Month: July 2018

A surefire way of not eating ice cream, especially at night, is not to have it in the house. So you can imagine my delight this evening while rummaging about in the freezer I found an unopened pint of Ben and Jerry’s. This was nothing short of amazing. I have no idea how long it had been hiding behind boxes of frozen lima beans. Well, surely a spoonful would not hurt. I broke the seal and jammed a spoon into the unbroken surface. A half pint later I came back to reality and realized what I was doing. “Oh, well,” I thought, “it was only half the container and the container says, “Calories – 380.” So that was only 190. But wait a minute. It said “per serving.” How many servings could there be in a pint? It said, “Four.”

“Four!!!” “Who in the world thinks a quarter of a pint is a serving?” I ate a total of 760 calories.

Well there it was. Psalm 1:1. That verse keeps coming back to me over and over. It says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”
It is the progression of sin. You walk by it, stop and look. Next you sit right down in it. Alcoholics know all about this. It is a lesson we all need to learn. If there is something we are trying not to do. Staying completely away is the only safe way.

If only I had not taken that first spoonful.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 9, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

During the day I often write myself a note so I will not forget what I want to share with you. The note jars my memory. Today I wrote down the word “squirrel.” However, as I sit here starring at my note the word “squirrel” means nothing to me. I haven’t the slightest clue why I wrote it down. Now I am going to have to start writing a note to remind myself what my notes mean.

Three times in Daniel 7 God is referred to as the “Ancient of Days.” I would worry about God’s ageing memory if it were not for other verses that proclaim God’s total knowledge of everything. In Daniel 2:20 we are informed and assured of God’s total comprehension. This is repeated again in 1 Samuel 2:3. Nothing misses His attention. Nothing slips past Him. He never sleeps. He never forgets. He knows all the secrets of our hearts. Psalm 44:21.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus goes so far as to inform us that our heavenly Father even knows how many hairs we have on our heads. Wouldn’t you like to know how many you had ten years ago or five years ago in relationship to how many you now have? He could tell you.

How very reassuring it is to know the One in charge of everything doesn’t need a note in His pocket. I think the only thing He really needs is you. Love is like that. Love needs someone to love and since God is love you are that someone.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

I’m sure we have all seen the morning sun warming a roadside causing the dew of the night to rise as vapor. Mystically it ascends from the grass into the morning air waiting to become evening’s dew. Driving past such splendor this morning I thought of the warming effect of the Son of Righteousness shining on us. In Acts 2 the disciples heard a sound like the blowing of a wind and they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire resting on each other. The result was incredible.

Jesus once said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” He was speaking of lives changed by a relationship with Him. Just as the sun transformed the dew into morning vapor so association with Him matures our characters into His likeness. It is impossible for it not to occur. Just as filling one’s thoughts with mental trash will ultimately produce a trashy character so the opposite is true. We are what we eat. If we eat filth we grow filthy characters. If we feed on that which is uplifting, noble, positive and morally challenging we will ever so slowly elevate to what we are thinking about. We couldn’t stop it if we wanted. It is natural.

Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches and if you stay connected to the vine you will bear much fruit.” There is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. It is a truth we so badly need to understand. Computer experts have it down pat when they say, “Garbage in. Garbage out.” Let’s go for “Quality In. Quality Out.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 6, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

Recently I listened to a very proficient person play the saxophone. I carefully choose the adjective proficient instead of talented because while he played all the notes properly and never missed a beat there was something missing. There was no soul. One would think if someone played a piece of music the way it was written that would be adequate. But it wasn’t. It was mechanical. It did not flow.

I was reminded of Christians who are so careful to obey the commandments. They pay their tithe and make sure they eat only prescribed foods yet something is missing. They seem not to have discovered the joy of living by principles and are stuck in rules and regulations. They have a mechanical faith without soul. They are like those Paul speaks of in I Corinthians 13 when he says, “If I give my body to be burned it means nothing if I do not have love.”

The reversal of this is I have seen musicians who don’t always play the right notes and their music is incredibly great. I have seen Christians who “break the rules” and yet are so filled with love I want to be like them. Jesus is not looking for robots. He is looking for warm compassionate people who are not afraid to do the “right” thing instead of the “legal” thing. He is looking for people with soul.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 2, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

While rummaging around in the top drawer of my school desk, a museum of semi-useful artifacts, I found a key engraved with the room number J172. This should have caused not the slightest attention except no one in our Jones building knows of a room 172. While I walked about looking for the mystery door one of my younger colleagues suggested I needed to join AARP since I had a key but didn’t know where the door was.

While it is true I never did find a door for the key, I have a much more important key and I know where the door is for that one. Jesus said in John 10, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” The key is a simple understanding that eternal life is a gift and God stands with outstretched arms offering the gift. All we need do is take it.

There are those who would have us believe the door to the kingdom has a combination lock and only they have the code. “Come,” they say, “Study with us and we will open the door for you.” That is a way to enslave us to their will. But Jesus has set us free from others’ control over our eternal future. We need no other mediator than Jesus Himself. He is the Door. He is the Way. Perhaps the problem is that it is not complicated enough. If it is so easy anyone can get in and maybe it is not exclusive enough for some. Well, it is not exclusive. Jesus said, “Whosoever will, come.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 30, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

The Butterfly Club is an exclusive organization. Membership is by invitation only and members recognize each other by a secret sign. Membership brings prestige and insures elevated social status. None of us could qualify since membership is limited to 5-year-old little girls in a kindergarten in Bronxville, New York. I learned of this prestigious organization this weekend from my card-carrying member of the Butterfly Club granddaughter. She was very reluctant to speak about it and definitely would not reveal to me the secret sign.

I am fascinated by this very early display of the human need to be somebody special. We hunger for recognition and unfortunately most often it comes at the expense of another. Everybody loves a winner and brushes aside the loser even if it is by one point or one vote. Who remembers the name of the first runner in the Miss America pageant? Most likely just her family.

How grand it would be if we could gain our sense of worth by what we were able to do to elevate another. In Romans 12:10 Paul writes, “Honor one another above yourselves.” It sounds so nice to say, but how do you control that inner pang of pain when someone else wins something you wanted so badly? I could say, “Pray about it.” But that seems like the copout answer we use when we don’t know anything else to say. Perhaps it is something that comes with the assurance we are somebody important. And how do we know that? Surely the only way is to be reassured we are God’s children. That makes us royalty.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 29, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

Each student in my human development class is required to give an oral report on a helping agency. Recently a student began, “My report is on the National Association of ahh sorry.” He momentarily forgot and started over. His error caused me to wonder who would belong to a National Association of Sorry. Would they be people who are continually sorry about their behavior, their speech or their appearance? I knew of a man who thought he was so ugly he would select seats in subway cars so people would not have to look at him.

I wondered if our prayers are often sorry appeals for God’s mercy. Do we fill our petitions to God with tales of remorse because we are not good enough and thus continually beg for forgiveness? If so we really are a sorry lot and should join a National Association of Sorry.

Jesus instructs us to approach God as our father. I would be truly dismayed if each time I talked with my sons they had to begin by telling me how sorry they are about not being perfect. Actually they are perfect. But I refuse to brag. In Hebrews 4:16 we are instructed to come boldly before the throne of God. In Romans 8 Paul assures we are God’s sons and daughters with full rights to the inheritance that Jesus received.

I am not saying we should not be repentant and sorry for our sins. We should be. I am instead referring to an attitude of joy instead of one of continued remorse. Christ calls us to the abundant life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 25, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453