everything we need

Oh yes, we have everything we need.

A sun-dappled path, a bit of mud for fun, the confidential whispering of trees.

Strong legs and lungs and space to run, and a warm house to run into when our noses are cold.

A cup of tea and a cuddle in the chair, time to sit and not be rushed.

Time to gather up the moments of the day into an armful of praise to our Father.

And love, love, love, that is poured out, covering, binding all together!

Yes, this is life abundant. To have our days filled with meaning because He means for us to really live, in the midst of all these good and perfect gifts.

And so the striving for something other fades away in the light of this living.

Our fires are lit with contentment, and we are rosy in the glow.

~lg

Broken: A Remembrance

People die, and people kill, and everyone dies a little more inside, for aren’t we all the same family? Broken people break people, and how much more can there be till our one giant heart splits right in two and all the red runs dry? And who will put us back together?

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.”*

All, all of this because we want what we have not been given. We believe the serpentine lie, that what comes from God is not enough. That what we need must come from elsewhere. And since God is all and only life, the elsewhere can only be death, the nothingness that is not him.

So we eat and are soon eaten up by this rotten discovery, and the disease spreads to the core. The disease turns us against ourselves, and our diagnosis? – Incurable, terminal cancer. Our enemy is death, but who can kill death? And who will put us back together?

All, all are fallen in battle. One death is the death of all, for aren’t we all the same family?

And the God of life weeps giant tears over this valley of bones, weeps himself dry, till tears take the form of a man and the shape of the cross. And he swallows the bitter pill, drinks death to its dregs, makes it part of him till he lies like one of us.

We did not ask for this! But this is what is given!

And the tide of red turns, and death is taken up into Life. One death is the life of all, for isn’t he now one of us? The broken God invites us into his heart and here puts us back together. And this life is gift, this life is sacrifice, this life is love, and it is the only way to live. To live in what he gives – this is the only way we can be whole.

*James 4:1-2

~lg

Baby bear

Oh my baby boy, flushed and warm with milk, snuggle-sized and sleeping –

In these tender moments I marvel at my reality, you here with me.

Now you are my teddy bear, a growling, grinning bundle that fits just so in my arms.

Even so, you are growing, tumbling out of babyhood into more and more boy-ness. You stretch and roll and reach and I cannot contain you as I once did. I cannot hold all of this life, and I was never meant to, but I catch my moments when I can. That crooked smile of contentment, that chubby arm around my neck, that face buried soft in mine. Moments turn into days, and days fly by quick as autumn’s leaves.

The seasons shift and you shape into the boy you will be, the boy with a heart of a bear, and I pray for strength in all this shape-shifting. You will outgrow my arms and one day I may fit in yours, and that is the pain and joy of mothering a son; that is the reality we share.

Know that my arms will always be open and my prayers will always be fierce and my strength will never be enough, but His will be and we will both tumble into that. 

~lg

making holy

In the midst of the day, the noon of it all, the pressing in walls

I make a space

I make it holy

I turn the chair

Away from the mess, the ever unfinished busyness

I turn toward the window

To a horizon deep and wide

I set this place apart

I set my eyes and heart above

I turn the page

And let the Word wash over the mess

(The only housecleaning I may get to today)

It sets me apart

It makes me holy

Fills all this space

Till I turn and turn and turn

And everything is horizon

And everything is holy

~lg

When you don't know how to pray

When you don’t know how to pray. . .

Tears can be prayers, dripping from a bruised and smoldering heart, silent messages collected in His bottle. He knows the language of tears.

Groans can be prayers, too deep for words, yet the Spirit sighs along with you, and He knows the mind of God, the will of God, and intercedes for His purpose. He doesn’t need words to know your heart.

Drops of blood can be prayers, the stress and the sacrifice, laid on the altar before the Priest who ever lives and pleads for you. Because of His pain, yours is lifted to the Father in perfect intercession.

When you don’t know how to pray, there is One who does, One who is praying right along with you. You can have peace that surpasses understanding, knowing it is not your words and your work that matter, but His Word and His Work.

When you don’t know how to pray, pray past the how and into the Who – He hears.

~lg

Real Life

Don’t be afraid. This is not something other than ordinary life. This is ordinary life as it is meant to be. This is breathing, this is walking with the Spirit. This is living and moving and being in a new way. It is a new way of living in the world – your world.

First, it is seeing your world in a whole new way – through eyes of faith and hope and love; through the eyes of a gracious, glorious Father and a relentlessly redemptive Son and a holy, whole-life-giving Spirit.

Then, it is imagining your world in a whole new way – through seeking the kingdom and righteousness first; through praying “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” on earth, yes, my little piece of earth.

Finally, it is recreating your world in a whole new way – through the surprising and satisfying partnership of Creator and created; through each step, in step, with Him till you become Him, His nail-pierced feet bringing beautiful news.

Don’t be afraid! This is what you were meant for. This is what your heart longs for when it beats with His. This is your world – your family, your relationships, your home, your community, your career, your life. This is His life breathed into all of that ordinariness, and you, caught up in the current. This is real life. 

~lg

a thousand tongues

Oh Holy One, how can I best gather up your praise? How can I tell the wonders of your beauty, the myriad of ways you show a glimpse of your face? In the smooth, wooden blocks my daughter stacks so carefully, in the play of shadow and light on the living room floor, in the rustle of summer foliage outside the window, in the soft, spicy sweetness of a cookie baked with kindness. This very room is bursting with goodness. You are worthy of praise in all these things, for You are the Giver of all good things. 

In the great and in the small, You are found by the seeking heart, the sensitive eye. You have filed up the earth, yet we walk around empty handed because our capacity is so limited. Give us larger vessels! Give us wider eyes! Give us open hands! 

Your kindness is everywhere - let it soften us into repentance, repentance for all the ways we ignore and limit You, the ways we adore and imitate other gods instead of the only Good there is. 

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise! Oh, for a thousand ears to hear the mighty chorus sung by all the living! 

Oh, for one, undivided heart to seek and find and worship You!

~lg