The Secret that Gives Life Purpose

My little brothers are in the yard, one running, white net billowing behind him. He chases butterflies, grasshoppers, tries to tangle them in his net, see the little creatures up close. The other brother stalks, green slips of grass between his toes, sneaking up on the insects. Sometimes he drops to his knees and crawls like a panther. His net lies flat against his back. Waiting. Searching.

And I'm like them, me here, sometimes running sometimes stalking. I'm searching for moments. I'll keep swinging my net, trapping time between my fingers, and seeing the beauty in the little things.

I used to think life was made up of time.

I'd write for an hour. Eat and clean up for thirty minutes. Go on a 15-minute walk.

I thought life was trying to cram as much productivity as possible in a 14-hour day, fill my journal with how much I'd done, and then sleep, satisfied.

The problem: I never do enough.

I can't write enough. I can't blog enough. I can't spend enough time with my siblings, with Jesus, with helping around the house. My work is half-hearted, mind distracted.

Because life isn't meant to be lived on a watch.

I want to go back to the Garden of Eden. Where life is made up of moments, of relationships, of beauty.

Where I sit here, window blinds open, watch the raindrops on the glass. A thousand crystals, clear gems of every shape and size. One's a teardrop, another like eyes watching me; the one on the right slides down, slowly, and is joined by others as the clouds release their treasures of liquid diamonds.

Moments: like watching her walk down the aisle, white veil on her back, hair dark - brunette, as her eyes meet her lover's and they hold hands, kiss for the first time.

Another: Highlighters scattered across a white desk, the hues a picture only I see, but it's beautiful in colors a camera could never capture. The sapphire, emerald, orange.

I hear rain. I smell petrichor, that scent of the drops against the soil. Puddles splash, the geese stand in awe. A sibling lays on my bed and asks questions, break from writing, moments to treasure.

Because I read of Heaven, of the New Jerusalem, where foundations are made of sardius and beryl and glorious precious stones. I read of gates of pearls, of being with Him forever, that relationship, that water of life He gives freely.

Not to-do lists. Not alarms or watches or schedules. Yes, there's good in those, and Eden had its share of work. We were made to do good, to take care of the gifts and talents God has entrusted to us. But that's not the core.

Just Him, beauty, because it comes from Him too.

Oh, to walk by that pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, from the throne of God and of the Lamb! But even today, we're called. We're chosen. We're loved by the one from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.

That beautiful, beautiful truth!

So if COVID goes on forever, I want to capture moments. If life returns to the same normal as before, I want to rejoice.

One day, we're going to stand before this God and account for every work we did. I want to know I lived them for Him, I loved Him, I made sacrifices and abandoned all for Jesus.

Yes, we work hard, we press on, we make schedules and sometimes have to rush to get tasks completed in time.

But it comes down to this: He is the center. He is Life. He is good.

And this life is a gift. So I want to run through the green grass and catch those moments, the resting and the working, catching them in white, silky nets, savor them, rejoice in Him, and know He is God.

To live life knowing I am His, I am loved, and I can draw near Him at any time, accepted because of Jesus.

That's Life.

...as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God...

Behold, I make all things new... I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son."

- Revelation 21:2-3, 5-7

~♥~

COVID + Why I'm Not Looking for a New Normal

I wasn't planning to write a post about COVID.

*smiles* But here goes. Because this is my prayer, my fear, the hope I keep reminding myself of, and what I'm living for.

I don't want a new normal.

We don't need a new normal.

God is writing new stories, and I love them.

I love the way He pulls the carpet out from under us by closing cities, locking us in our homes, and making us stop. I love it because when we fall, we remember.

We write letters to old friends we miss. We video chat, have real conversations. We sit around the family table and are all together. We play games, raise our faces towards the sunshine, and actually live life instead of running through it.

We pray more. We love more.

I hurt too; I hurt for the nursing homes where people suffer and live alone, sick. I hurt for families with parents in the hospital, young adults who struggle for every breath, people scared and lonely and hurting. I hurt for graduates without celebrations, weddings postponed, beautiful occasions passing by alone. All this is not God's heart, not the way He desires life to be. But it happened.

Yet even so, there is beauty, incredible beauty.

Quarantine brought me on long walks. I planted tiny seeds, watched them bud into sprigs of green. I gathered with the family to listen to audiobooks, groaning at cliff hangers, and trying to guess what would happen yet. I saw sunshine and rainbows and baby animals and spring flowers. I stared at stars, glimpsed the first fireflies.

But things are changing. Stores are opening. Churches having services. Friends meeting. Running shoes put on for this race to continue once again.

We'll go back to work. We'll visit again, we'll sing.

But we don't need a "new normal."

The last normal was broken. Many of us were too busy, too distracted. We lived crazy lives and forgot to savor the little moments.

I want life to change. I want history books to write that COVID altered a lot—and we stepped up and lived in a new way.

We loved more. We realized the beauty and stories of every single person. We took time to be still and know that He is God. We surrendered to Him, let Him guide our lives completely. We sang, rejoiced, went to work with a smile, and did school with joy.

Where we didn't just go to church, but we became the Church. We didn't just pray and read and memorize and give more, but we let Him be the center focus of our life where everything revolved around Jesus.

I want our generation to stand up, to realize that we were created for such a time as this, to dance and sing in Jesus' glory, and yet to fight the enemy with fierce determination because we know who we are in Jesus.

And, in all, to live in the quiet place where we know Jesus intimately, love Him completely, and see life through His eyes.

Be still and know that He is God.

But it's not just for us, for this country; it's for me.

I will seek Jesus. I will rest in Him. I will know who I am in Him, Who He is, and how that changes everything.

And I'll praise!

I'm not looking for a new normal, not wanting to keep running and living old stories. Let's write new ones. Let's live the way we've always known we should, seek the dreams He has given us, and rest.

Let's rise up as the Church.

God is writing new stories; I want to be part of them.

Practically?

That means I'm getting on my knees. I'm setting apart time. I'm worshiping and remembering who I am and Who He is.

And it's beautiful.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts... humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

- James 4:8, 10

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

- Psalm 51:10-11

 

 ~♥~

Purpose in Today + Freebies!

I'm sitting here where the creek dances under a rock, and I'm above it, above all of it.

Paper growing wet on this old log, fallen. Little holes in its flesh; I wonder. I wonder if termites make their hiding places here in secret crags. I wonder if woodpeckers used to sink their beaks deep into the bark that's now rotted away. Did the tree know it would fall, where water plays under this rock? Where puddles sleep, I see a worm drowning, and I save it. Us girls gather round for picnics, throwing peanut shells and watching them float away.

Old times, new times, ones I can't see yet. All beautiful and caked with stories and sunshine.

There are old lessons to relearn and remember, new ones to dig up like treasure. And ones in the future I can only dream of.

Today I'm going back, wondering what life is. What it means.

Because we talk so much about what Jesus did, and we grow calloused to it. We talk about His death. It's beautiful. It's amazing.

While we were sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies, He chose us.

What story has the hero die for the villain? What type of purpose, meaning, love would that be?

We're all Adam. We've sinned, we've struggled, we used to be enemies. We fought Him, mocked Him as if we were the soldiers that nailed Him to that cross.

He loved anyway.

He died anyway.

But it doesn't stop there. We aren't just saved, reconciled, justified. We're righteous.

God looks at us and sees Jesus.

For if, while we were his enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more surely, having been reconciled, will we experience further salvation through his life?... we also exalt the acts of God.

- Romans 5:10-11

His death brought us life, and now we reign in that life through Him (Romans 5:17)!

I love that word: reign. It means reigning as a King, exercising that dominion, authority.

With Jesus, you're not just you. He. is. in. you. Everything changes.

So I think of the forests, the water that hides under the rock, the tree fallen so many years ago and now only a rotting stump, and it is beautiful. Jesus died, and that changes my forever. He lives, and I live in Him.

Every moment has a purpose. And we rejoice!

A reminder for me, for you, for today. No matter what you've done, in Christ, you are righteous, pure, spotless. And He wants to live in you, to take over your ordinary life and make it epic.

Surrender. Rest. Abide. Shalom.

And if you need truth reminders, I have freebies from me to you, including bookmarks, posters, and quotes! I've enjoyed designing them and digging through Romans 5, and I hope you can print them out, save them on your device, or dig into Romans yourself to remember who you are and Who He is.

Click Here!

You have a purpose, dear friend.

*hugs*

If, as a result of the one man's offence, death began to hold sway because of that one man, how much more surely will those who now experience this - God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of salvation - come to hold authority in life because of the one man, Jesus the Messiah?

- Romans 5:17

~♥~