WORD OF THE DAY: FRANGIBLE
(from dictionary.com)
frangible \FRAN-juh-buhl\, adjective:
Capable of being broken; brittle; fragile; easily broken.
me.
~2 Corinthians 4:7~
WORD OF THE DAY
~2 Corinthians 4:7~
~2 Corinthians 4:7~
ALL THINGS NOT EQUAL
ALL THINGS NOT EQUAL
I bought a bunch of bamboo a couple months back. Since they were too long, I cut off some inches from the bottom before I stuck them in a vase of water. They have now happily grown a healthy entanglement of roots.
The short bits that I cut off, I stuck in their own little glass container with some pretty white pebbles to keep them standing straight. I’d seen a friend do this before and hers started to grow leaves. I figured I might as well give it a try too. I put my little “garden” next to the sink in my bathroom. I like how it greens things up.
Anyway, they have started to grow leaves. What intrigues me though is that some of them have leaves about 3 inches long, while others are only just starting to show a little nub. In observing their growth, I’ve realized that God’s creativity extends to the timing of things. I mean, He could easily make them all grow at the same rate – and the human perfectionist in me would be more satisfied if that were the case – but He doesn’t.
In the same way, I think He allows people to grow at different rates as well. Too often, we are tempted to compare ourselves with others (imagine one bamboo comparing itself with another one!) and we might even complain that God’s not being fair, but reality is that His love and grace is just as plentiful for each of us and that He is glorified in the variety and differences.
~1 Corinthians 3:7~
WHO DOES GOD TRUST?
WHO DOES GOD TRUST?
At a retreat this past weekend, in one of the prayers, the person thanked God for trusting Himself to the care of a teenage girl when He came to earth. That’s a pretty incredible thought. That God would trust humanity to take care of Him. That the Creator would trust Himself to the created. Then it dawned on me that God not only trusted Mary, He trusted many other people in the Bible. He also trusted many others throughout history. He trusts each of us who know Him. And most incredibly (to me anyway), He trusts me.
This is something I’ll need to think more about – that God’s character is trusting.
~1 Corinthians 13:7~
REMARKABLE
REMARKABLE!
Yesterday, a friend and I had lunch on the 12th floor of a hotel by the beach. Looking out over the rhythmic waves as they washed up along the shore, we prayed for each other. She thanked God for His love and that His thoughts about me outnumbered the grains of sand. After we finished praying, we both looked at each other and wondered, “What could God possibly be thinking about us that He would have THAT many thoughts about each one of us?!”
Could it really be that Someone out there loves me THAT much?
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
~Psalm 139:17-18a~
MIRACLE
MIRACLE
I think I’m finally starting to believe that I really am loved.
~Ezekiel 36:26~
BROKEN
BROKEN
Today,
The water isn’t running,
Our apartment smells like sewage,
The internet is temperamental,
I was fortunate to have a seat on the bus one-way,
It’s taken me almost 2 hours to make a simple soup,
And all I want to do since I woke up is go back to sleep.
This soldier is broken.
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
~Psalm 40:1-2~
FRUIT-LESS
FRUIT-LESS
This post has been rattling around in my brain for a while now and I thought it was about time to set it free…
In my devos one day, I read about a gardener who was asked about his abundant and lush grape harvest. He explained that when he first acquired the vineyard, he pruned all the plants and for two whole years he had no harvest. I saw a parallel in my own life. I’ve been feeling fruitless lately but it was as if the Lord spoke and affirmed to me that it is actually quite unnatural and impossible for a plant who is in the pruning process to bear fruit. A pruned branch cannot bear fruit! Nor is it expected to. A pruned plant has only one task: to drink in the sunshine and take in the nutrients from the earth through the vine. And one day, when God deems it time, flowers will bloom and fruit will come forth. Even more fruit than was ever possible before.
Christ’s yoke is much lighter than my own. Hallelujah!
~John 15:2~