A Sacred Longing: August 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011

This is where I have been...

There will be more to come but just wanted to let you know I have been offline lately for a very good reason. Spent the last week in Ninth Ward of New Orleans with some really awesome people.

Six years after Katrina there is so much that needs to be done. Please take a moment right now and pray for the city and for the people who remain displaced and want to be home. Pray for those who are there and are trying to make things right.

Friday, August 12, 2011

5 Minute Friday - Beauty

Breathtaking beauty has less do to with what comes in a bottle or is airbrushed on a page. Rather it is found in the raw and untouched places.

It is birthed in the heart and breathed into the soul.

It is a song of purpose…

You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book – Psalm 139:15-16

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope – Jeremiah 31:3

It is the dance of desire…

I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul – Jeremiah 32:41

For you are my treasured possession – Exodus 19:5

It is the grasp of grace…

One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes – Revelation 21:3-4

I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love – Romans 8:31-32

It can be found in the mirror…

For you are my offspring – Acts 17:28

For you were made in my image – Genesis 1:27

It is in the knowing who He is and who you are. Oh my friends - do you hear it? Do you feel it? Open your eyes and see it!

You are beautiful!

I am joining in with Five Minute Friday over at The Gypsy Mama. Where you write for 5 minutes - no more and no less. Each week is a new topic and today it was Beauty. Check out the link and see what others have written!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Tuesdays around the world...

(Sunrise on the Chesapeake Bay - August 2011)

A heart that is free is the close companion of a peaceful soul.

- Francis de Sales

Monday, August 8, 2011

Beyond the Glass

Sometimes I feel like I am on the inside looking out.

Life swirls around.

I gaze – I gawk – I dream but there is something that keeps me from riding the whirlpool.

I don’t like feeling like an outsider. It is uncomfortable and lonely.

Too much time wasted – staring out through the curtains. Watching and wishing.

Just a few weeks ago, I celebrated another birthday. The cake is getting pretty small in comparison to the bonfire lit on top. It is crazy at times to think of the years that have gone by without much thought.

It is crazy and at the same time, sad.

Barbara Johnson once said, “We spend our lives dreaming of the future, not realizing that a little of it slips away every day.”

I am beginning to understand the truth in this statement.

Like grains of sand that fall through my fingers, days pass quickly into months and then years.

Lost

Forever

I am but a mist.

Waste no more. Wish no more.

Seeking to live today.

Today I continue to gather the graces with gratitude:

- a warm cup of coffee and a pastel painted sunrise
- the laughter of friends
- the smell of his hair
- a friend who doesn't give up
- truth spoken with love
- warm sand between the toes

Also joining in today with Laura and Playdates with God:

Friday, August 5, 2011

Five Minute Friday - Whole

I know what I have been and most of that isn’t worth repeating. Cracked and broken is the sum total of my yesterdays.

Damaged and flawed is what is easy to be. It requires little effort. It demands no faith.

What I have been is not who I am. Though broken and cracked - in Christ - I am whole and complete. The former things have passed away and the new has come.

Wholeness in Christ requires effort. Not effort to achieve but rather to believe.

I know what I have been and now I seek to trust what I am.

Whole.

I am joining in with Five Minute Friday over at The Gypsy Mama. Where you write for 5 minutes - no more and no less. Each week is a new topic and today it was WHOLE. Check out the link and see what others have written!

Monday, August 1, 2011

The Gathered Graces

Monday morning - is it the beginning of a work week or the ending of a weekend? In reality I guess, it is a little of both and that is okay.

This past weekend I had the grace of nothing. Pure unadulterated nothingness was savored. Each empty moment was gathered into a bouquet of grace - a fragrant and beautiful reminder that even in the nothing His presence abounds.

I need these bare moments.

It is more than a need. It is a craving – a desperate ache to be empty and wanting.

In a world that wants to be inundated with things to have and with things to do, I want less. I hunger for nothing.

I am learning that until I am naked and wanting. I will not see. I cannot hear. I forget to touch. I barely live. I am too easily distracted by thoughts and things and people.

This weekend was abundantly nothing. That was good, so very good.

Still savoring the simple and stark.

Today I join in with a thankful heart and gather the gratitude ...

- a long weekend away to empty
- a husband who loves to laugh
- dogs who are happy to see me come and sad to see me go
- garden fresh tomatoes still warm from the sun
- sweet corn on the grill
- thunder and rain on a hot summer evening
- a camera that can capture what I never really saw
- a heavy sigh and a warm embrace