{Five Minute Friday | Common}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {COMMON}.

Ready? GO.

My heart is heavy this week. I can't quite wrap my words around it. There's fear, uncertainty, outrage, and hatred. The division is deep and wide. It makes me sad.

It's common these days for people to feel despised, condemned, overlooked by fellow Americans, by brothers and sisters in Christ. I suppose it's not new. We have to pay attention.

We are in this together. Being in this together,  however,  doesn't mean we get to disregard what someone else may be feeling or thinking or experiencing. We have to listen. We have to try to understand.

Isn't it time we make it our responsibility to reach across the lines that so deeply divide and show the world what it means to love others and serve others despite race, economic status, gender, and sexual orientation? Can't we have some honest evaluation and look at where we are contributing to the problem rather than being part of the solution? You know, our hope was never meant to rest on a man or a political system. Only God can heal our land. I suppose He wants to use His church and the power of the gospel of Christ to do that. It's on us.

I can't pretend that I know what this kind of thing looks like in practical terms. But, I think it starts with listening. And when we listen, perhaps we can find common ground.

STOP.

{Neighbor | Day 18 of 31}

Ready? Go.

Seems like there’s a lot of disunity across evangelical circles these days. We live in a culture that feels entitled to have an opinion and hold that opinion up and affirm it above all others. Out loud. Often times on a social media platform. Sometimes at the expense of another by making derogatory comments and accusations. (Anyone else not enjoying this election year?)  It makes me sad. In Scripture, James talks about the fights and quarrels among us. He says they come from our desires at war within ourselves. (Interesting tidbit: the Greek word in the text for “desires” is hedone. Our modern word hedonism finds its root in that word. That says something, doesn’t it.) He also warns us against slanderous speech against a brother and sitting in judgment of him. He writes, “But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”

Jesus had something to say about being a good neighbor. Take a look at this passage from the gospel of Mark. 

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12: 28-31

This is a big deal. Jesus’s explanation tells us that the law can be summed up in these two commands (Matthew 22:40). James calls this the “royal law” and says we’re doing well if we get it right. I agree. Wholeheartedly. Here’s the thing: if you are loving God the way Jesus tells us to love Him, loving your neighbor as yourself will be a natural progression of that love. I’m not here to say that if we all just love each other all the other issues will go away. We’re human. I get it. But, I am saying that Scripture tells us that He’s given us everything we need to do what He’s asking us to do. We also have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit that will go to work changing us so we can be Christians who represent and reflect God’s love well. 

I fear we love ourselves and our opinions more than anything else at times. I wonder sometimes if we don’t have too much of a “I’m just looking out for myself” mentality. Do we live in a space that says our thoughts and feelings are most important? Do we believe our security and stability is meant to be our first priority? This must be why James reminds us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, and that if we will draw near to Him, He draws near to us. Those are two things I cannot imagine living without: God’s nearness and grace. James also gives us another bit of wisdom. He says to “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you,” and “do not merely listen to the word . . . do what it says.” 

May I encourage you to join me in praying that God will help us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to be doers of the word, to love Him with all that we are, and to be a good neighbor by loving others well? Can we ask Him daily to guard our hearts from selfish pride, to help us recognize it in ourselves and repent? Ask Him to help us live the truth we say we believe. Can you imagine what might happen if as the collective body of Christ we focused all our energy on these things? I think it would blow our minds. 

STOP.

{Study | Day 17 of 31}

Ready? Go.

I love to study Scripture. The complexities and depth blows my mind, really. The writer of Hebrews (chapter 4, verse 12) says it’s alive and active, exposing our inmost thoughts and desires.  Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy that it is God-breathed. That truth alone makes it invaluable. Paul also tells us in Ephesians that it’s the primary weapon we’ve been given to defeat the enemy of our souls. It’s THE standard of truth. Scripture does something else for us, too. It teaches us about the character of God and reveals Jesus. Something beautiful happened when I started praying this prayer before my bible study: “Lord, reveal something of Yourself to me in these pages. Holy Spirit, reveal truth and teach me what this is saying about who Jesus is?” Here’s the thing: what I believe about Him, based on my understanding of His Word, will determine how I live for Him. Did you catch that? It's true. Scripture is not just a book of “how-tos” and “rules to live by.”  It’s so much more. 

I am grateful for Scripture. And, I’m thankful I live in a country during a century when it’s readily available and easily accessible. In the early 13th century, it was illegal for anyone other than priests to own a Bible. I can’t imagine that. And, how often do we leave it lying on the bedside table collecting dust? What if we recommit to searching and studying the Scriptures, and knowing what they say? What if we recommit to applying them to our every day, affirming the truth of God’s Word above all else? Yeah, what if we did that!?  If we ask Him, God will give us a supernatural desire to study His Word, more than ever before. He can do that, you know. I’d say it’s something He’d very much delight in doing for us. 

Stop.

{Move | Day 15 of 31}

Ready? Go.

I am a few days behind, so I’m playing catch up. Life has been moving at a nearly an unsustainable pace. It seems like there is constant motion — always. It can be hard for a girl to catch her breath, and that’s on a good day. Life moves as if it has a mind of its own. Have you ever had a season where life wanted to move on without you? Maybe something wrecked your “normal,” and you felt stuck while life plowed forward without any consideration of you. That happened to me once, just after I lost my first child. Every day for eight months, he was the focus. He was a charming little fellow, so I didn't mind. Then, he was gone. The days immediately following his death were a whirlwind of activity. The funny thing is, you just keep up, somehow.  It's the days after the funeral and burial that run you over like a freight train. Life gets to pick back up where it left off while you are left to try and find your normal again. I couldn't find mine. I insisted that it needed to look and feel something like before. But, that doesn't work, does it?  Life was moving all around me, and I couldn't get unstuck.  God graciously taught me that I had to make a choice to move in the direction of healing. It took a lot of work and quite a bit of surrender and submission to God, but I was moving in a direction, gaining momentum, finding my new normal. And, God never left me to go it alone.

May I encourage you today? Just keep getting back up and do the next thing. Move one step closer in the direction of the One who's already pursuing you. His love for you is relentless. Yes, keep moving toward Him. Eventually, You'll find He is all you need.

Stop.

{Five Minute Friday | Test}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {TEST}. This is also Day 7 of the 31 Day Writing Challenge! WOO!

Ready? GO.

For most of us, the word doesn’t conjure up happy feelings. Maybe once we’ve been tested and have passed the happy feelings come, but not usually before. Yeah, before a test there tends to be a lot of hand wringing and last minute studying. A test measures what you know, but it also reveals what you don’t know. Ah, there’s the value of the test. Identifying specific areas of weakness provides an opportunity for growth. I need this in my life all the way around — as a wife, mom, friend, as a leader, and as a girl who wants her life to reflect the best of who she is in Christ. Don’t we all? I'd say we do.

That’s why I appreciate the prayer attached to the end of Psalm 139 (one of my favorites).

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 

Um. Yeah. Praying that kind of prayer takes a bravery of sorts because it’s another one God will always answer with a yes. And, it might hurt a little as God begins to point out areas where He needs to go to work in us. But even more than bravery, it takes an incredible amount of trust in and vulnerability with God. But see, David intimately knew God. He knew Him to be faithful and full of unfailing love, so David was completely at ease with giving God full, with the unrestricted access to his heart and mind. I want to be like that more often than I manage it now, the unrestricted access. I want to come before God and say here’s my heart, search me. Here’s my mind, test my thoughts. Then, correct me. The last thing I want is something that’s hidden in the depths of my heart or mind — some way of thinking, some sinful attitude or behavior to be offensive to Him or keep me from the path He intends for me. But those things are often the hardest to see and know about ourselves. But, here’s the thing: there’s always something that God can be working on in us. To say “no, I’m good” would mean we’re either perfect (um, no) or proud (that’s more likely). I’d much rather be saying Lord, keep growing me into the girl you meant me to be, rather than holding Him at arm's length insisting that I don't need any work. To believe for a second that I’ve arrived at a place where God's finished working on me means I forfeit the beautiful and wonderful things He has for me in the next season of growth. But we have to ask Him the hard questions and pray the scary prayers that invite Him to work in us. Who better to trust, though, with the testing of our hearts and minds? There is no one better than the One who created us. He had a vision and purpose for our lives before we existed. And He’s good. So good. 

I believe we have to be intentional about moving toward Him. So, may I encourage you today to take a step of faith toward Him by praying these verses of prayer along with me? Because, God, more than anything we want to be women who reflect the light and love of Jesus brightly. Do a work in us that only You can do. 

STOP.

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