Laced With Grace

You stand at the back of an empty auditorium, seeing rows and rows of chairs soon to be filled with friends just like you. Your big moment is just a couple hours away. Soon you will hear your name being called and walk forward to accept your diploma.

Years of hard work, finished. You did it. Yes!

Yet deep down you feel joy and sadness. What once was will be no more. Goodbyes will be said and tears will fall. Festive foods await you. Family and friends celebrate your success today, but tomorrow will come and you will enter unknown territory.

Questions bounce around in your mind.

Who am I if I’m not a student anymore? What will become of my life? Will I find a job in this economy? Will I make enough money to survive? Will I get married? Have children? What trials are right around the corner? What successes?

Unfortunately, your unanswered questions steal part of your joy on this special day. So you smile and thank everyone for being there. You enjoy the party. You live well for the moment.

But before long you are home again. Alone. In your room. All is quiet and fear comes in like rolling waves, so you cleverly look for ways to ride them. The waves win and you are taken under.You can’t sleep. You ask yourself questions and only silence answers. Eventually you tire and fall asleep.

Only to awake to the same ole questions.

Why am I talking about a graduation moment as a 40-something-year-old mother of two?

Because we ALL mark our lives by moments like these. Those days where we feel valued and seen and accomplished. We cherish times like these. They can be defining and even life-changing. They are big days.

But today I am reminded of a bigger moment. A moment yet to come. A moment when all your questions are answered and all fears are erased. A time when your name will be called and you will rise to accept your reward. A day when you realize your reward isn’t yours after all. It must be passed on. So in holy awe and worship, you bow and lay it down before the throne of God.

A moment when the celebration and praise never end. But this time the moment is not about your success.

It’s about the success of love.

God’s love.

In this moment, you acknowledge love made your entire earthly life worthwhile.

God’s love healed you.

Love changed you.

This is the greatest moment of your life.

And love never ends.

You take a deep breath and think, Yes, this is the life!

(Today I challenge you to look for people to fill those empty chairs. Let’s invite others to celebrate LOVE while we still have breath. After all, God’s LOVE WINS!)

In love with Jesus,

Tiffany @ Tea with Tiffany

So often times the Christmas season becomes one big stress that we just want to be over. Don’t you get tired of running from here to there and your to-do list keeping you awake at night?

* buy $5 gift for my daughter’s school gift exchange

* address, stamp and mail Christmas cards

* wrap and mail those packages going out of state

* bake Christmas cookies for neighbors

* hang Christmas lights – inside and out

* buy fresh Christmas tree and decorate

* attend Christmas program at child’s school

* attend work holiday party

* volunteer this Christmas season

* sing in church choir on Sunday

* shop for Christmas dinner

* buy gifts for family

* on and on the list grows

If you are like me, along with your Christmas planning, you are thinking ahead to 2012. Dreaming, picking a word or verse for next year, setting new goals, or thinking about ways to be more organized. Goodness, I get tired just listing all of this. Don’t you?

May I call a time out? May I share the real reason we celebrate?

 Father God, I pause to remember the real reason of this Christmas season. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! You are the reason I live, the reason I celebrate, the reason I have peace. Thank You for your great love. Today I fix my eyes not on my To-Do list but on You, the author and finisher of my faith. You are the greatest gift I know. This season all I want for CHRISTmas is more of You. Your presence is my present. In Your glorious name I pray, Amen.

Enjoy this Christmas season, friends. Let’s celebrate Christ like we’ve never celebrated Him before. Amen?

Love,

Tiffany at Tea with Tiffany

Traveling behind a college bus can be God thing.

Please reread this sign.

Follow Me to the …

Fill in the blank.

Would you follow me if you didn’t know where the dot, dot, dot was? Don’t answer that.

Isn’t that just like our God to set before me a bus to remind me to follow Him? He knows I tend to wander.

I love that we are all invited to follow Him, but I struggle with the destination being unknown. Don’t you? God ultimately decides where we go. So much for my desire to control. Ha.

Will you, like Abraham, follow God to the land HE will show you? (read Genesis 12:1)

Because I know He has places for you to go. Yes, even today.

Instead of the Extreme Home Makeover crowd yelling, “move that bus”, it’s time we shout “follow that bus!” especially if Jesus is at the wheel.

Listen. I think I hear him again.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Mark 1:17

Following Him,

Tiffany @ Tea with Tiffany

(this post taken from my blog archives)