“And I raised my voice to the air
And we were blessed
It’s hard to give
It’s hard to get
It’s hard to live still I think it’s the best bet
It’s hard to give and I’m never gonna forget
But everybody needs a little forgiveness
Everybody needs a little forgiveness”

I’m a stickler for quality music when it comes to my daily afternoon commute. I’m not one to turn on the radio and let some random DJ pick my songs for me. I’d rather put a little bit of thought into it to make the long trek less taxing.

Lately, I’ve been on a Patty Griffin kick. Starting with her debut album, I’m working my way through her musical catalogue. There have been some heavenly days lately, I can tell you.

She’s the real deal as an artist. Not many can sing well and write great songs. That’s a rare combination. She does both fantasically.

I love songs that paint pictures in my mind, and her songs do that. So the Patty Griffin-a-thon will continue in my Jeep for the foreseeable future. I think that’s a very good thing.

I’ve been learning about a Hebrew word, hesed (or chesed, as it’s also spelled). It’s translated 169 different ways in the Bible, most often as “steadfast love” and “lovingkindness.” Basically, the definition that I like the best is “when someone from whom you deserve and expect nothing gives you everything.”

I’ve also been seeing a lot of professing believers lately talking about karma, always in the context of other people who really deserve it. No one ever speaks of getting it for themselves.

I’m with Bono on this one. I don’t want karma for anybody else because I know I wouldn’t want it for myself. I’d be in deep doo doo if I got karma for all the dumb mistakes and poor choices I’ve made. I’d be up a certain creek without any paddles if I got my so-called just desserts over all the crap I’ve said and done.

If I get the choice, I choose hesed. My only hope in this life is not getting what I deserve but getting what I don’t deserve instead. I covet God’s lovingkindness and mercy because I daily and increasingly see my need of it.

So, karma is that you get what you deserve. Hesed says you get what you never in a million years could hope to deserve (and is the opposite of what you should probably get if you had karma coming to you) and you get what God delights in Jesus to give you.

I’m praying for hesed for me and for you.

“After breakfast, Yeshua said to Shim‘on Kefa, “Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan, do you love me more than these?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I’m your friend.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I’m your friend.” He said to him, “Shepherd my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan, are you my friend?” Shim‘on was hurt that he questioned him a third time: “Are you my friend?” So he replied, “Lord, you know everything! You know I’m your friend!” Yeshua said to him, “Feed my sheep! Yes, indeed! I tell you, when you were younger, you put on your clothes and went where you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” He said this to indicate the kind of death by which Kefa would bring glory to God. Then Yeshua said to him, “Follow me!”” (Yochanan (Jhn)‬ ‭21:15-19‬ ‭CJB‬‬)

From time to time, I like to try out different Bible translations. My phone has a Bible app called YouVersion, which has several, including one called the Complete Jewish Bible. It definitely gives a different nuance to the familiar passages, like the one above.

I really like how it distinguishes between the two different Greek words for love in the passage. Jesus asks, “Peter, do you AGAPE me?” and Peter replies, “Lord, you know I PHILEO you.”

Here, Peter’s response is rendered as “you know I’m your friend.”

What I love most about this take on these verses is how Jesus meets Peter where he is. The third time, Jesus asks Peter, “Are you my friend?”

That’s what I love about Jesus. He meets you where you are. He doesn’t demand that your love be pure and your faith be faultless. He simply wants you as you are, faults and blemishes and shameful past included.

His command to us is the same as it was to Peter: “Follow me.” It’s in the obedience and in the following that we learn to move from phileo love to agape love.

The basis of all human love starts with God’s love. We only love at all because God in Jesus first loved us and demonstrated that love fully for us.

I started out with good intentions. My aim was to browse my facebook memories and find inspiration for a good post.

Instead I find myself laughing out loud at a picture of a cat dressed in a sock.

It’s like when you go to youtube to watch ONE video and end up TWO hours later watching tutorials on how to potty train your hedgehog.

Yep. Needless to say, I haven’t gotten very far.

I did find something useful that might or might not speak to you today.

Here it is, just in case.

“The True God who inhabits sacred space
    is a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows.
He makes a home for those who are alone.
    He frees the prisoners and leads them to prosper” (Psalm 68:5-6, The Voice).

It is Mother’s Day, so I salute all of the mothers and grandmothers out there reading this right now.

I also want to acknowledge that this isn’t an easy time for many women out there.

Some women have lost their mothers and are still grieving their memories.

Some women have lost children and to them this is a day filled with sadness.

Some women have tried and tried unsuccessfully to have children and are unable and sit with a silent but overwhelming despair.

Some have complicated and difficult relationships with their mothers or children, and today of all days may be the day they feel as though they are a failure for not having done enough.

The church should be a safe haven for all of the above, for all women in all walks of life. We should never make anyone feel “less than” for not having checked off the prerequisite boxes for getting married and having a carload of children.

Most of all, today should be a reminder that God is not only a Father but also loves us with a tender motherly kind of love, like a hen gathering her little chicks under her wings. You, whoever you are and wherever you are and in whatever stage of life you’re in, have intrinsic value as a daughter or son of God.

That above all else– husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister– is our core identity in Christ and purpose in this world.

I saw this today. It’s true. Most of the time you won’t have time for what matters unless you make time for it. And you will always make time for what (and who) really matters to you.

I also like another related saying I heard. “Stop the glorification of busy.” That’s true. You don’t need to be overwhelmed all the time if you quit bowing to the tyranny of the urgent, find out what is most important, and go do that.

Maybe this is a wakeup call for most of us (including me) to reach out to the people we’ve been “too busy” to contact lately. Now’s as good a time as any to start.

To give some context, I admit that my first cat Lucy was not a fan of the belly rub. Or touching of the belly in any way. There could be scratching and biting if I so much as went near her belly floof.

Peanut loves her some belly rubs. She rolls over and practically begs for them. She closes her eyes in a kind of ecstatic trance and seems to be in feline heaven.

I don’t know how many cats are belly rub fans. I’m sure it’s not in the majority. You have to win a cat’s trust and he or she has to feel secure enough in your presence to show her vulnerable side (both figuratively and literally).

So when your belly rub request is accepted, it’s a big deal.

Peanut also likes head rubs. As do I, from time to time.

“Repentance:  To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something you do as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ than to the future and saying, ‘Wow!'” (Frederick Buechner)

I think that’s as good a definition of the word repentance as I’ve ever seen.

I also like repentance being a change of mind that leads to a change of heart that leads to a change of behavior.

Through the many varied sermons and lectures and talks that I’ve heard, I’ve come to understand that to repent is more than to feel sorry for what you did. You can do that and keep repeating the same old sin.

It’s more than to stop doing something bad and harmful and wrong. You can do that and replace one bad habit or addiction with another bad habit or addiction.

It’s about going in one direction, doing a 180, then going in the complete opposite direction. You cease doing wrong and replace it by cultivating a healthy and good habit instead.

I’m sure there’s a lot more to the word. Probably someone who’s more educated in biblical languages and ancient culture could probably find lots more nuances and shades of meaning in the word.

Here’s another good definition: “Repentance means you change your mind so deeply that it changes you” (Bruce Wilkinson).

Lord, help me “to have the power of patience and the wisdom of calm.”

That goes against everything that this culture applauds. We celebrate being in a hurry and being busy. As I read somewhere, we need to stop the glorification of busyness.

Being busy doesn’t always equate being more productive. Being in a hurry doesn’t always mean being more efficient.

Sometimes, it’s good to slow down, to learn what it means to wait expectantly on God, and to learn the wisdom of calm.

Jesus took time every day to be alone with God, in spite of overwhelming crowds that hounded His every footstep. He made solitude and quiet a priority.

Who are we then to surrender to the tyranny of the urgent and never make time for what matters most or to ever give ourselves margins in which to breathe, to be still before God, to find calm, and to learn how to wait well?

May we come to learn the power of patience and the wisdom of calm as we learn to lean on and wait on the Lord.

I heard something interesting today about Eugene Peterson, the author and theologian who passed away a few months back. Basically, you can summarize every single one of his sermons into one tidy little sermon:

God loves you.

He’s on your side.

He’s coming after you.

He’s relentless.

God does love you. Not in a generic kind of “I love everybody, and you are a part of everybody, so I must love you” way, but in a real personal “I love you for you exactly as you are where you are” kind of love.

He’s on your side. Truly, God isn’t wanting anyone to perish apart from His love but to come to salvation. God doesn’t delight in anyone going to hell but in people coming to the truth as revealed in Jesus.

He’s coming after you, not like a cosmic policeman waiting to catch you in a lie or a fault but in the way the father runs after his prodigal son, pursuing his wayward child before the child even knows he’s being pursued.

He’s relentless. God never gives up on the ones He loves. He never stops seeking after His lost sheep to bring them back into the fold. And we need a Good Shepherd like that, prone as we are to wander and to get lost.