Happily Disorganized

Life is messy!  No matter how much we try to organize, plan-control!  Papers still pile up, accidents do happen, conflicts arise.  We need help!  We need God!  Only God can manage our mess in a way that is happily disorganized, as the late Mother Teresa, said.

Give God your plans, and watch him make your mess into success!

The blessing

It's so hard to pray a blessing over others, when we ourselves long so much to be blessed.

But that is the way of the cross, and the Life of Jesus.  He died so others could live.

We have to be happy for others when goodness and beauty come their way.  When Jesus' love is in

our hearts, we are able to bless others because we ourselves are deeply blessed by his presence alive

within us.

Give a blessing today!

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

I feel more and more imperfect every day.  How can I experience my imperfection as liberating instead of as a crushing defeat?

Since I was born I believed I had to be perfect in order to be loved, admired, esteemed, and respected.

I flaunted my strengths and lied about my weaknesses.

I hated my imperfection; it took the wind out of my sails.   When I showed imperfection, it felt so humiliating to me.

I was being exposed and shown for who I really was, an imperfect and fragile person filled with uncertainty and insecurity. 

I always wanted to be strong and beautiful. 

There is another side to this story.  Jesus says, “My power is made perfect in weakness.”

 There is Christ-like beauty that shines through our weaknesses and  imperfection…

 “ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” says the psalmist...

Journey of the heart

Life is a journey of the heart.  And what affects your heart most of all is relationships. Trusting, Letting go, healing wounds, forgiving…this is the difficult work of the heart.  The heart is a muscle.  We need its physical and emotional strength.  Value your heart.  Befriend your heart.  Let exercise and good communication do its work.  Let the hard work of engaging with others no matter how you are feeling strengthen and develop your heart.  Encourage the hearts of others and you will be encouraged.  May God strengthen and encourage your heart today!

Shards of sea glass

Life is filled with divine moments and missed opportunities, good and poor choices, days filled with control and days filled with surrender.  And yet through it all we see a reflection through shards of sea glass and tainted stained-glass.  A reflection of Christ’s love and beauty radiating though our imperfect lives.

Triggers

No matter how good you feel, no matter how well you are doing it serves you well to know that you are only one step away from the trigger of feelings of despair and woundedness. These feelings serve a purpose if only to direct you to Christ and deepen your sense of compassion in and for broken humanity.

Broken Walls

The only thing I know for certain in this life is that God loves me and is with me.  I cannot trust in anyone else’s love; for human love is so limited.  My sense of safety and security has to rest in the power of God.  For the broken walls of others cannot shield me from the arrow, or give me a firm place to stand against the enemy of my heart.  Let God’s all consuming love embrace me and rise up to kiss me with mercy and forgiveness.

Sunrise, Sunset

I could live in regret for past choices I have made in life.  I can live with deep remorse for not getting fully what I needed at a young age, or I can choose to be grateful for this new day and trust that through all my choices I have gained something more of Christ!  In each ending comes a new beginning- A sunrise, A sunset.

Grace

"Let us then approach God's throne of Grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."  Hebrews 4:16

What we need more than anything in life is grace. 

Grace for imperfection.  Grace for mistakes.  Grace for setbacks.  Grace for embarrassments.  Grace for not getting it right.  Grace for showing our scars, and revealing our weakness.  Grace for being a sinful human being. 

When we are shown grace by our Father in heaven and by others, we grow in love, mercy and compassion towards other people in need of the same grace that we have been given.  

Let's be givers of grace today.