Taking the Long Road Home

There is no short-cut to becoming like Jesus. Trust me, I've tried.

 Running fast through life, inviting him to run along side... it just doesn't produce the results my heart is truly longing for. When I schedule time into my everyday life to be quiet with Him, beholding Him, I come face to face with His goodness, His kindness, His holiness.

                 And my heart cries out, like Isaiah long ago, I am unclean!

Funny how something looks white until you hold it up to something that's brilliantly white, and suddenly what we thought clean and bright shows itself to be dull and yellowed.

 We can all seem holy or righteous when we use other imperfect people as our measure, but the measure we use must always be... HIM.

And this awareness of who He is, and calls me to be, only comes through looking long at Him.

 The good news is, it doesn't end with us just looking and longing. For us who are living on this side of the cross, our longing to be like Him doesn't have to remain an unfulfilled hope...

So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.

2 Corinthians 4:15 MSG

Here's the truth in the simplest form I know...  within me lies the seeds of the very nature of God. A whole, new created being that awoke to Him the day I cried out in my sin and shame for His salvation. 

And now, those seeds of life have taken root. They've begun to sprout here and there. As the roots grow larger and deeper, the old, dead nature in me continues to be routed out. 

Like any seed, it must be watered... time in the Word, time with Jesus. "Let all of you who are thirsty, come to Me and drink..."

To grow, a seed needs the Sun. Alot of time in the presence of the Son.... 

No shortcuts to greatness here. No quicker routs to Holiness. Just the simple formula of lots of time in His word, in the presence of His light. And before we know it, the reflection we behold now dimly, shall eventually shine like the Son.

Joining today with...

    

Mountains High and Valleys Low

It comes softly.  
       Stealing up on me like the best of moments.

This peace.  Not because everything is 'right' or 'good', but because 

He is here. 

And I feel the Peace settle around me.  A calm.  Though a storm may rage outside, within       I am still.

And I feel so thankful 

                             as I grow with the knowing

                                                        that life comes and goes, marked by seasons. 

As it ebbs and flows...

                   I come to know that few things remain constant, except the Love of a Savior.

Finally coming out from under a long night of winters, I feel the warmth of change. 

Unexpected new blooms in late October

And I know now, with a certainty I didn't have before the dark, 
       
                 that joy really does come in the morning. 

That the hard times, the valleys of this life, 
when walked with the Friend who sticks closer than a brother,
 they enlarge us as nothing else can. 

And when the journey takes us upwards again,  to scale the heights ~ we are so much more aware 

of all the beauty in this life. 

Our eyes are clearer, our hearing more acute. 

Our hearts, they have become fuller and yet emptier, too. 
We find more room to take in

                                 All the gifts...
                                      
                                                  we are given from His hand.

Every day. 
Every moment. 
New gifts to be oh-so-grateful for.

For this I am thankful.


Counting 1000 gifts today with Ann :

#109  Peace within

#110  Our first public Preview Service - a success! Thanks be to You, Lord! (and to the amazing team you continue to gather)

#111  New friends joining the journey as we plant

#112  Old friends joining, too :)

#113  Family movie night that actually entertained the WHOLE family (teenagers included)

#114  A generous family

#115  Elsa gifting her time and love each week to help me with the books.

#116  Silly girls playing dress up at Goodwill as we search for costumes

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever."

The Kiss

Relaxing in bed on a Sunday afternoon, half way between sleep and alertness... Too comfortable to even  open my eyes though I heard him come in and lie down beside me. His spontaneous kiss came as a surprise. Cool lips that met mine in a unexpected moment of affection. He promptly rolled over and went into his own slumber, the hours of his work week and the emptying of self this morning at the worship service finally catching up and culminating in the glorious Sunday afternoon nap.

I lay there awhile reflecting on that kiss. And the thought came:
    God likes it when we love Him like that.

Those unplanned moments of sheer affection.

Sure, He appreciates the methodical, daily devotions (I think, maybe not as much as we think He does?)
And the planned times of prayer.
But oh, how sweet are the times when out of a heart simply filled with love and joy, we attempt in our feeble human ways to show Him how much He means to us.

Sometimes I try too hard. Forgetting I was His Beloved long before I even knew His name, much less how to praise it's glory.
And He loves me still. As much as ever.
                       A love that runs like a powerful locomotive, a crazy furious storm over me.
                                    Again and again.

It's okay to enjoy this a bit. To take this truth in and hold it and be with it awhile and let it fill me.
To feel the joy of His love for me.
     It's like water to all the thirsty places inside me, longing to be filled again.
I find the most life-giving revelations I get are not the new ones,  it's the old ones that I've somehow managed to forget.

I'll never grow so old

That I won't need Your touch

I'll never be so strong

That it would ever be enough

I'll never be so sure

Or wise in my own eyes

That I won't humbly come and say,

"I will always need You here with me,

Every new day, each breath I breath.

There is never going to be

Anyone else for me.

Show me how to rest within Your arms

A peaceful place within the storm.

For every moment that I am with You

Feels like coming Home."

Beloved:  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine. Song of Songs 1:2

I'm linking up today with...

In The Quiet

Most mornings when I wake up I feel like the new day before me is some kind of present.
So many hours stretched out before me, yet to be lived. To be filled.

I even confess to feeling a little invinsible. That I can do it all.

THE GREAT CALM

            “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”  Mark 4:37-40