“For we are God’s Masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10
By Monica Cane

Three years ago my husband took me to Pets Mart to pick out a young parakeet for my birthday present. This was a huge deal because I had been bugging him about buying a bird for at least ten years with no luck. I can’t say the reason for the change of heart. Perhaps ten years of requesting the same thing wore him down or maybe his heart suddenly softened toward our fine feathered friends. Whatever the reason, my husband surprised me that year with the gift of a tiny yellow birdie which I named Lemon.

I made Lemon a nice home in a cage filled with bells, toys, ladders and treats and placed the cage in our living room, so he could be a part of our daily family noise which he seemed to enjoy judging by his birdie chirps.

Once when I was cleaning Lemon’s cage outside my husband called my name. When I turned to see what he wanted the bottom of the bird cage suddenly fell off. Instantly, Lemon flew up and over our house and landed in a tree in our backyard. Fortunately, I was able to climb the tree and rescue him and then made sure to put extra clips on the bottom of the cage so there wouldn’t be another birdie-jail break.

Overtime I noticed that Lemon wasn’t chirping quite as much as he once had and so I decided to give him a change of scenery. I placed his cage on a table next to flourishing herb plants and dwarf fruit trees in our patio and apparently being closer to a natural bird environment was exactly what Lemon needed. He was back to chirping, squawking and singing especially whenever he heard the free birds in the area chirping along as they flew by.

A few days ago, I began my usual routine of cleaning the bottom of Lemon’s cage outside while he watched from inside his cage on his perch. I sprayed a little water above him so he could take a bird bath but what I didn’t realize is that one of his cage doors had caught on a toy and been partially open the entire time he’d been sitting on the perch. As soon as the water touched his feathers Lemon flapped his wings and tumbled out of the open door.

He lopped in the air for only a brief moment as if unsure as to what happened and then quickly realized he was free. Immediately he flapped his wings with vigor, raised-up and allowed the wind carry him. This time Lemon didn’t head toward our backyard instead he flew above and beyond the houses next to us. It all happened so fast that before I could shout, “Lemon Wait!” He was gone.

I scoured the nearby area, made chirpy noises, put out seeds and turned on my water fountain in hopes of drawing Lemon back home. Realizing the odds of finding him, I mumbled, “Why did he have to fly away, God?”

Instantaneously a truthful thought was impressed upon my heart. Without my knowing the door had been opened to the cage the entire time I was cleaning it but Lemon didn’t realize that freedom was available to him. That’s a lot like us. We often sit on our own perch without a clue as to the freedom God has given us through His son, Jesus. (Galatians 5:1)

Once Lemon did realize he was free, he flew like he meant it. In fact, he flew the way God created him to fly.
I don’t know the outcome for Lemon but what I do know is that he flapped his wings and allowed the wind to lift him higher and in turn accomplished what God created him to do.

The same is true for us. As children of God, we must allow the wind of the Holy Spirit to take us to a higher place, to help us understand our purpose in God’s plan so that we too can spread our wings and fly the way God created us to do.

Sometimes our spiritual fruit falls off doesn’t it?
But Ezekial 47:12 reminds us that time spent with God refreshes our soul and He in turn causes our spiritual fruit to grow once again.

“Fruit trees of all kinds will grow. . . Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them.” – Ezekial 47:12

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him will bare much fruit.” – John 15:1

I have a peach tree in my front yard and last Spring the entire tree basically produced only two good peaches and they both splattered to the ground before I could ever taste them. Not knowing much about caring for fruit trees, I asked a friend who seemed to be the green-thumb-type what I should do to ensure the tree would produce more fruit this Spring. My friend explained that all the tree really needed was some regular fertilizing, watering and some extra TLC. And that’s exactly was I did from last Spring until now.

I was so excited when I noticed small peach buds beginning to cover the branches recently. Why just the other day, I went to my peach tree, gently touched the many budding peaches on the biggest and main branch of the tree and whispered in my tender-love and care voice, soon the peaches will ripen and I will make tons of peach pie. Then came the wind.

A day after having my brief but intimate conversation with my peach tree, a big gusty wind blew threw town and the next thing I knew, the biggest branch that held many smaller branches, covered with developing peaches broke off the from the tree and was completely damaged.

My heart sank. An entire years worth of extra TLC and the dream of making dozens of peach pies to share with others were gone with the wind. Seeing broken branches, torn bark and scattered green peach buds all over the driveway, I figured all hope was lost.

I was just about to give up on the idea of ever making delicious homemade pies from my own tree when I stopped at the base of the tree and looked up. There, way up high on smaller branches than the one that had broken off, I saw green peach buds. The higher I looked the more peaches I saw. I couldn’t believe!

Despite the main branch being broken off the tree was standing strong and producing much fruit at the top. Sure the tree was injured but it wasn’t stopping it from baring what it was meant to bare–peaches. I tried to count how many there were to figure out if my peach pie dream could continue but there were too many peach buds to count. Again, I whispered in my best TLC voice, but this time I said, Awe, thanks God.

As I wait for the peaches to ripen and my homemade pie baking-fest to being, I think of John 15:1 “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him will bare much fruit.”

When we make God our foundation, even when strong winds blow through our lives and toss us around, like my peach tree, we can still stand strong and bare much fruit because we are rooted in Jesus, our vine.

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. – Mathew 5:44

To love and pray for our enemies can seem like a pretty steep request, don’t you think? After all, when someone we love tramples on our heart or when we are betrayed by a so-called friend, our first reaction is not necessarily to love and pray for them. On the contrary we might feel more inclined to put on a pair of steel-toed boots and give our enemies a nice swift kick, hoping to knock some sense into them.

It’s taken some time but over the years I have come to understand and appreciate the spiritual principles of Mathew 5:44. God’s call for us to love and pray for an enemy in no way excuses the action or behavior that caused them to make it onto our enemy list to begin with. Instead, loving and praying for an enemy allows us to embrace the struggle, rise above it, release any bitter stronghold their wrongdoings may have had on us and begin to heal. It gives God the room He desires to deal with our enemies on our behalf.

Pray for Them

Recently while studying about growing in confidence and overcoming self-doubt, God brought something to my attention that surprised me. Intangible feelings like self-doubt, frustration, anxiety, insecurity and disappointment to name a few, belong on our enemy list as they are enemies of our soul. In fact, these emotional enemies are often a greater detriment to our well-being than any wrongdoing person our enemy list.

I had never looked at it that way but the more I considered this possibility and reflected on how various uncertain emotions have hindered my well-being at times, I realized it was true. To love and pray for our enemy does not just apply to hurtful people but it applies to the emotional enemies of our soul. Fortunately, God has given us the power to recognize and pray for these types of enemies.
For example, when intense feelings of insecurity rise up, it’s not that we are expected to love that feeling, but we can embrace the fact that the feeling of insecurity is present.

We can acknowledge that this emotion belongs on our enemy list and we can pray for that particular enemy with powerful words such as: I may feel insecure right now but “I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.” Romans 8:28.

When that familiar, unproductive feeling of self-doubt shows up we can confront it and pray: I may not believe in myself right now but this is just a feeling and feelings pass. I have no reason to doubt because, I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child. Ephesians 1:3-8.

Whether your enemies are hurtful people or negative emotions when you pray for your enemies, your obedience to God’s request will open the door for healing, breakthrough and a beautiful transformation. Now that’s a worthy request, don’t you think?

I love reading inspirational quotes. I consider them little nuggets of encouragement that make my day a little bit brighter. When I find one that causes me to laugh or smile, increases my confidence, or reminds me of a positive truth, I almost always have to share it with others. Whether I post it on FaceBook, Twitter, text or email, I just can’t seem to keep inspirational quotes to myself because I know somebody, somewhere will be encouraged when they read the quote just I was.

Because of my love for inspirational quote, recently when I came across a new app that said it would send inspiring quotes directly to my email every morning I couldn’t click, Sign me up fast enough.

Most of the quotes I have received so far have been pretty good at inspiring. They often encourage one to climb to new heights, believe in you and do the impossible. Who wouldn’t find inspiration in that?

However, last week I received a quote that didn’t inspire me at all. As a matter of fact for one brief moment I flinched, twitched and got that crazy look in my eye that I get sometimes when something doesn’t set right with me.

It was only six little words but it rubbed me all the wrong way. The quote, listed as coming from a Greek playwright Euripides (480 BC–406 BC) said, God helps him who strives hard.

When I read those words I had an instant flashback to all the striving I have done over the years. Whether it was as a child, a woman, mom, daughter, friend, employee or Christian, I spent countless hours “striving” for something along the lines of perfection. Quotes like stated by Euripides really made sense to me then. I believed God would help me be better and do better as long as I kept striving.

I am certain I would have spent my entire life striving if it wasn’t for God bringing a familiar scripture to my attention but in a different translation than I had read before. “Cease striving and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10 NASB.

For years I had read this scripture in the NIV translation which says it as, “Be still and know that I am God.” I always appreciated the verse and took it to mean that I needed to quiet my mind and trust God and so I strived to do so. But when I read the words, “Cease striving…” well that was downright shocking.

Cease Striving? But striving is what I do God, was my response to reading that translation.

Well do you want to know what the Almighty God of the universe, creator of heaven and earth spoke to my spirit in that moment, in that still small voice of His that is often missed when we’re too busy striving? God spoke to my heart and said, How’s that working out for you?

He got me there alright. All my striving over the years for some measure of perfection in one area of my life or the other hadn’t really worked out at all. Truth be told, most of the time, all it did was leave me exhausted. It wasn’t until I ceased striving so hard in my own efforts and simply chose to have faith in God and follow His way that things changed.

I know that our culture is bent on striving to be the best and do the best and when kept in proper perspective there’s nothing wrong with it. But if like Euripides you start to believe that God will only help you because of all your hard striving, then there’s a problem.

You want God’s help, you want His blessing? Then simply let your hands drop, let go, relax, cease striving and know that He is God and that He will take of you.
Now that and inspirational quote you can count on.