Maybe, if we are feeling the load of life, part of the
answer is to lighten our pockets by giving out from the things we’ve been
given. Your own heaviness may lighten
and others will be nourished and blessed as, in your own struggles you hand out
simple pieces of the fruit you’ve been given.
He gifts us abundantly. Maybe
part of our “burden” is that we are holding on to too much of it. Share in simple ways in the opportunities He
brings your way today, and in responding as others come to mind. The simplest things might be exactly what someone needed.
edge of the porch
Still watching. Still listening. Still learning.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Follow the Bouncing Ball
He has torn the veil.
He has spilled His blood. He has
given us an inheritance and His Spirit. He has poured out forgiveness and His
word. He asks us to believe. He calls us to action. He invites us to listen for specifics, to get
to know His voice, and to respond to do the work of His Kingdom in our time. He will always make a way to provide the
means for what He asks.
We sometimes pray prayers that continue to ask Him to do the
work that He has asked of us. When we
pray “Keep our hearts and minds and eyes on You,” we may be acknowledging our struggle
to stay focused; but maybe we are simply not willing to keep at the effort of following,
to lean in to get to know Him, to take the time to listen, to let Him become
King of every area of our lives. We would
be better off if we stop throwing the ball back into God’s court.
Jesus came and did it…prayed, listened, taught, fed,
befriended, healed, forgave. This isn’t
a tennis game; it is a mission. Are we
in or not? We can work up a sweat of bouncing
the ball back, but never really participating in the work forward. We walk off the court, wiping our brow and pretending
we’ve engaged, when we’ve just deflected every invitation He sent.
Granted, we do
need His mercy and His help continually, but let’s be sure we are doing our
part to learn and hear and yield and respond.
We can do a quick check by asking ourselves this: “When did I last hear
His voice? What did He say? How did I
respond—dismissing, continuing the conversation to learn more, obeying what was
clear?”
When was the last time God “offended” me by suggesting I do something contrary to what I was inclining toward? When was the last time
He surprised me by His delight in me? Both will certainly happen when we each are
giving Him room to speak into our lives.
Follow the bouncing ball and discover the song He is singing.
Photograph from morguefile.com by dieraecherin
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Watch For It!
Be watchful for the opportunities today to notice a bruised heart, to speak a kind word, to help a stranger, friend, or neighbor. Ask for eyes to see better and ears to hear better, for our days are chock full of moments to bless. Vision and ambition are great, but they can (and often do) blind us to the more important gift in the moment.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Unhurried
It occurred to me this morning that part of the gift of the
vast creation all around us is an unending display of the variety and power and
imagination God holds and the reminder that lavish scenery should be to us of
His ability to answer our prayers and meet us in our needs. His creativity (ability to devise a unique and
good solution) and His inventiveness (ability to figure out what will work and
how to set it in motion) and His artistry (the beauty and breath-taking way He
comes up with) and His care (nourishing, nurturing, and strengthening us as we
follow) are unrivaled.
But to enter the realms of these possibilities so to
experience the wonder of His work requires some decisions on our part. He is undoubtedly
a God able to do instant miraculous things.
Sometimes He does. And sometimes
He is cooking up a solution that needs to simmer like a stew, whose flavors can’t
be gained without the time for it to develop deeply, whose work is wider and
deeper than we could have imagined. He
is after delight yes, but also of deep and mature work. Are we willing to wait if that is the recipe
He is working on?
I am not saying that it is easy to learn to hear His
voice. It is harder still to follow—to yield
our own kingdom for the promises of His.
But it seems our current inclinations in a world of ever-increasing
speed and expectation has reduced the time we are willing to give God to work. Often, frankly, we want our happiness and we
want it now. In our impatience, we miss
so many masterpieces and settle for our own fast food drive-through solutions
that satisfy the taste buds of the moment.
We miss the formation of sitting at His feet listening, of being shaped
as we see the unfolding of His wisdom, of gaining the experience of trust that
reveals His utter faithfulness, of receiving the prizes He had in mind.
Of course, He can and does still work when we don’t choose
as we could have. That is the miracle of
grace and restoration and the heart of the gospel. But let’s be honest with ourselves and not
use those precious gifts as an excuse to do what we know is not His best. That’s the thing about the drive-through menu…it
is all listed right there as a choice, shiny and colorful and seemingly
inexpensive. Let’s please be more
discerning with our precious lives.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
It Was No Accident
She was young, yet her age wasn’t an obstacle. Her heart, somehow, was already responsive
and ready.
She didn’t require answers from a God who had spoken. She didn’t demand understanding when her
heart heard His voice. She didn’t give
room to her fears to come in and whisper a bazillion “What ifs?” She was a lovely canvas on which God had been
given full permission to create beauty, life, and a path by which He could draw
mankind to Himself in any way He chose.
Still, at each moment along the way, like us, she had to
continue to choose to trust Him.
We saw it first when she was barely past girlhood. Her words
(without having to text her friends to get their opinion and support) were
these: “I am the Lord’s servant, and I
am willing to do whatever he wants. May everything you said come true.”
She didn’t insist on convenience or happiness for herself. Mary believed Him as the one designing the
plan and who was in charge of the timing and the outcome.
As the years went along she obviously didn’t shift to a
different mindset. It was after a few decades
of watching and waiting for His plan to further unfold when she was simply sitting
at a wedding celebrating and noticed a tension arising when the wine supply had
run out. There was no question about
where provision could come from or who had the answer, even though her son hadn’t
done a single miracle yet. Her simple effort
now was to encourage the servants to believe Him. Perhaps she was so practiced at being ready
that she could now anticipate when God was about to do something. Is this the fruit of those who ready
themselves for His call? There was only
one way for Mary to do life: “Do
whatever He tells you.”
Today we each have the same opportunity. Just check--is following Him at the top of
your to-do list today? If so, keep your
ear tuned, for He will make very good use of your yes.
We don’t accidentally become His disciples.
Photograph from morguefile.com by Marinapriest
Monday, January 2, 2017
Becoming
As we enter another year, maybe it would be helpful to
remember what inspires us. I am guessing
that most of us appreciate those who have weathered storms, pressed in with
grace and integrity in the face of difficulties, and developed character by
believing a good outcome would eventually come if they did the right things
now.
The best outcomes usually don’t happen instantly. Set your minds now for what kind of person
you want to be in the year ahead, then do what it takes in the moment, even if
it isn’t the most convenient or comfortable.
When next December arrives and we get to the last days of 2017 you will
have more peace and be content in a deeper place for having lived well through
whatever struggles come. You will be
stronger, wiser, more mature. We will
all have some difficulties. Who will we
become for having encountered them?
Photograph from morguefile.com by BBoomerinDenial
Sunday, January 1, 2017
A New Year, the Same Goal
My goal for 2017 comes from a decades old song that impacted
me from the beginning… “to see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly, follow
Him more nearly day by day.”
My hope is that whatever the weather of the days ahead,
whatever the circumstances of my life, whatever the junk I discover in myself
that needs to go, I will press in, surrender my will to His, and trust in His
vast ability to do good work in and from my life. I cannot imagine any greater thing than the
opportunity to know Him more in the year ahead.
Onward. Welcome 2017 and the lessons and provision and miracles ahead.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)