Brown's Daily Word 3/18/15

Praise the Lord , Spring that is in the air. The other day I saw a big flock of robins fluttering in the fields and the grounds around the parsonage. They seemed joyful and carefree to be back in their familiar territories. Alice and I, in one of our evening walks, saw a large flock of Canadian geese flying North with their classic V formation making Holy Honks. In midair they changed their formation. We can see and hear all kinds of spring birds invading their public domain once again serenading songs and music of sweet spring.
  I also heard morning doves cooing sweetly and gently. The daffodil patches by the parsonage are beginning to be seen bursting forth.. the Crocuses are coming into full bloom once again. The Lord is upon His throne. He makes all things beautiful in His time. All honor and glory belong to Him. I attended a sports banquet for one of nieces yesterday that was held at the Traditions at the Glen. All of my nieces and nephews are honors or high honors students. They love the Lord. I was reminded the days when our girls were involved in the sports and music.
 We attended those banquets. It was in the last century. WOW! We will meet for our Wednesday Fellowship and Study at 6 PM. We will be looking at John 12. There will be special time for children with Bethany. Choir will practice at 7:30.
In John 12, Mary comes to Jesus, where she crashes the dinner party and breaks an alabaster jar to pour very expensive perfume at the feet of Jesus. Jesus graciously accepts the gift of love and adoration. How the world is full of broken things - broken bones, broken windows, little birds with broken wings, not to mention broken hearts and broken homes. We consider broken things to be useless, and we usually throw something away if it breaks. This is not characteristic of God, though. God uses broken things, He blesses broken things, and He manifests His glory best through broken things.
God used Gideon’s broken jars (Judges 7:19) when Gideon led the Israelite army against 135,000 Midianites. The army Gideon lead consisted of only 300 men. Each man had a trumpet in one hand and a torch inside a jar in the other hand. When Gideon gave the command, all of his men were to blow the trumpets and break the jars. Gideon followed God's instructions, so he split his company of 300 into three parts and surrounded the camp of the 135,000 Midianites in the valley. 300 men, each armed with a trumpet and a jar with a torch, surrounded 135,000 men armed with swords and shields and spears. When Gideon gave the signal, the men of Israel blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. The Midianites saw the 300 torches that looked like 300 columns of men and God caused the army of Midian to turn on each other. Israel gained a great victory that day.
God also used Mary’s broken jar (John 12). Jesus was at a dinner being given in His honor with Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, and Mary and Martha, who were grateful towards Jesus for raising their brother from the dead. At this dinner, Mary came up to Jesus with a pint of pure perfume. She broke the bottle open and poured the the perfume (which had cost a year's wages) over Jesus’ head. Since it was such expensive perfume, the others criticized Mary for wasting the perfume, but Jesus thanked her for anointing Him for burial. God can perform wonders with whatever is available, like a boy’s lunch in feeding the 5000. We are not useless no matter what has happened in our past or how untalented we think we are. The Lord says our lives already do count because of His Son.
 God wants to use us, with all of our brokenness, because God can put the pieces back together in a different way that will have greater meaning and wholeness. Jesus came to put back together all the humpty dumptys of the world. He is still putting them back with His love and grace. In Christ, Brown https://youtu.be/U-6YnBeXX8M