Set up to win

If the Kingdom
is a family business,
why so often
do we not support each other?

We look with resentment
at another's field of favor,
ruing their blessing
as if it brings us loss.

We should set
each other up to win,
delighting in victory.
Not comparing
the spacious sweep of our field,
seen smaller through eye's envying
another's better blessings.

Our heavenly Father's
gracious gifts
do not finitely finish,
and when one does well
another does not go without.

Our words carry
life and death,
to encourage or discourage
that is indeed the question
we should ask ourselves.

Do not hoard up your blessing
when it greets you,
but let it continue to flow
its way to others too,
or your joy will silently suffocate
and gratitude be forgotten.

Let us reach out our hands
to those sinking in stinking mud,
and not watch them
with deliberating judgement as they fail.

Let us be faithful
in the fruitful fields of the Father,
and set each other up to win.

Grit

I have heard
it is good to possess grit.

Can it truly be found
outside a western,
inhabited by men
toughened by tragedy?

As a daughter of the King
can I have grit?

To persevere when all seems lost,
to have a stubborn spirituality
that will not take
the world's no for an answer

but continues to wrestle
until first light,
even if I do
walk away with a limp.

There is indeed an excess
of moderation
in the modern world.

A desire for loose liberty
without the safety cordons
of judgement and truth.

The world is having
an identity crisis,
but refuses therapy
denying it has a problem.

Grit is a determination
to see the truth break through
the stubbornness of lying barricades.

It will not stop
until the final whistle blows,
the trumpet has sounded,
and all is truly seen
as it really is.

Lord may I possess grit
in these darkening days.

Don't stay in the hallway

When you find yourself in a hallway
of confusion,
misunderstanding,
unclear vision,
or disappointment,
do not linger too long.

Consider the hallway
not a cause for consternation,
but a choice to co-operate
with a forward call.

Do not over speak with others
why you think you are in the hallway.

Others have their reasons
for being there too,
but the over told tale
can fuel
your trembling heart's
desire for reassurance

so you forget
to seek solution
from the Author
of your answers.


Don't make your home in the hallway.
It is not meant to be
your permanent address
but a moment
on your destination journey.

Don't stay in the hallway

but go on wards

to the gateway

God has ready for you.

Father's Day

The pain
we feel when
things are not going well
for our child
is
a tiny glimpse
of the Father heart of God
for us

when we

choose

what is not
the very best
for our lives.

He is sad

not an angry sad
or a disappointed sad
or a frustrated sad
but

a sad so wrapped in
intense
unconditional
everlasting
love

that when we catch
a glimpse
it brings us
to our knees

and

into the warm again embrace
of the

ever present

Father

of us all.