Scripture Reading: Luke 13.1-9 Today's inspiration: print this out--take it with you today--fill in the blanks,

consider where you'd like to be. . . . . .

Good Morning.

One of my greatest joys in life is found in my calling. . . do you know what your calling is? (calling refers to your spiritual purpose) In the last six months, my calling has taken me in a new direction. I am a pastoral coach to an international company, and have the privilege of meeting with the two top guys weekly for Bible study and prayer. We also have a weekly conference call prayer meeting that is 30 minutes of divine joy! From my effort to send out daily biblical inspiration and instruction to them (and their people), the Morning Briefing was born. (Through word of mouth, the Morning Briefings have spread in readership throughout the world... thank you, God.) In the summer, we went through the book of James--so practical, so applicable--and now of course, we are more than halfway through the gospel of Luke. Recently, one of my clients mentioned that he was interested in 'the deeper things of God,' and finding out how to grow in those things. . . the comment implanted itself in my mind, and I began to ask God how to feed him ideas to uncover those deeper things. . . in today's passage, verses 1-5, Jesus gives us the first step toward the deeper things. REPENTANCE. Repentance means to turn away from that which is not pleasing to God--which of course requires a humility to look closely at what those things might be. It requires time. Time to be still, and let God search our hearts. Repentance. In these few short verses in Luke's travel narrative--on the road from Samaria to Jerusalem, Jesus imparts so much wisdom for us to apprehend and learn, and He does so, as they walk along the way. While today's culture tends to see Jesus as a man who did not engage in confrontation or judgment, that is certainly not the case. He calls us to repentance, lest we perish.

Trees symbolize life throughout Scripture. In the parable found in verses six through nine, Jesus tells of a non-fruit bearing fig tree--that is to say an unproductive tree. 'Cut it down!' is the cry of its owner to the groundskeeper, 'why should it take up space on my property any longer?!' The groundskeeper asks for one more year to tend the fig tree. . . a year in which he will fertilize it and care for it. Now, your policies about organics and the greening of the planet will determine the kind of fertilizer you use in your garden. . . and then you purchase that bag of product, apply it, and water it in. There were no Ortho products, no bags of cocoa hulls or mulch available in first century Palestine; so, when this groundskeeper refers to fertilizer he is talking about manure. 'Please, let me dig in manure, Sir--just wait.' Wait? Manure takes time. It is not a quick fix--has no immediate results. We aren't so good at waiting, are we? In some respects it is just quicker to cut off or tear down that which is bugging us rather than make the right application of manure and wait on God. Spiritual growth takes time; it doesn't happen over night. It is interesting to note that when it comes to doing something about what ails the human condition, Jesus is best known for His fondness for the minute, the invisible, the quiet, the slow--yeast, salt, seeds, light. Manure.*

Let me take you back to the people I am privileged to encourage and build up in the faith. It has taken time. . . desire. . . teachability. . . discipline to study God's Word. . . growth in knowledge about prayer, and then PRAYING! With another friend, we have looked at the ways she wanted to grow spiritually and set goals. Time. . . waiting on God. . . 'The greatest temptation of our time is impatience, it its full original meaning: refusal to wait, undergo, suffer.'^ Time. . . seeking God. . . manure> > > >growth.

How is your fig tree doing? Is your life producing any fruit? Here at year-end 2008, are you closer to God than you were in January? Do you know more about Him? ____ Where would you like to be in your 'walk' with Him?______________________________ Where do you feel you lack? ____________________________ Okay, then let's do some goal-setting, shall we? Then, we'll know the right kind of manure to apply.

"God's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you. He's gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right--everything. Those who wait around for Him are the lucky ones." Isaiah 30.18, The Message

Oh, 'and the subject line? Well, I've been called Pastor Woman by several, but then a friend added 'Barbie Doll' because of my prissy-ness. . . so today we have Pastor Woman Barbie Doll talking about the merits of manure. Don't you love the richness of the Word of God?

So that we may grow,

Christine

*I owe this insight to Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, from his new book, Tell It Slant, a conversation on the language of Jesus in His stories and prayers.

^from The Christian Future by Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, 1946.