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