Author Archives: Denise

FMF – Sabbath Rest

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We run from task to task and place to place.  We carry our self-importance and wonder what the “world” would do without us.  We weigh ourselves down with things that were never ours to carry.  It is not what God desires and definitely not what He modeled for us.

On the seventh day He rested. 

He set aside the business of creating and rested in a day called “Holy”.  A day set apart as an example for us.

We don’t follow well.  We run ahead.  Blindly carrying our own importance as if it was what breathes life.   We forget that there is only One who can breathe life into that which has none.   There is only One who can call anything important and it truly be so.  There is only One who can call anything holy and he did – the seventh day.  A Sabbath set aside – holy – a life giving, life breathing rest.    

 

Today I am joining in with the Five Minute Friday prompt at LisaJoBaker.com.  It is there we are given a prompt and then write for 5 minutes – no editing.  Check out all the great posts!

Five Minute Friday

A New Day

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It is so quiet.  Just the gentle breeze whispers softly by as I begin this day – this new beginning – with a very grateful heart.

Yesterday was my last day at work.  21 years of working for the same institution.  Oh, how I struggled with this decision to leave.  I felt the rumblings of this call to new things long before yesterday. 

I argued.  I reasoned.  I ignored. 

Yet, the One who was calling waited patiently.  When my delay caused unnecessary pain, He reminded me of His desire. 

In the midst, I learned that delayed obedience is disobedience. 

This morning I was reminded of Jeremiah 29:11-13. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  They you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

The One who laid the foundations of the earth; set the margins to the seas; knit my very being together in my mother’s womb has a plan for me (and for you).  His plan brings prosperity and when translated it is defined as completeness, peace, contentment. 

So this day, I settle in to the grace that comes from His hand.  I rest in the peace of His leading and the hope of a future planned before I ever knew.

 

In Him I hope

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Soon, what I have worked for and at for 21 years will be over.  Its nudging I have ignored, denied and just plain reasoned away for a good while.  Until, I could no longer.  Still and yet, its persistence doesn’t make the decision to leave an easy one. 

I wonder if I am too old to seek something new.  Is it too late to cradle a dream in my arms that I have long hidden in my heart?  If I consider things in terms of what seems “reasonable” by this world, it just doesn’t seem to be the right time. 

Yet, I hear Him whisper, “yes, now.”  So, I follow.  I say “goodbye” to that which has been so kind and “hello” to things I have only dreamt about. 

In the midst of it all, I seek to remember…

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”  -Lamentations 3:24

My Portion

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I have a coworker who lives right on the Potomac River.  He and his wife wake up each morning to sunrises over the water.  Often, as I am driving to work on the George Washington Parkway I get a quick glimpse of these morning lights shimmering through the trees.  I think of them and enviously wish these views were my morning portion.  Each day seems markedly different than the previous and yet, not one is less than the other. 

All are captivating.

This morning as I walked once again around our little lake (or is it a pond), I prayed for fresh eyes to see His glory and grace.  He never disappoints – as I am so often prone to do.  A whispered prayer carried to the heavens and then this I behold…

 

He is a generous God.  A giver all that is good and perfect.  He calls us to choose the right thing like Mary who sat His feet savoring His Presence and not be like Martha who was distracted and bothered by the unnecessary (Luke 10: 41-42)

Friends, I am so guilty of a Martha mindset.  I miss the beauty in my own little world – too busy to see the graces right in front of me – too distracted by the unnecessary to enjoy my portion.  So today, I pray for eyes to see, ears to listen and a heart to ponder.

Today I savor His presence in my portion.  Join me, my friends, for we each have our share of grace to enjoy.

Christmas Forever Changed

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Today I was reading a devotional and this pricked at my heart…

“Do not allow Christmas to be defined by your disappointment but allow your disappointment to be forever changed because of Christmas.”  **

While the sparkle and lights of Christmas often do well to hide the disappointment in our hearts, I think it is safe to say that many of us have that place where the colorful twinkle and the best of gifts cannot take away the emptiness left by disappointment. 

Loved ones gone.  Dreams forgotten.  Hopes dashed. 

We long to distract our focus from our hearts that heave heavy and echo empty.  So, we fill with our moments with fluff and tinsel.  We pretend that the empty rattle is nothing more than a jingle of a holiday bell.  In doing so, we foolishly believe that our distractions hide the hollow in our heart. 

God, however, knows we need more.  He longs for us sit quietly in His presence and acknowledge the disappointment. 

Release comes in the recognizing and the admitting we are disappointed.  Yet, we hold tightly to the emptiness.  So tight, we can’t even grasp the fullness He wants to give. 

Do we fear that God will be angry with our empty?  Frustrated with our broken?  He designed and knit our existence.  His purpose is the one that defines our lives.  Disappointment wasn’t His intention but it became our portion when flesh broke free and ate of an apple.

But God never leaves us where our brokenness seeks to hide.

On one ordinary day, flesh moved and life breathed in a feeding trough of a stable.  Grace was born in a world so wanting.  The very first gift on the very first Christmas – so small yet full – still labors to be born in our hearts today.

I challenge you – as I challenge myself – lay aside the fluff and the tinsel.  Give voice to the empty echo and let it go.  The Christ Child born that day so long ago is our Immanuel today.  May our Christmas be forever changed by Christ. 

 

** Joy! To Your World-A Countdown to Christmas on Bible App YouVersion