Sunshine.

I feel like that is a good way to begin this blog. 

You only begin to realize how much of a blessing the sun is when it is stolen by floods for  a time. The last few days however, have offered much solace in storm clouds and rain. As one of my students said yesterday, “it rained so hard that it seemed like the angels were crying.” I have to give credit where credit is due; it was so amazing that a child of 10 could capture the purity of words in a way that I seldom do.  Lord, thank you for her.  The words seemed to exhale expression into a week that was overshadowed by much sorrow and complexity of emotion. 

Is it me, or does it seem that there is a collective struggle going on these days? You cannot put your finger on it exactly, but you know that something is terribly wrong with the system…and that it is only getting worse.

I wake up.

Often, I wonder that if I could just get to work a little bit earlier, then that would afford me the time I need to begin the day properly, and rather than coast along, I could live my life with intention. But early never seems to be enough…..Dark o’clock becomes Dark-thirty which is slowly growing into something more mundane and I find myself waking up to work and follow a system that brings nothing but struggle.  Where is the joy that used to exist in just being?  Life it seems, is a constant struggle between doing and being…”performance scores must be high or they don’t count” are the words that we hear…but the words don’t match up with the message in our hearts. 

Jesus said human effort accomplishes nothing…so my struggle (our struggle) is how do we operate in between two worlds?  How do we live lives swimming against the stream that is constantly focusing on performance while Jesus is whispering, “you are my beloved”?  I carve out time for Him, yet it is time that is constantly threatened. How do I live life as a radical follower of the King while the demands of my job are all consuming? The circumstances don’t change, even though my understanding of who He says I am does.

 Holy Spirit, please turn the tide back to You, so that it flows from the only true source. Let us hear what You would have us do each day….let us hear You with our ears, sense You in our hearts, and know that the five million demands that are placed on us each day can wait until tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. Let your spirit fill us with everything good and perfect and pleasing to You…and let us live lives that are burning embers for Your Glory.

And please Lord, let the Sun-shine again.