Looking Back, Looking Forward

My friend and co-worker Jill posted this on her facebook page the other day:  “Summarize your 2016 in three words…”

My reply was: "God showed up."

I am pondering the events of a year that is wrapping up that had many peaks and valleys.  It held deaths and weddings, chaos and peace, need and provision, endings and new beginnings.  I have seen miracles happen in it.  I am not expecting anything different than that to keep unfolding in 2017. 

I ordered a little book that arrived this week.  This morning in it I came across this sentence:

“Miracles can only be exhibited in brokenness.”  That short statement fits what I have been considering in the last several months—His power to heal and restore, His endless invitation for us to come close, to know Him, to believe in His goodness, to witness and participate in His provision coming to earth.

As we enter 2017, be confident in the care and power of a God who is going to be there, doing His work, waiting for those who will believe Him and live in a way that will open the doors for miracles.  The ones we read about in the scripture occurred because a human being was in a circumstance of difficulty of one kind or another, heard His word, believed His intent was good, and followed His call.  I am counting on seeing God do more magnificent things in the year ahead. 

I wish you all a happy new year, and one where you believe Him and are filled with wonder at how He meets you in it.

Barriers Broken

He came in flesh to live with us, this God of restoration and will do the most unlikely things to woo us back and to reveal His vast and strong love. 

This morning as I was thinking about this amazing series of events unfolding, it occurred to me for the first time that at the very moment when He was born a tiny picture of His greater coming work was happening in miniature.  Mary, being a virgin, would have had her hymen still intact until that moment of Jesus’s birth.  It was a thin veil of skin broken and a symbol of the intimacy that had now begun for us all by His work.  This incarnation was a whole new way of God coming to meet us, to live with us, to have the barrier between us removed.  That tiny piece of flesh in Mary was torn, some blood spilling out at this arrival of a new king and a new kingdom.  This young woman who had trusted His greater plan, experienced the first breaking barrier as He entered the world. 

And so it can be for each of us as we align our wills to yield to His, that more and more barriers are broken because His death for us tore the big barrier forever.  Through this freedom He won for us, we are now enabled to win the little victories that we are here to bring to earth.

Photograph from morguefile.com by diannehope  

The Unexpected

We would have thought God would choose a more spectacular way to save the world. Perhaps His Son would be sent in glistening armor, followed by a massive army of angels to plow through the evil in the world in an unquestionable display of power and simply set up a new government.  Instead He sent a baby boy who would take another thirty years to begin doing something extraordinary.  Even then, the things Jesus used...water, bread, fish, words, wine, fishermen were not anything beyond the norm.  What He did, however, with the ingredients of the everyday was superb. 

We can notice a few things:  His perspective was different. His motivation was different, and His goal uncompromised.  It is stunning what happens when belief and willingness are added ingredients to the stuff we find all around ourselves as we mix together the activities of our lives into the recipe of a day. 

Jesus has never forced anyone to hear, see, or follow.  In fact He seems remarkably satisfied with those who are frayed but honest, gritty but humble, average but available to see what He is up to in each moment.  It has always been simply an invitation, never a demand.  Rare is the person with so much power who chooses not to exert it over someone they could easily control.

The opportunity is to pause and notice, to taste and see, and it happens when we step into the water of faith and walk through the waves believing that a God who loves lavishly will somehow, eventually work all the things of our real lives together for the good.  We can easily opt for hanging our own glittering baubles and tinsel and lights over our lives to make them look good and feel satisfying.  Or we can wait and trust and watch our burlap rough circumstances be the very things that miracles are birthed from.  The older I get and the more I understand that His way and economy are never the way that mankind would run things, the more excited I get about what He will do with a life that will offer itself to the Wild and Grand Invitation. 

Warning:  You may be called into some difficult days.  Those are the places He has the fewest willing participants.  Those are the places He wants to make the most amazing miracles happen because someone was willing to love there.  It isn’t always going to be fast food service or instant results like an ATM.  But the more we draw on Him, the more we savor His company, the more we see His faithfulness, the sweeter the taste of following Him becomes.  And, after all, He IS the gift.  We are invited to unwrap each day with expectation to find His presence.

I wish you a merry Christmas and the most delicious new year.

Photograph from morguefile.com by  Jogonesoft

The Nativity

Mary SAID YES, then WALKED OUT HER FAITH.  She LABORED to bring God to earth.

Joseph TRUSTED what God said and planned, even if there were skeptics who would forever raise their eyebrows, spread rumors, and shun his family.

Jesus CAME, and YIELDED to His Loving Father’s greater plan every moment of His life.

Shepherds were amazed, and REJOICED.

Wise men traveled far, knowing that to SEEK HIM was a divine and amazing opportunity.

These were all living people who made choices, some of them in extremely difficult circumstances, to respond to God.  It wasn’t just theory for any of them.  They adjusted the rest of life to be participants in His plans, to share what they were observing, to discover more of who He is and meet Him in person.  They ended up with incredible stories to tell.  It is the invitation to all of us.

Photograph from morguefile.com by paulabflat

The Impression We Leave

It is the irony of the Christian life and the paradox of a Savior who was both Lamb and Shepherd.  We are invited into a life of yielding and following Him.  Along the way, it will often feel like lying naked in the snow…vulnerable, shocking, stark.  

As we decide to offer it all, in the moments as they come, and spread ourselves fully to His will, a mystery occurs.  In that point of challenge, and a decision of trust in His goodness, we will leave a mark of heaven on earth.  Walking in our own strength looks only like two footprints, that we were here.  Discipleship will leave something more beautiful.  We get to choose the imprint we leave.

Photograph from morguefile.com by mmainco

Using the Scraps

This isn’t the time of year when birds are making nests, but it is the season, leaves long gone now, when the nests used in the previous months can be more clearly seen tucked in the branches that held them securely through the warm spring and summer. 

In the seasons past, each bird was building something for the future.  Each chose a secure place in which to build a nest that would hold her eggs.  But consider what each used to build that nest.  Birds gather a whole lot of things that do not hold life in themselves anymore to make those nests.  They use broken pieces of twigs and sticks, cut grass and clippings, dead leaves, yarn, string or thread, human hair or animal fur, feathers.

This week I noticed two nests in a tree just outside our living room windows.  Even in the now stark days, snow falling, wind blowing, they sit securely.  They succeeded in their purpose of being a good place for the laying of eggs and the nurturing of young life of the baby birds who were gaining strength to set out on their own.

I have been impressed for weeks now about the reality of restoration that is available to us.  God is mightily at work to build strong and beautiful things out of our broken lives and use us for holy purposes in the realities of a messy world.  Those nests showed me something else.  They reminded me that I can take the dead things of my life and gather them with the mud of His grace and care and promises, and instead of trying to discard the messy stuff, let it be used, now redeemed, for the birthing of new things. 

Our painful experiences hold the very ingredients that can enable us to be compassionate with those who are suffering, and are the grace-nests or sorts…evidence that whatever our past, even our current struggles, we have a very good reason to hope. In these weeks of Advent, of waiting for the coming and all that that meant and means still, let our hearts burn brightly with the hope that is embedded in His story.  He came, He isn’t afraid of the realities, He is brilliant and picks up every available piece and winds it together to become useful for His purposes.  He has peace and joy for us, and we don’t have to chuck the mess of our own stories to have them.  Some of the brightest things forward will be birthed from the scraps we make available to His work.

Photograph from morguefile.com by TwoCherryFarm

Christmas Preparation

One small piece in my morning readings (from Oswald Chambers).  In the midst of holiday preparations and busyness of the weekend, perhaps you could carve out a few minutes to pause and consider this.  It ultimately is not about what we lose or give up, but the amazing life and relationship with Him that we make room for. 

 “Sanctification means more than deliverance from sin, it means the deliberate commitment of myself whom God has saved to God, and that I do not care what it costs.” 

This is part of Advent…”Let every heart, prepare Him room.”  The result?  “And Heaven and nature sing.”

Photograph from morguefile.com by luisrock62

Cynic?

I realized this morning that I am at a crossroads of sorts.  I have been in a rhythm of faith and belief for more than four decades.  I have also been in some rough situations that stretch and frustrate me.  Granted, I have considered and prayed about them, about my heart/actions and the heart/actions of others, but I also find that I have let my mouth speak too critically too often and am realizing the cost it could take.  Although I have a high degree of hope in transformation and in God’s faithfulness, I also can get cranky when I don’t see it unfolding, especially when apathy seems to be the prominent tone in any given circumstance. 

I have a choice.  I can dive into a pool of cynicism or stand on the presence of an utterly brilliant God who is assuredly at work, and wait for His answers to arrive.  I can complain or I can join Him by quiet listening, quick responsiveness, and vulnerable availability to what He wants to shape in me along the way.  I am sensing that this is a crucial time.  What kind of woman I will be in the years ahead, and how I influence the atmosphere anywhere I am will likely be determined in part by how I choose to live out these things now.   Paying attention to these nudges is a part of the shaping He does in us.  I don’t want to be resistant to His mercy and wisdom in them; it is a gift.

Photograph from morguefile.com by 5demayo

A Reason for Hope

Hope is not logical.  Hope anyway.  

Nothing in the unfolding of God coming to earth is logical.  The Son of God planted into the womb of a virgin by the Holy Spirit…The Creator tucked small into a tiny human body—a baby, for heaven’s sake…The ultimate visionary growing up as part of a family…The Holy One gathering a company of friends who weren’t the cream of the crop…God serving man…The perfect One dying…The dead one rising again to bust through the boundaries our sin had caused.  His life offered to save ours, His resurrection announcing eternal (and for every single day of our gritty lives) Hope, His reign continuing still and expanding wherever love and forgiveness and grace are expressed. 

Religion packages things neatly.  God is continually surprising those who are willing to follow Him around the unexpected turn in the road.  They are drawn to believe for this moment because their hearts burn with some awareness that He is real, He is good, and He is for us. 

In these days, faith is still looked upon as foolishness by many.  It will always be the diamond in the rough, the unexpected response to a world that is not fair.  Faith will never be the most popular thing on the planet, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t the most trustworthy path. 

Photograph from morguefile.com by doctor_bob

It's the Person

My reading this morning in “My Utmost For His Highest,” held this statement:  “The type of Christian experience in the New Testament is that of personal passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ.” 

 

It is so easy to slide into devotion to a group of people, to a cause, to a theory or a theology.  It is easy to hold tight to sets of expectations and rules and to become stiff and, in the process, create our own little kingdoms instead of expanding His.  It is another thing entirely to be devoted to the person of Jesus, to live in rhythm with Him, to live in response to Him, to live in relationship with Him where He continues to amaze and surprise us with what He asks, what He gives, who He is. 

 

This is the season of Advent, the waiting and expecting time, anticipating His coming.  He still comes.  He has more to bring.  He is not done.  This month as we draw near to Christmas, also draw near to Him freshly.  He has refreshment and renewal for us all.

  

Photograph from morguefile.com by imelenchon

Invitation to a Miracle

I am quieted and inspired this morning to consider that everything that comes my way is a precious opportunity from God’s hand, where He is asking me to not only trust Him, but to move with Him as a companion to accomplish His will in this moment.  He knows who I am.  He knows the reality of my development—where it has been refined and where it is still lacking.  He is aware of His power available and His ability to do what I cannot if I am expecting and inviting Him to be present.  These moments are like little “I trust you” messages from God, giving me the chance to respond and receive what He is doing.  I can be a help or a hindrance to His will coming to earth.  

 

Photo by ThatG1r1 from morguefile.com

Being Shown the Way

It has been a season for the books. I am sure I’ve written similar phrases periodically through these days as I have grappled with and processed it along the way. 

 Six months of time and transition.  Mom’s passing last spring, already six months ago (the reality comes in waves that both of our parents are now gone, punctuated again this week on what would have been Dad’s birthday).  Another one of our children was married, there is a continual whirlwind pace at work, sorting Mom’s house and our childhood memories and the layers of decades that were tidily packed onto neat shelves in her home.  All of this came on the heels of a rough and heartbreaking season at the place we’d been a part of for forty years and the settling in that we’ve begun in a new little gathering that is being rooted in the soil of God’s goodness and will as we listen in prayer and hear and care for one another.  But life’s road is bumpy at times, no matter who you are.

Our community is in the throes of an epidemic of heroin overdoses and the resulting effects that it takes on our police and rescue teams and hospitals, as well as the families that are being torn apart by the addictions that seem to be running the show.  Our nation, too, is facing an election that has many of us scratching our heads and one in which the outcome of our ballots will be significant. 

 And so, one morning last week I was feeling the squeeze of all of this.  Granted, in the midst of the challenges, there have been many sweet moments and the evidence of God’s stunning ability to BE God in the face of any difficulties, but it has pressed me still.  That morning I had a more than vague sense of being in a tight tunnel, not knowing exactly what the outcome would be when some of these things were resolved.  I have been off my “game” in these busier than normal months, out of rhythm, not seeing or feeling where I am heading.  And in the middle of talking with Him about it, He floated an image to me.  It was kind of like receiving a postcard from a friend who was on holiday, who could enjoy a great scene because they weren’t trapped in the wrappings and stresses of everyday.  Many messages that God sends have that feel…clarity brought into the muck.  It is one of the things that has enamored me toward this sovereign being who loves and guides.  This message was no less impacting than any of His others.  I am not in a tunnel; I am in a birth canal.  Yes, I am being squeezed.  Yes, it is dark.  And He is at work to move me as I go.  He is good and bringing me through this time and space toward something new.  I have experienced it before…the discomfort of transition as I am being moved to new seasons and spaces.  This one has been primarily centered around losses, so I had missed some of the perspective that it is also the path to new things. 

 No matter how far along we are in the journey, we have a God who is always doing His work to heal and restore and work deeply.  We have no reason to fear.  I had gotten sidetracked from some of that hope in the busyness and am grateful that He spoke His greater truth to me again and called me back.  No matter where I am going, I am always home in Him.  He is a good land and a sure foundation.

Photograph from morguefile.com by Chriele78

A Great Idea

I wanted to share a practical tip due to the experience of settling the estate of parents.  I am grateful that in the case of working with my sisters through these last six months since mom’s passing, things have gone very well.  Part of the reason is because we’ve had time to sort, decide, and distribute slowly, which made it easier emotionally and eased the whole of the process, and because we’ve tried to consider each other well as decisions have been made. 

 

But I wanted to pass along what John’s parents had done to prepare for that time for their children.  I’ve never heard of anyone doing it the way they did, but I think it was a gift for the family in what is often a turbulent time that divides deeply. 

 

John’s dad was an engineer for Westinghouse and his career included he and Shirley living overseas for almost a decade in two different countries.  During those years they traveled in the surrounding areas and acquired some interesting things.

 

In the mid-1980s, when they were in their early 60s and settled back in the States, they created a list of everything in their possession that they felt held worth…furniture passed through the family, furniture they had purchased, items owned by past generations, objects bought during their travels, etc.  Big and small items were included.

 

The plan was this:  Send the list to all four of their children asking what items they would be interested in.  Each one marked their list and sent it back to their parents.  The lists were then considered and all the items assigned to reflect both interest and an equitable monetary distribution to each.  That list was then sent back to all four children so that everyone knew who would eventually be getting what. 

 

It was a relatively simple process, let everyone weigh in, and left the final decision to the parents.  Most of the time, a will sets many of the parameters for the estate, but often the smaller things are not included and defined.  This idea proved to be a very helpful way of moving though that time and worth sharing. 

 

Photograph from morguefile.com by TheBrassGlass

Where Do You Live?

“Our habits become our habitations.”  Richard R. Niebuhr, from Streams of Grace

 

Photograph from morguefile.com by Maltaguy1

Invited. Belonging. Secure.

I honestly don’t know how to do life.  I find it incredibly complicated much of the time.  I struggle over how to keep all the plates spinning on their skinny poles…insurance and taxes, phone plans, household chores and work and maintaining relationships, and reaching beyond my family borders to friends and strangers.  I’m not too keen on some aspects of “doing business” and am more inclined to the internal things where I turn over the gem that’s in my hand at the moment and examine its facets from various angles, full of wonder about some small thing I have noticed and what truth it reflects.  I am more of a poet-of-sorts and artist, yet have a pretty strong inclination for a design, a plan, and a purpose also. It kind of explains how I sometimes drive myself a little crazy figuring out priorities and how I will respond to life.

It also explains how I have settled into this adventure of faith.  I find it extremely comforting to be in the arms of a Father who loves me, who is the most brilliant being ever and has solved a whole passel of “impossibilities” that I have witnessed first-hand.  He has astonishingly good and beautiful and purposeful plans, and has never expected me to figure it all out—though He loves it when my mind, body, heart, soul, and spirit (along with my time and resources) are given to His ideas.  He loves it when we want to dig for His secrets.  But He lets us be His kids, with the messy faces and skinned knees we often have as we curl up in His lap to hear His sound words again. 

I am in my early 60s and am thrilled with the prospects of how much there still is to discover.  I am well rooted. And I am still green in so many ways.  I love this adventure of faith and all the layers there are to find.  I don’t know much.  But He doesn’t press me to figure it out alone.  I have companions on the road, brilliant mentors, sages, daring adventurers, and sound thinkers who share with me what they have seen and gleaned along the way.  God will give me as much of the truth as I want, delving as deep as I want to go, and invites me still be the kid who can get tucked in and kissed at the end of the day.  A pretty awesome life. 

Photograph from morguefile.com by ashishkumar2287

Our Denim Days

I am humored by the funny little ironies of life.  Consider this:  The Levites were one of the twelve tribes of Israel, and set apart for the duties of the sanctuary.  Some of them were priests, and some were the ones who tended to the contents of the Tabernacle—including the sacred articles within it made of wood and metal, the fabrics, and the structure itself. 

The Levi Strauss company, started in the late 1800s also dealt with fabric and was made more popular when metal was added to the durable denim, as small rivets, to keep the garment strong at the points of strain.  (You probably see where this is going.)  It was a good choice of apparel for those with demanding physical jobs of the times: cowboys, lumberjacks, and railroad workers. 

Levi’s became a basic item of clothing in the 1970s when the culture shifted to a focus of simplicity and “back to earth” efforts and blue jeans were the garb of choice for a whole young generation.  Coincidentally it was also the time of the Jesus movement, and I can’t help but wonder if God was chuckling, seeing how many of His young and eager followers donning denim jeans, overalls, and maxi skirts (often a Levi’s label) were crisscrossing the country, His word in their hands and hearts, hungry to learn, and digging into the gardens of their community and the restoration of Eden.  We were little priests getting our first taste of His goodness and sharing it with those around us.  A feast of days.

Whatever age you happen to be, whatever garment you chose to wear this morning, remember how durable the promises of God are, the fiber of the life you have, and the rivets of His grace and help that will support you through every moment of strain.  We have an immensely strong God to count on, and one with a great sense of humor and a heart that is totally full of love and at work for our well-being.  He is big enough to hold us close and guide us, aware of what is weighing on us today and more than enough to help us through it.  Keep going.  We are made for this life of faith and trust.  It is a strong fiber.

Photograph from morguefile.com by Xenia

The Great Investment

Forty years today of walking alongside.  We’ve built a relationship, a family, made a home, contributed to a community.  We have birthed, nourished, and nurtured.  We have worked together and independently, at our jobs, in our home.  We’ve played…music, art, expressions of worship, explorations of rock walls (several kinds) and craft stores and thrift shops, and supported each other’s crazy ideas and entrepreneurial efforts (several kinds here too).  We’ve laughed and we’ve cried.  We’ve made plenty of mistakes; we are certainly still learning.   We’ve not always gotten our way—it’s a lesson of sharing and compromise and figuring out what love looks like and how in the world you do it.  We have loved, and we have hurt; we’ve forgiven, and been forgiven.  We are grateful for the adventure.  Its twists and turns haven’t ended and we don’t expect them to.  And most importantly, we’ve seen God’s faithfulness to us through the sunshine and the storms.  There is so much to be thankful for.

 

Photograph from morguefile.com by hotblack

The Result Is Good

Bread, a basic of life, and taken in by most of the world daily.  The process of making it requires time.  It is getting out ingredients and bowls.  It is measuring, mixing, kneading, covering, warming, waiting, punching out hot air, shaping, then warming and waiting some more.  It is baking, and cooling, then eating, and often, sharing.  

We are similar.  We are in a process that also takes time.  And God is wise about what is going on and how He is working to teach us and transform us and draw us into His love.  We are in His strong and tender floured hands.  I am not so afraid anymore of the times I feel Him press in on me.  If we allow Him room to do what He says it is time for, the outcome will be more tender, the result more able to carry His flavor and nourishment to another hungry soul as we testify to His goodness.  We can speak, because we have experienced His goodness, even though it hasn’t all been easy.  Tough and overworked dough isn’t so appealing.   The times of kneading and waiting and heat are important parts of the process, but as with the process of making pots, the pressing and the fire are essential, but short.   

Good things happen in His kitchen. 

 

Photograph from morguefile.com by kymme

Getting Direction

To consider… What is God doing here?  What am I doing here? 

.

The first answer should clarify the second.

 

Photograph from morguefile.com by dieraecherin

A Brilliant Place

Holiness may seem a more desirable option when we realize it is the equivalent of being free.

Photograph from moguefile.com by Jade

Re-Markable

The work of God to shape and heal us is a good thing. 

He will have been about preparation before any “surgery” we need, getting us ready for the procedure, the immediate recovery, and the on-going healing.  He is not a knife-happy God putting us through things that are not for our well-being, our freedom, and our eventual—if not immediate—joy.

When He takes things off of us we will probably feel the immediate cut. He doesn’t numb us totally for the process, which can scare the living daylights out of us when we see the knife or needle coming our way and feel it penetrate our flesh.  Maybe it is because it is important for us to be awake and aware of the process, the significance of the work, and to be able to mark the day of His handiwork and care, even if we can only see the benefits down the road.  He also seems to operate more like a MASH unit, where we get surgery right on the field, not tucked away in some insulated setting and remote-location recovery spot where that is the only thing to be about.  We get to experience it all right in the midst of real life.  And somehow He gives us what we need to do it that way.  Grace and mercy are actual things that we receive.

We miss many of His best gifts because we have to trust His heart for what doesn’t appear on the surface to be and feel beneficial.  He knows what is dead (or deadly) inside us.  He never removes anything that is essential for our life, though we have probably gotten so familiar and comfortable with it that it feels like a security blanket. 

His work is always a good thing.  O God, let me be teachable all of my days and stay on the surgical table as long and as often as you ask.  You are not asking me to reside in a hospital bed endlessly, but enabling me to dance. 

 

Photograph from morguefile.com by GraveDistractions

This is It

Being present or protected?  Interested or insulated?  Engaged or thinking about what we will do or say a moment later?  Are we blessing or bullying?  What gift do we bring to the atmosphere and to those we meet?

Maybe we can start doing better at helping untangle the hurts that have tied people up and unlocking the lies that have bound them.  We can notice their beauty, acknowledge their worth, appreciate their gifts and help coax them forth (lots of people don’t think they have anything of value to contribute), and see healing expand and a beautiful life grow.

 

Photograph from morguefile.com by oscared

Spend Wisely

Early in my life as a believer I was terrified by part of what I thought was being asked of me.  I had a deep sense overall that the path I was embarking on was a good and right one for life, but felt an oppressive weight in the statement of “he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”  That verse in Matthew 24, along with several places where the escalation of war, chaos, persecution is reported, and the early church accounts of beatings, stonings, being sawn in two all made me shake in my shoes.  I was a timid young woman.  I didn’t think I could ever pull off what was being asked.  I went through some deep angst and fear over considering the possibilities that may be ahead.  But I decided not to pull back.  It was a very good choice and the one that led to the incredible opportunity of being transformed as God himself has actively been about teaching me and working in my life.  I am endlessly grateful that I decided to see what He would do if I began to let Him have time and space.  

This morning I was reading in Luke 14 and the section titled in my bible “The Cost of Being a Disciple.”  Jesus is talking about the commitment that is asked of us. He describes two scenarios where someone would think about what he is entering into before starting the effort.  He wants us to make a decision about how we are going to do this, because the life He is inviting us into isn’t one where we just tote Him in a crowded bag with everything else we want to haul along.  He asks us to give up well...everything...and make a whole bunch of room for Him.  His goal isn’t to leave us empty, but to have more room to give us the best.

Some might think that Jesus failed pretty miserably as a salesman.  I’ve always appreciated that He doesn’t mince words.  In spite of the fear, that is what made me ultimately feel safe with Him.  He tells it straight:  We cannot really go His way if we are keeping all our plans and just taking Him out as an occasional snack when we get a tiny hankering for Him.  We are so foolish sometimes.  This is the God of the universe we are talking about.  Having Him as a decoration of some kind pretty significantly misses the point.

What value do we place on God?  If we don’t think He is good, if we aren’t curious about what He is up to, if we don’t enjoy His company or aren’t stirred by what He has already created and done, we may want to pause and consider what in the world we are doing and start to look at it from a clearer lens.  NEWS FLASH:  He’s an interactive God. And He wants to do amazing things with you.  He values you.  He has already invested heavily in you.  He has more good planned.  Would you be interested?

The cost, we will find, is not what we have to pay, it is in discovering what we have gained.  

Photograph from morguefile.com by DodgertonSkillhause

So Grateful

I’m so very grateful today for the gift of life, the preciousness of my parents (both gone now, so a very different feel on this birthday) and my incredible sisters who have walked through life with me longer than anyone, who’ve encouraged me in my worst moments and celebrated with me in the best.

I am thankful for my husband who blesses my life in a whole bunch of ways, for my children who are the prophesied “wildflowers” and product of my life who are growing and making productive lives of their own.  My adorable grandkids---icing on the cake!

I am thankful for friends who have criss-crossed my days as they have been about amazing things of their own.  The talents and hearts of those I have had the privilege to meet and know is stunning.  How am I so fortunate?  There is so much beauty lavished on the world and so many fascinating people going about good things while struggling through whatever challenges they face.  I have been inspired and encouraged by how you live and the hope you hold on to.

I am most thankful for the God who called my name and meant every word He said.  He guides and carries me on and sets me off to bring something of His presence to the situations I encounter.  I have been blessed with the home I have tried to make to be a place of warmth and hospitality and where the truly good opportunities of life can be considered and sought after.   What I have learned (and am still learning) is what a gift this little window of time on earth is, a beautiful place of purpose and play.  He is worth a sound “yes.”  I don’t want to miss a bit of it.

Photograph from morguefile.com by 5demayo

The Dazzling Result of Trust

The life of belief and trust is an amazing adventure.  It opens for us a path of color and opportunity and miracles and surprises and the receiving of His brilliant design, wisdom, and power.

The path of trusting Him will shape us internally to the stunning person we have the potential to become in every layer.  It will confound us and delight us as we engage on-going with a God of mystery who is far bigger and more full of delight than we would have ever imagined.  He has the guts to show us vastly more than we would have thought possible in what is going on around us.  He has the courage to stretch us to be more and to shape us with fire, and the intense care and skill to not kill us in the process.  But He is about a deep work.  He is about great purposes too, big things and simple ones.

He will not waste one tiny bit of what we offer to Him and when He is given something that is precious to us and that we would instinctively want to protect, He will handle our treasure in the most perfect way.  We need not fear, He will do something strong and gorgeous with each thing we place into His hands.  It is when the real beauty happens.  

Photograph from morguefile.com by svklimkin

The Door Has Opened

The earth is undoubtedly full of tantalizing possibilities, yet God has graciously told us how this world of matter and relationships and business and hearts He has made works.  He hasn’t kept hidden the truth of what will harm us and others, and what will produce more that is truly good.  He has shared deep secrets of heaven, but has never once in the revelation pulled back on His way of going about it by letting us choose how we will live.  He never wanted a relationship with us that wasn’t a valid, honest one.  He has never been about forcing humanity to do it His way, but the invitation has been sent out across the ages and continents, and He’s reminded us of it every single day in the breaking of a new dawn, glorious golden sunsets, star-filled nights, tiny wildflowers, majestic mountains, smiles on faces, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.  And that small list doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

But God’s work isn’t to stop temptations for us. His effort was and is to offer us another door.  It is the one of healing and freedom...the one that is wide open now, and will not be closed until the very last moment.  It is the barrier between us that we didn’t have to work to break down.  He arrived on the planet to do that huge work for us and before He left had smashed completely through the chains and locks and beams that had kept us prisoners by hanging on another beam to be sure the job was finished.  In the biggest “flip of a scene” of all time (and a totally unexpected way of accomplishing the win) He became the beam of hope that has shined its light all over humankind.  If we want freedom, it is truly there for us.  

He is good, and His love truly endures forever.  It is almost inconceivable that One with so much power would give us so much choice.  But He is and He does.  It is all available.  He will be strong enough for your battles and tender enough for your cares.  He is a warrior, a lover, a deliver, a friend. He wants you more than anything, but will respect your decision.

Photograph from morguefile.com by conniemig

Baa Baa

We probably ought to stop treating the Holy Spirit like the black sheep of the family.

Photography from morguefile.com by anon

Dare To Go

We are invited to go to the place of mystery, where the bigger and unexpected things can unfold.  It is a place where we don’t write the script, but we are welcomed to come and participate, to be amazed, to have important roles, to engage and be filled with wonder.

We need minds that will explore His character and make room for His ways without requiring that they make sense to us first or demand that He only does things we are comfortable with.

We need hearts that are open and swift to respond to those around us, interested in what God might be doing in this encounter, and continually being shaped by Him as we give Him room to be the God who lives and is lavishly at work in the world in infinite ways.

We need courage to go with Him because we believe more than anything that He is utterly good and is not out to demolish, shame, or abandon us--even if the current scenario stirs our nerves.  It might mean that God is asking us to consider something new and widen our parameter of Him and what He might be up to.  

We are sometimes the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion, but we can go to the place that is somewhat unpredictable, a place that doesn’t exactly have the comforts of our home, and yet brings a life that we know our home desperately needs.  We discover, when we open the doors, that He is at work continually and beautifully on our behalf there.  

As far as I can tell, the root of our response is always tied to the question “Is He good?”  It is the ancient question that has tipped the scales of human response since the beginning.  And ironically, we are unlikely to find that He is until we truly give Him a chance to show us.  We can be stunned by a major event where we know the outcome was way better than we deserved and not at all of our doing.  And we can decide to stay in those waters and explore those depths and find that the frontiers are wide and deep and His work inexhaustible.  He moves on and on.  

Most of us stop at some field of poppies and the seductive substitute of some lesser kind of wonder and miss the power of the Kingdom that is just a few steps ahead, and the King who is waiting for us and so hoping that we will come.  We can discover what was there for us all along.

Photograph by SarahBelham at morguefile.com

The Blessed Wait

At some point most of us realize that we cannot convince the people or control the situations around us, and we move into the much more significant work of being the best person we can be in the midst of it all.

The human condition has us often operating out of fear.  We clutch for what we are afraid of losing.  We manipulate and chase--with foam sliding down our chins--frantic for what we think we cannot live without.  All the while, it would have been given as a gift.  Oh that we would know that we are blessed and loved and could be patient for the dazzling gifts to arrive at their anointed time.  But we are afraid He isn’t that good and we sure don’t want to wait for what we want right now.  What would it look like if we had the capacity to pause and trust, and then dance our wild days with courage and joy as He calls and gives?

Everything is a lot better when both it and we are ready.  The adventure will be there, the discoveries and the learning will still be before us, but the preparation that the Timeless Master Creator has readied will make the outcome brilliant and good.  You can do something amazing with ingredients that are ripe.

Photograph from morguefile.com by quicksandala

And On and On and On and On it Goes

 Forty-two years today of celebrating God’s faithfulness.   That late summer evening on a grassy lawn, I was labored over by One who had been preparing me for my new birth for months.  There were those last contractions of His wooing call and my last moment wrestling and response, and I began to take my first tottering steps in a new-found adventure where I could know the God who was endlessly working yet had not lost a bit of power or resources along the way.  

Forty-two years now I’ve been experiencing His kindness, patience, direction, and provision.  Forty-two years of discovery of layer upon layer of His spectacular goodness in rest and play and wrestling through to find His presence in stormy days and dark nights.

Several things stand out this morning.  

He wants me to enjoy Him and enjoy the relationship we have.  It took me a long time to really start to get that, but the words “Come play with Me” spoken just a few yards away from the spot I’d begun my journey with Him transformed my life in mere moments.  

I have only this tiny span of life on earth to offer Him my trust.  Once I end this physical part of my existence and enter the rest of eternity, the work of belief will be past and I will never again have the opportunity to trust Him for what I cannot see, for what is not yet unfolded but promised.  I don’t know of any way I want to thank Him more for all He has done to rescue, redeem, and provide for me than to trust Him for whatever next step is before me, as complex as it may be.  No obstacle is too big for Him, it is just a matter of how He is going to work it out this time.

He is disturbingly patient!  He is way less worried about when something will unfold than I am.  (I’m sure I don’t need to describe more to you; you likely experience Him the same way.)

He IS who He says He is and will DO what He says He will do.  And every day now is a new canvas to see what He is painting on this day, what colors He will choose, what images He will make to reveal more and more and more of His faithfulness.  My opportunity is to watch, to be amazed again, to run and get a friend and say, “Look at this!  He is at it again!”  He is the smartest, kindest, and most creative One.  He is brilliant in His plans and wise in how He goes about every single thing.  He is utterly lavish with His grace and love and provision, yet persistent to let us get the best, even if it isn’t at all the way we’d hoped the provision would come.

Last night I had a delightful discovery, a perfect reminder and launch into His fun as I move into a new year.  A young man we’ve been getting to know joined us for dinner and conversation for the evening.  At one point in the sharing of his story he was telling us how he got to Mansfield and asked us if we knew another guy from our town.  The name was of a classmate/friend of one of our sons, who had spent much time with us through his growing up years and who I’ve had the privilege of talking with for hours on end.  It was one of those ironic “full-circle” evenings, brimming with the unexpected surprise in what and how God had accomplished bringing something new to us through an old and dear friend.  I had to shake my head again.  Sometimes I think of God kind of like a wild-haired Doc Brown, full of excitement over what He is working on to amaze us next.  Yeah, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be about a whole lot less that that.  

Here we go, into another day that is just now dawning, another chance to slow down and notice and listen and watch for whatever He has for August 25, 2016 to unfurl.  Our participation can make a big difference in how beautiful the day becomes.  Whatever hardships or tragedies or heartbreaks may be part of it, I am convinced that He will give us the opportunity to see Him still at work, being true in the face of the wounds and scars of earth to have a way forward that will be more than enough, better than we could have planned, far more abundant in His best stuff than we would have guessed.  It is who He is.  I have tried to record much of what I’ve seen Him do, the things He’s let me glimpse.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.”

(Thank you to Jon Ford and Kris Davis for your part in the adventure of yesterday.)

Photograph is of my journals and some of my reminders of His faithfulness.