Flying

Come fly with Me,
Above all the old dreams we'll soar
on high, I
have for you
a dream waiting to come true
of marvelous stature
if you'll cast
off all the ballast of old dreams
holding you to the ground...
Let's go fly
and you'll come alive
if you fly with Me...
You and I
and you'll own the sky
if you come fly with Me

Renewed thinking

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9

"He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'" Revelation 21:5

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

There is hope, there is life, there is joy.

The cloudy days

There are days when it's easy to celebrate spring, and there are days when it seems like the broken things of this world far outweigh the glorious. The confusion today prevails much more than the clarity. It's not that anything particularly new or earth-shatteringly awful has happened. It's just one of those days where there are more questions than answers. Friends are hurting; prayers seem to go unanswered; situations remain the same.

But the test is in how you respond. You can be a victim of fate, you can turn an accusing finger at God, or you can trust Him. Trust that the sun still shines above a cloudy day. Trust that the Creator God who formed the glorious spring can redeem situations of hurt and abuse and sin. Trust that, though the world is fallen, it is not spinning wildly out of control.

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
-Colossians 1:17

The sun will shine, the spring will come, and there will be both justice and rest.

Balancing anticipation and presence

A few days ago I wrote about Israel's position of waiting on the Lord and living from day to day. As I've continued to mull this over and study that period of history, I have been struck by another facet of life as an Israelite at that time.

It's true that they were to wait every day for the Lord to show them what to do. They couldn't plan ahead and make a projected schedule of events. But, at the same time, the whole purpose of all of the years described in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy was to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. So while they were waiting each day for the Lord to show them His purpose for them in that day, they were also holding the promise in mind. They took life one day at a time, but each day was only important in how it prepared them for the Promised Land. They were learning to listen, obey, live in fellowship, worship, and relate rightly to God.

Sound familiar? There are things I am waiting and hoping for in this life and beyond it. I hope to one day marry and have a family. Nothing compares to the promise of freedom from sickness, sin, and suffering and the hope of being united with Christ when my time on the earth is through. But right now, God has not given it to me either to be married and have a family or to be with Him. I can dream of those things and hold onto the hope He has given me, but I am called to be where I am, fully present in each day to learn what He has for me. In this, as in so many other things, it all comes down to finding the balance.

We rarely quote Titus

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good."
Titus 2:11-14

That pretty much sums it up. My worldview, what I live for, what I base my life on from day to day. This passage (and others like it) is my filter for word and deed alike-- what's yours?