Friday, December 23, 2011

Tracking Time

I find it hard to guard my time when I end up giving it all away. The minutes just get swallowed up by grande ideas or grande demands, both competing for all I've got. So I stand empty handed before my open-handed God, and he blesses me. For just as I give my time away, I feel so thankful for the time I have been given.

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes...'"
-James 4:13-15

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Called

I wore a coat of many colors before stepping out to rub elbows with the world. For some crowds I wore the perfect color, for others I wore a color less conventional. But dressing like a chameleon did not leave me feeling colorful, it only left me feeling empty. So I started flirting with the darkness in hopes that no one would see me at all. Still, I don't know which is worse-to have an identity crisis or to feel invisible? Until one day, Christ answered my question when he called me by name.

Has he called you by name?

"Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."
-Isaiah 43:1-3

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Tradition

Tradition speaks volumes to generations, like a language living on year after year. But just as tradition has taught us the right ways to live, it has also robbed some us from a relationship with Christ. So even though tradition has been our teacher, in some ways it has been our deceiver.

Don't allow yourself to be deceived. Are you pursuing a relationship with Christ, or are you allowing tradition to pursue a relationship with you?

"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose." -Philippians 2:12,13

Monday, December 12, 2011

An Authentic Life

I feel a desperate need to live a more authentic life-one far from perfection, but close to a perfect God. One humbled by the light of the Truth, but hidden in the shadow of his wings. I feel a desperate need to peel off any layers of someone I have pretended to be, only to reveal who God made me to be.

How do you feel about living a more authentic life?

"I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." -Ephesians 4:1

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Always

Have you ever felt like there is a large, invisible glass ceiling separating you from God, leaving you trapped like a little fly futilely bouncing across the surface of a closed window? Did you know that God is the master of opening windows and He longs to listen to what you have to say? It's true! There have been times in my own life when I wanted to pray using a megaphone because I felt like God just couldn't hear me. But God's silence does not equate to God's absence. He is always listening.

"You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." -Jeremiah 29:12,13

Monday, December 5, 2011

Knocking

As God listens, he beckons us to come and sit with Him, to hoist ourselves up in his lap and just stay for a while. Like a dear friend, He invites us to talk about what we need and want to talk about. Sometimes we laugh. Other times we cry. Sometimes we feel vulnerable. Other times we feel bold. And still there are times when we simply come with a child like faith.

He speaks to us in return with poetic Psalms. He sometimes greets us with similes and metaphors and parables found in his Word. Then he speaks to us through a friend or even a stranger, through a mentor or spiritual leader. He speaks to us through circumstances as some doors slam shut, and still other doors swing wide open. He speaks gently to our hearts.

What is the condition of your heart today? Is it wide open to the things of God or have you slammed all the doors shut?

Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Awakening

Winter came without warning
on Wednesday morning
while time slipped through my hands.
Like a north wind I could not hold,
I welcomed December in the cold
before hearing the word on the street.
"Fall is gone,"
or so I was told by leaves that went skipping by
like children running through the grass past Christmas lights,
boasting,"Tis the season to be jolly!" and awakening
in my heart the celebration of a new born King.