WiDE oPEN

That’s our speed around here lately. Despite my best intentions and all of my quiet ambitions, God decided to rock our boat a bit this year.

The result has given us long stretches of waiting interspersed with periodic warp-speed-required responses. It would be easy to give in to frustration (or whiplash!)…but then I remember Who is actually in charge of the schedule. I let myself off the hook and I make a conscious choice to stop. To breathe deeply. To go for a walk or even just STAND in the garden and look for God’s beautiful handiwork. To spend time in His Word and be calmed by the promises it contains: I am His and He is mine…and the speed of life no longer matters. He is in control…and I don’t have to be.

(Maybe you needed the reminder, too?)

Grace and Peace!

Remember

For those who swore allegiance to, followed, protected, defended, and gave up their every last everything before coming home covered in this flag…

We remember.

We honor.

We are gratefully indebted.

Waiting for answers

Note to self #1: waiting is never fun.

Note to self #2: neither is being wrong, messing up, being unwise, or making things more difficult because you ran impatiently ahead of God’s best.

Note to self #3: when you’ve done all You can do, and prayed for God’s best, then whatever the answer is –yes, no, not now, not this one, or even hush (yes, He says that to us from time to time)–is His best.

NOTE TO SELF #4: God’s best will always bless…even if it isn’t comfortable, convenient, or what you wanted to hear.

Get “comfortable” with THAT.

Father God, we ask for Your best today. In all of our situations, in all of our confusions, in all of our waitings. Be glorified…in us, for us, and by us. No matter what Your choices for us turn out to be, help us to honor You with our responses. Help us to manifest You in all that we do today. Help us CHOOSE to honor You even in the wait. Amen.

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

Philippians 1:27a

Grace and Peace, fellow “waiters”! Grace and Peace.

Prayer priorities

I’ve been praying a lot. That’s not unusual; it’s standard practice throughout most of my days. What is unusual, for me at least, is that quite a bit of my recent prayer time has been in intercession for myself, and not mainly focused on the needs of those around me. It’s felt more than a bit decadent…perhaps even a little selfish. Oh, I do pray for myself regularly, but there’s been a definite shift in the order of things.

As I’ve prayed, I have also been drawn to reading through prayers written and prayed by others. This week, I’ve spent time with the words of liturgist Jan Richardson in her book, Every Moment Holy, Volume One. If you’re unfamilar with her work, I urge you to change that.

If you have a red-letter edition of Scripture, you might have noticed that most of that red ink shows up as instruction. While the gospels do mention that Jesus went away to quiet places to pray, they don’t share what He prayed when He got there…because He got up early and went away…where it was quiet…which wouldn’t have been at all possible if Peter and the Sons of Thunder and their crew was awake and in the general area at all. (Go ahead and smile. You know it is true.)

I’ve also been reading through what Jesus prayed before heading to the garden. This time, His words are recorded because He prayed in front of the disciples…while they were still awake and listening.

In John 17, Scripture says that Jesus lifted up His eyes and started praying…for Himself. Yes, He quickly moved on to pray for others (including those of us who follow His teachings today!), but He started out by praying for Himself. I needed to be reminded of that. Maybe you did, too. Time spent in prayer for ourselves isn’t selfish. It is necessary.

More than requesting a simple or straightforward yes or no answer, however, Jesus asked His Father to use what was about to happen to help Him finish the mission well. He asked for God to receive glory and be made known to those around Him as He walked toward the hardest part of His time here on earth.

I’ll be honest and say I needed to hear those words, too. While the situational changes I’ve been focused on in my prayers will, no doubt, be life-changing and have their challenges, they do not appear in any way to be life-threatening. I still need to pray about them. I still need to pray for myself. I also need to be more focused on asking for God to supply whatever will bring Him the most glory instead of what I think might make me the most comfortable, because every moment IS holy.

What are you praying for yourself today?

What are your prayer priorities? And, more importantly, do they glorify God?

Thoughts to ponder. Prayers to be prayed.

Grace and Peace!

Rehearsal

My husband and I had a recent conversation about the difficulties in applying the Biblical instruction about “taking every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

As with most things in life, we tend to get what we rehearse. It’s true. We get better as we rehearse, no matter what we’re choosing to repeat. Our bodies develop muscle memory as we perform repetitive tasks…and so do our brains…and our attitudes.

Practice makes perfect, so…what are you rehearsing today?

Selah.

I want to rehearse faith and gratitude until they multiply and bloom like lily pads. Join me?

Grace and Peace!

Finding light

“Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.”

Madeline L’Engle

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

1 John 1:5 (NKJV)

Grace and Peace…and Light!

Note to self

“In seasons of busyness we need more time in the quiet place, not less, definitely not less. And if you’re running through your Rolodex of excuses right now–I’m a full-time mom, I have a demanding job that starts early, I’m an extrovert, I have ADHD, etc.–stop a minute. Think about this: Jesus needed time in the quiet place.

I repeat, Jesus needed time.

And a fair bit of it.

You think you don’t?”

John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Starting over

This piece of paper used to be covered in rabbits, but they weren’t really mine. Oh, I painted them, but they weren’t mine. I followed someone else’s instructions about how to make them and…well…let’s just say it plainly: they looked exactly like what they were…an attempt to do someone else’s thing.

I learned some stuff by doing them. The first batch even made me laugh. It was the second batch that annoyed me.

Lately we’ve been a little preoccupied around here with figuring out “the next thing” that God has in store for us. As a result, I stopped doing art on a regular basis. I missed it. Terribly. Then, I saw a free art tutorial for cute rabbits and thought, “Hey! Quick and easy art for fun!” And, I was right! Like I said: the first ones made me laugh. It was the second batch that annoyed me.

I didn’t even finish them. I quit and walked away, leaving them out on my art table for several days and they (eventually) did their job: they annoyed me enough to remind me of an unexpectedly combined art and life lesson.

And, here it is, this free little lesson from me to you: it’s ok to see what others are doing and even give it a go every once in awhile. It is NOT ok to just blindly keep on doing what they do…even if it looks like fun and is supposed to be cute and easy. Be who God made YOU to be! He made only one of you!! You, dear one, are an original! Honor that!! Do what He called YOU to do and…this is important!!–HAVE FUN WITH IT!!

Full disclosure (just so you know): I know this new little little art piece is a long way from perfect. I’m not even sure it is finished. Once I decide that it’s completed, it still won’t be perfect. but it is definitely mine. It has my stamp on it even now. It makes me smile and I had fun getting it to this point.

From a spiritual perspective, it also makes my heart smile to see that piece of art paper become something completely changed–rescued from being destroyed, given new life and a clean slate before also being given a new purpose. (REDEEMED!!)

What do you need to STOP doing because God didn’t call you to “that” OR what do you need to START doing because you know He did call you for that purpose? Learn to start over (and over and over and over, if needed!!) and, with God’s help, have some fun with Him as you make your life your own!

“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”

Dietrich Bonhoffer

Grace and Peace!

bloom

Years ago, as I prepared to leave a wonderful job and move with my new husband, a sweet coworker presented me with a sign that said, “Bloom where you are planted.” Several years after that, as we prepared for another move, a different sweet coworker presented me with a small wooden light switch cover upon which was painted the same message.

It would seem that God was really trying to make a point, right?! To be fair, He really needed to do so. While both places and positions had their blessings, our new surroundings also came with tremendous challenges. It is ever so…even now.

As we prepare for another major life change, God apparently decided to send me the same message again in the form of my back walk garden. Though the tips are burnt golden from a late winter cold snap and the first stem somehow got twisted and brought low from its normally upright condition, this lily is still blooming for all to see.

Message received, Father. Message received.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10

“Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

Are you blooming where you’re planted today? Count your blessings, not your challenges!

Grace and Peace!

Connected

“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Colossians 1:17

When I was much younger, I sometimes failed to make connections quickly because I was more accustomed to going my own way. As a strong and stubborn natural introvert raised to think independently, at times I took that line of thought further, perhaps, than I should have. In many ways I was, as John Muir spoke, “on the world, not in it.” Oh, I interacted–and fairly well. There was no other choice, but a great deal of my world played out in the pages of books and in the plans I made and kept to myself.

I have needed God to teach me many things, but none so much as the gift of being connected. Blessed by a large and loving family I knew I could count on, it took me awhile to go looking for community in a deliberate way. Because He is gracious and knows all things, God sent me people as gifts, spreading them out lavishly through the years and surprising me in their abundance.

As I look toward the changes He is bringing to me now, I have never been more grateful for His gift of connectedness to friends near and far, whose presence in my life feels a tangible thing even when time and circumstances have kept us from actually touching. I am grateful for these friends whose voices of prayer, instruction, encouragement, and laughter ring in my head and heart.

Yes, changes are on the way. There are new connections to be made…and God will still be in charge of holding us all together.

Grace and Peace!