Will You Jump in the Puddle?

The pouring rain has turned the ground into a muddy mess. Puddles are forming as the ground cannot absorb any more water.

From the safety of chapel, I watch out the window. Ladies get out of their cars, grab their studd, and carefully make their way through the muddy parking lot to get inside.

They're looking down . . . taking careful steps . . . avoiding the puddles . . . stepping only the spots that look the like the firmest path to take.

Even as the rain stop, the parking lot remains wet and full of puddles.

It's the beginning of a weekend retreat for all who are here. A weekend away to laugh and have fun. A weekend away to hear from God - to allow Him to speak to us.

As the evening winds down and conversation in my room begins as get ready for some sleep, I hear God ask me a question: "Will you jump in the puddle?"

I'm taken back to the scene I watched earlier in the evening as the ladies arrived - how I watched them step carefully to avoid the puddles.

Stepping in the puddles is messy, dirty, and often unpleasant. As kids we go puddle jumping and find joy in it, but as we grow up we start doing all we can to avoid stepping in the puddles and we definitely don't jump in them intentionally.

I drift off to sleep. The question still on my mind. And I'm not yet sure what it means.

"Will you jump in the puddle?"

The question is still there in the morning. I'm still not sure what God means by it yet.

"Will you jump in the puddle?"

We avoid jumping in puddles because it's messy, dirty, and unpleasant. And we avoid talking to God about certain things in our lives or going to certain places in our lives because it's messy, dirty, and unpleasant. We don't like jumping in puddles physically and we don't like doing it spiritually either.

"Will you jump in the puddle?"

God's invitation comes again.

Am I willing to go with Him into one of those areas I would usually avoid? Am I willing to get messy and dirty and deal with what is unpleasant with Him?

Will I jump in the puddle with Him? Because He's not asking me to go there alone. He will be in  it with me.

Will I jump in the puddle and look at what is there that I've been avoiding? And in the process discover it's a puddle because God has poured His grace and love in such abundance on that area. Discover that I can deal with that part ofmy life because God's grace and love for me is more than enough.

"Will you jump in the puddle?"

The question keeps coming until I answer it.

I believe this is a question God asks all of us at different times in our lives. He asks us to trust Him and step into the mess where it's dirty and unpleasant. He asks us to step into this so He can do His work - so He can clean up the mess.

"Will you jump in the puddle?"

The next time the rain pours, the area that became a puddle last time becomes a firm place to stand. A firm place to launch our jump into the next puddle. Because we've allowed God to do His work there and we know He is full of grace and love to handle the biggest, messiest puddles in our lives.

"Will you jump in the puddle?"

Maybe that's the question, God is asking you right now. Maybe He's asking you to take that next step and allow Him into those broken and messy areas of your life, so He can transform them.

"Will you jump in the puddle?"

Five Minute Friday: Turn

Joining in with the group over at Five Minute Friday this week. This week's prompt is "turn."

When do I get a turn? Why do I have to wait for my turn? Do we always have to wait for our turn?

We don't wait well for our turn. We get impatient when we're waiting. It doesn't come naturally to us to wait for our turn. 

Yet we often find ourselves having to wait until it is our turn for things. We're standing in line waiting for our turn. Or maybe we've heard something from God about what is coming in our future, but we still have to wait for our turn for it to happen, because someone else is in that role right now.

Maybe we often need to wait our turn because God has something He wants to teach us in the waiting. Instead of getting impatient while we wait for our turn, maybe we need to learn to look for what God is teaching while we wait.

It's All by Grace

Am I good enough? What do I need to do to be good enough for God to love me? How can I earn God's love?

God has been continuing to take me back to the basics of what being a follower of His is all about. And this weekend was no exception. I was at a retreat with a group of ladies from my church. Our theme for the weekend was Delighting in God's grace.

When you get right down to it, following God is all about His grace. His love for us is all about the grace He has shown to us. There is nothing we can do to be good enough for Him to love us - He just loves us.

"See what great love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1)

The love that God lavishes on us, is a gift from Him. We can't do anything to earn it. And we can't do anything to make Him stop loving us.

The Old Testament outlines God's Law that the Israelites were to live by. The rules and sacrifices that were a required part of life as one of God's people.

When Jesus came, He fulfilled the Law completely - He was the perfect sacrifice for sin. And that perfect sacrifice for our sin is offered to us by God as a gift. There's nothing we can do to earn it. We just need to accept the gift that comes by grace.

But, that is more difficult than it sounds. Our human nature likes the rules and things we have to do to earn God's love and grace. We make rules and requirements of what we should do and what we should avoid. 

In the process of that, we forget about God's grace. We miss His grace. And we struggle with feeling good enough for God to love us. Except that we don't have to try to be good enough to be loved. God doesn't ask us to be good enough - He just asks us to accept His gift of grace.