Laced With Grace

December 31, 2007, whew! Where did the year go?  It seems like just yesterday I was doing my yearly reflections and here I am again.

The last day of the year is always one of reflection and self evaluation for me, where I review my year and decide whether I need to let go, hold on or move forward.  Won’t you join me, for an abbreviated journey?  Some journeys are always best when taken with friends.

Okay, here we go…

Someone has said or done something, whether deliberately or unknowingly, to wound us this year.  On this last day of the year let’s decide to let it go, even if they haven’t acknowledged it.

“…but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,  14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:13-14

We all probably entered this year with expectations of great things happening.  Some of them came to past and some of them are still dreams waiting to be realized.  Hold on to them… Let’s go into the New Year holding on to the thought that although our dreams may not be realized when we want them to, surely in God’s appointed time they shall come to past.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely  come,  It will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:3

At some point during this year we may have been less than Christ like and the enemy often tries to bring the memory of past failures to haunt us.  However let’s remember the Apostle John’s words and move forward in or walk with God.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 1 John 2:1 (emphasis mine)

Like me, you may have spent this year coming to terms with a great loss.  However, at the end of this year I’m finally ready to let go of the grief, hold on to the memories and move forward into a brand new year with the expectation that the same God who kept me through 2007 if I continue to trust him, to hold on to him, to cry out to him he will be with me, keep me, guide and direct me through 2008.  

Thank you for sharing the journey with me and thank you ladies of LWG (readers and writers) for encouraging me more than you’ll ever know this year.  May God bless you all in the coming New Year.

As I am writing this post, Saturday, December 29th, 2007, I am in a plane looking down on a storm system which crept in overnight from the Pacific Ocean. It is slowly moving inland over Southern California. It is a stunning display of white puffy beauty nestled over pine dotted mountains.

On the rare occasions I have to be in a plane, I stare out the window transfixed. I wonder if this is how the Lord sees our world everyday.

I ponder the view as the plane soars above the earth. My thoughts focus on the reality of how tiny and insignificant I really am. I am only a single insignificant speck among six billion people on this giant planet. How can it be that God sees me? Why does he care to know my thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams? Why would the Almighty care to listen to my problems and how could a perfect God love me. Surely there are so many others who are more deserving of his interest?

As I think about these profound questions, I look out again and the word “behold” leaps to my mind. We are approaching the rim of the Grand Canyon. I am staring, lost in the magnitude of it all. It is now I hear a whisper speaking to my heart. It is the Lord. “I made today just for you. This experience is a love note written for you. Do you see the splendor of my hand? Let it stir your heart. Notice the muted orange and brilliant red hues spread below you? They are an extravagance fashioned for you this day. I carved this love note in stone as a delight for you.”

“I love you my daughter.”

I hear His voice and tears sting the back of my eyes. Overwhelming love, I cannot fathom fills my heart and swells my soul.

I am in awe of you God! I treasure this rare privilege to witness your creation from your heavenly viewpoint. I am humbled to witness your power displayed in the beauty of this world.

I am undone to comprehend your hand setting the stars in the heavens and tilting the earth on its axis. Still more mystifying, you chose me before the world was made.

I am in awe of you God!

I worship You. I worship You! I worship and adore You, I am in awe of You, O God!

Genesis 1 (NIV)
The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

I wonder if others of you have had an experience of viewing the earth from what might be a heavenly perspective? Oh, please share with me how God spoke to you in that experience.

Thank you for joining me here today to live this tiny moment with me. Your friendship is a rich treasure, an eternal gift I thank the Lord for everyday. Be Blessed, Lynn

Not too long ago I attended a piano recital of a friend’s daughter.  I wanted to go hear her play, but I never would have imagined the joy it brought me to see all of the kids from ages 5-17 or so playing their selections for their families.  It brought back lots of memories of my childhood and all of the piano recitals in which I had participated.  As I sat there listening, to my mind came the memories of good performances, not-so-good performances and the many hours of practice beforehand.   In addition to the memories, though, I was really moved by how much enjoyment the parents got out of watching their kids.  These performances weren’t perfect, but I believe that in the eyes of moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and even friends like me, they were priceless – priceless displays of effort for their entire “world” to see.   

Do you think that God enjoys watching His little children do things for Him?  Do you think He smiles as He watches us take one wobbly baby step at a time down this road of life with all our might?  I bet He does, while all the while thinking to Himself “Come on, my child, you can make it!”. 

I love thinking about my relationship with God in this way.  My dad still says that I am his little girl.  Do you realize that you are God’s “little girl”?  When we accept His Son, Jesus, we are adopted into His family forever (Ro 8:15).  He loves us so much because after all, He chose us (John 15:16) and being the perfect Father that He is, He wants to do things for us (Mt. 7:11). 

What are you not doing in your life for God because you are afraid of making a mistake?  If you find yourself here, I assure you that you are not alone. I think that sometimes all of us are like that little child who when on stage forgets her place, finds her fingers not working as she had planned, and wishes secretly for the experience to be over.

 Friends, our heavenly Father does not expect perfection from us, just that we do our best where we are with what we have.  Remember that “the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7 NKJV).  When we take that step forward, He will be there right beside us, ready to take our small hand in His…smiling.