yoke

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)

If I am tired and weary, could it be because I am not listening to the voice of the One who says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”?  Could it be because I am not wearing His yoke, which is easy, and carrying His burden, which is light?  And if I’m not wearing the yoke of Jesus, and carrying his burden, then whose yoke am I wearing and what burdens am I carrying?  Could it be that I and weary and burdened because I am wearing the yoke and carrying the burdens of someone other than 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)

christmas blessings

“How great is his mercy, how divine his goodness, for he has torn everything from us in order that we may be more completely his.  So the sufferers are the happy ones through the goodness of God.  In suffering I give thanks.  May these days of Christmas festival bring you, in your suffering, I do not say consolation, but the blessings God intends for you.” ―Meditations of a Hermit by Charles de Foucauld

why do i pray 

for consolation

when it is suffering

that holds the 

greater blessing

good

if God is good

he’s good all the time

as long as everything

goes according to plan

we have no problem

trusting and thanking him

but the minute things go awry

trust disappears and faith fails

our belief in his goodness

turns into anger, frustration

and demandingness

if God is good

he’s good all the time

not just when things go our way

his goodness and his love are

big enough and durable enough

to sustain us whatever the circumstance

the thorn

if not for the struggle

i would never know the joy

if not for the weakness

i would never know your strength

if not for the stretching

i would never know the growth

if not for the groaning

i would never know the hope

if not for my insufficiency

i would never know your sufficiency

if not for the thorn

i would never know your grace

thank you for the thorn

 

sprout

“In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line.” (Jeremiah 33:15)

Sometimes how you show up can be nearly as important as if you show up.  That’s definitely the case with the Nativity.  The fact that God chose to come into the world he created is mind-blowing enough, but when you couple that with how he chose to come into that world, it’s even more amazing.  For he came into his world as a sprout.

It was not a big, splashy, showy entrance, but one that was meek and humble and subtle and hidden.  A sprout is kind of that way.  It is small and intimate and hardly noticeable.  You probably would not even see it if you weren’t looking carefully for it, particularly at the beginning.  A sprout is also weak and vulnerable and dependent.  It is connected to and rooted in something deep and life-sustaining.  A sprout is not something that happens fast, but something that takes time and space to grow into all it is to become.  Thus, sprouting into a Branch is a long, slow process. 

That is how the Almighty God chose to enter his creation: through the womb of a poor teenage girl, in an out-of-the-way stable, in the tiny town of Bethlehem, with the only onlookers being a few shepherds and some weary travelers.  On top of that, he spent the next thirty years in virtual anonymity before he ever stepped into the limelight.  He took time to deeply know the place and the people he was coming to.  Knowing and being known must have been very important to him.  Therefore, it should be important to us as well.

If that’s how God chose to come into our world, maybe we should do the same.  Maybe we should be more like him.  Maybe we too should show up in humility and meekness and hiddenness.  Maybe we too should show up in weakness and dependence and vulnerability.  Maybe we should plant our feet in a place and walk around for a while.  Maybe we should get to know people deeply and well.  Maybe we should walk and work side-by-side with them and get our hands dirty.  Maybe we should be so intimately connected with our God that we would begin to care about the things he cares about and love the things he loves.  Maybe we should be just a sprout, like him.

Lord Jesus, help me to be a sprout, just like you.  Help me to come like you came, to live like you lived, and to love like you loved.

prepare the way

“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” (Mt. 3:3) 

That’s what this season is all about.  Thus, each of us must do some soul-searching, some praying, and some seeking if we ever want to figure out what this needs to look like in our lives.

The truth that both Isaiah and John the Baptist proclaimed was that “the Messiah is coming, so you’d better get ready.”  Therefore, each one of us must invest some time and space figuring out just how to make the paths straight for his entrance, both within us and among us.  Otherwise, when he comes there will be no room for him in our souls, the same way there was no room for him in the inn. 

Prepare the way, O Lord, both within us and among us, for your entry into our hearts and our world.

too much

too many words

too much talking

too much doing

too much toil

too much worry

too little silence

too little listening

too little being

too little resting

too little peace

too little enjoying you

too little enjoying

you enjoying me