Be Still & Blog.... already.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  Col. 3:16   This was part of a passage in a sweet friends wedding homily this past weekend, and one that I have been thinking of a lot over the past several weeks. I have found myself singing A LOT in recent months.... sorry to those of you who have heard me... joyful noises people. Joyful noises...   Sometimes I'm working, sometimes I'm on a walk, in the car, or getting ready for bed. One day I was thinking about the why---Why has singing hymns or other worship songs been a significant part life lately? Why do I want to make this a habit? Sometimes I've even forced myself to start singing. Yes-- made a conscious effort to sing out loud, and other times I just kind of started singing without realizing it.  But I learned that when I am singing His truth---out loud-- i...

Car seats ready. One little one buckled, but the other is still trying to learn. Untwisting the car seat arms...   "one arm, two arms, do you want me to help?".. "I can do it" she says. And so I wait. Yes, we were in a time crunch, and yes, it would have been more efficient for me to just buckle everything for her.   She struggled but she kept persevering… until she got it. And there were moments as we went in and out of the car that she needed me. But she didn't give up. She wanted to learn. She needed to learn. As I waited each time thinking about how easy it would have been for me to help her--- He reminded me that His kingdom isn't about efficiency. And then instead of anxiously waiting for the buckles to be done… I soaked it in as this sweet one floundered, persevered, grew. I was able to rejoice with her as each buckle was fastened (there seemed to be soo many), and a smile of triumph swept across her face with each victory! I found myself chee...

  She was a fearful one-- of storms, of stranger dangers... that neighborhood watch sign terrified her for years (she thought it meant someone had been kidnapped there before). She was eager to please. Straight A's in school, and a drive to excel in sports. She loved to read, pretend and insisted on being the mother and teacher... and she was a "tad" bossy and completely stubborn. She was (at least in her own mind) "the leader of the pack" of the neighborhood kids. Yet she was sensitive... passionate-- she felt deeply, and she loved being independent (probably a little too much). She had heard about Jesus growing up, said a prayer, but in saying it realized she didn't really understand, and she became afraid in a sense-- because she knew He was all those things that scripture said. And she knew somehow that she couldn't measure up, and so early on she chose to b...

Forgive? Haven't I already done that? No-- I found my myself  making a list (in my head of course) of the offense/s.. But what if he/she never says I'm sorry, Lord, what if he/she never understands the depth of the hurt, and what if you never choose for him/her to see any of these things and be broken over them. How could I forgive? and He just stopped me (in the middle of the list, good grief!) and said " Forgive them, for they know not what they do."  But! "Forgive them, for they know not what they do"     Because Jesus-- while hanging on a cross to pay the penalty for my sin--- my sin-- that put him there--- and while hanging there and being mocked and having done no wrong...  said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."  I wept, I felt the weight of what this meant... I realized that forgiveness really does mean absorbing the debt however painful it may be.   "When someone has wronged you, it m...