On My Way

 All of us begin the day with worship.  Don’t we all wake up—our minds being immediately set on something…a person, a need, a plan, a circumstance…whatever is forefront…important? We give our attention and thoughts to whatever has moved into that position of power.  And thus begins our day.  We shift to circle around it, to bow to its influence, to let it point its finger to the way it demands we should go. 

Many of us have never identified what runs us, what sets its subtle but consuming agenda.  And maybe we will wake up months or years later wondering how we could possibly have missed so much, never having gotten around to what we said was important, how we had wanted to live.

Please don’t be afraid to pause for there is a way back home, its promise and invitation in each dawn.  The way there isn’t a long one, but starts in the quiet of the heart and a turning to it.

It takes courage to admit our distractions and shortcomings and failures and idols.  But refreshment and strength will come to the man or woman or child who will go there.

We are in a season when many will be heading home to spend holidays with loved ones.  No matter if you have friends and relatives accessible or not, your excessively good and gracious Father is only one moment away.  He is near.  He has already come to love you, to teach you, to guide you into all He imagined you to be, all He designed for you.  The difference between Him and all the others is that He always has your best interest beating in His massive heart.  Every persistent and patient effort is one to enjoy your company.

This morning, take a chance and turn His way and let Him begin, or continue, to speak His healing and restoration to you.  He will bring wisdom and direction and provision.  It’s who He is, and it is the gift He gives to those who desire Him.

All Around Us

I pray that we would, in the day before us, get an unexpected whiff of heaven, that we would see Your presence in the faces and circumstances around us, and notice Your fingerprints and movement and follow Your exceptional rhythm.  I pray that we would not be timid to taste the things that You have prepared for us to both share and receive and to know the community that You long for us to have. 

Hebrews 12:1 (The Voice) So since we stand surrounded by all those who have gone before, an enormous cloud of witnesses, let us drop every extra weight, every sin that clings to us and slackens our pace, and let us run with endurance the long race set before us.

No one said it would be easy, but great is the reward for those who accept the invitation and lace up their shoes to run after Him, who keep walking and listening as He speaks, who kick off their shoes to dance when the music plays.  The rhythm isn’t always the same and sweet will be the joy He brings as you find your pleasure in His care. 

Dare

We quiet ourselves to hear Him better.  We stop our busyness to sense His movement.  We set aside the plan for the day and the lists of what we think is important to get a glimpse of what He has in mind.   We set down human agendas to gain heavenly ones.  We dare to approach the warmth of the fire to discover the depths of His strength and love, the blazing light to reveal our broken places, the potter’s kiln to strengthen us, the holy light to see His brilliance. 

The quiet is good…a transforming place.  Don’t be afraid to discover the greatness of its mystery.  But you have to have courage to go there, to let yourself feel small in His presence and to let Him do a work in you.  The quiet is not a place for the faint of heart.  But it is safe.  You won’t know until you go there.

The Invitation

We come through life, given the opportunity to consider what we are doing here.  We bump into the difficulties within and around us, pushed here, tugged there.  We struggle to reach for our security blanket, whatever that may be, but all of which have fraying edges. 

We are moved deep within by the subtle stirrings of something that seems right and pure and good, but it is filmy.  We are afraid to trust that it could truly be or truly hold us.  But there is where the miracles are waiting.

This time of year reminds us some with unusual courage.  Mary couldn’t see the end from the beginning, Joseph was surrounded by the cultural turmoil of the situation he found himself in.  They chose to trust the call and to focus not on the chaos that would ensue, but on the voice of the One who invited. 

Advent is a time to remind us again of the invitation.  It will always be mixed in with the glossy ads of things that tantalize.  Don’t just assume that you will go to the party.  You need to make a decision and R.S.V.P.  Every day following is the unfolding of the party if you will attend.

On Earth

The story of Jesus’ life includes three different versions of a veil being torn.  The most obvious one, the moment of His crucifixion death, was when the veil in the temple was torn in two, tearing the thick wall between God and man and allowing eternal access for each of us.  But that was the last of the three times. 

His birth had also included a tearing, one of an amniotic sac necessary for a human arrival.  That was the second one, allowing the gift to arrive—the coming of God to live among us.

But an even earlier veil story was nine months before when a young woman said yes to the invitation of God.  Mary offered herself for His outrageous plans, yielding her future to His way.  Her dreams for home and husband were forever altered as she responded with a courageous “yes” when the angel arrived bearing a heavenly proposal that nearly cost her her earthly one with Joseph.  It was a very real risk that the bridal veil she’d probably envisioned for years might be lost forever in the scandal she was entering.  This was not a tame story.  Her “yes,” wrapped in humble willingness, had the power of trust at its core that could shatter darkness.  She would agree to that whatever the cost.  She didn’t know how it would unfold, only that her life was only right when she aligned her will with His and let whatever good He’d desired get to earth. 

At the moment she agreed, however, and in any moment that we say yes to God’s promptings and will, we find that a veil of possibility gets torn and heaven arrives again.  Each time it is a miraculous gift that brings His amazing presence and power to the planet.

When His will comes, He Himself is with us.  We cannot separate Him from His purpose and His character.  It is all one.  Love and truth and justice come when we are willing to choose Him.  

It's Not Heads and Tails

Let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No” be “No.”

We are too often persuaded by other people’s expectations and impressions of us.  Our own convictions and values sometimes get lost in trying to please others rather than being true to the heart of how we want to live. 

This morning, in this time of Advent dark, let’s determine to live today being true to that which we ultimately what we want to be about.  We can become a very watered down version of ourselves if we stop living in a way that is burning in our heart and keeps the coals of the most important things alive.  One way of increasing our clarity and strength is by walking moment by moment in the truth that we know. 

Be courageous today in your yeses and your nos.

The Question in Advent

Advent comes with a question that burns in the soul.  It is dark.  It is quiet.  And we have the inevitable uneasiness and doubts that must be worked through. 

Will the King actually come?  Will the Savior arrive in time?  We must experience it ourselves to be convinced, yet each time, the question hangs there again.  Will spring come to whatever winter I am frozen in?

The only way I have figured out how this dilemma gets resolved is in the walking through my days.  There is no other way for our hearts to be assured than to build a record of His attentiveness and faithfulness.  We walk.  We stumble sometimes and our faces are down.  We see progress and often days unfolding that we wouldn’t consider the “answer” to our prayers.  And yet He will be at work if we give Him time and room. 

One wonderful thing about getting older as a believer is that the track record begins to get built.  We see that even if the situation didn’t unfold to the script we would have written, He has answered and worked.  It is a glorious realization. 

Advent gives us that opportunity again to sit in the quiet and gaze upward, to slow down and remember my story and how He has worked.  And I trust forward and celebrate and rest in His unearned care again.