Summer Beauty: A Call to Keep Company

How can so much beauty exist all around us? Every season has it's own beauty; each one unique, calling us to draw up close and to enter fully. 

Could it be that summer's vibrant colors and shapes and textures, are created just for us to enjoy? Calling us to pause our busyness, lean in close, and to be filled. When what we see is so beautiful, it slows us. And refreshes us in the deepest ways. And it's hard to pull away.

Maybe all of this beauty is primarily meant to call us to lean in close. To Him, our Creator, the One who loves us and longs for our love, for our company.

Do we pause long enough to hear His whispers ... 

Come to Me.

Keep company with Me.

There is beauty all around, calling us.

Calling us to intentionally slow our pace.

To keep company with a Person.

A Person who desires to walk with us, and work with us, and wants to live His life through us. A Person who died for us, and who rose for us to know Him. He is longing for us to depend on Him, trust Him, live freely and lightly with Him.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?

Come to Me. Get away with Me and you'll recover your life.

I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with Me and work with Me - watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with Me 

and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

(Matthew 11:28-30 MSG)

Above all else this summer, may we pause and listen to His Word, His gifts of beauty, and open our eyes and our hearts to all the ways that He wants to give us rest and grace. 

Deepening Our Roots

Spring is a time for fresh beginnings and new growth. Coming out of a long and cold winter, though winter can be lovely in its own way, I am often longing for new growth, for a freshness in my soul. As our garden spots, our trees, and our grass take on a new life, so my soul thirsts for new life, as well.

O God, You are my God,

earnestly I seek You;

my soul thirsts for You,

my body longs for You

in a dry and weary land

where there is no water.

(Psalm 63:1 NIV)

This new life and fresh start in our gardens, in the plants on our deck, often finds its beginnings quietly, and mostly hidden from sight. For as we plant, we need much patience; patience to wait for the nourishing rains and the life-giving rays of sunlight to strengthen the roots of our new plants. It really is a beautiful thing. We put our love and best efforts into planting the seeds or the small plants from the nursery. And then we wait ... 

The roots need to strengthen and reach deep for the nutrients. Soaking up the rain and the sun. Without strong roots, the plants will not be able to endure. And the plants will not blossom and bear fruit.

The same is true for my heart, for my soul, and for yours, as well. Our roots need to be strengthened and nurtured. My heart and my soul need gentle, nourishing care. Each day. We need to pull away to connect with our Creator. To pause our busyness, quiet our hearts in the midst of a busy life and world; pausing and listening to hear His voice; to read His Words, and to let them soak deeply into our hearts and souls. 

Find a quiet, secluded place -

Just be there as simply and honestly 

as you can manage.

The focus will shift from you to God,

and you will begin to sense His grace.

(Matthew 6:6 MSG)

Pausing, retreating from our busyness. Listening, reading His Words. And as the days go by, this soaking up of His Words, of His Love, will fill us with all that we long for. We will be filled up with His love, presence, wisdom, and joy ... and this will overflow from us, spreading beauty and love to those around us. 

Let your roots grow down into Him,

and let your lives be built on Him.

Then your faith will grow strong

in the truth you were taught,

and you will overflow with

thankfulness.

(Colossians 2:7 NLT)

Lord, may my life be a rhythm of serving and loving others, of joining You in Your work ... and above all, of pausing, retreating to the quiet place where I can hear Your whispers more clearly. Where Your truth and Your love can nourish my roots, my heart, strengthening me in every way. 

For You are the One

who nurtures our souls so that

we blossom, flourish, and thrive.

(Whispers and Wildflowers)

Above All Else: Jesus Over Everything

What does it look like to put Jesus first, over everything else? Though that is our desire, it's helpful to be challenged and encouraged with fresh thoughts and perspectives on how to live out this desire. 

Just what could it look like for me? For you? To have Jesus first? Above everything. For each of us, it could look differently, for we are each created uniquely. I love Lisa Whittle's description of life lived in this way:

 "A Jesus-over-everything lifestyle is a 

Jesus-take-over-me-and-my-lifestyle 

so that I don't ruin my one precious life. 

It is the understanding that the 

priority of Jesus brings order to 

the chaos of our lives, 

a job only God is big enough to do."

This highest desire surely calls for us to make intentional daily choices, moment-by-moment choices, a life-time of choices. We cannot coast along and follow the crowd, and expect to live out the high calling of putting Jesus first, over everything.

Some of the choices that I have learned and also continue to learn:

* Making it a priority to immerse myself in His Word, in His Truth. Reading His Words not to be able to check it off my list each day, but with a longing and a deep heart desire to listen closely and to learn from Him. There are so many voices calling for our attention, more and more each year, and it is of utmost importance to keep our minds grounded in what is true. And the source of real Truth is in God's Word.

* Watching closely over my own heart. My heart is key. Pouring out my heart to Jesus is so important. My heart, my thoughts, need to be in right relationship with Jesus. There are so many emotions connected to being a wife, mother, grama, grams, and also sister and friend. And it is critical for me to bring my thoughts, my heart, full of emotions, concerns, needs, to Jesus continually. Is it the same for you? For me, my main way to communicate all that happens in my heart is through writing my words on a page, written as prayers in a devo journal. This relationship with Jesus is key. For everything flows from the heart.

* Choosing to honor Sabbath Rest, a gift that Jesus modeled while on earth, and also has given to us, even today, for our good. This may look different for each of us. A few hours tucked into a busy week, or as my hubby and I have chosen to do in this season of retirement life, setting aside one day a week for true Sabbath Rest. This happens on most Saturdays for us. This is a gift, a day of refreshment, primarily a time of quiet, slowing down, pausing from our busy lives (yes, even in retirement) to rest, to listen closely, and to learn from Him more deeply. This is probably our favorite day of the week. 

These are just a few of the ways that I am continually being challenged and encouraged in, making intentional choices in keeping Jesus above all else during our daily living. Choices that grow sweeter with each passing year.

We all in our own individual living can find ways "to organize all of your life around the practice of the presence of God, to work and rest and play and eat and drink and hang out with your friends and run errands and catch up on the news, all out of a place of deep, loving enjoyment of the Father's company." (From The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer.)

We have been given the most priceless, incredible gift of His love, His forgiveness, His very presence with us.

Yet through His powerful declaration of acquittal,

God freely gives away His righteousness.

His gift of love and favor now cascades over us,

all because Jesus, the Anointed One,

has liberated us from the guilt, punishment, 

and power of sin.

(Romans 3:24 The Passion Translation) 

___________

Thanks for reading along as I process through the books I read and the time spent reading His Word, learning and growing towards a life of putting Jesus first, above all else, over everything. And thankful for His Spirit within, speaking Truth to us, as we listen and follow. The life we are made for, the best kind of living!