Tag: Religion and Spirituality

God wakes the morning

This past week, I was talking to a wise and wily tenth grade girl. Our discussion was about purpose and passion and knowing “what to do with our lives.” But, something very beautiful happened midstream.

She said something like, “You know, people get so caught up in life that they don’t see the sunrise.”

“YES!” I think my heart yelled almost as loud as my voice. “God wakes up the morning!”

I might have lost her at that point – as my words tumbled over the edge of my excitement – but I took the twinkle in her eyes as encouragement and kept tumbling.

Every moment of every day God breathes life into existence. When He said, “Sun” there was an instant, goldern orb with heat and light and beauty. When we say, “sun” there is just an understanding that hangs in the air between the sayer and the hearer – nothing more.

What POWER God possesses to wake up the morning – to flood the fields of Creation with a glowing light.

Yesterday morning, with these thoughts fresh on my heart, I woke up a little haggard. I rushed out to grab coffee for a friend I was supposed to meet and, on the way to meet her, spilled the coffee all over the floor of my car (just realized I should clean my floormats). I ended up with two half-spilled skinny lattes and a solitary car ride when our meeting canceled.

And all the while, God was waking up the morning. As I made my way out to my office, passing sleepy houses and spring-ready fields, I looked out at the warm glaze that covered the morning… and laughed.

My morning was not falling apart. My morning was every bit held together by the words of my Savior, speaking daylight into existence and speaking my eyes into seeing it. God’s gracious, life-giving words streamed from the sun-soaked morning and I turned my face to feel the full weight of it.

What a glorious thing for the Lord to wake the morning.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 1

a studied irrelevance

I was reading this article, “The Myths of Progress and Relevance” by John Dickson (PhD, Ancient History) at the Gospel Coalition Blog last night and this statement toward the end is still marinating today.

‎”The true relevance of the gospel is found in its studied irrelevance to any particular culture, whether ancient Corinthian or modern New Yorker. We do not need another message that affirms what we already think in all our foibles and cultural particularities. We surely need one that is free to challenge, rebuke, frighten, and enlighten us, as well as comfort and affirm us when appropriate. That message is the gospel. It is precisely because the gospel was not crafted to endorse ancient Athenians or modern Americans that it is wonderfully relevant to both.”
 
“…the Gospel was not crafted…”
Let’s start there. Sometimes I think we forget that we didn’t create this Gospel – we are not the authors and therefore deserve no credit for the masterfully written story. We have no reason to collect royalties or protect the Gospel as our intellectual property. The Gospel was not crafted – period.
 
“…the Gospel was not crafted to endorse ancient Athenians or modern Americans…”
The Gospel is not a political move or the newest trend in “social justice” (whatever that means). The Gospel does not draw a line in the political sand or raise a national flag. The Gospel doesn’t endorse human ideas. The Gospel is God’s idea.
 
“It is precisely because the Gospel was not crafted to endorse ancient Athenians or modern Americans that it is wonderfully relevant to both.”
The Gospel is not about progress. We will not evolve out of the idea or into it the longer we ruminate over it’s claims. We cannot make the Gospel legitimate. Oh, friends, we don’t have that kind of power. If the Gospel is what it claims, we are all (every generation, culture, people group, and nation) unworthy recipients. We will not reach an intellectual plane where it is no longer relevant.
 
“We do not need another message that affirms what we already think in all our foibles and cultural particularities. We surely need one that is free to challenge, rebuke, frighten, and enlighten us, as well as comfort and affirm us when appropriate.”
 
The Gospel is intentionally irrelevant in all the ways we’d rather it not be. The Gospel is not a cheerleader for our causes or the biggest fan of our agendas. The Gospel is not a product of this age or an influence in an epoch that has passed.
 
The Gospel is God’s and He has intentionally made cultural differences only relevant in one way: the future joyful celebration of people from all tribes, tongues, nations joining together in grateful praise for the gift of salvation and communion with our Creator.
 
let LOVE fly like cRaZy
Posted on by Caroline 0

where is the floor in the morning?

She was special. All my students were, but she was especially special.

I listened again this past week, via text, to the valleys that seem to stretch too long in her still-young life. I felt the too-familiar cringe curling my insides with the empty question, “Why?”

This child – God’s beloved child – walks every day a lone candle into a dark place. She has seen more messes in this life than I can count, but she is a candle all the same and her light shines on and dispells darkness.

And I remembered.
I wrote,
“Where will you find the floor tomorrow morning?”
She said, “right under my feet, beside my bed… everywhere I place my foot.”

I smiled.

It had come out in the middle of one of our ‘pep talks,’ sitting on furniture that had been rejected from all other offices. I don’t remember the subject exactly, but I remember how it ended. I was asking this very special girl if there was anything to know for certain when the world swirled like crazy around her. I was asking her if she could be sure of anything at all inside the broken mess of her days.

And that’s when I asked,
“When you get out of bed tomorrow morning, where will your feet land?”
“…on the floor?”
“And have you ever gotten out of bed in the morning to find the floor is gone?”
“… Um, no.”
“God is like that. You are His child and He is forever. He will not change with the amount of mess or blessing in your life. He will always, always be what your faith and hope stand on – and He will not move.”

Our whole house can crumble around us, but there is always this ground – this terra firma where we walk out our existence. There is always this ground, a solid foundation for each shaky step.

God is this foundation when the sunlight breaks through the window in the morning to shine on what was dark during the night.
God is this foundation when the shadows scurry under beds and behind doors.
God is this foundation when friendships dissolve and sadness overwhelms.

God is this foundation when we swing our feet out of bed every morning.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy
in the refuge of the King

Posted on by Caroline 2

like diamonds

diamonds are attention-getting

Sometimes, it’s the only thing you remember when you walk away from a conversation. Somehow, a diamond can make everything else seem insignificant and dull.

This is the GOSPEL to me. I want to wear it like diamonds, so that everything else is its backdrop. I want the Gospel to be the first and last impression I leave with every conversation. I want the Gospel I’m wearing to sparkle with mystery and throw off a curious reflection.

Last night, in a conversation with a self-proclaimed “agnostic, buddhist, Indian scientist,” I hope he noticed the Gospel above all else.

I hope Truth shone like diamonds, because there is nothing more beautiful.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 0

the greatest story that ever was

I wrote this entire post yesterday and then cyberspace stole it. It took me awhile to cool off and find time to try it again (because I had a 15 minute window between work and work), but if Vince is right – this should be better anyway.

This morning I woke up remembering. My mind was heavy with it and I didn’t want to shake free. A deep sadness chased after rose-petaled joy in the wide expanse of slight slumber and I soaked it all in with my head smooshed to the pillow. Remembering.

I know the words to a beautiful tale of trial and tragedy and triumph. I know the beginning and ending of the greatest story that ever was. I carry around the chapters in thought bubbles above my head and feel them in the work of my hands. It’s a living kind of story that is both finished and in process. It’s the kind of story that everyone wants to believe is true, but only some have eyes to see.

It’s a story where we are the characters and we live the plot.

This story is the Gospel.
God’s plan for humankind to live as we were designed – for worship.

The Gospel is the greatest story that ever was, penned by the Creator with great care – from the moment the first light broke into the furthest reaches of black void.

In the beginning, God. Forever before and forever after this little blip called human existence, God lives – Perfect, Holy, and Blameless. Our failure to reflect Him (in His perfection) required a hero – a Perfect Savior who would stand in our place to take on everything imperfect, unholy, and blame-filled. Christ is that Savior. 

And today my heart is heavy with the weight of this story – to receive it with joy and to tell it with abandon; to preach it with my feet and to sing it with laughter. This is the story of deliverance from death to life, from lost to found.

This is the story that changes everything. And so deep sadness plays with great joy in my soul as I turn over this blessing in my sleepy mind. This is the story that changes everything.

What have I imagined to be more important than this story? What have I elevated to get more fame than this true tale? What has taken my gaze from the One who redeemed me from the pit and restored my soul?

Today, the act opens on the greatest story that ever was and sets the stage for the greatest party that ever was. 

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

what scene are you making tonight? we are bound to make a scene – like fools in love.

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Posted on by Caroline 0

blessings are sojourners

It took awhile, but Vince is finally on board with this idea (although he’s still skeptical) of blessings as sojourners. In church this morning, I was scribbling and doodling and arrowing and marking on my journal pages (taking bullet notes is so overrated). Right when the service ended, I leaned over and said, “I figured it out!” pause, “Hoarders!” Vince, not surprised in the slightest, just waited for me to flesh it out. “Quarters?”

“No… You know, blessings are meant to be always transferred, always moving, always given… but we love the blessing so much we keep it. We hoard it!”

He chuckled a little bit, “Oh… hoarders! Alright… I can see that.”

I’m so thankful to have a cousin/friend who equally loves processing through ideas, asking questions, and challenging assumptions. This afternoon, I had to stop myself in other company and ask, “Is this too much?” Because sometimes I forget how spoiled I am to have such a friend around.

So, this idea that blessings are sojourners and we are hoarders has been rolling like a snowball and gaining serious speed and mass in my mind. This is week two of Perspectives class and the first several lessons focus almost exclusively on God’s blessing – what it means for Christians and for the world. Pair that with a series in Ephesians at church and my personal obsession with the a la orden philosophy and I’ve got a dump truck of blessing on my hands. I’ll let you in on the processing side of things, if you promise you won’t reject it right away or laugh. Sometimes it’s fun to throw something up on here that I don’t think is finished quite yet. The thoughts still need punctuation and perhaps a more obvious thesis, but so do most of my posts I suppose.

_______________________

Blessings are sojourners.

They tread crowded roads and lonely trails to visit million dollar homes and corrugated metal shacks. They knock on expectant doors and ring doorbells of disinterested tenants. They dance with the leopards and race the rivers to the sea.

Blessings are sojourners.

They pack light. They carry purpose and reflect sunshine, but they are not weighed down. Their shoulders bear the weight of inheritance, but never long enough to slow their pace. They have no suitcase, no cargo pocket, no oversized handbag.

They are at home in motion.

Blessings are sojourners.

__________________________

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 3

come awake in 2012

Waking up was hard to do this morning, but smiling at this golden beginning to a new year was pretty easy. Yesterday was an exhibition in overflow. Yesterday splashed like crazy with “my cup runnin’ over.” God keeps pouring more of Himself (Romans 5) out through His Spirit and I can’t help but burst with joy. The more the Spirit pours out into my life, the more overflows everywhere else.

.gelato and coffee and conversations with cousins, with the right overdose of laughter
.folding up into a perfect sized hide-and-seek closet, awaiting the spirited search and discovery
.the other side of sunset – the expanse of sky gathering up all the reflections and hiding them in clouds
.hay bales piled on top of hay bales and warming in the unseasonable sun
.car rides riddled with conversation with my sister, where our friendship is given deeper, livelier roots
.a NYE celebration with new friends who live spur-of-the-moment and believe that laughter can be holy
.neighbors with open doors and friendly greetings and stories to share
.sweet sleep in a warm cocoon and a dawn that brings a fresh start

overflow

The burnt, lifeless leaves sweep up into a circling wind outside the kitchen window and shake away some of the Sunday afternoon reverie. The chorus from this morning’s service seems stuck in my soul,

Christ is risen from the grave
trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

The bold dawn has cast out the shadows of this day, this year, this sickness, this fear, this life. We are living the already, not yet life where dawn claims victory over the darkness of night in prelude to the Forever song. Today is a post-Easter, pre-Eternity day where we can rise up from the grave of death because in Christ it has no sting!

Today, I’m praying my heart would come awake to God’s heart. I’m praying my mind would come awake to the Word. I’m praying my actions would come awake in obedience and my life would come awake in Truth.

I’m praying I will live 2012 awake, eyes wide open in search of blessings to name and receive and count and respond with a life of gratitude.

May you all be blessed in 2012 with awakened hearts and minds, that you would pursue the Lord with everything in you, knowing that He will be found by you.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy
 in 2012!

Posted on by Caroline 0

Let Us Not Forget

The story is not just about a babe in a manger.

This babe would pay it all – the price of our sin.
The babe would have crimson stains so that we would be washed as white as snow.

This is the babe we celebrate. This is the Christ child. This is Emmanuel, God with us.

Advent: God With Us from The Village Church on Vimeo.

Let us not forget, for He did not forget us. He engraved us on the palms of His hands.

let LOVE fly like CRAZY

Posted on by Caroline 1

this & that

What a week.

So many thoughts. So many reasons to give thanks.

Here are some links for laughter and thinking and love.

Senior Citizen Flash Mob This is a group of elderly folks who think they can have fun, too. I gotta give ’em props for the effort. It reminds me of the documentary Young at Heart – but less cool. You should definitely watch the documentary if you haven’t seen it!

As sad as it sounds, how we googled in 2011 is an interesting litmus test of our priorities and it turns out we are all mixed up (big surprise).

Christopher Hitchens died. This outspoken atheist passed away from cancer in Houston and it just might be the perfect time to reflect on some of the beliefs (yes, atheists have beliefs too) he held onto so tightly.

Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens

The Gospel Coalition calls the Coming Catholic Ad Blitz “among the largest religious media blitzes in U.S. history.” This campaign is one calling Catholics to come “back home” – to find their local parish and learn (or re-learn) what it means to be Catholic. This fascinates me. I wonder what your thoughts are?

Its been said, “If you don’t expose your secret, your secret will expose you.” This article by Rebekah Lyons called, “What’s Your Secret?” is refreshing as it looks at the secrets we bury down deep and the relief when they are uncovered.

Well, it’s a short list and I’m processing so much these days – taking in the beauty of everyday, reading about grace and gratitude and moments. I’m trying to step in to every moment thankful, as I read through One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

It’s painting the world in beautiful hues.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 2