We often pray because we desperately want something to change. We pray the suffocating marriage in which each person feels desperately alone will change. We pray the diagnosis, the weather, our awful bosses, or our finances will change.
We know prayer changes things, so we pray and we pray. We just don’t know when, why, or how the change will take place.
Unmet expectations, failed dreams, and loss of life and security are not new events. They are built into the human experience, and we can continue to live full, peace filled lives if we accept the reality of the now, embrace the mystery of why, and move forward each day.
I watched Endgame this evening, and I cried with a room full of strangers.
Isn’t that beautiful? We sat in the dark next to our friends or families but also with people we have never seen before and may never see again, and we felt it ALL together. We wept, some of us loudly and openly, and some stifled back the tears with tight throats and hot eyelids… and some *cough *cough my husband *cough *cough laughed at the absurdity of the rest of us joined in grief at the loss of a fictional life.
Belonging doesn’t occur when we are better, smarter, or prettier. It begins when we accept our areas of weakness as our strengths.
You guys are probably like, “Great, here she is again to talk about how reality and expectations haven’t lined up, how she is worn out, or something like that.”
Nope. Curveball. I’m breaking punctuation rules this time to share a WIN.
That’s right, even the disillusioned planter has a win from time to time. What do you think keeps me in it? It’s not my sheer willpower and awesomeness (sorry to disappoint if you thought it was).
God understands our doubts, and he loves us enough to show us who he is again and again.
God is not concerned with whether or not we have the right lineage or education. He wants us all to experience the truth of who he is.
Father, I want to produce good fruit in my life, fruit which pleases you. Help me to cultivate my connection to Jesus every day. Help me to love my fellow believers and all whom I contact according to the standards of the Bible. I understand you have chosen me, and I submit to your pruning. In the Name of Jesus, the True Vine, Amen.
If I, and each Christian, believed the truth of God’s love and focused on following his command, the world WOULD know we are his followers by our love.
Jesus spent his time on earth revealing the truth of God’s love and grace for us. He didn’t say to stop following the rules. He shined a light on the rules so man could see the heart behind them. He came to show us that God desires obedience in love and relationship. We move from darkness to light when we put our trust in God rather than our ability to follow rules.