when a person bungee jumps, they’re depending on the cord to keep them connected, to keep them alive! we, too, need to live connected, to remain in the vine.
““I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
John 15:1-7
stay strong in connection, keep yourself in the confines of love. know that the connection is your very life. Jesus, thank You for being our lifeline. we are nothing without You! please keep us, help us want You. teach us Your ways & may all we do flow out of connection & communion with You.
for without You we perish.
but with You, we soar. so have all of us & more. have this life You gave us, & let the love You’ve shown us be multiplied through fruitful abiding.
beach carpet—hot, dry, composite of miniature shell mirrors, pebbles, & sand molecules. each tiny bit composing a yellow shore blanket. i splay on this mosaic—my own music a collage made of millions of cells, notes, dancing, making me. each atom a party room of song & redemption long—longer than my eye can see the blue waves echoing off horizon edge.
here i am.
You brought me here, a bookmark in time, a pause. a place to be—just You & me. so here we are, together, on Your island beach.
Your island beach where You take every memory every tear, each broken pottery piece shard and moonbeam shed from head hung night, You take all the mismatched & missing pieces, to make a mural masterpiece. You leave no second untouched, revisiting & redeeming all the atoms of me until the movie of my life switches genres from drama & trauma to romance—You.
You brought me here, the beach of healing. so heal me here. let us sit let us walk the water’s tip where waves splash & drip the sand dark, where sea & shore hold hands, washing, recreating the sand again & again. i submit to You my shadows, heal me here.
clown. forced, fake, makeup caked, dressed to make you think of joy but on the inside a crying mess. farce! that’s all earth offers—pretend mirage happy like chasing wind, never full.
a total lie.
but a lie that can lead us to look for who is life!
because happy is real.
genuine in out true happy. rainbow on rain joy! real happy.
a snail snails slowly along, happy as can be just the way he is—slime trail & all! no rock complains about sitting still. no cloud compares herself to lighting in jealous huffs. no, nature, creation, is content. so why do we talk back to Creator? why do we wish away what He gave? each one of us has a gift unique! if we would only stop looking around & instead find & embrace our specific dna. rock rock and cloud cloud, salamander be salamander and naked mole rat be naked & you be nakedly unashamed in Him.
a part of losing ourselves in Him is to discover the freedom of being happy. happy with how He made us because we are satisfied with His beauty. happy is not a circumstance or luck, chance or getting what we want. happy is Jesus, the only love and puzzle piece missing cornerstone without whom we will always miss but with Him, fullness and happy and life!
Jesus + Nothing = Everything!
Jesus says love your neighbor as you love yourself. if you grumble about any part of how you’re made, you’re unable to love your neighbor in that way…
you cannot give what you don’t have.
so receive love, put it on! & you will have ample love to give to the person in front of your face this moment, & the next.
because without love we are nothing.
we can do no thing on our own.
so receive love now. put Him on. because He gave, we give.
happy & free because Jesus died for me, i’ll live for Him in harmony! paid the price, came back to life, free. bought with blood, sealed with dove. I know i’m loved. so I sit in this rapturous goodness & grace, getting to multiply what He first gave me—love.
I looked high low, under stones & stars, all the places I could think but my heart still throbbing my hole still gaping, invisible flesh wound spreading & sin sickness killing.
until what I could not do myself was done for me, chosen by God on a wet cold skull hill, Love came down & rescued me. drowning was all I knew until I received the gift of lungs and took my first breath of Life.
happiness is Jesus is Gods gift to us. to be fully content in God. whatever you think you’re looking for, the answer is Jesus. until you surrender to His breath in your lungs, you will be stuck with the mickey mouse bandaid you taped across the bullet holes bleeding out.
be happy now when you fall down, lose your clowns, & let Happiness Himself wreck & give and burn prune remodel your interior until it’s new. because until we unglue, we’ll never be who we’re created to be. so let Artist great have you. & the masterpiece He crafted you to shine will be.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
look at the seed—it in itself contains the potential to become the plant (even the fruit!), but it must take time. it must take air, must water, must sunshine. & if it be submitted to this process of receiving & rest, growth will grow.
submit to Design & with time, submission will multiply into growth, into gifts to give others—shade, fruit, a home. so become in the secret quiet. let the Designer take His time to make you fully Thine. discover the sweetness in trust & you will yourself become sweet.
receive the gift daily. receive rain. receive sun. receive clear goodness and the things given from above.
yield & allow Him to prune off all but what He gave—all but the seed—& you will be a pure, perfect bride of love, light—committed & consecrated, set-apart & all together lovely, for Him.
be His. & that which is planted, that which is given in you, will grow.
by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
2 Timothy 1:14
for land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, & produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
quiet still water like an uninterrupted sky, sits. the pond speaks in silence.
suddenly a green bump from a lily circle leaps—her great finesse, flying through the air, flinging her whole self forward with one grand leap. a royal proclamation of God’s creativity, wisdom, and beauty. no one jumps like the frog!
zoom in on these propelling frog legs, made with denser muscle fibers and other special factors that make a frog capable of leaping like no other creature on earth. frog, known for her strange leg strength, sings or rather croaks a frequency of God’s glory that no other animal created can.
the frog’s ability to jump unique & unusual is given from above just like from above an unusual & unique way is given each & every one of us.
everyone has some sort of special strength!
maybe great ideas come easily to you, or you’re able to fix anything. maybe you can pick up other languages without trouble, or you’re really good with numbers. maybe you can paint murals or run marathons. maybe you can make anyone feel at home by being friendly or you can improvise music. we all have a frog leg.
if you’re not sure what your unique capability is, ask those in your life. they’ll know.
whatever your frog leg is—that attribute custom cut to you—use it well for the glory of God. can you whip up a mean pie? then bake your heart out. can you crack home runs? then win the derby. can you sing like an angel? belt it out.
whatever your gift, use it.
don’t neglect it.
use it.
and remember, whatever your file cabinet of excuses could be (no time, i’m a mom, not good enough, inexperienced, no money,etc,..) God’s Grace is on you to leap!
imagine a frog who never jumped. now that would just be wrong. God didn’t give the frog hind legs for nothing!
so jump!
give God your all with what He’s given you. steward that special something to be what He gave it into the earth to be. don’t quench the image of God in you but let what He deposited into the earth through you be sown.
twist, turn, splish, kerplosh, fall—into arms open wide!
grace is a lot like a water slide. God carries us to Himself. we breathe, hop in, and trust—going with the flow of the Spirit as He carries us where we’re meant to be, in Father’s arms.
we obey though we don’t always see, following the laid out path to Father God, the end of it all a rapturous joy full of laughter, light and glee!
will you go with Holy Spirit flow, submitting and surrenderingafresh each dawn, knowing Father God is worthy of our trust?
many children hesitate at the top of an enclosed water slide, afraid to glide. it’s dark. it’s down. they can’t see their Dad waiting to hold them on the other side; all they see is unknown and what if and scared.
but when that child finally goes, he finds his toes in water, whooshing splashing spurring him onward, forward, carrying him to his forever Father hug and the delight, the love, the affection of Him.
the ripple effect of discovering the goodness of God is increased joy, increased strength, increased willingness to obey—even when it doesn’t make sense. we must strengthen our choosing muscle by delighting ourselves in Him!
we discover, after going down waterslide once, that it’s fun! we want to climb the ladder and go again! submitting to God in faith and going on the ride daily is worth the seeming risk.
so next time you’re confronted by the unknown, just know: God is waiting for you on the other side of your yes.
“Again we must reverse the familiar flow of our thoughts and try to understand that which is unique….”
AW Tozer
For we live by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.
Isaiah 30:12
The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.