A week of praise
"People who are loved the way we are loved should have lives marked by extreme thanksgiving and laughter because of the mercy and generosity of our King." -Elyse Fitzpatrick (Because He Loves Me)
We are in winter here in the Northeast! Winter. Gray, gray, gray winter. Sometimes white. But nonetheless it is a colorless palette outside my window. Occasional sunshine will light up my house and when it does, I find my face turning towards it and squeezing my eyes shut and taking in big, healthy gulps of it. Because... Its hard to find the sunshine in winter.
But, when you do? Your face turns to it. You appreciate it. You don't see things quite the same because your vision has been impaired by the sun. The things around you look "strangely dim".
I was amazed the other day, when the sunshine was literally pouring into my home, at the amount of dust that had settled into the dark corners. How didn't I see it? I seriously didn't know how I had missed it. How often on those dark days when the sunshine is hidden behind clouds, we blindly miss the dust bunnies that have been
piling up (metaphors ahead).
So, with permission from my kid I share this story with you about winter blues, the dust bunnies in our heart and how perspective enriched us and those around us. This is how over a cup of hot coffee in our local Starbucks, my Mo, Rob and I determined that we would zoom out and zoom in.
She yelled at us. She kinda...screamed. I didn't remember ever seeing her this angry before. It hung in the air and also seemed to bounce off of every wall. We were all home and we all stood there in the kitchen looking at each other with wide eyes searching each other's faces and frozen in place. Rob sent Morgan upstairs for her outburst and with every step on the staircase, she seemed to echo the pounding of my own heart. Rob and I looked at each other and at the other two who, like little mice scurried off into their own safe places and he shrugged and I shrugged and we decided that we would try to talk it out. Nope. She was not having it. She was as cold as ice. We left it for a day (any one that is reading this should stop right now and yell, "wow. ANNIE!) before Rob and I decided that what our middle kid needed was not what she deserved (mercy), but that she just might need something she didn't deserve (grace).
In this case, grace came in a cup (which...hello...yes.)
She was pretty rigid at first, but the latte did it's super power thing and she started to soften. I like to think some of this softening was her daddy saying, "Babe. Something is off with you. We aren't okay with the way you've been treating all of us. It hurts us. But, you are hurting and we want you to tell us everything." For good measure, while biting the inside of my cheek, I added, "And I solemnly swear that I will not tell you that what you are feeling and how you are thinking is wrong." She took a deep breath and she unloaded on us. It took almost an hour. It was therapy for her and it was super sanctification stuff for Rob and me, but it was even better than we expected. We saw the light come back into her eyes and the way she was sitting even changed. It opened up for us some great insights into her heart and into our own but then... it took on a twist that we didn't see coming.
She started to give herself some truth. She admitted that her thinking about most everything right now was bent toward the negative. Like...she couldn't see the sunshine. She admitted that in spite of what she knew, she couldn't seem to get past what she felt. Then, she listened intently to her dear dad , who battles with depression every single day, as he gave her gentle wisdom about prayer and perspective.
We decided together, there in the Starbucks, that an intentional leaning towards the joy that we find in Christ and the daily ways He ministers and whispers to us would be our aim.
I decided to also involve a few of my girlfriends in on the game and for this past week we have been texting each other every night different highlights from our day.
It's amazing what a little light can do.
This is no Pollyanna approach to life. It is hard work. It is purposefully choosing the joy that comes from a life touched by the SON. It is choosing to see the gifts in each day as a love gift from the One who could (and rightly should) give us a healthy dose of justice but meets us each day with His mercy and His grace. He welcomes us to unload onto Him (1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your anxieties on him, because He cares for you") and then fills us with good things. (Romans 8:32 "He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all, won't He also give us everything else?") Truly, the things from His hand are the good things.
A person that is marked with joy is one that has the knowledge that nothing can take away the love that the Father has lavished on us. Nothing. This is true thanksgiving. Joy that no one can affect and that no circumstances will change. This joy comes from a daily marinating in His love.
Yes, the clouds will roll in. The dust bunnies will settle again in the darkest corners of our heart, but what a comfort to know that when the sun shines, He will do the hard work of sweeping them away. (2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.")
This world is in a season of winter. Everywhere we look, the landscape is gray. Let us, as ones who have the hope and light of the gospel, be people of responsive obedience to God's command that we be people of great joy.
As I type this, the sun is sending its long fingers across my computer screen. I can hear Morgan downstairs. She is banging around in the kitchen, but that's not that sound that is making me smile. I'm smiling because...she is singing.
" If then, you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on the earth, for your have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. " Col.3:1-3
**I encourage you to start this week. Text or email a few of your close friends. Ask them if they would be willing to do a week of praise with you. I'd love to hear how it goes.**
We are in winter here in the Northeast! Winter. Gray, gray, gray winter. Sometimes white. But nonetheless it is a colorless palette outside my window. Occasional sunshine will light up my house and when it does, I find my face turning towards it and squeezing my eyes shut and taking in big, healthy gulps of it. Because... Its hard to find the sunshine in winter.
I was amazed the other day, when the sunshine was literally pouring into my home, at the amount of dust that had settled into the dark corners. How didn't I see it? I seriously didn't know how I had missed it. How often on those dark days when the sunshine is hidden behind clouds, we blindly miss the dust bunnies that have been
piling up (metaphors ahead).
So, with permission from my kid I share this story with you about winter blues, the dust bunnies in our heart and how perspective enriched us and those around us. This is how over a cup of hot coffee in our local Starbucks, my Mo, Rob and I determined that we would zoom out and zoom in.
This was our week of praise.
She yelled at us. She kinda...screamed. I didn't remember ever seeing her this angry before. It hung in the air and also seemed to bounce off of every wall. We were all home and we all stood there in the kitchen looking at each other with wide eyes searching each other's faces and frozen in place. Rob sent Morgan upstairs for her outburst and with every step on the staircase, she seemed to echo the pounding of my own heart. Rob and I looked at each other and at the other two who, like little mice scurried off into their own safe places and he shrugged and I shrugged and we decided that we would try to talk it out. Nope. She was not having it. She was as cold as ice. We left it for a day (any one that is reading this should stop right now and yell, "wow. ANNIE!) before Rob and I decided that what our middle kid needed was not what she deserved (mercy), but that she just might need something she didn't deserve (grace).
In this case, grace came in a cup (which...hello...yes.)
She was pretty rigid at first, but the latte did it's super power thing and she started to soften. I like to think some of this softening was her daddy saying, "Babe. Something is off with you. We aren't okay with the way you've been treating all of us. It hurts us. But, you are hurting and we want you to tell us everything." For good measure, while biting the inside of my cheek, I added, "And I solemnly swear that I will not tell you that what you are feeling and how you are thinking is wrong." She took a deep breath and she unloaded on us. It took almost an hour. It was therapy for her and it was super sanctification stuff for Rob and me, but it was even better than we expected. We saw the light come back into her eyes and the way she was sitting even changed. It opened up for us some great insights into her heart and into our own but then... it took on a twist that we didn't see coming.
She started to give herself some truth. She admitted that her thinking about most everything right now was bent toward the negative. Like...she couldn't see the sunshine. She admitted that in spite of what she knew, she couldn't seem to get past what she felt. Then, she listened intently to her dear dad , who battles with depression every single day, as he gave her gentle wisdom about prayer and perspective.We decided together, there in the Starbucks, that an intentional leaning towards the joy that we find in Christ and the daily ways He ministers and whispers to us would be our aim.
I decided to also involve a few of my girlfriends in on the game and for this past week we have been texting each other every night different highlights from our day.
It's amazing what a little light can do.
This is no Pollyanna approach to life. It is hard work. It is purposefully choosing the joy that comes from a life touched by the SON. It is choosing to see the gifts in each day as a love gift from the One who could (and rightly should) give us a healthy dose of justice but meets us each day with His mercy and His grace. He welcomes us to unload onto Him (1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your anxieties on him, because He cares for you") and then fills us with good things. (Romans 8:32 "He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all, won't He also give us everything else?") Truly, the things from His hand are the good things.
A person that is marked with joy is one that has the knowledge that nothing can take away the love that the Father has lavished on us. Nothing. This is true thanksgiving. Joy that no one can affect and that no circumstances will change. This joy comes from a daily marinating in His love.
Yes, the clouds will roll in. The dust bunnies will settle again in the darkest corners of our heart, but what a comfort to know that when the sun shines, He will do the hard work of sweeping them away. (2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.")
This world is in a season of winter. Everywhere we look, the landscape is gray. Let us, as ones who have the hope and light of the gospel, be people of responsive obedience to God's command that we be people of great joy.
As I type this, the sun is sending its long fingers across my computer screen. I can hear Morgan downstairs. She is banging around in the kitchen, but that's not that sound that is making me smile. I'm smiling because...she is singing.
" If then, you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on the earth, for your have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. " Col.3:1-3
**I encourage you to start this week. Text or email a few of your close friends. Ask them if they would be willing to do a week of praise with you. I'd love to hear how it goes.**
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