Hope

 HOPE

Helping

Other

People

Every day

This is where it starts. We need to lend others hope one person, one day, one word at a time.

The world is scarce on hope.

Jesus gives it in abundance.

Let’s spread it. Let's lend it. Let’s pour it out.

The answer to the poverty of hope is the halleluiah that this, this world, this time, this hurt is simply not all there is. There is so much more. And his name is Jesus.

Farewell 2020

Logic says we slam the door on 2020, but what slips through the cracks and sticks to our souls?

As the earth paused, we found time to pray.

As calendars emptied, our minds stilled.

As fear grew, our faith forged.

Farewell 2020, you have made us see so much clearer.

joy

So much loss in this season and so very much learned and relearned.

Staying home; staying still.

Still, the sweet practice of savoring.

We savor time. We treasure each other.

We savor knowing that He is God. He is King and we are miraculously His children.

This transaction..

We trade worry for wonder. We give Him our fear and He fabrics our faith.

And deep in the soul we give up pieces of our heart where we have stored our sorrow to open the door to Joy

time

 

I circle the parking lot to pick up the little gal.
She questions why I am in a different car.  Instead of rattling through what is the 3rd car having its dozenth issue in the last 3 weeks, I tell her, “I won’t bore you with the details.”
She says,
“I have nothing but time.”
I envied these five words.
What if time was a gift to be given instead of something borrowed or made or stolen.
As we pause as a planet, our sparse schedules should reveal not what has been taken but what has been given.
The gift of importance as what remains lends itself to what we cannot live without.
The gift of relationships as we have moved from touch to touch screens.
The gift of god who remains faithful in fear and frailty.  
The creation of time, the measurement of days mark the life lived well or wasted. 
The giving of time is a transaction of love both from the receiver and the creator. 
It is a work of holy to let time stand and embrace what he has given us. 

art

I read a story written by Ruth Graham. The story goes that as the fish tale was told, the fisherman, extending his arms to portray his catch, bumped into the waitress carrying his cup of tea.

The tea now awash on the wall was accompanied by the regret of the fisherman.

Edwin Lanseer, famous artist, also enjoying a drink stands, pencil in hand and traces the stain to reveal an incredible depiction of a stag.

The question then becomes, who are we in this story? The stain or the art? Answer: both

We can lose ourselves in the journey of what we are not. We feel messy or misunderstood. Ugly or unliked. We focus on what we will become, not what we are. It is in the becoming that God does his finest work.

He takes what we are.

And He fashions art.

messy

Life is messy. So much so it feels as if the messy splashes up and over us, covering and almost consuming.

 
But we do not have to consume.  We do not even have to give it breath. We do not have to believe this is all there is, because there is so much more.   We have Someone who lives inside.  Lighting up and organizing the places in our hearts.  His Spirit dwells here.   It is He that allows us to bring a word of truth and an arm full of encouragement to this less than perfect place.
 
Beauty:  it is in the hand of the Beholder. When we hold Him, we behold what He fashions. Faith out of fear. Trust out of turmoil. Wonder out of worry. 

We get to do this.  Because we are His and He is ours.

butterflies

Our milkweeds are right smack dab next to hundreds of zinnias. Dozens of butterflies coming to life, landing on lovely after stillness and struggle.
 
Weary finding rest.  
 
That is the Father, bidding breath in the battle. Beauty in the hard. He doesn’t end suffering to cause us to see Him;  He allows it so we do not miss Him.