Light - devotion by Cathy Joy Hill

I go from room to room in the wee hours of the morning.

At night, my husband is the tucker, rarely do I see them this way.  

Peace.  Quiet.  Not one of my children speak these words 

other than when they sleep.

 

In every room, one light is on.  One glow to dispel the darkness.  

I notice how the oldest keeps the bathroom light on as well.  

He wants something to guide his journey, don’t we all?

 

I notice how the littlest has a light far from her bed.  

She loves to watch the shadows fall.  

The older ones keep the light close to their bed to read yes, 

but to keep the shadows at bay.  

Don’t we all?

 

We fight darkness.  I wonder, does the fight lessen as we age, 

or is it our weapons that magnify?  

We understand words like warfare.  We don’t like the words any better, 

but we are more equipped, more willing to stand in darkness.  

We seem more assured that eventually, the light will dawn.  

It always does.  We know that and it changes things.

 

Isn’t that the essence of everything, knowing that 

no matter how dark the day, the hour, the heart, light does come.

 

The darkest of soil brings blossoms.

The darkest of nights brings the sun.

The darkest of moods can still muster a smile.

The darkest of hours can still find moments of joy.

 

God placed a sun in the center of everything to remind us 

He is always there, He is always light, He is always good, 

and that nothing, except for His faithfulness and His love will last forever.

 

So, we persevere.  We muddle through tripping over things 

in the dark of our souls to find Him and knowing once we reach Him, 

peace will dawn. Suddenly the solution is not the answer, it is the warmth 

of His presence. The knowing that it is not I, but we.

 

Understanding that the journey is truly the end and the destination is the beginning.

 

Children of Light He calls us.

We stand in His glory.  We reflect His goodness.

He grafts us into a holy place where darkness must ask permission.

"For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord.

So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only 

what is good and right and true."

Ephesians 5:8-9

 

strength

Our strength securely is sourced from within. 

It is the identification that the weakness we feel is the welcome to something so much bigger and more incredible.

 It is the power to finish when every physical muscle says to stop.

 It is the passion to push when every inch of our will says to quit.

 It is the part of us that overcomes because we know the Overcomer.

 It is the incredible transaction of laying down and giving in to sense the freedom of surrender. 

He is always the winner, the wonder, and when we allow ourselves to be second, we get to watch Him work.

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.