This Beautiful Mundane

  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 In preparing for my wedding, and moving from Illinois to Minnesota, I have been overwhelmed many times. As I was driving to get coffee before starting work this morning, I was listening to the local Christian talk radio station. Chuck Swindoll was giving an introduction to a sermon on Ephesians 1:15-19. He was speaking of the faith of the Ephesian church, how Paul was giving thanks for their faith.  I turned off the radio as I drove under the overpass on the way to my house, and something clicked in my mind and heart, almost in surprise I exclaimed,  "Lord, I've been leaning on my own understanding!"  How often do I quote that verse from Proverbs, even while I am still leaning on my own understanding? This is not just applicable in situations where I need to make a decision (as I so often treat it) ...

 When the world cries, "Pandemic!"  How ought we to, as believers, respond? I posted back in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as this has continued to drag on, I have thought more and more about what I said.  (Here is the link for reference:   A Challenge to the Church - March 2020 ) What I originally wrote was in response to the ridicule that I was seeing from those who did not take the virus seriously, it felt to me that there was much unkindness coming from that side towards those who chose to wear masks. As the months have slipped by, I have continued to see heated comments and debates from mask-wearers, and mask-abstainers. (As well as social distancing, whether or not businesses should be open, groups allowed to gather, etc.,) Beloved brothers and sisters, this is not what we have been called to. Whether someone wears a mask or not doesn't change the fact that they are created in the image of God, and worthy of the dignity and respect that glorifies thei...

Prohibitive Conscience  People-Pleaser Over-Thinker Have you ever described yourself to others in any of these ways?  What about to yourself?  What is it that you feel that you diagnose that way?  I know how my list would begin: Anxious  Guilty  Lonely Failing  Ashamed Uncertain Floundering  Oh, how frequently I have felt these ways. I have wept longingly over the following verse: "Those who look to him are radiant,      and their faces shall never be ashamed." Psalm 34:5 I've been pestering myself, chasing the emotions around my brain in circles until my eyes burn with unshed tears, my head aches for striving, and all I want to do is crawl into a deep dark hole and disappear completely.  Why do I feel this way?  Way is there this insatiable ache in the depths of my soul, this pit in my stomach, and the knot in my throat?  "Why can't I be radiant and unashamed?" Like a sick mantra, I mentally chastise myself...

The past week I keep thinking, "Why does it hurt  so much to be alive?" Have you ever been in so much emotional pain that your sobbing is silent, breathless agony?  The agonies of living sometimes threaten to overwhelm, do they not?  Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. Psalm 73:12-14 There is something about the brokenness of this photo that resonates with my soul. To look closely in the midst, the spiderwebs get caught in your hair, the dirty floor grates against your feet, the broken boards poke into your back, and threaten to give way if you lean against them too hard.  Nevertheless, the sun shines through the cracks, and causes sparkles in the spiderwebs, lends beauty to the rotting wood, and reveals the fresh green of the field beyond.  How it makes me think of heaven, my eterna...

How long, O Lord? How long will there be hatred, enmity, and malice? How long will sin reign in creation, in mankind, the crown of your creation? 2 Peter 3:9  "For God is not slow to fulfill His promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." My heart is grieved by the brokenness of this world.  In my anger over the iniquity of my fellow man, I am reminded of the iniquity of my own heart.  How often do I give myself to selfishness - thinking of myself more highly than others? How often do I allow myself to bathe in my self-righteousness instead of humbly receiving instruction? How often do I treasure the fading pleasures of this world and forsake the infinitely better treasure that I have been given in Christ?  How often do I conceal hatred in my heart instead of forgiveness?  Psalm 51:1-4 " Have mercy on my, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant ...