers purpose and purpose produces gratefulness and heart filled with gratefulness -and Jesus- will remember what is truly important in life.
Was that random verse of the day a message from God? Does God do that? I don't really know. All I know is that it came to me in a moment that I truly needed it. When I said allowed, "No one seems to care"...God showed me that He does and reminded me to ...

"Never forget, never lose perspective or be ungrateful for the gift of life and salvation given to us by Him, for that is what is truly important."

Leap Day

Practically everyone knows that Leap Day comes around every four years.  I write 'practically everyone' because there are those select few who fail to pay attention to such things as Leap Day and Daylight Savings and end up early or late depending on the overlooked event. Most people however are prepared when Leap Day comes around. 

Leap Day is some creative person's solution - many credit Roman Emperor Julius Caesar - to calculating the earth's revolution around the Sun. So, bear with me here, it takes approximately 365.25 days for the earth to revolve around the sun. That .25 adds up to one day every four years. Of course, that is among the simplest of explanations used to explain why February has 29 days every four years.

So why is Leap Day so important? Well, it basically comes down to this; if we didn't have a Leap Day every four years, then basically over a 100 year span we would lose around 24 days, which means eventually Winter would be in the Summer and Spring would be in the Fall. I don't know about you, but where I live, snow in July and colored leaves in March would be very strange sites to behold.

I guess because it does happen only every four years, Leap Day can be rather exciting to some - especially those born on February 29th - and certainly a topic of conversation as the day approaches. Recently, I signed up for a new Bible app and shortly after doing so I received an e-mail from the App asking, "What are you going to do with your extra day?", referring to February 29th which was quickly approaching.  At first I thought to answer the question, not for them, but rather for my internal reflection. However, as I tried to come up with an answer, it occurred to me that February 29th was not an extra day for me, at least not in God's eyes - and really, what better eyes are there?

The fact of the matter is, God has each day numbered for us and for the world. Now, I don't mean that to seem morbid or gloomy, but the concept is true. Just because we humans add an extra day to the calendar, doesn't mean that God added an extra day to our lives. Leap Day was factored in to the lifespan of everyone alive today. So perhaps the question the app should be asking is, "What are you going to do with your today"?

Today is the perfect day to ask Christ Jesus into your heart if you haven't already. If you have, today is the perfect day to start talking to Him if you've been silent for a while. Today is the perfect day to ask forgiveness of your sins and lay your burden at the foot of the Cross. Today is the perfect day to start exercising like you've been talking about doing or mending emotional fences if they are in disrepair.   Today is the perfect day to live your life instead of putting off the things your need or want to do - providing the want to is in accordance with God's will for your life.

In truth, I think Leap Day is aptly named, not because it is an extra day or because of the leap it makes to keep the seasons in check, but because it is a reminder that we should Leap for Joy over the blessing of another day in God's calendar of our lives. We should Leap for Joy over the blessings of family and friends in our lives, because life is short and spending it doing anything but living in the happiness God has for us (Psalm 146:5 / Proverbs 16:20) is foolish and gives the enemy a mighty foothold ... and really no one can leap when his or her foot is being held down. 

So, what did you do with the blessing of your today?  If you're blessed with one, what will you do with your tomorrow?  Life is short dear friends, let's Love, Live and Leap in Praise to God above!