I was encouraged to focus my attention on Home. Home, being heaven. I know that this time on earth is only temporary but there is a longing for home. It has been mulling around inside me head all weekend. Have you ever been homesick? I have been feeling that way a lot lately. That longing for a place where you know you belong. Where you fit in and a place you know you are loved and wanted. Home... well, I know there is a place where I belong but I will never find it here on earth.
Turtles... that is what kept coming back to my mind. You know.. they carry their home around with them. In many ways we carry our home in hearts but our temporary home is our shell. Do you ever wonder why it feels like the weight of the world is on your back? Well, like a turtle, we have a shell, a body that is not our eternal body. We take on so much of what the world throws at us. We try to find a place of belonging. If we look at anything the world has for us we will always just add more weight to our bodies. We will never be wealthy enough, powerful enough, smart enough, funny enough, friendly enough, giving enough, skinny enough, beautiful enough... never enough of anything because there is always something more someone expects of us. We are not expected to be any of those things. We are children of God. We are his and he asks us to be light. To love one another and the greatest part is that he doesn't expect it to come from anything of our own, He gives us the love we need to share. Everything we need, we already have, in HIM!!
I think of how we seem to be running a race, carrying the weight of the world on these little stubby legs. Does it ever feel like you are just spinning your wheels and never moving. When we look around at the rest of the world, it seems they are rabbits. Racing ahead of us in leaps and bounds. Running without a care in the world. Mocking us as they run circles around us. The problem is, they are running, to the next big thing out there. You, my little turtle friend, are running home. It is not a race, we will get there when God decides. Until then, he lets our pace be slow. He has much to show us and teach us along the way. Things that are easily overlooked and missed by the rest of the world as they race on. You see, there is a light that guides us as we poke our heads out of our shell.
Does it ever seem that there are days when you just get no where? You are in the same place? Maybe some kids came along and found you, tipped you over and laughed as you kicked your legs in the air hoping to turn yourself upright. Yeah, sometimes our worlds get turned upsided down. Somehow we turn ourselves around and get moving again. And sometimes, all it takes is a friend to walk the So, when I focus on the light, the light of His glory. The new body that awaits, the streets of gold, the mansion awaiting.... well, it gives that little bit of strength needed to take the next step. These shells serve us well, but they are only temporary. They slow us down enough to allow us to see the world around us, to feel the hurts, to see the beauty, to enjoy all that is here and to imagine all that is to come. Journey on little turtle.
If you feel like a turtle, and are longing for a home other than the one on your back... keep walking, keep running the race. Keep your eyes fixed on the eternal not the temporary.
II Corinthians 4:17 -18 ~ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eterna.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
SPRING ~ A season of change
I love Spring ~ It is a season of change for sure. If April showers bring May flowers then we know that with the rain comes growth and growth is painful sometimes, messy and sloppy and well, dreary and gray.
What I love about Spring is not the rain, the mess, the gray and gloomy sky, but the newness, the freshness and the sense of new beginnings. Is it any wonder that Spring is when the wedding season starts, and graduations commence? Life is springing forth all over the place. As I reflect on activities that are about to take place, I had that brand new feel of a fresh rain. Can you smell it? Can you feel the clean slate? The dead of winter is washing away and being replaced with a new start.
Kids are excited and giddy with the thought that school is almost out for the summer. The excitment is contagious. No one wants to sit and study. There are adventures to begin. Not all are graduating, but many are, and with that is maybe some fear and confusion mixed with the excitment. Will I be able to make it in the world? Many are leaving home for the first time to start a new life of college or work. Many are graduating from college and starting life with a "real" grown up job. The great thing is that like a caterpillar changes into a butterfly, these people, young or old, are going to fly into a new life too. It is a new beginning. A chance to start with a clean slate. To move onto to a new journey, a new beginning.
Some are making a life change into marriage. Where life of being a single means becoming one with another. The changes have only just begun. If it were all easy we would miss the blessing. We would miss the growth. I, for one, am thankful for the rain and the times of growth. It is during those dreary times that the most amazing growth takes place. It is painful at times, but the result is so much more amazing than we ever could have imagined.
As many are spreading their wings and getting ready to fly, there are mamma's wringing their hands and wiping their eyes. Letting our babies go and watching them leave the nest is difficult. What a blessing to know that God has given each of us exactly what we need to make these hard transitions.
Soon the clouds of doubt and confusion and fear will roll away. The sun will shine and we will see more clearly the path that God has for us. We will be able to enjoy the light and warmth of the new life. Just know that about the time you start to feel comfortable and think you have a handle on this new life, things will be shaken. In life there is always a storm coming. Are you prepared to weather it? If you know the Lord, the one that controls the wind and rain, you can weather any storm of life.
I have no major changes taking place this Spring, but I see the growth. I feel the tears of joy and fear and sorrow. I walk along beside others, holding an umbrella, or tissue. Sometimes we are called to walk through the rain and sometimes we are the one holding the umbrella. Whatever, the role you are in this year, enjoy the beauty that surrounds you. Take time to smell the fresh, clean air. To feel the coolness of the rain and the warmth of the sun. To see the gray clouds roll away and the blue sky replace them with the shining of the sun. Listen as new life peeps forth all around. Can you hear it? Can you feel it??
Happy Spring!
What I love about Spring is not the rain, the mess, the gray and gloomy sky, but the newness, the freshness and the sense of new beginnings. Is it any wonder that Spring is when the wedding season starts, and graduations commence? Life is springing forth all over the place. As I reflect on activities that are about to take place, I had that brand new feel of a fresh rain. Can you smell it? Can you feel the clean slate? The dead of winter is washing away and being replaced with a new start.
Kids are excited and giddy with the thought that school is almost out for the summer. The excitment is contagious. No one wants to sit and study. There are adventures to begin. Not all are graduating, but many are, and with that is maybe some fear and confusion mixed with the excitment. Will I be able to make it in the world? Many are leaving home for the first time to start a new life of college or work. Many are graduating from college and starting life with a "real" grown up job. The great thing is that like a caterpillar changes into a butterfly, these people, young or old, are going to fly into a new life too. It is a new beginning. A chance to start with a clean slate. To move onto to a new journey, a new beginning.
Some are making a life change into marriage. Where life of being a single means becoming one with another. The changes have only just begun. If it were all easy we would miss the blessing. We would miss the growth. I, for one, am thankful for the rain and the times of growth. It is during those dreary times that the most amazing growth takes place. It is painful at times, but the result is so much more amazing than we ever could have imagined.
As many are spreading their wings and getting ready to fly, there are mamma's wringing their hands and wiping their eyes. Letting our babies go and watching them leave the nest is difficult. What a blessing to know that God has given each of us exactly what we need to make these hard transitions.
Soon the clouds of doubt and confusion and fear will roll away. The sun will shine and we will see more clearly the path that God has for us. We will be able to enjoy the light and warmth of the new life. Just know that about the time you start to feel comfortable and think you have a handle on this new life, things will be shaken. In life there is always a storm coming. Are you prepared to weather it? If you know the Lord, the one that controls the wind and rain, you can weather any storm of life.
I have no major changes taking place this Spring, but I see the growth. I feel the tears of joy and fear and sorrow. I walk along beside others, holding an umbrella, or tissue. Sometimes we are called to walk through the rain and sometimes we are the one holding the umbrella. Whatever, the role you are in this year, enjoy the beauty that surrounds you. Take time to smell the fresh, clean air. To feel the coolness of the rain and the warmth of the sun. To see the gray clouds roll away and the blue sky replace them with the shining of the sun. Listen as new life peeps forth all around. Can you hear it? Can you feel it??
Happy Spring!
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