Surrendering completely to love, be it human or divine, means giving up everything, including our own well-being or our ability to make decisions. It means loving in the deepest sense of the word. The truth is that we don’t want to be saved in the way God has chosen; we want to keep absolute control over our every step, to be fully conscious of our decisions, to be capable of choosing the object of our devotion. – Paulo Coelho
Leave outcomes up to me. Follow Me wherever I lead, without worrying about how it will all turn out. Think of your life as an adventure, with Me as your guide and companion. Live in the now, concentrating on staying in step with Me. When our path leads to a cliff, be willing to climb it with My help. When we come to a resting place, take time to be refreshed in My presence. Enjoy the rhythm of life lived close to Me.
You already know the ultimate destination of your journey: your entrance into heaven. So keep your focus on the path just before you, leaving outcomes up to Me.
Psalm 27: 13-14; Exodus 15:13
Writing Small Stones is just downright good!
A tiny song within a thoughtful poem of well-placed words
strung together like a ribbon of twinkle lights
calling us to the party –
there will be dancing
There are good days and bad days. We all have them. Why do some days flow better than others? We have our routines we follow most of the time, yet some days, things just don’t work. Some days are good hair days and some days we feel like we want to crawl out of our own skin.
It is our challenge to look for the good in our toughest moments. The days of car accidents, heels breaking, broken hearts or broken bodies. There is ALWAYS something good to find – IF we look for it. Our attitude is one of the few things in life we can control, it is the most important tool we have. When we decide we want a happy life – no matter what circumstance we find ourself in – we begin to make the choices that make that possible. A bad day, or moment, is not a bad life – do not let it derail you.
We are here for a limited time. What we do with that time matters. We have no guarantee of another day, or another moment. Ben Franklin said, ‘Do not waste time, for time is the stuff that life is made of.”
What if this moment is your last? How do you want to live it? Ok, do that! Still here? Yay!!! Take a deep breath, say a prayer of thanks and realize you are blessed to get the chance to do it again!
We are celebrating freedom today. What is freedom about? It’s all about love.
For many years I struggled with my desire to know about God. Who was this God? How could I grasp Him at all? One day I was brought to realized – God is love – that’s the root definition of God. I still remember that moment in 2009! Everything else springs from this fact. Every other belief and doctrine is based on this truth. God doesn’t just want us to need Him, God wants us to love Him. We do not obey because of fear of breaking the rules and punishment. We give love freely because we are in love with the love with Him, and we give ourselves freely as we express this passion and love inside of us. This is our most important relationship, but is what we base all of our human relationship from.
That sounds simple, right? Don’t we all talk about love and know about love? I thought I did, but as I began to read, think and live from this new knowledge of God, I began to realize how little I knew about love. It has been the most challenging and mind-blowing concept I have ever found. It challenges me every minute of everyday to try to live this way. This is not about head knowledge – this is about true intimacy. This is how we change the world. Each of us are responsible to live this way and show others this unconditional, and unconventional, love. God gives us true freedom. He will never make us do anything. He offers this love freely and all He wants is for us to receive it and allow it to seep into every aspect of our life and living. He allows us to make the choices on how we live out our lives. It is never coerced. Never manipulated. Will we choose this narrow way? It is not an easy way to live, yet it leads to life, and life abundantly.
It calls for so much more than religion, more than being ‘right’, or following the ‘big-ten’. It is not about figuring everything out, but about letting it all go. Abandoning myself for a love I cannot understand in my human experience, but I do experience it – in spirit and in truth – and so I KNOW it’s true. I have found it, I have lived it, I cannot deny it. God is loveis my truth. Now I must live that truth. It is a life which is challenging in every way. It brings us to messy, dangerous and uncomfortable places. Yet, when we really understand it – it is the only way to live. I have found obedience is the least I can do for this gift – it is truly my reasonable service, and the more I live this way and find intimacy with this great and amazing love, the less I want anything else. Nothing else can satisfy.
The truth of the words, God so loved the world, MUST change us. He gave his only son, the value of my soul, of each created soul, is found in that. We are each Beloved – just as we are. This is love and it is good!
Freedom is not cheap. The cost of our country’s freedom has been great. The cost of my personal freedom has been great. The cost of our soul’s freedom has been greater still. How I express my gratitude matters. I am so blessed and so grateful. What can this poor girl give in return? All I have are love songs – and that is why I sing my love songs, as loud as possible.
The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.
– Jim Morrison
How do you feel about commitment? I used not to think about it very much, and then my whole life changed and I had to make some of the toughest decisions I could ever have to make in this world. Did my faith really matter? Did my commitment level really make a difference? You bet it did!
I just finished the book, Not a Fan, by Kyle Idleman http://www.notafan.com/ it is one of the best books I have ever read on this subject. Are you a fan or a follower? Do you understand commitment? Do you understand intimacy? Do you understand the price of being free? Do you know your value? Are you committed? To Christ? To any of your relationships?
When my whole life exploded (about 15 years ago now) and I plunged into poverty, loss, homelessness, chaos…for year after year. When I thought I had nothing left to lose and then I lost more and even more – I had a choice to make: Was I committed? What did I really want? I didn’t understand exactly that I was committing. I remember in 1990, praying, I want to be happy…and AS LONG AS I am moving in that direction…I will continue to follow God’s path. Ha Well, it certainly hasn’t been the path I expected, but I have become so in love and so consumed and so full of love, joy and peace – not because of me, but because of the Spirit of God, I have found it is my all-consuming passion to die to myself and to attempt to move out-of-the-way so I can live and love in God’s way that is sooo much more than I can ever explain!
There have been several moments when it could have gone either way for me, I stood on the edge of the decision, day after day, and made the very tough choice toward faith. It didn’t make sense to many people, there were many times when it certainly didn’t make sense to me, and during those times I would cling to the promises. I would read Psalm 37, James 1, Matthew 5-7, and daily words of encouragement, many times over and over. I would listen to music, I would walk in nature. Each time I struggled and each time I found peace, hope, grace to continue my journey with Jesus.
I have to tell you, many times God seemed silent, Jesus was just a shadowy figure who didn’t seem real or relevant, and I had to look back at the path behind me, the miracles of the past years to keep my faith alive. Many times I sat for a while and just couldn’t move any further, a few times I made desperate decisions and ended up having to deal with those decisions for many years, but every day I have continued to ask, seek and knock. My faith and my passion have grown and I want nothing else in this world than to know my creator more. To understand love so that I can share that same love with others.
In Lent, as we fast from rich, sweet foods, we fast from our rich, sweet Alleluia. On Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras, in French) an old tradition is to use up all the fat — the milk, eggs and butter in the house (usually in pancakes). And we use up all the alleluias. A liturgical tradition for this day includes burying the alleluias,carrying a small casket out of the church and interring it, as we would for someone we love. It’s a tender moment.
Use up your alleluias today. Relish the word. Walk around singing it, saying it, praying it. Rejoice in being “shriven” —having confessed and been absolved (hence another name for today, “Shrove Tuesday”) — before you enter into a season when your freedom is still being worked out. Then tonight, bury yourAlleluias. Kiss them goodbye. Wish them well. They will go down into the darkness, into the silence, to be drowned out by the moans and the cries. Let them go. They have infinite life in them. They will arise again on Easter, having seen Hell and transfigured it, and returned, singing.
But today do not worry yourself about the dark journey to come. This is the day the Lord is creating. Let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia!
life: acoustic & amplified 
