Broken Alabaster Boxes

To know your God, read His Word. Do I allow this to directly affect my life? Is my first thought in adverse situations commands of Scripture? When I am faced with lies, do I know His truth? Do I know Him through the gift of His Word? This summer I am undertaking a Bible reading challenge with the intent of being in His Word. Read it. Whether that be in the 10 extra minutes you have on break at work, while feeding your baby, or perhaps even in a waiting room. Immerse yourself in His Word until that is your default. To know Him through His Word. Are you failing to live victoriously? Read His Word. Are you struggling to love? Read His Word. Are you searching to know His will? Read His Word. Summer is crazy, I thought. But do I truly value His Word enough to do this thing? Do I believe His Word is truly relevant to every situation? Every need? If I have time to check the weather, I have time to read His Word. If I have the mental energy to read a blog p...

When someone in your life is controlling and critical, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. When your sister forgets to ask you about your life and your struggles in the long listing of her own, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. When someone thinks they know what is best in your decision and does not understand your circumstances or choice or your wrestling to walk wisely, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. When they scorn your faith and question your God, what is that to Thee? Follow thou me. When others think you walk in joy only because your life is easy and you never struggle with discontentment, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.   When others praise you for virtuous things, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. For it is Christ. Not I. It is His glory. Not mine. And my duty is to walk in obedience to Him. And as I do that, I can rest. For I am following Him. 

A picture shows what the composer chooses. Evening light streaming through dining room windows on a quiet kitchen. Children, happy at their play. A picturesque slice of cake and a cup of coffee curling steam. It tells the story that is framed. You as the observer can not see behind the lens or know the mental noise in the photographers mind even as he shoots the serene scene.  Unmade beds in the next room, the same evening light falling wearily on them, remains unseen. Family turmoil just after the perfect photo shoot goes uncaptured. Mental worry and stress of the coffee drinker is not recorded. You only see the picture, framed for display. You only see the beauty, for the real is edited.  My desire is to stop seeking to arrive. To arrive at a beautifully, clean home. To arrive at finally finishing everything. To arrive at a leisure life with peaceful coffee. To arrive where there is no struggle to trust Him who gives the hard. Rather, I wish ...

There are times in life marked by intoxicating joy and fulfillment, days where you felt your hand was truly clasped in His. You knew Him. He was there, conversing with you. And it was blessed. Looking back, you see those times of joy and fulfillment as times you were close to the Saviour. And when your heart hungers, you seek the joy and fulfillment, hoping to find Him. But joy is elusive. The more you grasp at it alone, the more it is simply not there.  And you think, "I knew Him when I had joy," and seek all the more. But He is standing, waiting. Not for you to seek and find joy. Not for self-fulfillment. Not for the pursuit of peace. But the pursuit of Him. To be given for Him. To be broken by Him. And to be full with Him. So full that the search for joy is lost in obscurity. No longer needed. No longer searched for. No longer pined after. Because you have found Him. And He is giving more than you can hold.

There is the careful design that a builder knows. The perfect angles. The straight lines. The detailed thought and preparation. The thoughtful builder’s mind thinks of the need. How can this best fit this person’s necessities? How can I bless this person with the gift of my labor? How can I do the most good? And he does. Careful skill erecting shelters from the elements. Talent designing a wheelchair ramp. Practiced hand creating from raw material. Likewise, there is the thoughtful making of that which nourishes. Carefully measuring. Jiving spices. Intuitive salting. Mental labor and precision to bless those that partake. There are times when mashed potatoes, dreamed to be smooth and fluffy, are only chunks of hard in a soupy mess. There are times when the delicious sweet bread, carefully labored over, turns out half done, dumping raw dough. There are times the cook must laugh, or die in embarrassment. But the thoughtful cook thinks of those she serves. T...

Stewardship. Sometimes seen as the careful hoarding of money. Or if not money, than time, talent, or commodities. The preserving, keeping, storing for later use, for future necessities. But what if that definition, so often assumed, is a narrow, limiting, un-Godlike view of stewardship? When the best deal is attained, but at the expense of another. When the haggard waitress is given a smaller tip because, what if she uses it for cigarettes, (gasp) yet goes home, once again discouraged. When a gift is bought at a cheaper price, but the recipient wonders at the sincerity. What if this is not stewardship at all?  The buying of ice cream, money hard earned and fast disappearing, but the ice cream providing laughter and time together. The bouquet of flowers, bought at the florist rather than the grocery store, costing twice the amount, but showing more care. The thoughtful gift of coffee beans for the coffee lover, rather than a $1.99 candy bar. The giving of time to ma...