Laced With Grace

A week ago we took our class sledding. I feel awkward doing stuff like that so I was the official picture taker. Our students are all young adults and it was surprising the number of them who had never had the experience of careening out of control down a snow-covered hill.

One of our students is from another country and he shook his head and said, “I don’t know how to sled.” I told him, “you just put your bottom on the sled and you go down the hill.”

John Piper has written about “Christian hedonism“. Piper’s shortest summary of it is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. That covers a lot of ground – how do you (how do I, how do you) become satisfied in God?

We find our satisfaction in His love, in His care, in His salvation. But do we also look to His creation?

Do we look at the world that God created and see Him reflected in it? Not only the grand parts; the mountains and valleys, oceans and streams. But the little parts of it also. Do we seek to enjoy God’s world to the fullest extent, to glorify Him?

It is so easy to go through life, just going to life. The day on that hill, watching some of these people go sledding for the first time, I realized that part of me had lost the glory of just simply enjoying God’s creation, every place, every day.

I put my bottom on the sled (actually a metal saucer) and I just went down the hill. I resolve to do more of the little things that bring enjoyment to life, to glorify God in my fun, to enjoy what God has created…and it is good.

I have thought about this post all week. But the week got away from me. I procrastinated, so now I am here at midnight writing my post. There are so many things I thought about writing:

1. How I have been struggling with comparing myself to others, and that the Lord has been pointing that out (or at least made it more evident to me).

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

2. How the Lord sometimes answers your prayers, by saying “hold still for a minute”.

Psalms 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him….”

3. Also the Lord has been pointing out that I need to make sure I make time for him, which I was pretty good about that this week. But I will admit it was when I was going to bed, something I was fitting into my day .

Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

4. Also the Lord has made me see there is nothing better than a child’s belly laugh.

So many times I feel I have failed this week. Several times, I felt like turning over and ignoring the quiet voice in my head. Sometimes I hear another voice saying, “it is just to much work.” But in Hebrews 13:5 he says, “….be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

And in my low state, of beating myself up for procrastinating, for envying, for being impatient…..I hear a voice say:

Has your week got away from you? Are you feeling guilty, even for a “little” sin? Do not beat yourself up, don’t listen to the voice of temptation. Jesus LOVES YOU! So simple, yet so profound.

Heavenly Father, thank you for always pouring down your agape love on me. There are many days I don’t feel like I deserve it. But then you gently remind me there is NOTHING I can do to deserve it, it is a free gift you give willing. My humble heart thanks you. I love you Jesus.

Last week in the midst of below freezing temperatures, beneath the skeleton peach tree in my back yard, sprang a perfect yellow daffodil. I love this flower. It is sunshine on a stick.

I slipped on my coat, braved the wind, and went to have a look at this tiny gift from my lover. It was flawless in design and vibrant in color. Gazing at the perfect bloom, I was instantly struck with a sense of God’s presence. Tickled and smiling, I bent to smell the delicate fragrance. One sniff and my heart experienced a deep yearning. Homesickness so intense I felt a physical tightening in my chest.

A yearning for home. In moments like these, my soul longs for more. It longs for something I can’t quite put my finger on but I think it must be my eternal home. I want to be with the one I love to my core.

Why do these feelings of longing or even discontentment spring up inside? I haven’t figured it all out yet—probably wont before I leave this life, but I think our longings push us forward. It is God’s mystery. It is in the longing that we strive for something better.

God uses our gut wrenching yearning to draw us nearer to Him. While yearning for heaven we do our best work here on earth. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

O Lord, You placed eternity in our hearts. Stir our longing for home often. In Jesus name, Amen