Deserving
You love Jesus. But, do you let Jesus love you? Yikes. That’s a tough question. It hits to the core, doesn’t it? We say we love Jesus but do we allow Jesus in to love us? I don’t think many of us have stopped to …
Tag: Jesus
Chasing Viral
We chase things. Like running after a busy toddler, we chase after dreams, hopes, and aspirations. We long for affirmation and often search for it in the wrong place. We strive instead of do. We hustle instead of rest. We are chasing viral. We long …
Broken Cisterns
“We dig broken cisterns and sip on water that leaks out and runs dry.” Lysa TerKeurst
Lysa TerKeurst gave a sermon about the Samaritan woman. It is no surprise that this is one of my favorite Bible stories. In this parable found in John 4, Jesus refers to himself as the “Living Water.” He tells of how she and her people draw from the wrong water source. He explains that they will continue to have to come to the well-spring to gather water because their thirst will never fade. Only the Living Water can truly quench her thirst. This Living Water sustains.
Back in the day of the Samaritan woman, people created cisterns in the ground to gather and store water. They were made out of limestone. The limestone had to be plastered in order to hold the water so it wouldn’t leak. If there was one crack in the plaster, the water would seep out running the cistern dry.
I love Lysa’s analogy. What cisterns are we building in order to try and quench our thirst? We continue to go to our broken cisterns to quench our thirst when Jesus, the Living Water, is waiting to satisfy.
We get thirsty for something. We long for healing or try to fill some kind of void.
We head to our cistern scooping up the water with our hands only to find that it has run dry.
Our cisterns are broken.
Only Jesus can satisfy. He is the Living Water.
We continue to try and draw water from our broken cisterns because it seems easy; it feels safe. We know that cistern. We feel like we have control because it is our cistern. We dig and we scrape searching to quench our thirst continuously trying to draw from a broken and dry cistern.
Jesus is there. He is our cistern and his water never runs dry. He wants to fill us and quench our thirst. We just have to let him. We have to allow him to be our Living Water. We need to draw from him even when we cannot see. We need to believe that he is the only one that can fill our voids; fill our souls.
He is the Living Water.
…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. John 4:14
Love & Blessings,
Meg
It’s a Hard-Knock Life
Life is hard sometimes, isn’t it? If we aren’t facing challenges in our personal lives, we witness hardships in others’ lives. Alcoholism Financial Distress Anger Fear Distrust Anxiety Depression Insecurity Miscarriage Marital strife Broken Relationships There’s my list. These are things that feel broken; that …
Discouraged
Oh, man. Discouragement crept in and made himself comfortable. He pitched a tent, blew up an air mattress, got his heated blanket, and hot cocoa and cozied up next to me. He started jabbering away in my ear spewing all his lies but making me …
The Table
Time. We know it’s a precious commodity. Most of us respond with, “I’m so busy” when asked how we are doing.
Time.
Time.
Time.
We never have enough time. At some point, we decided we had to get our time back. So, we stole it from the kitchen table. Why, when reviewing time management, did we give someone permission to tell us to take back our lives by taking away time in the kitchen?
There’s something to be said about time spent in the kitchen. We have the most comfortable couch and enough chairs to accommodate the entire neighborhood yet, we always ALWAYS wind up around the kitchen island and at the kitchen table. There is something special, something sacred, about that space in our homes. Whether we like to cook or not, the kitchen is a meeting place; a catch-all for people and community.
Jesus modeled this better than anyone. He broke bread with many showing love and expressing grace. He knew nourishing their bodies would lead to an opportunity to nourish their souls. He understood the power of life around the table. It was never about the presentation or the meal (Hello, Mary and Martha). For Jesus, the table always represented opportunity: an opportunity to show someone love, to show someone kindness, to show someone grace. Life around our tables matters. It matters a lot.
Life around the table isn’t always meant to be easy. Jesus talked about his certain death around the table, for goodness sake. Don’t get discouraged if your toddler throws a tantrum, your big kid hates what’s on her plate, or your teenager is utterly silent the entire meal. There is no striving at the table. Just being.
As I analyze our family schedule, I can’t help but strive to protect our time around the table and let go of some other things. The conversations that happen there, the love that is shared, the safe space it can be is immeasurable and completely worth the work it takes to get there.
The table has substance. The table exudes life. The table is a soul-filler and should not be feared or avoided. It doesn’t take an elaborate meal. You do not need a Pinterest table setting. No need to be perfect. Just be present.
“When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.” Matthew 26:20
Love & Blessings,
Meg
They’re Not Responsible
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13
They are not responsible for my joy. No one is, really. My joy does not lie in the hands of my children. Seems rational, right? However, I think so many of us make our joy the responsibility of our children; especially is moms.
So often the tone of my day is wrapped up in three loud and smelly little beings. I have given them full control over the outcome of my day and my feelings. Placing the weight of this responsibility on their shoulders is to heavy and too much; a burden they were never meant to carry. I am also handing over far too much power over my life and my emotions to my children.
What on earth am I thinking?
We carry a lot as moms. We wear worry like it is the newest and greatest fashion trend. Anything that shifts out of our control stumps us and sets us on edge. A kid is challenging naps? We lose it because we, too, are exhausted and need a nap. Another child is struggling with behavior at school? We blame ourselves and pick up the extraordinary weight of guilt that we aren’t parenting right. So much is swirling around us in a day that it is incredible we even survive. So much is wrapped up in our kids, why not lay our emotions there, too.
We did not have our best break over Christmas. Sure, we had some amazing moments together. We laughed and played and rested. We also had moments of stress, fighting, disrespect, and chaos. That’s parenting. You teeter on perfection and complete disorder all at the same time.
I was so exhausted and frustrated one day that I truly thought I was going to break. I could not take one more moment of bickering, not one more inquiry for snacks, and if I had to pick up socks from some random location one more time my head may explode. I did what all moms do, and text a fellow warrior. I asked this mama and friend to pray form me because I was wondering if I would survive motherhood at all. It wasn’t until I reached out to that friend that I realized I was placing the responsibility for my joy in the hands of my children.
My boys do not get to determine the outcome of my day or my emotional well-being. Do my kids bring me joy? Absolutely! But, they are not the source of my joy.
They source of my joy can only come from one place: the Lord. When I look to my kids, or my husband, friends, or life circumstances to find the source of my joy I wind up empty, depleted, and disappointed. It is only the joy that comes from the Lord that sustains. That is why Paul can say that he counts it all joy when he faces trials of any kind in James 1:2. He knew the source of his joy and that it did not rest in anything outside of God.
The moment I took the responsibility away from my boys to bring me joy and rerouted my joy-focus back to the Lord, I felt a million pounds lifted from my shoulders and theirs. Now, I could enjoy my boys more because they were no longer the source of my joy. When they do what kids do like argue, disobey, or leave their snack wrappers stuffed in between the couch cushions I don’t freak out. I remember that they are being exactly who they are (KIDS) and that their job isn’t to bring me emotional stability. Their job is to be a kid learning their way in this big wide world and I am their guide.
I changed. We think it is our children that need to change when, in actuality, it us that needs the change. And you know what? Once I realized this and took action, my kids changed, too. No longer did they feel the pressure to make mommy happy. All they had to do was be a kid and I got to be their mom. How freeing!
Romans 15:13 says it all. God fills me with joy. God. Not my kids. Not my husband. Not my friends. Not the look of my home or whether or not we take a vacation this year. My joy rests in Him and Him alone.
Rendering that control back to the Lord, where it should have been all this time, was so healing and so very freeing. God is my Sustainer. So, when life looks like pandemonium (because it will whether the kids are home or not), I can still have joy because it comes from an endless Source.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
A New Adventure: My Story
I never set out to be a writer. When I was younger, like many girls, I thought I would be discovered and become a famous actress. As I entered college, I headed down the track to become a psychologist. I quickly determined the cost and …