Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Let's try this out . . .

Right now, I'm in a season of crazy abundance. Where I am broken, fractured, and wounded, God is healing, mending, and strengthening--pouring out gift after gift. 


James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." So often in this world, we do live in the shifting shadows--shadows such as loss, fear, sin, and deceit.


Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). He also said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).


So in the spirit of crazy abundance, I'm going to gleefully mix those two metaphors and say this is the longing of my heart: to be a branch enlivened by the Vine, basking in His Light--oh, and drinking up living water, too, while I'm at it! 


I'm not sure where--if anywhere--this blog is going. It doesn't feel very strategic or well thought out, which makes me nervous. Truthfully, it's starting out as an exercise for a writing group! But something I've discovered in that writing group, in the timed writing exercises, is that if I write down the sentence that pops into my head, another will come. If I don't write it down, if I hesitate and quibble and reject it, I get stuck. Nothing comes in its place. 


So . . . here's my first blog post. Let's see what comes along next.