Search the Bible (Provided by Blue Letter Bible) Bible

Blue Letter Bible provides commentaries, dictionaries, and daily Bible readings in serveral different versions.

 

 

RSS Feed Icon

Want to read the latest from Tracy's blog?
Subscribe to her RSS feed and get the latest updates delivered straight to your home page or subscribe to her email feed to have it delivered to your inbox. You can also view older blog entries in the blog archive.

What Do "Corset" and "Covet" Have in Common?

Corset

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Deuteronomy 5:21

 

Past vogue fashions used corsets bound to women’s upper bodies to create the illusion of physical perfection.

Whalebone corsets often resulted in wearers fainting and feeling dizzy. The discomfort involved led to a shift in outlook, and the same can be true for pain today caused by the practice of coveting.

When we envy, or covet, what someone else has, we bind our minds to false impressions of what will bring us contentment.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we too had a sleek convertible? Why do our neighbors get new furniture when we have to make do with Auntie Alice’s floral sofa that sags in the middle? How come that co-worker got the promotion instead of us? If only we had…

This tightening of our hearts as we yearn for another’s property or prestige constricts our ability to enjoy the blessings that God already has bestowed. Each temptation to covet binds, and blinds, us from seeing the many gifts that God has put in our hands.

Did you get a hug today? Or see the sun shine?

Have you spent as much time today thanking God for the good things he’s already given as you do longing for something more?

(Corset image courtesy of VintageFeedsack)

Hope

…Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?

Romans 8:24

I like things I can see and touch, like the certainty of my dog’s soft fur and the butter-yellow daffodils outside my window. Technology, such as blogging on the Internet, stretches me because I must venture into the realm of the invisible.

How can we really talk, if I can’t watch your face for the subtle play of emotions? What do I miss by not hearing the tone of your voice?

In the small hometown where I grew up, my best friend and I rode bikes to each other’s house almost daily. We compared what each of our moms prepared for dinner, then made choices where to eat. Fried liver definitely indicated a departure to the other residence!

My friend and I often would climb an ancient oak, draped in Spanish moss, and lie on the broad branches staring up at a sunny sky, thinking about life and comparing notes about what we wanted to be when we grew up.

Today, we still dream about adventures to come. But now, idealism is tempered by the awareness of where God would lead and what he would have us do. Accomplishments have become less important than knowing the Lord’s presence and feeling connected to the wider family of humanity.

And as I stare at my computer this morning and struggle to find the right key to hit and post this blog (my first ever), I think about new friendships to be created in this brave new world of cyberspace. I imagine the joy we’ll find in being able to encourage each other and discover God’s plan.

For a neat song connection, watch the video below.

 

 

Francesca Battistelli tells the story behind her song “Free to Be Me,” when she performs in 2005. Her album My Paper Heart, which features this song, didn’t get released until 2010.

Keeping Clear Vision

A neon rainbow of purple, red, and orange outlined skyscrapers along the evening sky in New York City’s Times Square. I struggled to keep up with my son, who walked briskly toward a subway entrance. Huddled against the night’s cold, I felt like a turtle in my coat. Pulling up the hood, I focused on counting down blocks to when I could sit and rest. My ankle hurt, and the cheap gloves purchased at a street vendor’s stand did little to warm my fingers.

Passersby flowed up and down the median, while taxi horns blew a steady harmony for the footsteps. I followed the broad, square shoulders of my son who strode ahead, confident in the city he claimed as home for university sports. However, fatigue made me careless.

“Look out!” my son said. “Cars are coming.”
I almost had stepped into a multi-lane crossroad. Had it not been for my son’s quick thinking and strength that dark night when he pulled me back, incoming traffic would have hit me.

The infant whose tiny hand once fit into my palm had grown into the person who saved me. In the same way, Jesus began his ministry as a helpless baby in a manger, but Christ didn’t stay powerless. His love secured us from sin when he raised his hands on the cross.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  

Hebrews 12:2

 

 Prayer: Dear Jesus, please don’t let busyness or being tired make me blind spiritually. Help me see dangers, such as temptations and self-centeredness, trusting in your love to secure me.

Pages