Focus

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He knows that I am one who prefers to sit in the safety of ordinary than venture into risk but it doesn’t matter. He nudges me to move. He asks me to risk.

I balk.

I fear the unknown. I worry about the change. I doubt if it is Him who was asking. Life gets blurry and I lose vision.

When you can’t see where you are going it is scary and I am terrified.

He waits and works.

Life changes without me. I have no choice but change with it. He reveals Himself in the midst and the fog starts to lift. He shines and I see clearly.

He waits.

Now, I must follow.

If there is something in your life upon which God has put His pressure, then obey Him in that matter and everything will become clear as daylight to you.

– Oswald Chambers

Today this quote was from my devotion and the picture was taken during my morning walk. God is revealing Himself. It is evident. I need to move with obedience into risk.

He is good – All the time … and so very patient with me!

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Where you write for 5 minutes – no more, no less, no editing.

Why write?

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I sit here at the computer wondering, why do I write? I wonder if the words I seek to put to page would find better purpose somewhere else.

My words – yes – always yes.

If I sit here and write only what I think will draw the most comments or the most visits then I write not for the One who gifts me with voice. I write only for me. These words, my words, will always fall empty to the page.

His come with a cost. They will always require more of me than mine will ever ask. Should it be any less?

The One who gave it all – his life a ransom for my soul, for my voice – requires a like bounty.

A life lived in the crucible where a heart burns white hot. It is there in the refining fire my words rise like dross and His voice is found.

May I never take these words lightly. May I never lose sight of the Voice-Giver.

“You can never set apart for God something that you desire

yourself to achieve for your own satisfaction.”

– Oswald Chambers

Woven

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I stood and watched him work the loom. Thread after colorful thread woven with precision. Mesmerized by his skill, I watched with wonder. From his hands, a pattern developed that my eyes could never see and yet, one he knew all along existed.

A single strand doesn’t reveal much to the untrained eye. Alone it means very little. I may think it will not even work – too thick, too unruly or color just not right. In the hand of the weaver, however, all find their purpose and use.

My life is like this tapestry – a work in process that only the Weaver can weave. Each moment I exist is a thread in the His hand. He knows the purpose and pattern for each. He weaves every moment – even the ones I deem unworthy – with intent.

The Weaver slowly entwines His vision and my life. Far beyond the unfinished tapestry I now live, exists His dream of my completion.

And yet, I live in the unfinished moment. I bind my heart by the fragments I see. My vision is so easily misplaced in the strands undone.

His, however, is neither.

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

Ephesians 1:11-12 The Message

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How to Begin Again

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The sun has yet to rise this morning but the dog is stirring. I should get up and let her out but I lie here not yet ready to have my feet hit the floor.

Some days are hard to start. Especially when the starting is admitting once again that the habit I had wanted to begin yesterday will need to begin today.

I tried yesterday. I failed yesterday. Here and now I lie comfortably in my dilemma.

In the dark not all things are quiet.

The Spirit begins to whisper. “What you have planned is a good thing but is it the right thing? “

Like David who had it in his heart to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant, I hold in my heart good intentions.

In his heart man plan his course but the LORD establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9 NIV

Good intentions are not always God intentions.

The prophet Nathan had to tell David He was not the one who would build the temple. I may not have a Nathan but the Word speaks with clarity.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3 NIV

Begin here with Him. It is where it all began and where it all begins again.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything and everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Proverbs 3:5-7 The Message

This day – this very special day – the dog stirs my body awake and the Spirit, likewise, my heart.

Feet slowly hit the floor but only to pause before falling to knees.

This is how to begin again.

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Etchings of a Hyphenated Life

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Life etches rings around me. Carving memories that seek to remain.

Some days are monument makers, like birth and death. Many pass almost unnoticed – a hyphen of life in between. Yet, their markings carrying weight far beyond their significance and need to be remembered.

This weekend was the in between – a fitting pause between the long goodbye of summer and the incoming rush of fall.

Summer did not hurry for me in haste but it burdened with a monument unwanted – a too soon goodbye to a faithful friend. Now, in the too gentle, too quiet moments I breathe a pause of thanks for all creatures great and small.

This life has afforded me much to be thankful for and yet I have allowed most to move past unnoticed like a string of “hyphenated” days. Such moments have passed by far too easily and left far too light a memory when my neglect allowed.

It has allowed too much.

Now I seek to regroup and gather back to me these graces before they slip away forever unnoticed. Like the quiet, morning walks with a faithful friend who mourns like I do a companion now gone.