Day 7/31

(YAY! We made it one week!)

GO. The word for today is GO. The absolute first thing that comes to mind is this verse-

“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Matthew 16:15

Mainly because my friend Amy just returned from Madagascar. She spent hours on a plane, flew to a remote island and took a flying leap out of her comfort zone to love those that are largely forgotten.

But they have never once been forgotten by their Creator.

They live, thousands of miles from anything we would call familiar.

But made in God’s image, they are seen by Him daily.

And He sent a small group from a church in Georgia to love them.

To share His gospel and the hope of His Son.

And hearing the call, they WENT.

Knowing these words to be 100% true, they said a big “yes” to Him when He said “Go.”

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous!

Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

Wherever He tells us to go, Madagascar or the Neighbor’s house across the street– let us be ready and willing to be uncomfortable for the sake of those He died for. For the sake of those He loves.

*Photos taken by Heather Buck.

Day 5/ 31

One thing I would add to what I wrote about Learning yesterday– just because you want to do something, are called to do it and have that burning desire to get started– the jumping off can be scary. 

Getting stuck at the very beginning can be both humbling and frustrating.

There are two rooms off our foyer. She’s in one and I’m in the other. She is armed with a pencil and an empty composition book and is trying to “write a book.” I’m in the room 12 steps away armed with a computer and a similar goal.

I smile at the similarities and then I hear her audible sigh.

“Mommy. This is hard. I’m trying to get started and the words are so hard to spell!” 

We talk about sounding them out and she gets back to it and tries again.

She begins again, “This is going to be a loooooonnnng book and I’m still on the first page! How will I finish it?” 

Ha. At least you have words on your page… I think to myself.

I sit there staring down another scary start– and I breathe deep and tell her the words I need to hear myself, “Lu, just do one page at a time, sweetheart. One page at a time is all you need to worry about.” And she smiles and STARTS. And the irony is not lost on me.

In fact, it’s the daily reminder that I need so desperately. All too often I’m looking WAY too far down the road to have any idea how to take the steps that I need to take TODAY.

“Do the next thing,” wisely spoke Elisabeth Elliot. She knew a thing or two about long periods of waiting and uncertainty.

Many of us can use the reminder to just be IN today and just ABIDE today and be Faithful today. And not get stuck with tomorrow, and all the days after that.

Christa Wells, a beautiful singer and lyricist, wrote these words in her song, Shine, and it pretty much sums up our choice to live and use what we have or spend our energy on worry and doubt–

“Yes, it’s hard to believe
When you’re well aware that you’re not what you mean to be
And your house is full of unfinished rooms
‘Cause you’re fond of starts, but you find it hard to follow through
You think you’re recognized by your faults
But the mirror that you hold is false
‘Cause you shine

He shines His light through a prism
We give back what we’re given
To color this, to color this
To color this world, color this world
Be the friend you never had
Be the one to take a stand
Say it your way, say it your way
Say it your own way

And it’s hard to believe
That I count as much as those on either side of me
‘Cause I don’t have it, whatever it takes
To be like them, they are gifted in so many ways
Yes, we could lay our talents in the earth
We could pile on the doubt like dirt
Or we can shine

He shines His light through a prism
We give back what we’re given
To color this, to color this
To color this world, color this world
Be the friend you never had
Be the one to take a stand
Say it your way, say it your way
Say it your own way

Shine, we shine, His light refracted
Shine, we shine His light refracted”

—Christa Wells, Album- Feed Your Soul

Purchase the album here, Feed Your Soul

Hear the song here:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnshr4yi3Os]

*Amazon Link to album is an affiliate link.

Day 3/ 31

Dear One who desperately needs something to change, 

You are very brave but I see it anyway. The way you walk courageous, smiling in spite of all that’s warring inside your heart.

You might feel protected in keeping it all inside and suffering alone, but really you’re just alone.

And we are out here wishing you would take your mask off a little and let us come in.

Let us in. Let us pray with you. Let us love you.

You’ve been waiting for God to move for what seems like an eternity… I have been there too. I think our infinite God might just chuckle with compassion at our ideas about time. We try to make things happen… or we just give up and resign ourselves to never be answered. But He may just want us to keep waiting in hope a little longer.

When all around seems dry and broken and empty and it mirrors the dark hallways of your heart, littered with piles of prayers yet to be answered– there often seems no reason to move forward in hope.

But Hope is reason enough.

Because in Christ we will always have hope. When all around is empty and breaking and you just want to feel something to know your heart has any feeling left, hold on.

Hold on, not to your disappointment– but to the ONE who sees you. 

You may feel forgotten, but you are not.

He sees you right where you are, and He will make all things NEW.

You may not know why or how or when things will change– you just have to know that you don’t know. And that He does. 

It may not be your circumstances that alter. But perspective is everything– and peace makes up for so much difficulty.

But if we stop for a minute. Wait. And listen– we might just see that He is doing a new thing in us.

Consider giving up. Give up on seeing the purpose in the pain right now. But do not Give up on Him and His plan for these ashes to become something beautiful.

And know that He has not given up on you. Not even once.

“See, I am doing a new thing! 

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Isaiah 43:19

Day 2 of 31–

I have been called both emotional and an idealist.

(All three of the women in this house are, a bit– shall we say, passionate.)

I love Instagram. Mainly because of the filters. Now, before you gasp and question my sense of being “real.” You should know something.

My propensity to be an idealist, sees certain things… as good as they could possibly be. And frankly, I think I have a better understanding of what things “look” like to me than my iPhone camera does.

Therefore, I edit. I edit till my heart’s content. Well, I edit until it looks like what I saw from this side of the camera.

Sometimes that little camera doesn’t quite SEE what I see. The steam that was rising from that latte I enjoyed at my favorite spot on the porch of that coffee shop. The warmth of the sun on their hair, the boldness of the blue of the sky against the kelly green of the grass beneath their feet.  Sometimes even the very real rosiness in their cheeks gets lost in the time in takes to snap a photo. But it was there. And I saw it. I was witness to that moment of beauty and that’s how I want to remember it. And so I open instagram and I put it back. Because they are my photos, which become my memories and I can do that.

So in “filtering” the days, it is not always that we are filtering out the very real bad and filtering in the good that is not there.

Sometimes we are putting back the feeling that was there all along, that you would miss if you weren’t present in the moment.

There is much to be said about this very unfinished topic–

but sometimes we should put the camera down altogether and as the great John Mayer once said, “see the world through both our eyes..”

And then other times, we should snap away. Snap away and catch the moments that are so fleeting.

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”
― Ansel Adams

I love this one: Wise Abe said it so well— HA!

“There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.”
― Abraham Lincoln

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”
― Marc Riboud

I sit here with a blinking cursor and 31 days ahead in which I have to put words in a space which is currently blank.

I have wanted to do this thing, this write every day for the month of October for many reasons. It is good for me, the discipline, the sheer exercise and the doing it. 

But I feel a little hesitant. Actually, sweaty palmed and nervous is more like it. Honestly? I’m hoping I don’t run out of words– I don’t want you to get tired of seeing my little name pop up in your inbox every morning.

Other things I wish I would have chosen to write on include— 31 days of bacon recipes– because why not, 31 things you can do with a Magic Eraser, 31 reasons you should always have chocolate on hand, 31 uses for a Mason Jar, or 31 reasons I must have Iced Coffee every day… But noooo. I chose to write WORDS every day.

Despite my distraction and my slight anxiety I’m doing it anyway.

Why would someone be so crazy you might ask? Because.

It might be that one of these days over the next 31, you stop by and you are encouraged.

You might stop in for just a second and find yourself reminded of your unbelievable value.

You might sit down between the staff meeting and the pile of laundry to find that bit of community you needed today.

And I’ll be here waiting. Holding out your coffee cup and hoping you get what you came for.

And praying that in the process God moves in us both.

Because sometimes we might feel empty and void– as though everything that once felt alive has been replaced with.. blah.

Life can have that effect.

That is when we need Him to move across the surface of our hearts as He moved across the surface of the deep in Genesis 1 and create something new.

All was formless and void. Empty. Nothing-new-and-exciting-ness.

And then HE.

Moved across the surface of the water and begin to create new life.

I need the Creator of All that is good to move and create something new in me.

I need His movement over and in me today, how about you? 

 

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep,

and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”

Genesis 1:1-2