Sometimes it isn’t all about chin up and put your best foot forward. Sometimes it’s about remembering that it is in our weakest moments that God strength shines so brightly.
I’ve had seasons in my life where I have gutted it out through confusing and painful times, most of those times feeling alone. The memorable ones, the times of real transformation have been when I truly let go and got very real with God. In doing so I had to acknowledge that I wasn’t alone. There He was, waiting for me to turn to Him.
He knows the end from the beginning! He knows our thoughts before we think them, and our words before they ever come out of our mouth. So the notion that I thought I was filling Him in on how I was really feeling is humorous.
There’s just something about spring that always evokes joyful feelings of hope and childlike anticipation of what lies just around the corner. Winter seasons of cold barrenness can feel endless and sometimes wondering if there really can be “life” again. And then, every year, here comes spring, reminding us that indeed God has been busy working, just out of our sight. And all those seeds, all the hopes and dreams begin to burst forth in new life again.
So often I hear “everything happens for a reason” coming out of the mouths of well-meaning people. When I found myself in the midst of deep pain and unimaginable fear, I asked God why He said that. For the first time I earnestly dove into His word to learn and to hear from Him. You know what? He never said that!
It is part of “life“ that things are constantly shifting and changing. People, circumstances, relationships – the good, the bad, and the in between. When life throws a curveball what an incredible comfort it is that our solid foundation never moves. He is faithful.
Father help me. As our days overflow with social injustice, political discord and discourse, when hatred, prejudice, discrimination, every sort of injustice and flat out ugliness permeate every facet of the world around me, remind me Lord that I will always reap what I sow. Help me to sow love in the face of hatred. Remind me that every small gesture I make or step I take matters. Let the works of my hands and the meditations of my heart bring you glory and honor. Teach me how to see. Teach me how to listen. Teach me how to hear. Help me to return love to those who sow dishonesty, disloyalty and hatred. Lord help me to gain a heart of wisdom that overflows only in your love.
On this Valentine’s Day evening, when the world is celebrating Love, I couldn’t shake the pain I saw deep in the eyes of the homeless as I was out running errands today. They are someone’s daughter or son, sister or brother, mother or father, someone’s friend…. they had someone somewhere. The cars whisk by and no one seems to care. I have met many people who stand in judgment, and condemn them for being where they’re at.
But the wealthy? They’re just as easy to identify. They are the ones with people fawning over them, their spouses, their children, what they wear and most anything they do or don’t do is applauded.
In both of these situations, it isn’t the poverty, and it isn’t the wealth that made them stand out, but rather the people that were around them - shunning or fawning.
Lord help me to remember that there are no “excepts” in this commandment. No except: that color, that side of the border, that side of the world, those that disagree with me, those that don’t follow You Jesus, those that I deem as sinners….and so on, and so on. Lord, help me to walk in LOVE.
For some, this wisdom echos from the experience of being loved well. For others it may have been an illusion, recited but never demonstrated with sincere and unconditional action. Love isn’t what we say in public. Love is how we act when no one sees.
