Are You Listening?
In a world that is so loud, are you listening?
Tag: grace
Raising Puppies is Like Raising Kids Which is Like Finding Grace
Grace is not a chase. Grace is a journey of discovery. A discovery of how much you are loved.
I’ll Find You
I’ll find you
I’ll find you
Just hold on, and I’ll find you
Be patient with me, Jesus.
I will find you.
Life is a journey towards him. Sometimes I get lost. But, I am always on a mission to find him. Even when I turn away. I will find him.
Do you ever feel that way? Like you need a moment to get lost, to waver from the path, in order to find your way back to him?
I heard the song, I’ll Find You, by Lecrae last week. I recognized it but never really listened closely to the words. When I researched the meaning behind the song, I found that it was a letter of sorts to his friends; those that were hurting. He wanted them to know that they were not alone.
When I heard the song, I heard a different message. It was a prayer from me to Jesus. A reminder to myself and to him that no matter how far I veer from the road to him, I will always return.
Sometimes we need to get lost in order to find Jesus.
We get a little judgy when we see people getting off-track. Our intentions are usually good: we don’t want them to feel the hurt and pain we know they will experience if they continue in that direction. But, what if they need to get a little lost in order to find him?
So, this is my prayer.
I will find You, Jesus.
When I battle, I will find you.
When I am bitter, I will find you.
When fear creeps in, I will find you.
When I feel hopeless, I will find you.
When death is knocking on the door, I will find you.
When I am lost, I will find you.
Just hold on to me a little longer.
I will find you.
I’ll Find You, by Lecrae Listen Here
Love & Blessings,
Meg
Family Series: Dysfunction
The Family Series: In light of the holiday season, I thought it would benefit all of us if we went through a little family series. We all find ourselves spending a little more time with family members we may avoid throughout the year. What better …
Thanksgiving Top 10
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as …
Hang ‘Em
What makes Twitter light up?
When do TV ratings go off the charts?
How do things become trending topics that everyone is talking about?
When someone has done something wrong and the mob goes after them.
As much as we hate to admit it, we are a mob society. We look back at the times when punishment was flogging or hanging and we cannot believe it. Yet, I wonder how different we are from our ancestors. Someone does something wrong today and there is no room for retribution; no space for redemption.
There is a well-known character in the Bible named Jonah. We all know Jonah as the guy who got swallowed up by a whale. If you attend church, you may also know that he was swallowed because he did not obey God. He was called to go to the city of Nineveh, but Jonah wasn’t having it. So, he got on a boat and headed in the opposite directions. God, being God, brought on a huge storm sending Jonah overboard.
What isn’t talked a lot about in this popular Bible story is the end. Jonah ended up back in Nineveh. Let’s be real: you can’t run from God. So, Jonah tells the people about God and they end up changing their ways. So, God had compassion on them. Jonah did not like this. He wanted them to be held accountable for the wrong doings. But, God had other plans and did not follow through on the destruction He had once promised.
Jonah sulked under a tree angry at God for not doing anything to the people of Nineveh. He wanted some sort of consequence. Instead, God gave them grace. Jonah and God had a little chat while he sat under that tree (Jonah 4). Jonah was angry with God. Ironically, God had mercy on Jonah providing him with a leafy plant that grow over him creating shade in a very hot environment. Jonah was still mad.
We can shake our fists at Jonah and roll our eyes. We can be all judgmental and talk about how we’d never do that. But, if we are being honest, you and I have been Jonah a time or two. We’ve desired some kind of penalty for others’ wrong-doings. And when the punishment didn’t come, we sat and sulked praying it would.
I don’t want to be Jonah sitting under the tree angry that the people actually repented.
I don’t want to miss an opportunity to witness grace.
We have a decision to make. We can celebrate with God when someone turns towards him. Or, we can sit in our anger and plot revenge. I choose grace.
Jonah missed it. He absolutely missed an opportunity to witness the power of a loving God right before his very eyes. Instead, he chose to sit in his distaste for what God had done: given grace and mercy to the people He loved. I wish we knew what happened to Jonah. The story ends with Jonah angry wishing he was dead and God reminding him of His grace that his so wide and deep it covers all. We don’t have to know the rest of Jonah’s story to make a choice for how we want to live our lives. We can learn from him and decide the next time the top news story tells us to hang someone out to dry, we choose grace.
There is always space to right our wrongs.
There is always room for others to make things right.
There is always space for grace.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
Find the story of Jonah here: https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Book+of+Jonah+&qs_version=NIV
Demonizing
“Darkness does not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” Martin Luther King Jr. I love you. Some of us say this statement flippantly. Some don’t say it at all. This sentiment can bring …
Recovering Perfectionist
<FLASHBACK FRIDAY>
I am a recovering perfectionist. Weeellll, I can’t honestly say I’m recovered, but I am working on getting there. I did have to do about a bazillion things and get them all perfectly in order before I could sit down and write today. So there’s that.
I have always chased perfection. Ever since I was little, I have had a longing for everything to be in its place; including my life. My lovies had a particular place on my bed. The knick-knacks and barbies all had a home. When I got married, my husband used to mess with my throw pillows because I had to have them in a certain order. I usually can’t sit down until everything is picked up and put away. When something in my life goes wrong, I react illogically and emotionally and typically clean and organize like a mad woman. It’s my fantasy for control.
Perfection is not attainable this side of Heaven.
I was on a walk admiring the scenery around our town lake. Everything grows naturally. There are so many types of plants, bushes, and trees. The turtles sun-bathe on the logs floating in the water. It’s gorgeous. Some people would love to see the landscape a little more manicured. I like it a little wild which is in contrast to how I like my life. Neat and tidy vs. wild and unruly. I enjoy the lake disorderly and overgrown. My life? Not so much.
As I exited the trail, I thought about my boys. I thought I wanted perfection for them. But, I don’t. Perfection isn’t reality. I want them to live life, make mistakes, and experience reality. I don’t want them chasing something that they will never find. I want them to grow naturally, like the foliage around the lake. It is in that wild growth where beauty blossoms.
We desire to protect our children. We long to keep them safe and cushion them from getting hurt knowing that our hearts will shatter just as hard as theirs, if not more. But, when I look back at my journey, I see a slew of mistakes and bumps in the road that made me who I am today. My mistakes and the twists and turns of life taught me, humbled me, challenged me, made me stronger, shifted perspective, shifted directions, and taught me more than I would ever had known had I lived a sheltered life. I don’t want my boys to hurt, but I do want them to learn.
“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12
Perfection isn’t reality until eternity. If I convince my sons that they can live a perfect life than I am preventing them from wanting more for themselves, for their friends, for their families, for the strangers they meet. I don’t want to limit them by sheltering them from imperfection.
I look at the trail down by the lake seeing the untamed landscape and am reminded that life grows there. Life expands in all its twists and turns and knotted limbs. Sometimes, there is overgrowth that needs to be trimmed back or weeds that need pulling. But, that’s where experience happens and wisdom matures.
I want life for my kids (and myself), not perfection. I will (slowly) give them wings as they filter out this life being there to help them trim back the impassable trail and pull out the stuff that’s choking them down. I will remind them that they were meant for more: their longing is a longing for eternity where perfection will meet them at the gates. For now, however, I will teach them to embrace the longing for perfection and not to shy away from the imperfect because that’s where Jesus resides. I will show them my scars and allow them to see that mommy, too, lives an imperfect life. We will trudge along together on the path where the terrain runs wild and free learning, growing, and searching for the only One that can bring us true perfection.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
Olive Branch
“When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.” Genesis 8:11 You don’t need to be a Bible scholar or even a Christian to …