settled

      Whenever I forget how much God loves me, I scramble around trying to earn a safe place in the people and things around me. As soon as I remember again, I’m settled.

“Big Nutbrown Hare settled Little Nutbrown Hare into his bed of leaves. He leaned over and kissed him goodnight.  Then he lay down close by and whispered . . . , ‘I love you right up to the moon – and back.’” From a child’s tale by Sam McBratney

“For high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness. . . .” Psalm 103:11

sad is bad?

      In a fast-paced, efficient, can-do world, it’s easy to get the idea that sad is bad.  No wonder we need permission (and a lot of courage) to feel deeply.

“Jesus wept.” John 11:35

“It’s alright, darlin’.  You go ahead and cry.” Sarah Ann to me

above and beyond

      Today’s problems and pressures and pain feel a lot lighter when you remember to look above and beyond.

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. . . . The things we can see are only temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“Let me not go forth to my work believing only in the world of sense and time, but give me grace to understand that the world I cannot see or touch is the most real world of all.” John Baillie

finding good

      It’s easy, especially with the people closest to you, to get into the habit of finding fault.  Finding good might be a far more fruitful (and enjoyable) habit to cultivate.

“Instead of looking at the areas in which our fellow-creatures give us pain, we will look at their love and their kindness until we are astonished at it and at our own blindness which could not see it before.” Priscilla Maurice

“[E]ncourage each other and build each other up. . . .” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

like a grieving mother

      When you start to see how wounded you really are, you start to see how God really feels about you.

“God, in [His] compassion, enters like a grieving mother into conversation with those who know themselves as wounded. . . .” Belden Lane

“In all their trouble and distress, He was troubled and distressed. . . . [I]n His compassion, He . . . carried them. . . .” Isaiah 63:9

other goals

      If your main goal today were to love more, all your other goals would probably either wander away or fall into their proper places.

“The true proficiency of the soul consists not so much in deep thinking or eloquent speaking . . . as in much and warm loving.” Teresa of Avila

“The commandment we have from Him is this: that the one who loves God love his brother, too.” 1 John 4:21