Poetry Link Up Wet Wednesday

Tears fall down, hearts break.
Hands reach out, find empty.

Souls cry for relief, He hears.
Hearts broken, He heals.

Promises broken, too human.
Harsh words said, so sorry.

Washed clean by His blood.
Heaven bound by His sacrifice.

Human but crafted to be holy.
Broken but beautifully so.

Sparrows not forgotten.
We, forgotten neither.

Welcome to the poetry link up for today!  I hope you have something to share.  Would love to see your faith poetry here, new or old!  Visit the posting poets, leave them some love and write on, brothers and sisters, write on!

Poetry Wednesday!

Welcome brothers and sisters to our poetry link up for this week.

You are invited to share poetry of faith, old and new, with us.

You are encouraged to visit and comment on those who share here to show your support.

Bless you!

Day Late Link Up

Today is Thursday.  Wednesday is our poetry link up.

This is our Day Late Link Up!


Two poets have shared their hearts, and I want you to visit them.

Please be blessed by visiting:

Dawn at Beneath the Surface

and

Pam at In the Shadow of His Wings

You will be blessed and moved by their words.

If you are writing faith poetry, new or old, please feel free to share by linking up below.

Bright blessings!

Cut Flowers

Cut flowers. I never wanted them.  I told my husband I'd rather have a tree than cut flowers.  Why?

They die.  They were cut from their stems and they sit on my table and they die.  I hated that.

Until last Saturday that is.  Then a very beautiful sister in Jesus shared something amazing with me.  She shared how there are things in my life, my marriage that could be treated like cut flowers.

She said, and forgive me if I got it wrong my dear, cut flowers are made to be beautiful. 


Cut flowers require constant care.  They need food. They need water. They need light.  They need love.

Cut flowers remind us beautiful things need to be nurtured.  They need attention.  They need a lovely place to live.

God made some flowers to be cut and shared as bouquets.  Not everything has to stay rooted in the ground.  Sometimes a lovely thing can give up it's roots and go where beauty is needed but cannot grow.  Like in the winter. Like in the city.  Like in a kitchen.

Cut flowers.  In my relationships, in my family, some things are still rooted. Some are cut flowers.  They need more from me, and they give, in return, so much beauty and love.

They don't just get cut to die.  They get cut to die beautifully, and as we care for them we understand love, care, grace, peace and surrender.   We have to let them go back to the soil at some point.  That is their sacrifice.

This is not altogether different from the sacrifice of Jesus is it?  He left Heaven to come here, cut off from His home, His place with God.  He came for us. His sacrifice was the greatest of all. And he did it freely. For us.

 I will never look at cut flowers the same way again.


(I am doing the Respect Dare with some wonderful ladies.  I thank God for them!)

A Willing Lord

Luke 5:13, Matthew 8:3 and Mark 1:41.

These verses all have one thing in common of all the verses in the Bible.

They are the only ones where Jesus is asked if He is willing to heal someone.


They are the only ones where Jesus answers, "I am willing."


I read the passages, re-read the passages, did a phrase search.  Came up against the unspoken willingness of our Lord to do so much more.  Jesus said three times, "I am willing."


And what, besides healing that one mane, did He so willingly do?

Everything His Father asked.
Everything we needed to be redeemed.
Everything, from the first moments of time.


He did it willingly.  With free will. Choice.  Of conscious thought and decision.


<--------------------------------------------pause here to ponder---------------------------------------->

We are in the Easter season.  The season when Jesus was faced with the weight of being willing for us.  When He faced the hatred of someone willing to do the right things, for the right reasons at the right time. 

He was willing not for glory.  That was His in Heaven.  He didn't need it from us.

He was willing not for fame.  Not to be a human king.  He was already Royalty.

He was willing not because we were worthy.  We were not. Are not. Our own human merits condemn us.

He was willing out of love and obedience.  Read that again.

Even at His last moments, He was willing, obedient and did His Father's will.  Even though He did ask if the cup could be passed, He acknowledged that it was not His will but God's that would be fulfilled.


So often we are willing, when it is comfortable and safe, and lose our courage when it is time for the 'rubber to meet the road'.  It is easier to let someone else be the 'Good Christian' and it is a conscious decision to be willing to show Godly love and grace.

In small ways first, I challenge myself and you, to be willing.  Willing to seek His will.  Willing to be fruitful in the fruits of the Spirit.  Willing to reach out when easy says hold back.  Willing to risk a hurt to show some love.  Willing to be laughed at for living and modeling grace.  Willing to say, "I am willing." to our Lord.

Make a list and jot down the things that are easy for you to do.  Then make a list of things you find difficult.  Pray upon them, asking God to show you how to be a willing and obedient child to His will.  I'll be doing the same.  On Friday I'll share how mine went, I hope you'll come by then.
Publish Post
Luke 5:13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

Don't forget Wednesday is our Poetry Link Up.  This week we'll be sharing old and new poetry, I invite you to join us as a poet or a reader (or both!).

She served them

Luke 4:38-39  He entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him about her.  So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and began to serve them.


I remember hearing some ladies talking about this verse one day at a Bible Study.  They were greatly offended that she 'had' to get up and serve them after being sick.  I often wondered how that could be.


Over the years this verse has challenged me.


A high fever makes you weak, you are tired.  Your body aches and you just feel terrible.  Even if you could get up you'd be too weak to do anything.


A woman in that time, and even today, often loves to serve in her home..  She provides food, shelter and care.  She serves willingly and with a serving heart for God.

This woman and her family obviously knew Jesus.  She would have been mortified that she couldn't serve her family and guest.  Her heart would have been broken.


I believe that Jesus did more than rebuke a fever.  I think he renewed a spirit and a body so they could work together in harmony, serving.  Not as a slave, but as a woman who could give good food, and good hospitality to her guests that honours her house and her family.


Jesus knew her heart, and her body.  He knew what she needed.  She needed to be well to serve. 


Out of love. 


Not obligation.

That is where I got confused by those well meaning ladies.  They served their families out of an obligation and likely felt little or no respect or honour in it.  How sad for them.  They missed a great opportunity to find something special in ministering by serving.

Jesus served and ministered the same way.  He knew better than us all the needs of a serving heart.


I'm so thankful He blessed me with a serving heart, and that He renews me when I feel a pint, quart or small lake's worth low. He knows.  He provides.  He heals.


How does this verse speak to you?  Would love to hear!

Where are You? Poetry Wednesday

Welcome to our Poetry Link up for Wednesday!  Praying that the link-up will work properly this week. Thanks to all who are contributing and sharing, and those who are encouraging with their comments.  This is something special, thank you for making it so!

My poem for this week is found here:

Sunflower Poetry - Where Are You?

If you wish to write something new, you could join me in this.

Where is God when we seek Him?  Are we finding Him in unexpected places?

Answer the question:

Where Are You?

Link up below...many bright blessings!

Trust is the issue

Titus 2:10  "and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive."


Are you having trouble with trust?  I have trust issues.  I trust too much, or I trust in the wrong ways at the wrong times.  God asks us to trust though. To trust each other. To be trustworthy. To trust Him.  He expects us to act in a manner that shows faith and trust in all we do.

I discovered something the other day, in a conversation with a friend in ministry, that disturbed me deeply. She said she couldn't trust, even her sisters, and she felt she had to hold close what was 'given to her by God'.  I was so sad for her.  What a burden to bear alone.

But I don't think she is alone, nor is she entirely without cause.  Our churches, our missions, our very denominations have a long and checkered, even bloody history, of stealing trust. Of being untrustworthy.  Of taking for their own what belongs to God and the brethren.  (Brothers and sisters that'd be us!)

However...that is not reason enough not to trust.  Jesus advised us to be wise, crafty even, but He never said don't trust.  Instead He told us be trustworthy.  Trust worthy. Worthy of trust. Worthy of being counted on. Worthy of giving a piece, an acre, a bucket or a page of someone's work to take it to somewhere new for the glory of God.


So hard. So very very hard.

 I made this. or did I?  


This is MINE! or is it?

Trust me with your child. Trust me with your fears. Trust me with your need for an intercessor. Trust me with your money.  But can you trust me to use my gifts, that God blessed me with, to make your ministry greater?  I wonder why it is so hard to trust each other, when really, and you gotta admit at least this, WE ARE ON THE SAME TEAM HERE!


Team Jesus. Team God. Team Faith.


Team Grace.


Team wearing jerseys covered in the fruits of the spirit, in the armor of God, in the definition of love from God's own hand.


Can I give you my God filled dream, and trust you to work side-by-side with me to make it like the walls in Nehemiah?  Can I?   Can you?


What is the downside then? If we don't trust?  We don't grow. We don't transform. We don't show God's love in the deep, ugly, still raw and hurting places.  We hand over victory to the devil and tell the world they shouldn't trust us either, after all WE DON'T EVEN TRUST OURSELVES AND EACH OTHER!


Oh how I wish you could see that I am saddened to the soul about this and not angry.  I'm not laying blame, but am asking for ownership.  I believe we all can be given trust and be taught to be trust worthy.  Little steps at a time.  Baby steps like the disciples who had to learn it all with an incredible hidden deadline looming over them.  Jesus was patient and forgiving.  Can we be?


Brothers and sisters, it is not often I challenge you. But I am going to do just that.  We are in Lent, approaching Easter when the biggest gift was given to us.  Here is your challenge:


Trust your brothers and sisters to be a part of the vision you have for sharing God's word. For spreading the Good News! For those cities on hilltops and lamps on stands.  


Trust one another with small things, and move on to great things.  


But start trusting!  


They want to sing - let them sing! 
They want to share - let them share! 
They want to serve you by carrying a burden - let them carry! 
They want to pray - let them pray!


If someone wants to be a part of your work for God, consider that perhaps God is the one who sent them to you...


170 times the Bible talks about trust...can you try one more time?  

An audience of One

Matthew 6:4
so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Pray in secret. Give in secret. But it isn't a secret if God knows!  It is only secret from people.  That is to combat our human tendency to compete.  We want to be the fastest, the best, the wisest, the most commented upon or followed. We crave that very thing which caused Satan to fall and that is our own pride fulfilled.  It is like emptying the ocean with a thimble.


Pray in secret. Give in secret.  Write not for the comments, cash or accolades but for Him. Write, sing, pray, create and live for Him.


It takes a lot to put ourselves out there creatively.  We risk judgement, ridicule, misunderstanding or worse not being noticed at all!  


A friend wrote about judgement today, you can read about it here (Thanks Carey!) and it really really convicted me.  It made me pray. It made me think.


We serve. We pray. We love. We give. We offer ourselves and actions to God as a blessing.  We obey when He prompts us to action.  We listen for the whisper of the Holy Spirit.  We don't own it though.


We may wash the feet of a sister or a brother.  We care enough to serve them.  But it ends there for us.  We don't own their feet, nor the cleansing.  We gave it away, freely, as a love offering.  Those don't have strings.


We don't get to question or judge whether they walk in dirt or mud again.  It's not our affair, even if we did wash their feet.


God blesses us with the words, images, art and song to lift up our brothers and sisters.  We give it as a love offering.  It is no longer ours to covet.  It is no longer ours to expect praise for.  We've done it for God, and it belongs to Him.


BUT WAIT...THERE IS MORE!  Our job is not done!  


Romans 12:8
if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.


God also expects His children to love, encourage, serve and care for each other.  We are supposed to be the encouragers to others! We are supposed to show them love and grace.  We are to lift them up. Love them. 


We don't get to ask for that back.  (part of me cries here though - we shouldn't have to ask should we?  if we are to encourage each other that assumes a two way exchange of encouragement doesn't it?)


We don't get to ask for that back.  God already has asked for it back, for us!  Encourage each other. Lift each other up. Be there for each other in prayer, love and in actions.  


Our love offerings are given to God, for His use to encourage our brothers and sisters. To convict them. To challenge them. To bring them to song or prayer. To move them to action against wrong.  They are for His use.  We write, sing, love, pray and serve for an audience of One.  


Matthew 25:40
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’


We serve Him by serving each other!  We show God's love by loving.  We show how life lived in grace looks by living it out loud. Actively.  By words. By actions. 


God blessed you with skills and talents to be used for His glory. They may not be the ones you wish you had or the ones you wish He'd use. But they are exactly what He knows is needed when He calls for them.  Can we be obedient to that?


Can we truly read someone's efforts, and leave some love?
Can we see a call for help and answer it?
Can we really pray when we type 'praying'?
Can we reach out our hands and hearts wholly?
Can we truly say, Your will and not my own?


If the only feedback you got was from God - would you be excited to hear His words or terrified?  Let's be overjoyed that He is our audience of One, let's be so excited we tremble that we can be His children.  Let's be the reason someone looks closer at our faith because of our joy, because we live under grace, because of Him.

What's your poverty?

What do you have? Is it better than what I have? Can I have it? I want it. I think.

God opened a door yesterday and I went through, in faith, and I met a person on the other side I did not know.  I thought I knew her, but I didn't!  She wasn't who I thought she was and I wasn't who she thought I was.  It was very good to talk to a sister in Christ who approaches things so differently from I and yet we share the same foundation, the same belief.

The one thing we talked about that could have been a sensitive issue was poverty and money.  I never thought about it the way she does and she had not considered how I look at it.  It was enlightening. Neither was out to change the other's mind.  We were talking.

She emailed me this morning to clarify what she had said. She was afraid she had offended me.  I wasn't offended, and I messaged her back saying that.  But it still weighs upon my heart what we talked about.  We each saw the same concept, the same word in such different ways. 

Consider that. Two sisters, in Christ. Faith filled, redeemed by grace, understanding our words and works are nothing without grace and love.  And yet on this issue and one other we are at opposite ends of the spectrum.  Not in conflict because we are not judging or questioning, we are seeking to understand.


In what I saw as abundance she saw poverty.  Where I saw friends as family, she saw only family OR friends.  What I saw as a chance to see yourself as a blessing she saw as her being bereft at making a wrong choice. 

Instead of arguing, we explored and found that much like a sphere, you can be on side very far apart and yet that makes you on the other side very close together.


She still may think I'm a bit crazy!  And I will still worry for her heart.  But we neither judged nor tried to discount the other's path.   What a richness and joy that is!  What a blessing!  Her strong faith leads her, just as mine does me.  But God in His great wisdom does not have us walking the same paths, roads or wandering the same deserts.

When we talk about hot trigger words like poverty with other believers are we speaking with our hearts tuned to God?  Or are we so certain in our rightness that we feel righteous?  There are many kinds of poverty - poverty of physical needs, poverty of spirit, poverty of fellowship and poverty of _____________.

God doesn't just speak of physical poverty, He speaks of poverty of spirit as well.  If you have all the physical abundance in the world and don't have a richness in your soul then you too are sitting in poverty.

In the town I live near there are many huge homes and fancy yards.  The secret is what is inside.  Very often yard furniture or nothing.  The people invested everything they had in an outward show of wealth and were left with a hollow, empty space to live in.  This is much like our hearts as well...so much of our lives can be dedicated to the exterior that we neglect the soul, the spirit, the Temple.  


It wasn't a word I would have chosen to use, poverty, because I see it in quite a different way.  But to her it felt and looked just like it should.  And it wasn't acceptable to her family, to her. And she felt led by God to go back to a place where she had an abundance to share with her brothers and sisters.  Her path. I pray she finds her way and is blessed as she travels it.

How do you share your abundance?  Do you question if you have anything to share?  We all do!  God gives us an abundance in the poverty of life without Him.  Are we going to share our talents, gifts and time?  Are we going to be bold and ask to be shown how to find abundance in our poverty?


I normally share a verse, but I invite you to share the verses that speak to you on this!

Are you offended?

"And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Matthew 11:17)

Have you ever thought about this?  Someone being offended by our faith.  It happens, people feel defensive or feel they have been hurt by a Christian and that because of the actions of a person they are justified in being offended by Jesus.  Perhaps they are offended by a Bible they never read. 

What is there to be offended by in Jesus?  Plenty!  He did exactly what a good Jewish boy and a potential King should never do.  He got down, and into the mud, with people who could do nothing for Him!  What could a leper, a bleeding woman, a tax collector, soldier, sailor or spy do for the Son of God?  Nothing.  That, for people who measure success on an earthly scale are offended by this.  They were so offended that they crucified Him!  They were so offended they entrapped Him, lied about Him and stole from Him.

Offending people in power can be dangerous. It can be deadly.  Offend an old lady, a homeless person or a child you don't lose much. At least not in human terms. But to Jesus, who counts each hair and sparrow, you can lose it all.  You've lost it all when you don't treat the "least of them" as you would Him.

Who was offended by Jesus?  Many were.  Many in positions of power and many who were not.  They were offended that He didn't come as the King they wanted.  They were offended that He healed on the Sabbath.  They were offended when He chose the poor, unclean, crooked and young. 

If it was a school yard, and we were picking teams for a game, Jesus would have picked all of us last choices first!  That gives me shivers!  Athlete or leper?  You know who He choose!  King or poor widow?  She got called first!  Spinster sisters, a dead guy risen again, a former prostitute and more!  The little kids and their Mama's.  The orphans and the sick.  What a dream team!

Who could be offended?  Anyone who thought that Jesus should be what they wanted instead of what they needed!

Think of the people who are not offended by Jesus.  Those who know the peace of grace, the relief of redemption and the safety of love.  Are you offended by Jesus?  Were you ever trapped in the mindset that Jesus was offensive because of imperfect people?  I so often hear people speaking of our faith, of our Lord, in ways that are cruel and filled with hurt.  These souls have not known grace and love and are offended.  Not by something they know, and are justified in being offended by, but in something they do not know.  That they have not had a chance to be shown.  They haven't seen our faith in action.  

Blessed are those who are not offended by me.  Not ashamed. Not afraid. Not confused.  No Jesus said Not offended!    When you read about what Jesus taught and what  Jesus did are you proud or offended?  Is there something in the gospel that you are uncomfortable sharing because it offends you?  Have you thought about it...what stops you from sharing the love and grace that showers us from His hand?

A Centurion's Faith

The Faith of the Centurion

 ⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

 ⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

 ⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

 ¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 ¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

Hey! You made it!  Glad you continued to scroll all the way down here.  This story of the Centurion has been on my mind for a few days.  What an example of utter faith!  Not just the 'trained' faith of a professional soldier who trusts the orders he receives and trusts the orders he gives will be followed.  This is more, this is deeper!

Who could have been less deserving of Jesus' healing than the servant of a hated Roman?  Most Jews despised Gentiles and loathed Romans.  They wanted Jesus to be for them. On their terms.  God had many other greater plans than that.

The centurion knows he is not worthy.  Soldier, leader and believer.  He could be killed by his own command for his faith...and yet he was asking for a healing for someone of his household.  Not a family member, not a friend but a servant.  This man's heart shone brighter than his breastplate.  He stood on the street and asked in total faith that Jesus would heal with a word.  A word.

The centurion knows he is not worthy.  Uncircumcised, eating 'unclean foods' and a blooded soldier.  He knows this.  He also knows he is totally and completely able to ask for this!  He knows it.  His faith is just as valid as that of any other who followed and continues to follow Jesus.  The world says he is not worthy, God says he is.

Jesus was amazed. AMAZED!  Our Lord was amazed.  Not that he was asked for this. Not amazed that it was a Roman Centurion.  He was AMAZED at this man's FAITH! His FAITH that required NO EVIDENCE.  No ACTION beyond a word.  His faith showed everyone that faith doesn't have boundaries.

Jesus was amazed.  He took the opportunity to remind his disciples that God's table would have room for all who believed, and that your faith is what bought your seat!  Not your genealogy or family name.  Faith. Faith.  The faith of a Centurion.  

The Centurion saw the worst in people, saw blood and war, horror and felt fear.  He knew the worst the world could do.  Was probably ordered to be a part of it.  And yet he came, in faith, to his Lord. And he asked. And he believed. And he needed only a word.

Can you be like the Centurion?  Can you ask God and then trust His word?  Stop asking for signs and wonders.  Start seeking earnestly and accepting that God will have done what you need the moment you asked.  Just because we don't get the answer we want doesn't mean God didn't answer!

Live, don't die alive

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13

Have you ever really thought about this verse?  Really thought about it?  About how it could mean so much more?  The laying down your life means more than dying.  


Laying down your life for a friend...what could that mean?


Jesus did it for us. With great grace.  In our fallible and human way can we try to do less?


What in your life can be laid down for a friend?  Your expectations? Your need to judge or be right. Perhaps you need to lay down the need for them to 'pay you back' or 'set things right'.  Maybe it is bigger than that!  

What if laying down your life meant laying down a dream?  Bending down to help someone stand up again?  What if it meant leaving behind the life you made for the one God created for you?


After reading my Bible and praying I believe that there is more to this verse than our physical death.  It is our physical life!  The food in your freezer (or garden).  The extra clothes you've been keeping.  The LIFE you build and cling to needs to be let go in love.  The thing you want to sell, maybe needs to be shared?  That desire of your heart should be surrendered to the desire of God's will.


Our lives are meant to be lived fully and lived full of grace and that requires living. Not dying. No in acting like we've died because we are giving. We need to face life full of love, and joy and in that loving joy share our lives.  Our time, our bread and wine (figuratively and literally).  


Do you understand why?  It isn't ours to start with!  God provides us with everything we need, we provide the loving labour to work for His kingdom.  It is HIS anyway.  Why are we so selfish with what isn't ours?  Share a smile, a hug, a quick text. 


Lay down your reputation and speak up for someone. Lay down your life to show someone living grace.  Speak up for people trying again and again.  Speak up for those with no voice, no hope and be the vessel of God's hope, love and voice.  Lay down your uniform of the day.  Bare that soul down to the laugh lines and fearful moments.  God wants our lives to be lived. 


Do you want a life of 'wish I had' or a life of 'glad I did'?  


It is a sad and horrific fact that many saints have died for Jesus.  But it is an even sadder and more horrific fact that many thousands more have failed to live on day for Him.  Millions cry for relief, some of them are in your home, your family, your church.  


Willing to die for our faith has long been held as a 'gold standard' but I truly believe the real challenge in laying down our lives is to continue doing so, and finding in the sacrifice that we begin to live the life God wanted us to live all along!


Love without shame. Show grace with radical freedom.  Don't stop believing that God  has something amazing waiting for us to step towards Him in utter faith.

In His Hands

Joseph. The betrothed of Mary. The step dad of Jesus. The man who chose to follow God and his heart.  Joseph the carpenter. The man who walked miles leading a small donkey and caring for his very pregnant wife. This man showed such faith. 


Matthew 1:24
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.


Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  We are thinking of the Christ child. We are thinking of His mother Mary. We are thinking of the stable, shepherds and the manger. What about Joseph?


New Dad's know this - new babies are frightening!  They are so small, they need their Mama for their very life.  They are also so amazing.  New Dad's know this - every Dad looks for his face in the face of his newborn child.  Who did Joseph see when he looked down upon his first child?  The child not of his body but from God?  Did he wonder how he was going to teach this baby how to be a man?  Was he looking for God in his eyes?


Joseph never got to see his wife's first born fulfill His promise. But that promise was fulfilled because of the father he was!  God could have chosen a king, a merchant, an artist, a priestly family but he chose a carpenter from a small town.


Carpenters know the value of the work of their hands.  Didn't Jesus in His Ministry use his hands so much? With such care and love?  Carpenters know how important it is to make all things work together, visible and invisible, to create a solid whole.  Didn't Jesus minister to what was easily seen (disease) and what was invisible (the heart)? 


Carpenters know about where things come from, they respect the tree that gives them the wood. They value their tools. They craft with their hands, they know intimately what they are creating.


God knows each hair of our heads. Each sparrow's wing beat is heard.  Who better than a carpenter to raise His son in His human form? 


Joseph helped Mary deliver their baby. His calloused hands lovingly wrapped that child, and held him close.  He looked into the face of a miracle, and I wonder if God whispered into his heart right then and promised him the tools he'd need for this job?  I'm sure He did!


In his hands God put the baby Jesus.  In the hands of a carpenter Jesus took His first human breath.  I find it so fitting to think of Joseph today. He has done all he can for his beloved Mary.  He knows good craftsmanship and this stable is well built. Built with love. The animals are cared for.  The hay clean and fresh smelling.


Breathe it in. Breathe in those moments before Jesus came into the world.


Angels held their breath.
Shepherds listened for the song.
Wisemen walked following His star.


A young father, his dreams forever changed, watches in awe at what God has wrought and he knows it is so very good.  He holds Mary tight, and helps wipe the baby clean.  The three of them rest.  


You've done your rushing.  I pray you are done and ready to rest.  Rest with us and consider the tasks ahead of this young couple.  Rest with us and consider the miracle that was wrought that night.  

Mary's Faith

Luke 1:38

 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” 

Then the angel left her.

Mary, in a show of complete obedience to God, speaks her faith and then lives it.  It could not have been easy. Young, unmarried, pregnant, a Jewish country girl. None of these things proclaimed her as the mother of a king.  And yet she willingly and openly accepted God's will for her.  Granted she was told by an angel.  And that is a pretty persuasive personage I'm sure!  And yet...after the glow of angelic presence left, she stayed true. 

Read Luke 1:38 again. Mary accepts God's will. She also states clearly that she holds an expectation of that fulfillment.  She wasn't leaving it open, "uh okay Lord, if you still think this is a good idea..." She stated firmly, and with conviction, May YOUR WORD to me be fulfilled. 

What a wonderful expectation!  Not only does Mary model acceptance for us, but also expectation.  God promises and keeps His word. We can count on it. Now, then and forever!  The promise in her belly, that grew beneath her heart, was the greatest gift this world ever saw.  It came from free will in all directions.

God had to will, freely, the salvation of His creation.  Jesus had to will, freely, the sacrifice He would make.  Mary had to will, freely, the use of her body, her youth, her love, energy and life, for His growing, birthing, nurturing, loving and entry into adulthood.

What a wonderful agreement!  No wonder the angels sang!  Humans have shown themselves to be either mightily faithful or terribly selfish.  At no time before or since has God been so intimately in an agreement with a person, let alone a woman!  People have been asked to give up their lives, their fortunes, their very breath and yet this woman gave something so precious. 

Mary's faith was the faith that nurtured the baby Jesus, the toddler and the young man.  Mary's heart, her body, fed him and cared for him.  She loved, cherished and nurtured the human baby boy who was the Son of God.  She promised to be obedient and she was. She encouraged Jesus as only a mother could.

What do you think of Mary's faith?  What does she model for you?

New Born Son

The baby kicked and moved. He was too big for his Mama.  He needed to be born. She needed to hold him in her arms after all the time he lived under her heart. 

Our friends just had a baby boy today, they are so excited, scared, nervous and will be surrounded by friends, family and strangers offering 'free advice' and gifts.  It is a joyful time for them. For everyone who is happy for them.

I started thinking about Mary and her journey to the stable.  So different for her and Joseph.  Their baby, their baby, was going to come soon.  They had no home, no welcoming friends, no one to celebrate this birth with them...or did they?


Far away Elizabeth and Zechariah were holding their son and praying for his cousin.  They knew there was something very special about both their babies.

That most special baby boy was born in the most humble of place, and yet I believe that the Shepherd of our souls chose that place.  He chose to be surrounded by His Father's creation, to be shone upon by the star, attended by those who knew life and death so intimately in the fields and to be sought, sought out, by the rich, the wise and the holy.

Fresh cold air, warm sweet grass hay, the hot blowing breath of cattle, donkeys and sheep.  Warm bodies keeping them warm. A new born life in a place built for new born life.  No palace for this King, not yet.

Mary had so much to cherish in her heart. All mothers know this feeling.  We hold that baby for the first time, look into their eyes and see eternity.  And Mary saw so much more.  Those tiny hands, those bottomless brown eyes, that newborn toothless smile broke through her exhaustion, and she leaned back after her labour and soaked in the love.  I'm sure the love shone down upon them as God celebrated this first step in realizing our ultimate salvation.

New Mama's hold their babies tight, arms finally holding their heart's desire, and new Daddy's hold baby so gently. Fearing they could break, cry, poop, puke or pee. Fearing they would do something wrong in those first moments. Each one tired from the shared labour of love and each one basking in the angelic starlight.

My friends have a new born son, and this close to Christmas I cannot help but remember Mary. Not as you might expect though, as a new Mama holding the wonder of the world in her hands.  I remember that feeling over six years ago.  I can imagine her tired smile, her aching body and yearning to hold him and never let him go.

What wonder God has wrought that this baby, Jesus, would be the One who ached for us, bled for us, held us and as promised to never let us go.  Thank you Lord for the miracle of Christmas, for this new born son!

Luke 2:19
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Love Colored Glasses

My husband loves me.
He sees me through
love colored glasses.

His eyes do not see
wrinkles or tangled hair.

I love my husband.
I see him through
love colored glasses.

My eyes do not see
wrinkles or frumpy hair.

Our Lord loves us.
He loves us through
Christ colored glasses.


His eyes do not see
sin and shame, all
He sees is us redeemed.


My husband and son
see me through
love colored glasses.

We see each other in love.
We know our faults,
We even know theirs.
We love them anyway.
How could we do less?

God loves us because
He sees us washed clean
and redeemed by His Son.


He sees us in love.
He knows our faults.
He loves us anyway.
He loves us completely.
How can we do any less?


Copyright 2011 Shanyn Silinski

The people you pass by

3 John 1:5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.

Have you ever prayed for people as you drove? Stood in line? Got passed on the shoulder? Maybe experienced someone honking their horn or washing your windows at a red light?  Have you ever thought about praying for them?


My husband phoned to tell me this story today, "I was driving and I saw a woman, with her life in her car and U-haul. Stuffed animals on the dash, dog on the front seat, and she was on the move.  I thought about her, and said a prayer for her to have a safe journey and that she finds what she needs when she gets to there.  I wonder if someone prayed for you, dear, when you ran away to start your life again? Maybe we need to pray more for the people we pass by in life."


Maybe we need to pray more for the people we pass by in life.


The frustrated bus driver. The horn honking road rager. The slow checker at the express lane. The server who needs to ask again what you ordered. The red faced Mama and the screaming tired babe.  The sad boy watching Daddy go to work. The dog owner putting up posters for their lost friend. The pastor with dwindling flock and confidence. For the police officer on their way to a call. For the farmer in the field.


Who did you pass by today?  Perhaps they were an angel, they could have been a brother or sister in Christ. They could have been at the well looking for water that soothes a soul's thirst.


Instead of watching the world go by, what if we prayed it along the way?  


Radical grace. Loving grace. Children of a loving, living God can we do any thing less?