Nov 29, 2010

APPROACHING ADVENT...

I wonder sometimes in my rush to get to the manger—

The joy of the most awesome gift ever given

If I miss all that the season of Advent brings

It’s not time for the gift yet – or the glory of it



In the rush to get all the outside preparations in order:

Gifts to buy, new recipes to make, decorations to hang

It causes me to ponder, to reflect on the way I approach Advent

Do I enter the throne of grace with a renewed, a restored heart?



Or do I allow the clutter of the season

The chaos of racing about and crossing everything off the list

Take first place to the deep soul work that is required

To receive God’s new mercies everyday



And I think that is the point: Am I ready to receive?

Am I making space on the inside?

Is this hunger inside me for the King of Kings,

The Prince of Peace, the Savior that I long for?

Or do all the worldly traps enamor me more?

It causes me to think deeply about God's call on my life.



In this season of waiting and preparing

Am I living in hopeful anticipation?

Am I living in generous, fervent love?

Am I living in joyful expectancy?

Am I practicing the promise of peace?

For the One that I long for is coming.

Am I ready to make room?


Nov 23, 2010

“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18


Everyday Gratitude

I have wondered what living a life of gratitude looks like

I have strived, but I have stumbled and fallen, at times

I want to live so every breath is a gift back to God

For his mercies are new every morning

And want to live life in ways that screams out:

“Forget Not All His Benefits”

It is harder, to find the grateful center in your soul

When you are living through struggles or concerns

And yet, that is where I see God shine through

For it is in the darkness that the light seems to shine so brilliantly

Finding blessings in the storms

Is a gift I feel God has given so abundantly

At every turn in the road, every trial

I see clearly the abundant life God is giving in every moment

Being awake to God’s presence and listening for His voice

Learning like a baby taking it’s first steps to lean and trust

And to truly see every breath, every moment as a gift

Looking at God through eyes of faith

Means tasting the love of God in prayer and presence

And in the inner life finding such joyful surprises.

There are fruits that are blossoming and blooming

There are perspectives that are changing, lives being transformed

There is healing and wholeness

There are dreams that are rehaped and refreshed

And a chance to receive and accept and love what is here

Not what will be in the future

But the gifts of right here, right now.

Somehow God has changed within me gratitude—

Taken the act of not just the spontaneous “thank you” for a gift given

But an attitude of gratitude that is essential to life

Because I am wrapped in His faithfulness that never departs

That is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow

“Thou changest not thy compassions they fail not

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto Thee.”



Nov 12, 2010

Pressing Forward

I can see now

I can look within

And no longer be startled

But what is alive within me

I can see the blemishes

And the mistakes

The choices and imperfection

And allow acceptance

For failing gives way to

Newness and fresh perspective

That I had not yet discovered

And it helps me to press forward

I am learning how to receive

As a blessing

To let walls and preconceptions

Not define me

But instead accept

And receive

Understand and persevere

I am evolving

In the way God has planned

It is not my timetable, but His

And every moment, experience, breath

All belongs to Him

No need to manipulate

The timetable

To insist on my way

Instead, embracing

The creation, the sustaining,

The life-changing and the ordinary

I see my humanness

And His perfection

My incompleteness

And His all-encompassing love

Even the unwelcome

Or unwanted circumstances

I can receive

For in the mystery, in the unknown

Is the God who never leaves

And is carefully knitting

The tapestry together

The ideal, the seamless

Always out of reach,

But what is authentic

What is true

Is revealed in the here and now,

In the ordinary, the everyday.

I do not wait for the

Flaws, the chips, the pieces

To be healed and whole

I just take one step at a time.

Pressing forward.

Learning. Growing.

Loving. Accepting.

Trusting.

Finally, trusting.