Monthly Archives: September 2022

Morning Musings, Uncategorized

My Rumpus Room

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             As we left the upstairs area of the house, He asked me if I had a rumpus room, where I went for fun and fellowship. I was hoping He wouldn’t ask about that! There were certain things that went on in my rumpus room  that I wanted to keep to myself!

   Very reluctantly I took Him downstairs to the basement, and gave Him a quick look around there. “H’mmmm.” He said, “Do you spend much time here?” “Let’s go upstairs again”, I said hastily before I had to own up about the things that DID go on in this room, and the friends that I entertained there. I didn’t want Him to see the pictures of the different ball games and teams, or the racing car pictures  that were all over the walls, or the well stocked bar in the corner!

   I heaved a sigh of relief as we reached the living room once more, and hoped He wouldn’t say anything more about the rumpus room. As we settled down, He said thoughtfully, “What would you like Me to read to you tonight? Something you would LIKE to hear or something that you SHOULD hear?” I squirmed as I  lamely said, “Perhaps we could have a bit of both!” knowing full well what was likely to come. He quickly reached for the Bible which I had made sure was in full view on the occasional table and turned to the chapter of Psalm 81. “I am the Lord Your God that brought you out of the land of Egypt…..Egypt is a picture of the world and its temptations,” He added as an aside. Carrying on, He continued to read…“open your mouth wide and I will fill it. But my people would not listen to Me and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them up to their own heart’s lusts, and they went their own way! If only My people had listened to Me and walked in My ways, I would have subdued their enemies, and turned My hand against them…..I would have fed My people with the finest of wheat, and satisfied them with honey out of the Rock”.  I felt thoroughly rebuked as I knew very well that I was feeding too much on the wrong sort of things.

     Another evening when I was on my way out with some of my buddies, He stopped me with a glance and asked, “Are you going out?” I replied, “Yes.’ “Good” He said, “I would like to go with you.” “Oh,” I answered rather awkwardly. “I don’t think, Lord Jesus, that You would really enjoy where we are going. Let’s go out together tomorrow night. Tomorrow night we will go to a Bible class at church, but tonight I have another appointment.” “I’m sorry,” He said. “I thought that when I came into your home, we were going to do everything together, to be close companions. I just want you to know that I am willing to go with you.” “Well,” I mumbled, slipping out the door, “we will go someplace together tomorrow night.”

  That evening I spent some miserable hours. I felt rotten. What kind of friend was I to Jesus, deliberately leaving Him out of my life, doing things and going places that I knew very well He would not enjoy?     When I returned that evening, there was a light in His room, and I went up to talk it over with Him. I said, “Lord, I have learned my lesson. I know now that I can’t have a good time without You. From now on, we will do everything together.”

   The next day,  we went down into the basement of the house to the rumpus room. What a transformation He made there!  All those suggestive things came down off the walls, and He brought new friends, new excitement, and new joys along. All the old music was thrown out, and we spent many hours around the piano singing the old favourite songs and hymns. Laughter and music have been ringing through the house ever since. He makes sure that we are never the loser when we put Him first in our home!!!

Now the LORD says , “Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, while those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed!” (1Samuel 2:30)

Morning Musings

My Bedrooms

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       We left the utility part of the house and went back upstairs. All had been cleaned up and purified down at the back of the house, and as we went past the cupboard upstairs which had been so smelly before, a bit of fresh air wafted past us. I was so pleased that I had got my Visitor to deal with those putrid things I had shoved in there!

    We went down the passage, and I showed Him the bedrooms next. “You may choose whichever one suits You the best”, I said as we went past the open doors of each of them. “Thank you very much,” He said, “I will be glad to have whichever one you tell me.” “This one has a new bed,” I said proudly, “ I’m sure You will be most comfortable here.” “Thank you,” He replied, “It will be nice to have somewhere to lay My head. When I was on earth, even though the foxes had their holes to sleep in and the birds had their nests, I had nowhere to lay my head many times. It was then that I went up into the mountain to pray to My Heavenly Father, and to gather strength to do His will. It is always My delight to do His will you know!” (Psalm 40:8)

I felt an unspoken rebuke there, just as though He knew how little time I spent doing the Father’s will myself. There were always other things I wanted to do, things which I always found time to do. “My room is just along the passage here”, I said lamely. “Oh yes,” He said, “It is good to have rest….I always like to see My children taking their rest. Especially the rest that I can give them, I tell them all to come to Me and I will give them rest, when they have worked hard and had heavy loads to bear. Especially the rest I can give with an easy conscience knowing that they have put all wrongs right and given thanks to the Father for all His goodness and mercy to them!”  (Matthew 11:28)

    I squirmed a bit at that….I knew there were many nights when my sleep was disturbed by angry thoughts and ideas of revenge! Yes, I knew they were wrong, but they were only natural weren’t they? My Visitor said quietly, as though talking to Himself, “Don’t avenge yourself, but give place to wrath, for it is written ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay’ says the Lord”. (Romans 12:19)

   It was amazing how He always seemed to put His finger on some little secret that I had thought was hidden. As we turned to go downstairs again, once more He murmured as if to Himself, “I will not allow your foot to be moved, He who keeps you will not slumber or sleep!”  (Psalm 121:3-4) This thought gave me great comfort, knowing that I was in His hands!

Morning Musings

My Laundry Room.

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               There was still another room in my house that had to do with cleaning things up. This was the laundry room.  I was a bit reluctant to take my Guest into the laundry room. Sometimes there was a nasty stale smell in there as though there were clothes that had been damp and not dried properly.  But He insisted.  “I need to see ALL your house, if I’m to stay with you”, He said as we went down the passage. “You know I will never leave you nor forsake you, and I want you to willingly show Me each room in your house!”

   He must have sensed my reluctance. As we opened the door it was as bad as I had thought it might be! The damp clothes that I had been meaning to wash last week made a horrid stink as we went in. “ I meant to do the washing but somehow there were other things to do”, I muttered shamefacedly, “Things like going to Bible Study and church services”, hoping to make it sound a bit better. “Those are good things, but we are not to leave the other things undone”, He said, “I have given you twenty-four hours each day to make use of. See that you use them wisely. You don’t really need ten hours of sleep you know! Just get up earlier in the morning….I’m always waiting for you to come and see Me, no matter how early it is!”     He knew me only too well. “Oh Lord!”, I cried, “You know all my weaknesses and failings, there is nothing I can hide from You! Search my heart and show me where I’m at, and lead me to do better!” (Psalm 139: 23-24)    I realised then that He knows me through and through, and there is no point in trying to hide things from Him . What a relief to have admitted all this to Him, and to know His strength as I tried to do better!!