Saturday, March 24, 2018

Rabbits in Winter


Rabbits in Winter
(by Donna Schaper/alive now!)

You probably don’t know my rabbits.  They moved here from Vermont in a box last July.  Some boy was handing them out on the street corner and all three of my children sat down in front of the box as we walked by.  The sign said free rabbits.  The kids said sit-down strike.
I thought it was fine to have rabbits outdoors in the summer, but I was scared about the winter.  I didn’t want them in the house.  Then somebody told me about the way rabbits grow fur.  They grow it as the temperature demands.  This no doubt is yet another piece of the majesty of God, putting fasteners on the seas, morning lights in the sky, fur on the rabbits.
Take a family that gets into crisis:  a child that fails to thrive or goes on drugs.  The day the tragedy announces itself the family does not have what they need to cope.  When they tell you they don’t know how they are going to cope, you have to agree.  They don’t know. Yet, their fur hasn’t grown.  But what we see – in the parents’ support groups of a thousand hospitals – is fur growing, capacity increasing.  Our strength is made manifest in struggle.  Our growth occurs because of the struggle.  The fur grows in response to winter slowly and surely.  The bread comes to us day by day.
            I see this in my personal life all the time.  I’ll say enough.  I’ll shout too much.  God won’t say much back.  And then I’ll find a new opening at the bottom of the well.  A new capacity to take risks.  A renewed capacity to love and forgive.  A crevice when I thought there were no more places to go to feed on the tree.
I have often heard it said: “First, you jump.  Then, you get your wings.”  In the deep of winter our fur grows.  Our capacity to handle trouble grows with the trouble.

(Reprinted with permission by the Upper Room)

    


Wednesday, March 21, 2018

God's Amazing Yes!


God’s Amazing Yes
(By Gregg Bunn, The Upper Room)

            Every day I stand in need of God’s amazing yes.  God does not look at me and say, “Well, you certainly messed up.  You aren’t the kind of Christian,” or the kind of employee, the kind of student, the kind of parent “that I expected.”  God is not indecisive about whether I am worthy of love.  On the contrary, even in spite of my sinfulness, God say yes to my worth.
            To fallen and sinful people, God continually says yes.  God says yes to people that I have not met.  We might shy away from a homeless person or a starving man in Haiti or a woman dying of AIDS in Uganda or a child who rummages through a landfill searching for clothes.  But to all of these and all of us, God says yes.  All of us are created in God’s image; each one of us is valued and cherished.
            By receiving God’s yes in Jesus Christ, I am able to say yes to others and to myself.  In the dark moments of life when I feel like damaged goods; when I feel I am no longer meeting my or God’s standards and expectations; when I feel lost, lonely, or rejected I know without a doubt that God’s unwavering word to me is yes.  And it is the only answer.

Thought for the day:  Where do you hear God’s amazing yes in your life?

Prayer:  Good and gracious God, thank you for your amazing yes!  Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Those who feel not good enough.


(Taken from the Upper Room by permission)
February 5, 2013


Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Release...

Well, once again I have come to a place where I need to release and let go of something I thought I really wanted in my life and ultimately found out that it is not what I thought it was going to be.
Have you ever encountered that in your life? 
And, if so, what do you do at that point?
Are you like me and fuss and fume that it did not work out?  Or, do you trash yourself and degrade yourself for ever even thinking it would work out?  Or, do you doubt that you have a reasonable mind at all?  Or, do you accept that it did not work out the way you thought it would and simply acknowledge that?  Without blame, without shame, without guilt, or without regret?

Before you go belittling yourself, beating yourself up, or feeling sorry for yourself, let's look at the definition of release:
1) To free from confinement or bondage, obligation, pain, etc.; to let go, to release a prisoner, to release someone from a debt.
2) To free from anything that restrains, fastens, etc.; to release a catapult.
3) To allow to be known, issued, done or exhibited; to release an article for publication.
4) Law: to give up, relinquish or surrender a right or a claim.

Hmmmmm......to free, to free, to allow, and to give up!  Relinquish, surrender....release.  Then, go one step more and feel the relief of letting it go..........hook, line and sinker!!!
Yes, that's right unclench your fist, unclasp that hold on it, release, let go, leave it behind, let loose of and unhand it!!!

Just think!  Once you really let it go, there is room for something NEW!!!
WOW!!!