He'll Get Us There

"Ring the bells that still can ring, 

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything,

That's how the light gets in."  (Leonard Cohen)

Do what you can, don't give up. 

Stop up your itching, doubting ears,

The ears that hear failure's whispers. 

And sing this to your tears:

    Jesus is our Success,

    Jesus is our Success.

Feel the hand that's holding yours?

He has us.  He keeps holding on

Even when we trip and stumble. 

Get up sweet, precious one, 

     

He'll get us there.

Roses

"Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow."

France's Hodgson Burnett, 1859-1924

What if we were built for more than just pulling out the weeds in our lives, more than just fighting off sins and bad habits?  

What if what's inside us is actually this rich, organic substance that incubates and displays God's beauty?  

Colossians 3 challenges us to pull out the weeds in our lives, but then it spends just as long pleading with us to grow the flowers by putting on righteousness.

I've been too short-sighted lately.  But now I see that I want a life of roses, not just empty soil.  And isn't it so true that higher goals always make maintenance work so much easier?  It's easy to clean your house when you have company coming.  But if it's your only project for the day, all the sudden it's daunting.  

ROSES.

- In my marriage, I want to give my life away again and again to Jeff.  I want to constantly be changed into someone who deeply loves and is loved.  Soil would just be pleasant cohabitation--surely the soil God has given me is destined for more than just that.

- In my job, I want to work knowing that everything I do is directly for Jesus.  I want to do as much as I can for as long as I can as hard as I can because I love Him.  That's what a rose looks like--not just the sandbox of meeting expectations.

- In my friendships, I want to search out and discover the greatness God has put into these precious people He has me around.  I want to be a friend like Jonathan was to David.  Soil would be cordial conversations to make me feel better.  There's so much more hat can be entailed in 'living a life worthy of the Lord.'

Lord, I am sorry for settling for empty soil.  Thank You for being patient with me.  I know that unless You build the house (or me, the plant), we work in vain.  I pray for beautiful roses to sprout up in this dusty soul You've given me.  I want people to see the flowers You grow and marvel at Your creativity.  Here I am Lord.  

Every Place

"Lord, make me see Thy glory in every place."  Michelangelo

Every place, Lord.

You are everywhere.  I am sorry for how I've missed you in so much of the life You've given me.  But You've been there.  No more missing You!  I want to see Your glory even in the insomnia, the disappointments and the hard days.  Even in the traffic or the incessant busyness--I know that You're there.  Please open my eyes to see you.

When I see You, then You add color and music and life to the deadness.  I'd be a fool to settle for anything less.

Our Leaning Plant

We got this little plant for Christmas.  We don't know what kind of plant it is, but it's fun to see it shoot out of the dirt.  Jeff has been babying it big time.  Since he's currently out of town, he gave me somber instructions to "give it some loving" while he's away.  He knows that I only water plants once a week, whereas this little guy is used to being watered everyday.  So I've watered it daily, but I've stopped short of Jeff's pampering.  As the sun goes down, Jeff will keep moving the plant so it stays in the rays.  Way above my pay grade.

It's changing so fast!  

Much like me.  The Lord has me in this clear place of growth where I can see the changes almost daily.  He's building new foundations, new beams and truths in my soul.  I am different, but I'm not exactly sure what I am yet.  And my wonderful Jeff is taking impeccable care of me which is sparking all of this newness.

It's scary sometimes.  What is being built in me?  What in the world am I fit for?  Who am I now, and who was I before?  I'm tempted to press into these questions too far and then all the sudden, fear reigns and the future is dark.  

But I love looking at this little plant.  The only thing I notice it doing is stretching out toward the sun.  Beyond that, it's just sitting there as the sun grows it.

John 12:46 teaches that Jesus is our Light, our Sun.  By Him, we grow and change.  So I'll take a lesson from this little plant.  I don't know what to do with all this newness.  So I'll just lean into the Lord my Light and watch Him grow me into exactly who He's building me to be.  

Lord, I open my heart to the changes You're making and the ones You have yet to make.  By all means, bring on the change and grow me as big or as small as You'd like.  I'm right where I'm supposed to be when I'm in Your light.  

Hyperdrive

There are 44 more days until Jeff and I get married.  The biggest event I've ever been a part of planning will happen then, and that'll be immediately followed by a complete life change in every area of life that I can list.  Everything changes in 44 days.

The past 2 weeks I feel like I'm on a plane going down a runway.  The velocity is shooting up every day and we're lifting off the ground from anything familiar.  Newness envelopes us on all sides.

Lord, You know that I like going slow and steady.  I like being able to breathe and enjoy the familiar blessings You've surrounded me with.  There are too many plants in this garden to keep from wilting.  I'm uncomfortable with the pace right now.  I'm prone to do what minimizes stress as much as possible, but peace isn't my God.  Father, I don't want to check off all my boxes and find that I lost sight of my relationship with You and with Jeff 50 tasks ago.

Now is when the beauty of prioritizing shines.  Lord, what's Your priority for me these next 44 days?  Please show me.  Locking eyes with You in the midst of the waves sounds like a fantastic priority.  Quieting down to listen to You speaking sounds like it would make the next 44 days into a hugely productive blessing.  Here I am and here are all the flowers in my garden.  I surrender to You my growth and their growth, my flourishing and their flourishing.  Thank You for being the great Gardener and Knower of tough plants.

This speed Lord that we're keeping is so fast.  I surrender that to You, and I commit to learning from it, not resisting it.  I know that in a few days there will be another gear change and we'll shift into hyperdrive.  Without Your eyes to look at, I'll be frantic.  Here I am Lord, please help me to keep my eyes stayed on You.  You are my Delight, my Strength and the Lifter of my head.  You are right here. Thank You for Your eyes.

Thankfulness Conquers Selfish Ambition

"Thanksgiving precedes the miracle."  -Ann Voscamp

We have a beach baptism this Sunday that we currently have 35 people signed up for and I'd love to see 100 people sign up.  That could very well be a selfish prayer with my own interests truly at heart.  Lord I pray that You'd purify my heart from what's ugly.  May what's left be only from You, angled to do what You want.

Thank You for each of these baptism candidates who are ready to go.  Thanks for their heart in standing up to proclaim that they're Yours.  Thanks for how You've been working inside of all of us, and I pray You'd protect them during this time.  May they keep their focus on You.

Thank You for each of the people who are pondering whether or not to get baptized right now.  Oh Lord, would You bring them into Your clarity and Your will?  Please show them what You'd have them do and then be give them the bravery and trust to walk in it.  

Thank You for those who are ready, but who haven't finished the step to sign up yet.  Please draw them in today, Lord.  I pray that they could know what this means to You.  Show them the urgency of what You've commanded.  I pray they'd sign up and be there.

Thank You for how You are working at our church, and for how You're smiling at us now.  Thanks for the millions of ways You bless me everyday, for holding hands with Jeff and talking with Rhonda and texting with Joy and singing in the car.  Thanks for filling up my life with good things. 

I love being Yours.  You not only take away death but You give me life.  Thank You Lord.

On His Shoulders

You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth.  As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel.  You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree.  And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel.  And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for remembrance.  You shall make settings of gold filigree, and two chains of pure gold.  twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.  Exodus 28:9-14

I tend to approach the Bible looking to crack open the passage to see how it applies to my life.  If I can't quickly see how it convicts me, I probably won't spend a ton more time in that section.  But I've been so blind; the Bible is much more than how it directly applies to my 2015 lens.  It's 66 books to the whole world for all of time.  The Lord didn't just have me in mind when He gave it to us.  The Bible is holy and directly from the Lord, the most important book ever written.  With that in mind, no matter the content, I should approach the Bible with vigor and my whole brain.  It should open me up, not the other way around.  The Bible never changes, I do.

In Exodus 25-30, the Lord is passionate about how the Tabernacle was to be built.  He was steady and clear about the nuts and bolts of what it would be like.  The priestly garments was no exception to His thoroughness.  As I've been looking at these chapters this past week, at first it's seemed totally irrelevant to me, but in the last couple of days, the Lord has opened my mind to the life and truth in this passage.

Priests imaged Jesus.  For thousands of years, they killed life to make restitution for Israel's sins.  Israel imaged Jesus' followers.  So then, when Aaron bore the people's names on his shoulders surrounded by gold chains, in the same way, Jesus bears our names on his shoulders.  He paid for our sins, my sins, not by killing a bull, but by letting Himself be killed.  One sacrifice for all sins.

He has me on His shoulder.  I'm His, and He's got my sins and stresses and struggles paid for and on the way to be righted.  How blessed are we who are His?  What more could we ask for?