SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY

Month: June 2020

  • Real Freedom

    What would you give to be rich?  What would you do to have it all?  How much would you sacrifice to have the biggest house, the nicest cars, the finest clothes?  What would it mean to you to not have to think about how much money you had, just spend whatever?  If I could just have…if I could just get…if I can just achieve…if I could…if I… What would you do for it all?

    Would you be willing to give up your integrity?  Would you be willing to work so much that you never really did anything but work?  Would you be willing to give up your family?  What cost seems appropriate?  You may be thinking you can’t put a price tag on happiness, but there sure are a lot of people trying.  What would you give?  People put value on things all the time – maybe not blatantly or outright.  But how much something or someone is valued becomes obvious over time.  What is it all worth?  So what if you become the richest, greatest, most achieved…what if?

    We seem to have it upside down too often in our culture.  It seems to be that we value things we can buy and prizes we get to accumulate.  We put a high price tag on wealth and worth.  We treasure fame and reward too often.  Yet, those things are fleeting.  We work so hard to achieve that we are left drained.  We could end up sacrificing what means the most to us in order to achieve things which end up meaning nothing.  We give up our families so we can make more money.  We give up our time so we can achieve more.  And we are rewarded for this.

    I had someone tell me the other day that they were the most accessible person ever.  He carried two phones with him at all times and never ever wasn’t available.  He thought this was a selling point.  I actually found it pretty sad and quite disturbing.  I don’t know him so I don’t know if he has a family.  But if so, they always take second place.  It also says he doesn’t value himself enough to provide self-care.  Frankly, it made me even more determined to not do that.

    So what do we value?  What is important to us?  What really means something to us?  We may think it is one thing but realize it is quite something different.  Our actions…our everyday decisions really tell the story.  What we decide to do reflects our values.  How we live each day says more about us than anything we could speak. And too often, we might be giving others a message we had not even considered.  We may show others we value our own opinion rather than listening to the voices of others.  We may show we value ourselves so much that we are not willing to learn from others.  We may show we value money more than people.  We may show we value winning over growing.  We may show that the only thing that really matters is…me, myself and I.  If it isn’t one of those three, it doesn’t matter.  What does your life say about you?

    I am drawn to today’s passage for that reason.  This is not to be critical…but to encourage us all to take a look at what is being taught to see how we are living.  This is an opportunity to stop and evaluate how we are living our lives and what it is we value.  And we just might be surprised at what we find if we are truly honest and we take a real look.

    Mark 8:34-37

    34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 

    What are you willing to give up to follow Christ?  He has some pretty serious lessons for us if we choose to follow.  He calls us to learn to love…loving God and loving others.  He calls us to learn to sit at the table with those that make us feel uncomfortable.  He demonstrates for us what it means to give up the us versus them mentality.  He opens the minds of the religious and offers freedom in following him.  That’s right…freedom.

    How can we be free if we are following?  What does freedom really mean?  Does it mean getting what we want when we want it how we want it regardless of others?  How about we redefine freedom.  What if freedom is…free of the heavy load that we try to carry.  We are free of the constant thriving for attainment.  We are free from the load of trying to be like someone else.  We are free from needing things to impress people.  We are free from worry that we are not good enough.  We are free from the judgment of others (not because they don’t cast it but because it doesn’t matter – we are his beloved regardless of someone else’s view).  We are free from the demands to be someone we are not.  We are free to live – really live.

    Living is a gift.  And if we can travel this life without a heavy load, even better.  Imagine if we were free to travel without the burden of things.  Imagine if we were free from worry.  Imagine if we were free from constantly having to be someone for others.  Imagine if we could simply live as we were created.  Imagine if we understood we were enough.  Life would certainly change.  That takes freedom.  To really live takes freedom from the daily anxieties that damage us.  That does not mean we do not work.  It doesn’t mean we don’t try to achieve or work to be better. It doesn’t mean we don’t pay bills.  But it does mean that life begins to take on an entirely different view.  We begin to see things differently.  We don’t have to have the latest and greatest.  We don’t have to worry about keeping up with anyone else.  We begin to value our time enough that we spend it sharing love.  We begin to understand that our time on this earth is short and is not best spent trying to get more stuff.  We begin to see that some of the greatest gifts come without the cost of money.  Life begins to take on an entirely different view when we follow Christ.  It is freeing.

    If we are following Christ – it is good to look at his example.  What does he show us?  What does he teach us?  What life does he lay out for us?  He didn’t have things, he had relationships.  He built friendships.  He fought for justice.  He gave people a new view of the world.  He developed relationships with sinners, tax collectors, diseased and forsaken.  He challenged the beliefs of those who thought they knew it all.  Most of all – he loved.  He loved God and he loved others.  He lived and it didn’t take things to do that.

    What is keeping you from living, really living?  What do we value?  Do we value time and relationships and love and opportunities to know God better?  Do we value sharing and reaching out and listening?  Do we value the gift of creation and all that has been provided for us?  Do we understand that following Christ is the greatest life ever?  May we be free.  May we learn to truly live.  May we give of it all to truly follow…and live.  And may it begin with me.

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  • Process of Creation – Devotion 63

    To create something beautiful from a clump of nothingness amazes me.  Bringing an image to life, shaping a vision, and carefully reconfiguring is such a gift we don’t often experience.  That is one of the many reasons I love pottery.  Each piece is carefully created in the hands of a visionary.  Whether it turned out exactly as it began is not the point.  Much is learned in the process of becoming.  Every color and design is an experiment.  It is the joy of bringing something to life in the very shape of your fingers.

    It doesn’t always go as planned.  Sometimes it doesn’t turn out at all.  It can easily go back to the lump of nothingness from which it began, only to be reshaped one more time.  Sometimes it is a failure.  But the potter continues to spin – maybe not today, but does continue to create.  The adventure of shaping is not lost.

    We are being shaped as well.  Today we may feel like a beautiful piece almost ready to be fired – and then it all falls apart – cracked right down the middle.  Or we could feel like a big lump of nothingness when we are really just before becoming a work of art.  We don’t always understand the process.  We aren’t always grateful for the adventure of the spin.  We would prefer an easy process that creates amazing beauty without a lot of effort.  But that just isn’t reality.  And we know it.  We know this isn’t the way it goes.  So why not embrace the joy of being shaped and molded?  Why not find the hope in knowing we have the potential to become so much more?  What if we simply yielded to the process of being formed and re-formed.  It hurts, yes.  It isn’t always beautiful, sure.  It sometimes is heartbreaking, definitely.  But there is so much more.  We are being made into something beautiful.  Our artist created the sun and the moon, trees and birds, flowers and animals – he knows beauty.  And our artist is creating something beautiful in us too.  Spin away, Lord…spin away.

    Focus Scripture:

    Jeremiah 18:1-6

    The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

    5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

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    Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery

     

  • Messages – Devotion 62

    Sometimes subtle, sometimes vivid, often undeniable – messages are always before us.  They are rapid – no real processing is required.  Today it is foggy, which means the sun is out there somewhere but not evident just yet.  A sign tells us that we need to lose this or buy this or stop here.  We are reminded of our insecurities or our best features.  Flowers can smile at us when people don’t.  Clouds can fascinate us when we have lost our own sense of adventure.  Trees tell us a story of endurance and strength.  My dog Leo reminds me I am loved even when I don’t feel (or act) so lovable.  God tells me I am his beloved even when I feel so unworthy.  Messages are all around us.

    What messages are you sending?  What messages are you receiving?  What are you living?  Yes, our messages change moment by moment and day by day.  Some days, I am sure my message is exhaustion.  Some days, elation.  What we believe about the world, about ourselves, about life and about God come through in our messages.  There is a show that Wendy and I enjoy watching.  It is a renovation show and the main person always wears a shirt that has some message about kindness.  This person is kind, at least on the show.  But for her, it is important to spread that message of kindness a little further – and I love it.  I’ve noticed our social media accounts send a message about us too.  Some speak anger and judgement.  You can feel it seething from each post.  Some accounts speak messages of hope – and are a nice reprieve from all the anger.  We may send kindness or love or positive thoughts.  What messages are we living and sending?

    Today, may we send and receive messages of love, of kindness, of hope, of peace, of forgiveness, of joy.  What a gift it might be to simply live these messages.  What will you send today?

    Focus Scripture:

    Ephesians 5:1-2

    1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

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    Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery

  • Listening – Devotion 61

    Why is it so hard to listen?  Yes, it takes focus.  Sure, it takes some effort.  But isn’t the other person worth hearing?  Even if we are not interested in what is being said, it is important to the other.  Listening is a gift we give each time we put down our phones, look up from our computers, turn off our TVs and simply listen.  It is a gift we often don’t understand until we crave for someone to hear us.

    Listening is especially difficult when what is being said is challenging.  If we are being pushed on something we believe, listening can cause us to want to react.  So often, we are trying to figure out what we will say back to the person, we haven’t actually heard what has been said.  We just want to reply.  You can see it people.  They look as though they will explode if they don’t get to say something.  Their blood pressure may rise so high it appears their heads will pop slam off.  This is not listening.  This is waiting for a moment to respond – to talk (or yell or insult or whatever).

    Listening requires each of us to truly hear, even if we may find offense to it.  One of the greatest privileges we are given is to hear someone else’s story.  When someone has offered us the opportunity to hear, we should stop everything we are doing and listen.  When a story is shared with us, we begin to see things in a different light (if we listen).  We begin to see a different opinion and a different outlook.  It may not be our outlook.  It may not be anything we have experienced.  That is the joy of listening.  It can help us to understand in some small way where someone else is coming from.

    Listening is hard work.  It can push us beyond our comfort.  It can makes us feel anxious or guilty.  But it is worth it.  We can grow when we listen.  We can be transformed.  And we might find God in the story.  Will you listen to the stories today?

    Focus Scripture:

    James 1:19-20

    19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.

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    Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery

  • He Knows – Devotion 60

    The flowers seem to have exploded with color and blooms over the last few days.  Vegetables have grown substantially in such a relatively short period of time.  It seems as if someone has covered our area with sprinkles of just the right nutrients to create beauty and food.  It still takes me by surprise.

    This morning, I sit on my patio and the flowers have never looked so vibrant.  They are shining bright and bringing such joy as never before.  The eggplant that were so small are now ready to pick.  The cucumbers that looked as though they would be ready in a week are more than ready now.  It is the morning following several days of healing, soaking rain.

    Several days of rain can be difficult on us because it limits what we can do outside.  It can seem gloomy to us.  When it rains consecutive days, we want a reprieve.  This morning, though, I notice that this rain was necessary.  I water these flowers daily.  The garden is watered regularly.  They are given extra nutrients.  But there is something about the rain.  I know there is a scientific reason that rain has so much more to offer to the earth.  I am just amazed that the water we have flowing here is not even close to as powerful as rain.  For me, it is as if God knows exactly what his creation needs.  He understands what is needed for growth and flourishing.  And if he can take care of the garden, why do I struggle to understand he can take care of me?  Why is it hard for me to believe he knows exactly what I need as well?

    Today, maybe we take a deep breath and allow God to take care of us.  Maybe we begin to understand in some small way that we are his creation just like the vegetables and flowers.  When we allow God to take care of us, we begin to flourish and shine our brightest.  It may be hard to take in. But maybe it is time to give it a shot.  He just might have exactly what we need today.

    Focus Scripture:

    Psalm 8

    1 O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

    You have set your glory above the heavens.
    2     Out of the mouths of babes and infants
    you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.

    3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
    4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

    5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
    6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,
    7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
    8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

    9 O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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    Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery

  • Small Steps, Big Days – Devotion 59

    Big days often are the culmination of many little steps.  A multitude of seemingly tiny moments compound to reach this milestone of achievement.  It seems to be the journey of a million miles that came together in the blink of an eye.  When you turn around, it’s here.  The long awaited is actually here.  It doesn’t come without the effort.  How exciting it is when the effort becomes reality!

    Today is my youngest daughter’s high school graduation.  I admit it has been a long year already and this is a day I wasn’t sure would even happen due to the virus, at least not physically.  But as I think back, this all began with her first small steps in Kindergarten.  There have been ups and downs, highs and lows, joys and disappointments.  So much has filled the past 13 years.  We have awaited this day but I am overwhelmed it is actually here.  She’ll now start the next chapter and work towards a college graduation.  There will be another journey of a thousand small steps.

    Life gives us so many celebrations.  We celebrate graduations and weddings.  We celebrate anniversaries and birthdays.  There is Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  We celebrate.  And most often, if we take just a moment to consider it, we are blown away by the many steps it took to get to this celebration.  We didn’t get to this point without effort.  There is much joy because of all it took to reach the milestone.

    Today, you may find yourself just beginning the next journey and the steps look overwhelming.  You may be wondering how you will ever reach your next destination.  It can seem so very far off.  Or you may be in the middle of the journey wondering if you can do it.  It can feel overwhelming and your body can feel so heavy as you travel.  Just remember every step counts.  Every single step teaches us lessons.  Each step is an accomplishment, helping us to reach the ultimate goal.  This step is important, so keep moving.

    Celebrate the journey.  Celebrate the milestones.  Enjoy the steps, they all count.

    Focus Scripture:

    Psalm 37:23-24

    23 Our steps are made firm by the Lord,
    when he delights in our way;
    24 though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong,
    for the Lord holds us by the hand.

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    Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery

  • What We Let In – Devotion 58

    Is the door open to just anything?  Do we allow just a free flow?  Is it okay to have doors wide open?  In some cases, this is a yes.  But when we are talking about our minds and bodies, the answer changes.

    We know that what we eat has an effect on our entire bodies.  The food we take in can help us or hurt us.  When we fill our bodies with unhealthy, heavy foods, we feel it.  It takes its toll on us.  When we fuel our bodies with good, clean foods, that makes a difference as well.  What we put in really does matter.  It is amazing how our bodies respond to the foods we take in.

    Our minds work the same way.  What we allow into our minds changes how we feel.  If I spend all day watching the news, I will feel more tense and angry.  If I focus on social media for several hours, I feel beat and upset.  If I allow negative thoughts about myself to creep in, I begin to believe them.  I am harming myself, one thought at a time.  I begin to hear that things will never get better.  I begin to ingest that I am a failure and I should just quit.  I hear voices of judgment and anger fill my being.  I allow destructive thoughts to take over my day.  And before I know it, I am defeated…one thought at a time.

    What we allow in really makes all the difference.  What if we filter what we allow through the lens of our Creator?  How might things change if we see who God says we are?  How might God’s love change how we view the world and ourselves?  What if I eat so that I fuel my body with the things of this earth that God has given to heal me?  If I hear who God says I am, might that slow some of the harmful words spoken?  Maybe I spend more time reading God’s truth than the hype of the day.  Or maybe I spend some time in God’s good creation being reminded that this is not the end, it is just the beginning.

    Today is the day to begin to filter what we allow into our minds and bodies.  God created us for so much more.  Let’s live the abundant life.

    Focus Scripture:

    Matthew 6:22-23

    22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

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    Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery

  • The Voice – Devotion 57

    Lost in the madness is the voice.  I get off track and just need to hear.  I lose my place and forget the comfort.  I go forward into the unknown and wish it was bouncing off of the trees.  I crave to hear it.  I pause to take it in.  Surely it is there and I am just focused on something else.  I hear it ever so faintly when my heart is broken and my spirit feels so weak.  I know I am not alone, but I just want to hear, to hear the voice.

    We grow up recognizing voices.  Babies distinguish the voice of their caretakers.  Children can detect a voice of a family member from across a store.  A voice can bring comfort when we are scared or lost.  A voice can be reassuring when we don’t know what to do next.  When we lose loved ones, we have a deep desire to hear their voices one more time.  There is just something about hearing them speak.  We can hear kindness and love in others.  We can feel compassion in words spoken.  Words of redirection and discipline are easily detected in voices.  Even disappointment can be identified when others speak.  It is amazing the emotions that are evoked at the sound of a voice.

    There is one voice that speaks peace and love.  There is a voice that is a guide and reprieve.  There is a voice that helps us to understand that no matter where we may be, we are never alone.  This is the voice of God.  Unlike the voices of our loved ones, this voice is most inaudible by our ears.  This voice is heard through our heart.  This voice lights up our entire selves and resounds in the walls of our lives.  Because it is not audible like others, it is easy to miss.  It takes effort to really hear.  But if we are honest, it takes effort to really listen to any voice.  If we will listen, though, we will be changed.

    Do you hear it?  Do you hear him speaking to you?  Do you feel his presence in the middle of your grief?  Do you know the warm comfort of his words?  Are you wrapped in the voice of love?  If not, I invite you to hear.  He is speaking to us.  And it is good.

    Focus Scripture:

    John 10:1-5

     “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

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    Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery

     

  • Love Without Agenda

    There are a lot of things I still don’t completely understand about the Bible.  No matter how long I study or how deeply I read, there will always be things that are part of the unknown.  They are mysteries and I am okay with that.  It doesn’t mean I stop searching and digging.  Some mysteries are revealed just as we need them.  Some are meant to be understood in just small fragments, for that is enough.  But there is one overriding, obvious teaching that is not a mystery.  There is one concept that is taught and re-taught and taught in new and different ways.  It is new and old.  It can be easy and it can be challenging.  It is done and it is forgotten.  I personally don’t think we can talk enough about it.  One reason for that belief is that the Bible speaks so much about it.  It fills the pages and is the background of so many of the teachings.  It is not a mystery, even if we treat it like it is.

    1 John 2:7-17

    7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister,  is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves a brother or sister  lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.

    12 I am writing to you, little children,
    because your sins are forgiven on account of his name.
    13 I am writing to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
    I am writing to you, young people,
    because you have conquered the evil one.
    14 I write to you, children,
    because you know the Father.
    I write to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
    I write to you, young people,
    because you are strong
    and the word of God abides in you,
    and you have overcome the evil one.

    15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16 for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.

     

    Yes, you have heard this before.  Yes, you may already know you are to love God and love others.  Yes, it is written over and over in the Old Testament and the New.  Yes, Jesus said it was the hinge for it all.  Yes, I know we say we understand it.  But 1 John is pretty direct about it.  And it should cause us to do a little more exploration of ourselves.  It should give us pause to consider our love.  There is a lot of talk about love.  But this gives us clear direction that there should be action as well.  And maybe you have this without a problem.  I would challenge you to continue to find new ways to love.  You may even want to evaluate your motives and your heart.  We could all use a check-up from time to time.  Maybe this will be ours.

    1 John teaches us that to love is to live in the light.  By loving, we have a clearer path and a clearer direction.  Love lights the way.  It is, by the way, the love of Christ that makes the difference.  It isn’t a simple, cheesy type of love.  This is an intense, deep love that causes us to give of ourselves even when it is uncomfortable.  This is a love that is not always easy.  This is a love that reaches beyond borders and knows no color.  This love pushes us to love those we would not ordinarily consider loving.  This love makes us reach beyond political boundaries and finds new ways to create relationships.  This love calls us to bust down the walls we have built and cross artificial lines we have made.  This love is life changing.  This love does not have room for hate.

    But that really is the kicker, isn’t it?  1 John teaches that when we have hate for another brother or sister…another believer…another of God’s children, we live in darkness.  The darkness brings on blindness and we don’t know which way to go because we do not have the light.  This doesn’t leave us a lot of wiggle room, does it?  This doesn’t give us any reason to hate others because of the color of their skin, where they were born, whether they are citizens or not, whether they worship like us, or whether they believe everything just like we do.  It doesn’t really give us a reason to hate at all.  If anything, it gives us more reasons to love.  We know that love conquers the darkness.  We know love can change the heart of a person.  We know that love enables us to shine bright in difficult situations.

    We get this incredible love by first loving God.  This is not your ‘love at first sight’ kind of love.  This is a powerful love given to us from the author of love.  This is one of a kind that takes away our excuses and gives us a heart to search to love others.  We don’t get to be picky and selective about who we love.  Jesus didn’t come to give us new life so we could be filled with hate.  There is no room for that.  This love isn’t the mushy kind of love either.  This is the type of love that causes us to get involved, become uncomfortable, reach outside of ourselves, and love like Jesus.

    The unfortunate part is that too many of us have decided who we will love based on a set of criteria we have created for ourselves.  We have built this internal list and given ourselves reasons to not love someone else. When it is hard or we don’t agree with someone, we just use one of our excuses so we can give ourselves an out from loving that person.  Surely God wouldn’t want us to love her – doesn’t he know what she has done.  I can’t believe God would cause me to love him – doesn’t he know the life he lives.  God would be okay if I didn’t love that person, he doesn’t believe everything just like I do.  God will give me a pass on loving this one because they don’t speak my language.  We build our list more and more until we are comfortable with whom it is we love.  We end up surrounding ourselves with people like us that believe like us, vote like us, look like us and worship like us.  And we might find we love most of them.  But that completely takes away the point of the entire teaching.  I would even say we have created blinders and we might just find we are really living in darkness.

    We don’t love based on what someone else has or who their parents are.  We don’t love based on agreeing with them or looking like them.  The light is in us so that we can share that light.  Love conquers the darkness but only if we live in the light.

    If you think you have all of this down without a problem, I would challenge you to take a long hard look.  I would push you to begin to seek who it is you love and why.  We may want to spend some time allowing God to show us those that we are not loving.  Too often, we have built our criteria list without even realizing it.  It just happens.  Our list may be long and exclusive.  Tear it up and start reaching out.  May we let the light begin to shine bright.  It is strong and it is powerful…it is, after all, the love of God that provides that light.

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  • An Ending or A Beginning? Devotion 56

    It all falls apart.  It seems to be the end.  We didn’t want it to be like this.  This isn’t what we prayed for nor what we wanted it to look like.  We wanted a different conclusion to the story.  We wanted, we longed for, we prayed for something else.  And it didn’t happen.  It just didn’t happen.  We grieve.  We grieve what we have lost.  We grieve the life that will never be.  We grieve the experiences we didn’t create.  We grieve what could have been but didn’t.  It just seems to be the end.

    What if it is a new beginning rather than the end?  I’m not suggesting we forget what we lost.  I’m not, for a moment, recommending we put the past aside.  That is important.  Those are lessons and relationships and treasures.  It may not be the ending we would have chosen.  But we move into the new beginning with the memories.  We move into the new beginning with the lessons.  We take the treasures with us as we move forward.  What if our world is not ending but simply a new beginning.

    I often hear people say they would go back in time if they could go back with the knowledge they have now. What if we are given a chance to move forward into a new beginning with the knowledge we have now.  What if we are actually given new beginnings that help us to create new memories and have new experiences, with our past as guides.  Maybe this is the opportunity we have been waiting for, to start again, to go forward with the experiences we have been given.  This may be a whole new beginning.

    What will you do with the knowledge you have gained?  How do you move forward with the experiences that have helped shape you?  What could you do differently as you seek all this new beginning offers?  It is incredible to think of all this life still has to offer when we simply want to give up.  There are so many new adventures yet to be explored.  There are new lessons to learn.  There are new friendships and experiences we cannot even begin to imagine.  And we get the opportunity to take those, with the wealth of knowledge we have gained through the years.  This may not be the end at all…it may just be the beginning we have always dreamed.  How will you move forward into the future, beginning today?  I can’t wait to see what is ahead!

    Focus Scripture:

    2 Corinthians 5:17

    So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

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    Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery