Category / LIFE

by tracycpoetry

Maker’s Never-ending Projects

I’ve heard this verse my whole life. (And I mean that literally because my earliest memories are of church and Sunday School 🤷‍♀️). 

But because of the way my day started, these words hit me in a whole new way. I have always thought of this verse as an important reminder to have my Maker’s strength, voice, and guidance as the foundation of all I do and “build” in life.

Today, though, the first thing I heard upon groggily waking was my husband saying, “It rained hard last night so I am going to walk around and check the house.”  Now, my first thought was appreciation for my husband because, not only did I not realize it rained hard last night, but I’m not great at noticing little things about the house that could become big problems like missing shingles or cracks in the concrete. (I’m probably too busy having conversations with birds and squirrels).

I began to think more my husband’s ongoing assessment and repair of small things that aren’t quite right with our home. All of these little but diligent and ongoing steps he takes to keep our home in good condition are steps toward creating the strong shelter that will be our place of safety and security for years to come. 

This made me think of the verse in Psalm 127 a bit differently. Building a house isn’t a “one and done” thing – not if you want it to last, anyway. It is an ongoing process of upkeep and assessment that will enable the home to be a beautiful sheltering oasis for generations. I mean, just look around at ever-changing creation and you can tell that our God isn’t a “one and  done” creator. He doesn’t breathe things into being and then leave them to decay. Seasons, night, day, weather, migration, and many other aspects of nature remind us that creation is a process.

This also makes me think of another one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 139:14, “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” It’s beautiful enough when you think of this verse in the context of our intitial formation and creation in our mother’s womb. But the realization that God just doesn’t “create and release” gives me chills.

Though we may not realize it, our Maker never stops making us and keeps assessing and reforming His creation.  There are many days in each of our lives when He lovingly checks us. Perhaps he is saying even now, “Life rained down pretty hard in this child yesterday. I’m seeing some cracks. Time to patch them up!”

by tracycpoetry

Grace Works

“… Until we let the Christ who consorted with hookers and crooks to be our truth, the false, fraudulent self motivated by cowardice and fear will continue to distance us from abiding restful union.” – from Brennan Manning’s writing, The Furious Longing of God. (Read it and weep…. Seriously! Reading or listening to this book will likely bring tears to your eyes as your heart grasps grace).

Have you ever tried to earn God’s favor? I know i have! So I’m lovingly saying this to both of us: STOP IT!!! (And, yes. That was intentionally bold, in italics, and all caps!). Let’s just rest. It’s time you and I stop working so hard for the unfailing love we’ve always had from our Maker God. Grace works so we don’t have to.

by tracycpoetry

Easter Egg Hunts?? Or Church All Day?? This year I’m Celebrating Resurrection a Different Way.

There’s been debate in “Christiandom” for years about whether or not good Christian parents should tell their children stories of Easter Bunnies and send them off on adventures to find hidden eggs.

Some would argue that the remembrances and celebrations of the Easter Holiday weekend should all focus on our Risen Savior and the empty tomb He left behind. “Behead the bunnies and burn the baskets!” might be their mantra.

But I would argue that a single day – or even an entire Lenten season – cannot adequately celebrate our Risen Redeemer – whether filled with chocolate bunnies or fervent fasting. You see, the whole point of that ancient crucifixion and resurrection of our Serving Savior was not for focus to be fixed on an empty tomb or for feasting on baskets full of candy.

The point of the God becoming man, dying, and rising was not to create an empty tomb for generations of faithful pilgrims to gaze into – as awe-inspiring as that may be. The beauty of what these over-crowded Easter Sunday services are trying to Celebrate is so much more than one day and a family dinner. Rather, the true Resurrection Celebration is the sudden and sustained appearance of the light of hope and life in the eyes of a person who had previously been daily trudging through a living death of hopelessness.

So eat that Easter Candy if you want to. Go to church and slice the ham. But you are only witnessing a true Resurrection Celebration when you can daily look into eyes and see a changed life.

For me, this Easter weekend was one of my best yet. I shared the weekend with a dear friend who has navigated through very similar life struggles as me. As we hiked some beautiful West Virginia trails and spoke of strong and confident personal and professional steps we would have never taken in prior years, we realized the very lives we are leading are a beautiful resurrection story.

And the weekend was summed up with a beautiful reminder of this at the close of the service of a little church we visited in West Virginia today. Unlike the larger highly-produced church services many of us experience these days, this one was small and intimate – opening with the pastor querying the entire congregation for any prayer requests and closing by asking if there was anything else on their hearts. It wasn’t focused on a celebrity-style preacher but on the simplicity of God’s love poured out on all the people as they ministered to one another. And it was that sweet atmosphere that provided the freedom for a woman near the back of the church to stand at the close of service and say, “I know He’s alive because He Lives in me!“.

And that – the unending and uninhibited passionate spark of a changed life – is way better than an Easter basket or a sunrise service.

So, not just happy Easter to you. Our Father designed us for more than just an occasional celebratory day.

Happy Resurrection Lifestyle!

Growing with you in Him,

by tracycpoetry

You Can Go to Sleep Now: God’s Awake

When I would wake up with nightmares as a little girl, Mom would comfort me by singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”. And that fact she sang over me all those years ago still allows me to sleep peacefully even during some of the most seemingly uncertain chapters of life.

“And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” – Colossians‬ ‭1:17‬

by tracycpoetry

True Worship

These thoughts began early on a Sunday morning:

So many religions, churches, denominations…

Perhaps in the end, the truest and purest worship (and life, love, and everything else) is simply about connecting to our Maker…

TOGETHER.

simple beau inst

“In HIM we live and move and have our being….” – Acts 14:28

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – ‭John‬ ‭4:24‬

20638757_10155754074493291_5271412271555592015_n“Your prayers and gifts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God [an offering made in remembrance of His past blessings].” –Acts 10:4b AMP (Amplified Version)

by tracycpoetry

The Gift of Tears

God collects the tears of the hurting (see Psalm 56:8) and weeps with those who weep (see John 11:33-35). And nothing is quite as beautiful as when His people do the same….. very rare and completely counter-cultural in a society that avoids pain and idolizes comfort…. but beautiful. May we have our #FathersHeart toward the hurting. Sometimes it is OK to weep with them and be present in their pain rather than sing the same old #PressOnAndBeStrong song.

by tracycpoetry

Never Too Late to Get Back On Track

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬