I spent the weekend away at a retreat with a group of ladies from my church. I've grown to love these weekends and I make them a priority when they come up. There's just something about getting away from everyday life that is necessary sometimes. A chance to get away to laugh and learn and encourage each other without interruptions.
On Saturday afternoon a group of us went for a walk along the lake. Up in the mountains in the midst of God's amazing creation. We talked and laughed as we walked. So much beauty surrounding us.
Great conversation as we walked. Getting to know one another more. Sharing parts of our stories with each other. Sharing what God has done in us.
Driving to and from the retreat was more great conversation in the midst of God's beautiful creation. Share stories of God in our lives, with no interruptions.
On Sunday night, my weekend wrapped up by going to a baptism service at my church. More stories of people's journeys with God. More sharing hos God has worked.
Those stories Sunday night represented just a small number of the many stories of 25 years of ministry where we are located as a church. A fraction of the stories of God working in people, transforming them into His image.
As I reflect on this weekend, I'm reminded of the importance of our stories. Of the importance of sharing our story with others.
We were created with a place in God's larger story. Our story fits into the larger one where we all have a place. But we might miss how we fit if we never share our stories.
There is a reason why we want to go to things where we can hear the stories of God at work in the lives of other people. We were created to share our stories with each other.
Sometimes when we share our story with others or we listen to someone share their story with us, something makes sense for the first time. Something that hasn't made sense before suddenly comes clear. We can see why something happened or how God used it.
We sometimes forget the power of sharing our stories. But, when we are reminded of it, we need to start to share our stories again.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Pursue a Dream
As I thought about what to post for this day, I found that I was going back and reading some things I had posted since I started this blog. Sometimes when things to write about don't seem to be coming, I find that old posts inspire me. What I found this time, is that one of the posts was the one I wanted to share today.
I originally posted this on November 19, 2011. It's about pursuing our dreams and the excuses we make for not doing so. But, the reality that we can make all the excuses we want, but we have to choose to pursue our dreams even though everything doesn't seem to be right for doing so.
So here's the post I wrote then. May it encourage and challenge you in pursuing your own dreams.
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A couple of days ago, I read a quote that challenged me and made me think. It talked about putting dreams on hold when we have things to work on in our lives.
"One of the lessons I have learned in six and a half decades of life is that very few dreams should go on hold while you improve the shortcomings of your life. ... To be sure, there are times when you need to stop what you are doing and focus on conquering a flaw. But of you wait till all your shortcomings are remedied, you dreams will die. All our advances are with a limp.
If you wait till you are beyond criticism to pursue your dream, you will never do it. You won't marry or stay married. You won't decide to have children or raise them. You won't take your first job or keep it. You won't go into missions or stay there. ... Few things paralyze people more than their own imperfections. And there are always people around to remind you of your flaws and suggest you can't move forward until you're better." (John Piper, Bloodlines)
When I read that, it seemed like all my excuses for not pursuing my dreams were shot down in a couple of paragraphs. How often do we do exactly that? We have a list of things in our lives that we feel we have to fix before we can even begin to think about pursuing our dreams.
And the reality is that when we think that way, we often don't ever get around to pursuing our dreams. We just continue to have more things we need to work on. Or the time it takes us to feel like we have actually fixed anything is just long enough that we lose enough of the excitement for our dream that we don't follow through on pursuing it.
The sentence from the quote that seemed to jump off the page at me was: "All our advances are with a limp." There is incredible truth in that statement. We don't move forward in life perfectly. As we pursue our dreams, we will make mistakes and we discover things about ourselves that we need to change or "fix." We do move forward with a limp. The important thing is that we do move forward.
What are your dreams? Are you pursuing them? Why are you not pursuing them? What would it take for you to begin to pursue them?
I originally posted this on November 19, 2011. It's about pursuing our dreams and the excuses we make for not doing so. But, the reality that we can make all the excuses we want, but we have to choose to pursue our dreams even though everything doesn't seem to be right for doing so.
So here's the post I wrote then. May it encourage and challenge you in pursuing your own dreams.
---------------
A couple of days ago, I read a quote that challenged me and made me think. It talked about putting dreams on hold when we have things to work on in our lives.
"One of the lessons I have learned in six and a half decades of life is that very few dreams should go on hold while you improve the shortcomings of your life. ... To be sure, there are times when you need to stop what you are doing and focus on conquering a flaw. But of you wait till all your shortcomings are remedied, you dreams will die. All our advances are with a limp.
If you wait till you are beyond criticism to pursue your dream, you will never do it. You won't marry or stay married. You won't decide to have children or raise them. You won't take your first job or keep it. You won't go into missions or stay there. ... Few things paralyze people more than their own imperfections. And there are always people around to remind you of your flaws and suggest you can't move forward until you're better." (John Piper, Bloodlines)
When I read that, it seemed like all my excuses for not pursuing my dreams were shot down in a couple of paragraphs. How often do we do exactly that? We have a list of things in our lives that we feel we have to fix before we can even begin to think about pursuing our dreams.
And the reality is that when we think that way, we often don't ever get around to pursuing our dreams. We just continue to have more things we need to work on. Or the time it takes us to feel like we have actually fixed anything is just long enough that we lose enough of the excitement for our dream that we don't follow through on pursuing it.
The sentence from the quote that seemed to jump off the page at me was: "All our advances are with a limp." There is incredible truth in that statement. We don't move forward in life perfectly. As we pursue our dreams, we will make mistakes and we discover things about ourselves that we need to change or "fix." We do move forward with a limp. The important thing is that we do move forward.
What are your dreams? Are you pursuing them? Why are you not pursuing them? What would it take for you to begin to pursue them?
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Freedom? A Prison Cell? Or Both?
"Living free but from a prison cell"
(All You've Ever Wanted, Casting Crowns)
I haven't been able to get that line out my mind since the first time I heard the song.
"Living free but from a prison cell"
I think it's far more true than we would care to admit, even though, at first listen, it may not seem to make sense. But, if we think about it for a while, we can't help but see the reality of it.
God sets us free from the things that used to imprison us. He breaks the chains that held us down and opens the door of our prison. But, instead of getting up and walking out the open door, we stay in our prison cell. We're free, but we' staying in the prison cell.
It sounds ridiculous, but it's what we often do. And I can't help but wonder what God thinks when He watches us do this.
He loves us enough to pay the ultimate price for our freedom. I wonder if He looks at us with compassion, longing for us to walk out the open door. Longing for us to really live in the freedom He has brought in our lives.
Where has God brought freedom in your life?
Where has God opened the prison door for you?
How you walked through the open door to really live in the freedom God has brought? Or are you trying to live out the freedom within the confines of the prison cell, completely missing the open door?
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