God Help Us

This morning the big news was the snow.
Not now.
God, please help.
Praying for all those impacted by Boston's horrific events. The reach is far.
God help us all.

Naming the Year

I got the idea to name the coming year from this blog post called What the Year Needs Most. If you have time, check it out. The thought is to name the year with a word that will reflect the hope we have for the time ahead. It will help to focus our thoughts and efforts...to be intentional in our living.

Immediately, one word came to mind and I've decided to let it stay as 2013's name...Community.

To build community, we have to take a look at how things are now, a good look, an honest look, not with the intent to criticize but with the intent to pray, heal and then build.

There will undoubtedly be good things about the community we look at. And there will also be some sad things and hurtful things where tenderness, humility, forgiveness and love are needed.

There are always things we can do to improve community, things we can do to foster and encourage community. When we do them, there is a ripple effect. When we do not, there is a ripple effect.

It takes effort and commitment and work to love one another well. And it is worth it. 

Fortunately, there is a source of Love that never runs dry that I can tap into and allow to flow through me as I seek to care for the community around me.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19

My God, He does good work.

He never ceases to amaze me as I look at His work, His creation. How beautiful. What an artist, the Master Artist!

Words Without PIctures

I think I may have finally figured it out. After all these years of being told and having read that the joy of the Lord is our strength (in the book of Nehemiah), I think I might just understand what that means. Up until recently, my head knew the words but I didn't really know how to access a strength that came from this joy.

Oh I have believed that God has given me strength over time but I think I may well have missed out on strength available to me but not accessed because of my own choices. I think the understanding of this truth lies at the same crossroads where we make these kinds of choices between joy...or something else.

Recently I have been inspired to choose joy. There are some remarkable people in this world who have lived some pretty difficult lives, walked some challenging roads and yet you'd never know it by their demeanor. They exude joy. This inspires me to do the same, even when I don't feel like it. Especially when I don't feel like it.

Here is my theory. If, at the end of the day, a hard life is what is and what remains, would I not rather be joyful along the way than miserable? And maybe, just maybe, a hard life might be a little less hard when joy is present.

Knowing I can actually choose joy in the midst of chaos is necessary. Reaching for God's grace to choose the joy that He provides, and resulting strength, is key.

This week I saw the connection...for real! I decided to choose joy and decided again and again as I came to that same intersection where choice lay many times in one day. The days were better. Circumstances didn't necessarily change but the days were better. I felt stronger, less overwhelmed by some significant challenges.

I have also felt joy. Finally understanding truth and how to apply it to my life has a way of contributing to that! A little further in the passage in Nehemiah where the joy of the Lord being our strength is mentioned (see above link), we read how choosing joy and understanding God's Word did bring joy...for real!

Words Without Pictures

At the end of the day, God remains good, no matter what the day holds. At the beginning, in the middle and at the end of each day, each minute, each second, He is good.

Sometimes I let my worries get in front of this truth. I let them become bigger than what they should be. I invite them into places they do not belong and allow them to dictate my actions...and usually my actions that come from this place are not good, nor are they healthy. They tend to be a grasping and clutching, a controlling kind of mess. Pretty ugly, actually.

It can feel unstoppable, the worry rushing in. But it is not unstoppable. There is a calm to be had. There is a better perspective. There is peace.

You see, almost a couple of years back now, I was given a verse. During an intense and challenging time, I prayed for a verse to rest my faith on. It came. It came with a double rainbow, in fact. It was really very cool but better than the cool factor was the way I could actually rest my faith on this verse. The verse was and is, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." This is found in Romans 8:28. All things. Not some things. Not these things but not those things. All things. All.

Claiming that verse, I was given peace. There was Someone bigger than all of the chaos that surrounded me. This Someone was and is working all things together for my good. Somehow, some way. Things were not out of control. They were out of my control but not His...and given the possibility of me reverting to that grasping, clutching and controlling mess, it is a good thing they were out of my control!

When I remember that verse, and really it should not be so easy to forget, given the double rainbow and all, my focus shifts back to where it should be. Calm returns. Even in the chaos.

Thankful.

Peeling Layers

This morning I took a walk to a small woodland patch not far from my home. I brought my camera and also my thoughts from my Bible reading. How soothing and nurturing this was for me. Hearing from my Heavenly Father from His Word, in the beautiful creation around me and also from inside my heart...there is no greater part of my day.

It has been a grueling and growing time for me spiritually, these past months. Layers have been peeled back to show me what I've needed to see. I have prayed for this. It is not an easy thing to pray. It is a more difficult thing to not pray it back.  But I have not.  There is purpose in the peeling. And it is good.

Signs of Spring

Today is a chilly day by last week's standard, but springtime nonetheless. I took a break from some studio work to poke around in my backyard to see if spring would show itself to me. I didn't have to look too hard.

Along our railway ties that surround our patio, patches of moss have begun to grow. The green colour breathes life into the air and sparks hope for more of the same.

Spring is a season brimming with new life, new beginnings. This reminds me of God's mercies, new each morning, not only in springtime.  Like signs of spring, I don't have to look too hard for these either. They are all around me. Thankful.

Happy and Sad Hold Hands

Early this morning a dear lady, a woman of grace and beauty, a child of God, went to be with her Heavenly Father, our great Creator, Maker of heaven and earth.

There is such a profound sense of loss at the same time as a profound sense of joy, knowing she is now face to face with Jesus. I've said it before in a very simple way that seems incapable of holding my thoughts on this...happy and sad hold hands. It is so.

God gives and takes away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Light Has Come

Light has come.

Lord, may your light shine anew, may truth dawn brightly, may your love heal the sickness of all shame and fear.
Amen
(prayer by Rev. Dr. John Wilson)

Immanuel.

Like a Million Raindrops

They all fall
Like a million raindrops
Falling from a blue sky
Kissing your cares goodbye
They all fall
Like a million pieces
A tickertape parade high
And now you're free to fly

Newsboys ~ Million Pieces

What a great visual - watching my cares fall like raindrops. Letting go of my anxiety and my worries is key to peace and freedom. I must let them go and trust that God still has me and will work things out for my good. I must be the one to lay my burdens down. Nobody else can do that for me.

And when I have done this (because I don't always do this), let my worries fall like a million raindrops, peace and freedom have come. It is so.

(If you'd like to see the rest of the lyrics to Million Pieces go here)

Kindness

Today as I was reading I was struck by God's kindness. That is a strange way to put it but it is how it was. I have considered God's mercy and grace but rarely do I think very simply about His kindness. This morning, the fact that God is kind jumped out at me, suddenly, and quite unexpectedly.

When grace touches my life, and this is a daily occurrence, I am also a recipient of God's kindness. Let us think for just a minute about what kindness looks like. If we put a human face to it, how does kindness find us? There will be some ways we all experience kindness that will look similar. There will be other ways that it is unique to who we are and the circumstances we are in.

Maybe kindness catches us is in the the elderly gentleman as he offers his shopping cart to us and doesn't want the coin in return. Maybe the person in the car ahead of ours in the drive-thru pays for our coffee or perhaps a teen holds the door open for us at the mall.  Or maybe it comes through a friend's encouraging email or post on our facebook wall. These kindnesses are neither expected nor deserved. These kindnesses are not in exchange for us being kind first. These kindnesses are a gift.

Now let's magnify this type of kindness by a number greater than we even know. That kind of kind is God's.

If you could ask God any question...

what would it be? Our pastor is doing a series on these kinds of questions. If you have a question, he might use it in one of his sermons. So...if you could ask God a question...submit your question in the comments and I will pass it along to our pastor.

Here's a picture to look at while you consider what that question might be.

Grassi Lakes, Alberta

He is Crazy About You!

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning... Face it, friend. He is crazy about you!
                   ~ Max Lucado