Older pictures and new words for today. The day before
Resurrection Sunday. Need to write in the present today.
God has to be present today for me. I cannot rely on last month
when I may have felt His hand. Because I am not living in
a month ago. I am living today with a living God.
I just re-read a beautiful reading ("Perfect Clumsiness" an Interview
with Andras Visky that I received from on of my
dearest friends a few Easter's ago. I pull it out each Easter and it
takes me awhile to take in the well written words.
The reading invites us to return to the place of Good Friday and the
three days in between His death and resurrection. For there we can
meet God. There just like the disciples who had to re-learn everything
and try to piece things together- we can be present in not knowing all
the answers. Yes, we know the end of the story. But sometimes
that keeps us from engaging in the present story with God.
The reading was so encouraging to my heart. To be at a place
with God where we are humble and come with fear and
trembling, not knowing all the answers is good. Sometimes
the church can play with my head sometimes of how
I "ought" to be or how faith "ought" to look. I can look to
God to define my faith, not look at my faith to define my faith.
Praise God I don't have to have it "all together." I often feel
I do and when I don't or my thoughts betray me, I can feel like
a fake. That is why sometimes the best and safest place for me
to be is just with God...Church and the things surrounding can
sometimes feed into my performance muscles. I don't
need those muscles enhanced!
Good Friday invites us (from he article) "to re-begin my life with Him.
It's a big gift from God if I realize that I have to re-begin my life.
God is so rich that He doesn't permit us to use His blessings from the
past. He wants to share with us blessings from the present."
"My hands have to be empty. To say to God at the beginning of
the day, I will open my Bible and I want to be taught by You,
not by my knowledge about the Bible." (A. Visky)
This is so freeing but difficult. I want to approach the day with God in
a new and fresh way each day. A living relationship with a living
God. What does He have in store for me today? What living
words can I read? How can He reach me through a person
or my circumstances? To be in wonder at how He will
show up and not have my interpretation all ready,
I was listening to a great sermon by Jonathan Helser awhile back.
He said in their house with their kids they talk about seeing heaven
and how heaven comes to them. I love that there is not a great separation.
Heaven is close. Often heaven so other worldly and far away.
They also often ask their kids, "What is God going to do..." in a given
circumstance. I think that speaks to what was written above, keeping
a current living relationship with a real God. He said, we
can't give Jesus our life in heaven, because we are there. But we can give
our life today--we touch heaven.
In the sermon he goes on to say: "When we sing to the Father,
He grabs Jesus and says, 'They sounds like us'. We were made in
the image of God, our song captures His heart because He
has been singing over us our entire life. The world is like a
womb-born into heaven-look into God's eyes, He was the one
singing to us." Beautiful.
He goes on in this sermon (found on Utube) to say what a
great impact our parents have to represent God to us, until
we are old enough to have our own personal relationship
with Him. When we go to Christ then, all the shaping, teachings,
representation, words, and the hearts of our parents representing
Christ will have an impact on how we see Christ.
"When our parents voice isn't enough and the space in our
hearts is waiting to be filled by the Heavenly Father. He is
waiting-we believe Him"
"If you don't find His smile, you will look for it everywhere
else. If you don't find treasure of His heart, you will look
for treasure out there and it will never satisfy you.
When you find it here-you will want to waste your
life worshiping Him (not because I have to) because He sang
over me in the beginning."
What a role we have as parents. How much I want them to
know the love of Jesus. How much I want them to be in love
with Jesus. How much I want the same for myself.
Heaven Come Down! Let us see Jesus in our everyday.
Let us sing His song. Re-begin our lives so we receive
the blessing of today. I want to be a part of the love story!
I want us to offer this to my kiddos.
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