A Picture Story

The other day my son was mad at me. It was time for him to go to bed but he didn't want to, he wanted to play. He was so upset that he ripped pieces of a picture that I made for him. A picture that said " Love you all the way up to heaven" which is what we often tell eachother at night time. He made little tears at each corner because he was hurt that I wouldn't let him stay up later. Not but a few minutes later after he calmed down and realized I wouldn't give in to his tantrum he asked me for tape. He wanted to fix the rips on the picture. He felt bad, though he didn't say it I knew that he was sad by how frantic he was to fix something that had been made for him out of love.

How we are all like this picture and like my son. We take something or someone beautiful and mess it up with our actions. We say hurtful things, we turn away from those who need us, and we live through our own agendas causing pain or sadness for others. Our lives that once were beautiful pictures have become scarred and torn. We then come to our senses and want to find the "tape" to patch up the hurt. As we try to fix the wounds the picture looks similar but not quite the same. Like a scar you get from when you were a child from falling down, it fades over time but never comepletly goes away.

In these moments I'm in awe of God because He can make the impossible possible. For He can see what we can't. He can do what we can't. We see the scar but He looks to the heart. There are my own pictures that I have screwed up; people I have let down and no matter how much I long for their approval of love and forgiveness I may never get it from them. But I can get it from Jesus, He gives us grace to take off the old and put on the new. I think my son learned a lesson to value people and the gift of love; and I am reminded of the same lesson as an adult. We can't completely mend whats been torn when it comes to matters of the heart but God can and He will if we give it to Him and believe.

I hope we keep this picture for a long time, it already has a water stain on it and now little rips on each corner but the love is still there. Just like us tattered and bruised but there is still love there because we were made out of love and God is love.

In the waiting room

Waiting to meet the right person, waiting for the right moment to call an old friend, waiting to be forgiven, waiting for tomorrow, why do we spend so much time in the waiting room?

We keep waiting for the right moment to make things happen or for God to answer our prayers. It is especially difficult when we step out in faith and obey God yet he remains silent. When we don’t see the result of our obedience it can become harder to believe and remain faithful. Instead of impatiently sitting in the waiting room I want to be actively seeking him each day in the living room. I want to think of today as a gift to know him more and seek His will. Have you ever thought of God as your protector? I have never really put that much emphasis in acknowledging that He is all the protection I need; I have placed that responsibility on people that ultimately are capable of letting me down no matter how much they may love me. Have you ever thought of God as your Redeemer? Only he can take off the old and put on the new. Have you ever thought of God has your friend? He is with us, He is for us. He has plans to proper us.

I get so caught up in the waiting room of life watching the clock, counting down the minutes. In those moments of focusing so much on waiting I miss all that is passing me by. I miss a moment to speak the truth to someone that is lost, I miss the sweet joy of solitude and a chance to pray with thanksgiving, I miss the chance to smile at a stranger, I miss the chance to learn more about my heavenly father. Perhaps we are in the waiting room for so long because he is waiting on us to depend on Him alone. Depend on Him through the silence, depend on him through the noise, depend on Him in the darkness, depend on Him in the light.

When we are walking in obedience there is a reason that sometimes we have to wait “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31