Hi friends and faithful readers.
I promised myself and you all when I started this blog that I would not write a post that I didn’t feel inspired to write. When I’ve found time to write lately I have found myself trending towards the book I feel compelled to write. Unless things start to move differently I’ll likely post less often on this site in this season as I try to figure out what this thing is about. I do want to keep this blog going though so I hope thoughts will come to mind here and there that I can share with you all. I just probably won’t be terribly consistent.
That said, I’ll leave you with a few brief thoughts.
A friend of mine posted a verse from a poem by a Persian poet yesterday. It says this:
“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?” -Rumi
The longer I live this side of heaven I think this is the question of our lives. It is Christ’s question to us in the New Testament: What is it that you want?
It is the king’s question to Nehemiah when he looks downcast on account of his people and homeland.
And its the question I have for you if only because I find it does not disappoint. This is probably because the Jesus who asks it of me never lets me get away with the easy answer. He’ll sit there quietly until I’m finally honest with him about what’s weighing me down. When I finally get to that crystal clear aspect of what I’m wanting its as if I can feel him smiling and saying “OK, sounds good.” By this time in a very one sided conversation, we are usually of one accord.
Jesus is remarkably quiet. That’s probably because, like children, we’re all making plenty of noise in his presence. But silence doesn’t have to mean disengagement. Silence can just be a waiting period that allows time to catch up to the wonder of a thing. My prayer for us all is that we would use whatever waiting or silence we might find ourselves in for our betterment. Sitting before God and telling him, honestly, what we want. Meditating on the whole of the scriptures and asking God to align our hearts with His. Confessing where we know we fall short and asking for help when we don’t understand.
I’m trying to write more here today but sense its just not coming. So I’ll leave this short and sweet and share a line from Oswald’s Chambers:
“Yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.”
If Paul can write as he did in Philippians (the book of Joy) that he knows the secret to being content in any number of situations – poverty, wealth, well fed or hungry – then I believe its possible for us too. May we be like Paul and learn what it means to do all things through Christ who gives us strength.
Lord, we need the power only you can give. Give us new eyes to see you and show us that you are the abundant life we crave. Amen.
Courtney Beck Writes 