Matthew 28:6,7 “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
Luke 24:34,35, 46-47 …saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread. …..46 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Faith is hope, and yet more, the belief, that something longed for is going to occur. For centuries the Jewish people believed they were the chosen people of God and they would be sent a Messiah who would save them. Many believed it would be a man who would lead them from oppression, or the rule of another people—Babylonians, Romans, and so forth. I am certain they never counted on a humble, intelligent, gentle, loving, soft-spoken man who was raised with a few siblings in a quiet town to a quiet carpenter and his wife in the city of Nazareth.
So ancient Jews followed rules, mandates, yes, the Ten Commandments, but SO MANY more directions while awaiting the Messiah.
And then He comes. 
Yet only a very few were aware of His arrival. His mother knew, the man, Joseph, who was presumed to be His biological father knew, and the wise men and shepherds who came to worship Him when they spotted the star.
He grew quietly, listening and learning in the temple until God said it was time to go forth. This humble man went to Jerusalem, and had His cousin, John the Baptist, perform a full immersion baptism in the Jordan and those present saw a dove come down and hover.
Yet, this quiet man had many followers. Folks yearned to be in His presence, to listen to His teachings. Yes, He healed many, yes, He listened, yes, He taught. There must have been such gentle love and acceptance in His eyes.
After all, many other men have gained big followings, but they spoke and encouraged rebellion mostly; men such as Hitler, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and many, many more. They stirred one up to seek freedom from oppression and encouraged war and violence, and yet had no tolerance for any other opinions. It was their way or the highway, if one was lucky. I am sure there were times when a man was cut down for voicing an opinion that differed.
But Jesus’ followers left family, jobs, and yearned to follow, to learn, to suck up whatever He offered. He was the living water and bread, and somehow, they knew that. Not that they would have proclaimed those sentiments, but He certainly did when He told the Samaritan woman if she drank from His well, she would never thirst again.
This quiet, humble man spoke quietly to others, and yet drew them to Him. I’ve seen some good speakers, and those who hold me interested, but these folks were enthralled enough to leave their responsibilities for more time with Jesus. Wouldn’t you love to sit there at His feet now, even for a few moments, amongst that huge crowd, and just listen, just feel the love, the power of that love, the forgiveness and beauty? I can close my eyes and imagine, but I would love to have that experience.
But I have faith. I know that I will spend time with Him in heaven, and sit by His feet, and suck up knowledge and answers to all my questions, silly or not. I am so glad I know Him and have the faith to know I will see Him. My sins have been forgiven, He is with me always, and there is no real waiting. My Messiah arrived years ago. He is risen and He lives.
He saved me. He opens my eyes and ears for ‘mybellaviews.’
Genesis 1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” So God created great sea creatures and every living things that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
I am so abundantly blessed. Not that I have a lot of wealth, but I have good health, have my senses, and appreciate them.
There are lovely smells – a cooking roast, cinnamon and apples, fresh fruit, roses, and so many things. And then I have my eyesight. Yes, I require corrective lenses for great vision, but then I get to admire the birds God has created, the other creatures I see at times—dolphins playing and surfing, an occasional whale, the brilliant flash of red as a male cardinal flits by, and today, the red and yellow detailing on the red winged blackbirds eating at the feeder. There are gorgeous mountains, lovely oceans, blue skies that turn orange and lavender while the sun sets, and blaze with pink and orange as the sun rises.
And moving on to taste. Hmm, I appreciate yummy food. Appreciate it way too much. There are certainly not many foods I don’t like be it salty, sweet, vegetables, meat, and pizza, fresh European breads, and so much more.
With all these senses I’m reminded how God has richly blessed my life; colors, nature, and more importantly wonderful friends and family. My life is rich. I am abundantly wealthy because I am so blessed.
Thank you God, for the blessings you’ve bestowed on ‘mybellaviews.’
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping things that creeps on the earth.
I think all people question why they are on earth, in this life. There must be more than going to school, getting a career, supporting ourselves or family members. Doing these things does bring about a certain amount of satisfaction for jobs well done, but people tend to feel like there is some other nebulous “more” there. It seems there’s an inherent, deep need to know what in the world our reason for being is.
Sometimes, a good teacher can recognize they are here to teach and reach people to strive for their best potential. A nurse or doctor can sometimes realize they have the gift of caring and can help in the recovery of an illness. But as honorable as any work that is done to the best of one’s ability, there’s a deep need in most of us to find “the more.”
I wonder why we all strive for that. I believe it is an inherent seed planted by God for us to seek Him. It must be a born, ingrained thing which surfaces as we age. Seemingly we each in my circle seem to have this need, desire.
We want deeper, more meaningful relationships and when those do not fully seem to satisfy the craving for that mysterious ‘more,’ we begin to look deeper. I believe this is a way God entices us to search for Him, to grasp Him to us. Throughout the Bible, it is clear He wants a relationship with us. We were the final aspect of His creation, He created us in His own image.
Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image. Genesis 1:26,27.
When He first placed Adam and Eve in that garden, He chatted with them, walked with them, and had a personal relationship with them. And through disobedience, humans (through the actions of Adam and Eve) severed those intimate ties.
Then we continued to live life within our own ideas, thoughts, desires and temptations. We chose waywardness almost every time we had a choice. Feeling that we were smarter than the creator, we tried marching to our own plans and desires. We supposed our way of doing things was so much more direct and pleasurable than God’s.
For several centuries, the Creator allowed us to stumble, breaking impossible “laws” constantly requiring us to need “sacrifices” to seek forgiveness.
Until, the Son, the Redeemer was sent to be the final sacrifice. He never succumbed to sin, and yet recognized it, lived among men and women who had and continued to sin even while he was with them. But He taught them through example, parables, and life that those sins could be forgiven and there was another way to live. . . . To love.
And for centuries, the teachings and prophecies written by many men, passed to them by God, and gathered into the Bible, have been shared and brought to peoples throughout the world. They, too, have felt the love and the forgiveness; the MORE we seem to seek. The desire seems to be fulfilled the closer and more intimate we get with our creator.
And many of these people have chosen to become better and closer to this source, this Creator who loves unconditionally and helps us to love others, serve others, and thus attain that ‘more’ purpose we seek.
The ‘more’ is to love and serve others, to teach and lead others to the Creator. That is how the desire for ‘more’ gets fulfilled. I know it has deepened mybellaviews.
1 Corinthians 8:3, 4 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. Therefore concerning the eating of thing offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
Exodus 20:2-5 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…
Idols can be so many different things.
I had always thought idols were wooden or man-made things that folks worshiped. Although we had a piece of art depicting the interpretation of Jesus, I didn’t worship there. I might have glanced up occasionally and whispered I was sorry ‘those folks’ had tortured him and hung him on a cross. Several years later, although still sorry for the pain and suffering Jesus endured, I was very glad he had. His death was my freedom from sin and therefore, my eternal death and suffering. 
In Leviticus, God warns about sacrificing children. Yet many have sacrificed children to the idol Molech, “gods” to those who do not know Christ. As the commandments say, “There is only one God, and there will be no other.”
But as I deepened my reading and knowledge of God, I began to realize we have a lot of idols we get lost in. There’s money, Facebook, cell phones (why is it when they hung on a wall in our homes, we never wondered who was calling us. We took care of it once we arrived home.), movies, games, clothing, shopping, sex, and the list goes on and on. There’s power, prestige, degrees, and titles. These are superficial; not that they may not mean something in some cultures, but still they are something others see as something desirable, enviable. We idolize them; they are idols.
Idols are anything that has our minds repeatedly going to that subject, and not savoring and learning more of God and His ways. We can’t learn and grow spiritually unless we have a relationship with Him. And yet, there are so many distractions in our present world of electronics, games, queries to Google or Siri, hobbies, and so it continues.
Idols interrupt our relationship and therefore impede our growth. And they lead us into sin because our minds are fooled into thinking that we are casually playing a game, checking in on Facebook, and spending way too much money shopping. We tend to fill voids in our life with these idols.
We separate a relationship with substitutions trying to make us feel filled. We feel slightly empty, and can never figure out totally why, until we find Him and get to know Him and grow in the words He teaches. And the void begins to fill and heal. Frequently, we are not aware we have a hole, and empty place, until we accept God’s invitation and begin to learn more of Him and His desires for our lives.
I am certainly guilty of having idols. I just found jigsaw puzzles on my phone. Whoopee! Great for killing time waiting for an apt, but I was finding I was spending more and more time. I was saying things like, “Just one more game, then I will…” That’s sinful. That’s idol worship. Once it dawned on me I was doing that, I stepped away. I purposely limit myself to 2 puzzles a day. I feel it challenges my mind while it offers an escape from some of my thoughts. It’s a few moments of pleasure. If I abuse the pastime, it turns into an idol, an addiction.
Idols are anything that we use to try to fill ourselves. We must be aware of these, and not over indulge. I’m glad I’m freer than I was last week with idols. I only want to worship Him, not games, shopping, Facebook, etc. It makes ‘mybellaviews’ complete.
Jeremiah 31:1 “At the same time,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. …. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…..
Song of Solomon 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
2017 was a year of many and varied reunions for me. It was lovely, and certainly made me wonder why I’ve let so many relationships not flourish. Relationships need attention to thrive, grow, deepen… and I let many of mine go.
Why was I so busy that I could not exert effort to see and be with? Yes, I know while raising my children and helping my family through several moves, they were priority. And the relationships I let lapse were folks who were also involved in their own lives. We get busy. I get that. But then it seems it gets easy to let things slide.
I remember reading the Clan and the Cave Bear series several years ago. Once a year these clans would travel a several days journey to meet up with other clans, friends, and family. They spent several days visiting and enjoying one another. But they put forth the effort with enthusiasm.
Yet I made no effort for the longest while. Especially when I was no longer working, why did I not reconnect then. My husband died 11 years ago, so I was free to travel and get re-acquainted. But I didn’t. What was I doing that was more important than maintaining relationships with friends and family? I don’t know.
But this year, through opportunities I grasped at the travel and loved reconnecting. It was a wonderful time seeing these folks and reliving memories, but was humbling and shaming to realize I had let so much important time pass before visiting with them again.
My first reconnection was going to Ireland and seeing cousins again. We had a wonderful trip, my sister and I, and it was great to share the trip with her.
In late September, one of my sons and I went to Pinehurst area in NC and met with a couple of friends we’d known and loved dearly while we were living in Germany. Except for Facebook, much of those relationships had waned. But one of the friends was traveling from New Zealand, and we met at the other’s home in middle of NC. We had such a lovely, laughing reunion.
My next big trip was to go to Vermont for a family reunion. I had not seen many of these cousins in twenty years. So much time had passed. I traveled from Vermont to Maine to see some friends I had not seen in forty years. Along the drive I kept wondering what had kept me from seeing all these important people sooner. After all, I know how short and sudden life can change or end. So what was my delay?
Bottom line is selfishness, I think. I was content doing whatever, and just kept on moving along that line and not varying. Stuck in my own kind of rut, actually. Yet, once I reconnected, I realized how important seeing these people were, how my heart lifted and was warmed, and have determined I won’t let so much time pass before the next time we are together. I may not be able to see them all yearly, but I will try to. Trips to Ireland may have to be every two years, but I am going back soon.
Relationships are too vital to let grow cold. I won’t do that again.
Thank You, thank You, God, for giving me the opportunities to renew time and memories with special folks who made such an impact in my life. This has been an endearing year seeing these wonderful people.
They are all woven into who has myhelped to develop me and ‘mybellaviews.’
Hi, I'm Kathy. Welcome to my website!