listen up

‘The Lord your God is with you,
    he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
    he will quiet you with his love,
    he will rejoice over you with singing’ (Zephaniah 3:17).

Most days, I want to bury my head under my pillow and stop the noise...

So many voices competing with the voice of God. Some days it's easy to hear him, others, not so much.

I'm learning to rest in the fact that simply because I intentionally work at being still means that God is speaking to me.

 "You're not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. 

He draws people to me - that's the only way you'll ever come. 

Only then do I do my work, 

putting people together, 

setting them on their feet, 

ready for the End." 

                                     John 6:44

Can you hear him?

He is calling...sometimes a whisper

                             sometimes a scream

nevertheless, He is singing His delight over you today beloved.

New England is a magical place, but you need to be still to see the act.

Each year, God does his thing, and ushers in his grand act, and changes the landscape from green to a rainbow...

What grew bows down and leaves the stage, and Geese sound the trumpet as the curtain slowly rises...

This doesn't surprise God...but it always seems to catch us off guard.

Be bless the crisp air, and the sweet ciders and syrup, then curse the blanket that covers the spring flowers while they gather their scent from the decaying leaves under the billions of ice-diamonds.

Seasons come and go through us too...

listen for the trumpet, and greet it with joy.

let things die, God is aware.

An old leaf left on the branch will never turn green again...

let things fall. 

I am in a season of change, again.

I welcome it.

Restore our fortunes, Lord,
    like streams in the Negev. 

 Those who sow with tears
    will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
 
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them.
              Psalm 126:4-6

when the road ain't so winding....but it's long

"what would your school look like in heaven?"
......

"no lockers"...yeah, no one will steal stuff

"no school nurse"...yeah, no on will get sick

"no more fighting or arguing"

.....  and in my mind I add "no more lock down drills"

We had been reading our family devotional and I couldn't get past my own tears longing for Christ to return.

Most days, I simply can't walk any more....
all I see in front of me are miles and miles.

My feet ache,
my back is sore,
and i smell...

yet, I walk.

Others try to encourage me from the sidelines,
like they dowhen I run a marathon...

but they aren't running my race.

I can see the finish and I know the prize, so I keep running...
foot, foot, foot.

Sometimes I run, sometimes I walk, sometimes I have to stop...

but I keep moving.

He did it. He is worth it

 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
                                                  Hebrews 12:2 The Message

What are you leaving behind?

When I was a kid, I used to daydream like many others about what it would be like at my funeral...

would lots of folks come?
who would be there?
what would they say?

As I got older, I thought about legacy and leaving the world better than I when I showed up...

When God grabbed my life, things changed a bit.

I still struggle with wanting to be remembered and liked...

But the most important legacy I have in my life are my girls.

Now, I often daydream about a conversation they would have about me after I have died...

I hope it centers around how much I loved them, and Jesus, and their mom.

I hope it has a part about how they learned to love and respect all people because all people are made in the image of God.

I hope my love for Christ will show them the realness of God, and that He is true and alive.

What about you?

What are you hoping to leave here?