Colossians 2:2 (Message) -"I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery."
Wouldn't we all like to have minds confident and at rest? i know i would! Paul seems to be telling something similar here to another verse of his in Philippians 4:6-7-
"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."
With Christ replacing all other thoughts that barge and shove to be at the forefront, my mind is renewed and i have new hope, fresh courage and a renewed sense of my place in God's kingdom. When the Spirit helps us to focus our thoughts on God, in prayer, something wonderful happens - we are not thinking about ourselves as the central person in our lives! We have real, actual help - at a huge, cosmic, supernatural level!!!
But like Peter walking toward Jesus on the water, i can hear the wind, see the waves and lose focus on him. But his Spirit faithfully nudges my mind back to His promises, his assurances and the truth of my status as his beloved child.
Help us to keep our eyes on you, Lord, eager to see your kingdom come- in the now and the not-yet.
a little poem- (ok, i don't rhyme, so brace yourself!)
Weave me into your tapestry of love.
Use the supposedly broken threads and
loose bits of my life to
reflect your glory.
Grant me the forgetfulness of self
and wash over me, by Your Spirit, with renewed
devotion to you.
So your life can be lived in mine;
so my fingers, voice and work
can quietly proclaim you,
Who quiets our minds and restores confidence
in faith,
the One who loves, redeems and
makes all things new.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Little crumbs
I have a wise friend who knows just the right thing to say - to encourage my faith and to nudge me forward with confidence. Remarkable how God uses her in my life and in the lives of so many. And in the midst of it all, she marvels at God's goodness in touching our lives...such humility!
Well, we were talking today and i was frustrated with my increased limitations lately and how it made things seem more challenging than usual. I have so much desire to serve God and felt hindered by his choice to keep me 'sidelined' right now. Then she said some remarkable things. get this! God asks us to use the energy and gifts HE first gives us...maybe not the ones that we prefer, but he does not stop using us just because we are having a rough time. So if he gives me less energy, then i can only give back to him what i have! Then she pointed out that he is using other gifts in me right now - ones that i don't usually use as much. HUH! i hadn't thought of that, but i understood that it was true.
Don't the most profound things often sound real obvious?
(except to ourselves!haha)
Just like when Jesus went to feed the 5000 - he turned to the disciples and wanted them to feed the people. They were dumbfounded at the cost, the difficulty of locating food way out where they were...and stood there. Then Jesus said, "give me what you have."
See?
So if you are giving what you have, living your passion for him fully and obediently, then there really isn't such a thing as not being usable!! how cool!
So when things don't go as planned, and we ALL have that...remember, give him what you have.
And in God's baffling economy, that will be enough.
Well, we were talking today and i was frustrated with my increased limitations lately and how it made things seem more challenging than usual. I have so much desire to serve God and felt hindered by his choice to keep me 'sidelined' right now. Then she said some remarkable things. get this! God asks us to use the energy and gifts HE first gives us...maybe not the ones that we prefer, but he does not stop using us just because we are having a rough time. So if he gives me less energy, then i can only give back to him what i have! Then she pointed out that he is using other gifts in me right now - ones that i don't usually use as much. HUH! i hadn't thought of that, but i understood that it was true.
Don't the most profound things often sound real obvious?
(except to ourselves!haha)
Just like when Jesus went to feed the 5000 - he turned to the disciples and wanted them to feed the people. They were dumbfounded at the cost, the difficulty of locating food way out where they were...and stood there. Then Jesus said, "give me what you have."
See?
So if you are giving what you have, living your passion for him fully and obediently, then there really isn't such a thing as not being usable!! how cool!
So when things don't go as planned, and we ALL have that...remember, give him what you have.
And in God's baffling economy, that will be enough.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Just some meandering thoughts of one who follows after God- chasing his footprints in the sand....
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering (brokenness) can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, Helen Keller
American blind and deaf educator
Isn't that something? When i consider the life she lived....blind, deaf ..it had to be tricky and it could have made Helen isolated. But she had a zest for life and a terrific mentor/teacher in Anne Sullivan -who nudged, prodded and kept reaching into Helen's world to release her from its limitations. remarkable! Whose Anne Sullivan are you? Whose Helen are you? We need each other - we were made this way. Oh we like to think we are 'all that' - independent, free spirited...but that's not really how we were created. we were created for community- a meaningful togetherness.
And as for brokenness, well, no one enjoys it. It's painful! It trashes our "i'm alright" image. It pokes holes in our pretending and pretenses. But maybe, just maybe, it makes us HUMAN as well. In someone truly broken, we see reflections of our brokenness and they cease to be our competition, but our journey mate...making our way heavenward together. And that seems to put a different spin on things altogether.
Love ya!
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering (brokenness) can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, Helen Keller
American blind and deaf educator
Isn't that something? When i consider the life she lived....blind, deaf ..it had to be tricky and it could have made Helen isolated. But she had a zest for life and a terrific mentor/teacher in Anne Sullivan -who nudged, prodded and kept reaching into Helen's world to release her from its limitations. remarkable! Whose Anne Sullivan are you? Whose Helen are you? We need each other - we were made this way. Oh we like to think we are 'all that' - independent, free spirited...but that's not really how we were created. we were created for community- a meaningful togetherness.
And as for brokenness, well, no one enjoys it. It's painful! It trashes our "i'm alright" image. It pokes holes in our pretending and pretenses. But maybe, just maybe, it makes us HUMAN as well. In someone truly broken, we see reflections of our brokenness and they cease to be our competition, but our journey mate...making our way heavenward together. And that seems to put a different spin on things altogether.
Love ya!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
not another blog!!!
Hello my friends!!
So yes, i decided that Facebook was not quite enough room for my 'writing' lifestyle and thus, here we are.
I'm excited to share poems- some that i've written, others not- as well as funny tidbits from my life and the swirl of life around me. There's always something happening that makes me think, "hm, i should write this down somewhere." Yes, i keep a quotebook- like certain offspring of mine also do. It seems, at times, that the oddest things are caught- whether by modeling them or by pure, shameless genetics!
It is the days before the Easter weekend and I'm looking forward to the renewal this season always causes in me. Maybe i just stop the rush of life long enough to reflect on where I am in life - midway, yikes- and start to think about what is worthwhile to use my time for- and alas, also what is not. At this point, it is not an issue of 'bad' things that i need to let go of, but rather of many good options--of which only a very few are BEST for me to focus on. But we each make those choices daily - so this is common to all of us.
Having enjoyed some 40 plus Easters, I am always amazed how they can seem new each year. But with God everything "is being made new" and in his infinite renewal of life, i am caught up in it.
Now to plan the table for our Easter dinner - i chose bright yellow with some soft green accents- to me those are the colours of renewal, of spring, of fresh beginnings. And with the salvation won on the cross, we live as people of that renewal- of the ongoing redemption that God is working in this world- one wee heart at at time.
i rather like that.
Happy Easter, everyone!
D
So yes, i decided that Facebook was not quite enough room for my 'writing' lifestyle and thus, here we are.
I'm excited to share poems- some that i've written, others not- as well as funny tidbits from my life and the swirl of life around me. There's always something happening that makes me think, "hm, i should write this down somewhere." Yes, i keep a quotebook- like certain offspring of mine also do. It seems, at times, that the oddest things are caught- whether by modeling them or by pure, shameless genetics!
It is the days before the Easter weekend and I'm looking forward to the renewal this season always causes in me. Maybe i just stop the rush of life long enough to reflect on where I am in life - midway, yikes- and start to think about what is worthwhile to use my time for- and alas, also what is not. At this point, it is not an issue of 'bad' things that i need to let go of, but rather of many good options--of which only a very few are BEST for me to focus on. But we each make those choices daily - so this is common to all of us.
Having enjoyed some 40 plus Easters, I am always amazed how they can seem new each year. But with God everything "is being made new" and in his infinite renewal of life, i am caught up in it.
Now to plan the table for our Easter dinner - i chose bright yellow with some soft green accents- to me those are the colours of renewal, of spring, of fresh beginnings. And with the salvation won on the cross, we live as people of that renewal- of the ongoing redemption that God is working in this world- one wee heart at at time.
i rather like that.
Happy Easter, everyone!
D
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