Bubbles, Birds and Bible Stories!

 It was 8:30 in the morning as I sat on my front porch basking in the Son while soaking up the sun, my eyes catch my boy blowing bubbles, and his excitement of such simplicity at the age 14 is a gift from God.  We have learned to live in the moment taking in every experience looking for the creators handprints on all we have and do, even soapy man cub hands.  His excitement makes me excited, I whisper a thank you to God above for the simplicity of being still, and the profound gifts that come from slowing down. 

  In that moment I also  found myself thanking God  for the birds I believe he sent to my porch to sing a special song to my soul, a reminder that all is well in this season of stopping and healing for my body.  Years in the making of being OK without being about doing. 

  I open my bible, looking for a great life lesson that will resonate with my own life experiences in the moment.  I love the history, poetry, conflict, restoration and redemption that run through the ancient teachings.  Today I fell in love with the writings in Hebrews that remind me of the faith it takes to walk away from the past and into the future.  I grasp on to the ink on the page and think WOW!  I could have written these stories.  A reminder that the human heart the human condition is the same today as it was yesterday.  Those with profound faith were those willing to walk away form everything they knew and follow the spirit of the living God.  The ink speaks of true worship then and now that happens in the kitchen, prisons, streets and for me my front porch.

  I felt like my ancestors who had gone before me.  Leaving the land I had only known,  entering into a future I could not see.  As a woman who left that land a long time ago and  is not tied down to the chains of her past anymore, I have to firmly but gently remind those who love me the most not hold my past against me, even if they are only joking.  “Do not send me back to Egypt with your words.”  The power of claiming something aloud can cause someone to allow chains around their life, I say, “NOT SO,  I will not go back.”   It is a choice and I say “do not even joke about who I use to be, do not treat me like I have not been healed and set free!”

  The best part about not living in the past is the freedom to speak my truth in love to others and ask them to stop.  God is good and He is about setting us free.  I do not think the people in my life who love me the most intentionally go out to put me back into prison but that is the power of  spoken words.  So with gentle thoughtful intentions, I must commit to myself to think before I speak, knowing that I too can carelessly send people back to Egypt with the words spoken from my mouth.

  Today I thank God for the freedom that came with “it is finished.”  I thank God for early morning moments on the front porch with my boy, bubbles, birds and bible stories.

Cris

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Challenge:

Just for today, can you look for HIS hand in the simple spots in your life?  
Can you be still long enough to navigate through your own noise and know His voice?  

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