[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbMYzdjuBs&w=420&h=315]
I’ve talked with and heard from several friends in the past week about how God is beginning to rock their worlds. In a good way :-).
Aha! moments are happening to people I know and love left and right and it’s thrilling! It’s kind of like watching a flower blooming. Each petal slowly opening up to the light of the sunshine, each one drinking in the warmth and encouraging the next petal to come out as well. And as the opening progresses, the flower becomes more and more what it was meant to be – beautiful and in full bloom. This is what I am having the unspeakable privilege of seeing happen in these people. Their petals are opening – a new beauty is exposed as the make themselves more and more accessible to the Light. To Jesus.
What’s really fun to watch is when they begin to notice it in themselves and are almost surprised, but are also a little bit giddy when they see something they hadn’t seen before. When they experience something they had never experienced. When they begin to “hear” that still, small voice of God in their ear, wooing them to Himself. When they sense His clear direction.
For some it’s just been asking about God for the first time and becoming vulnerable and open to spiritual things. For others it’s about learning to enjoy just spending time with God, not out of obligation but out of desire. Others who’ve been hurt in the past are regaining their faith and are taking steps toward healing. Appropriate grieving that never took place that is now being recognized and worked with. And in every instance, petals are opening, the Son is shining in and flowers are growing and blooming right before my eyes. A spectacular view!
In the past few weeks I’ve talked to two women who have lost adult children in the past year. This will be a difficult Christmas for them and their families. But in talking with them, I also see a bud of new life beginning to open in them. Jesus is holding them close and is using the people around them to show His love. There are things growing even out of the dirt and grime of tragedy – a depth of love and appreciation for life that can only come when one has experienced and tasted death. Nothing is taken for granted. Their eyes see things that others would miss. Their hearts feel things that others would gloss over. A new flower has begun to bloom.
I pray the same for the families of Connecticut who have endured the most indescribable loss. That Jesus and His love would become so obvious to each of them through the lives of those who are caring for, writing to, and loving them. I pray that instead of withering, they would soon feel the warmth of the Son again and see new growth, opening petals and a beauty so breathtaking that there is no mistaking who the Gardener is.
Colossians 1:9-10 – For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthyof the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…
Philippians 1:6 – being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I Corinthians 3:7 – It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
