Love, Lo

.2013.

My New Years resolutions are simple this year: to serve, make rest a priority & enjoy God. I’ve really felt that this is a year of simply focusing on & enjoying God in everything I do. Brother Lawrence said this on his enjoyment of he presence of God in the every day: “The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees.” In the season previous to this I worked at an elderly care facility and was having a discussion with one of my friends about being in the process. I knew the elderly care facility wasn’t the fulness of what God had for me, but I had found joy in that job. I had learned in that season that no job was too big or too small if you have the presence of God with you. It’s a lesson I no doubt am still in the process of, but expect to grow in leaps & bounds this year. May your 2013 be full of His presence, peace, and joy. Love, Lo

.nochebuena.

In Spanish Christmas eve is translated “Nochebuena”, which directly translates to “the good night.”  And what a good night it was!

God’s been really speaking to me through Isaiah 9 this Christmas season.  This beautiful prophecy of our savior to come:

²  The people who walk in darkness
    will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,^[c]
    a light will shine.
³ You will enlarge the nation of Israel,
    and its people will rejoice.
They will rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest
    and like warriors dividing the plunder.
⁴ For you will break the yoke of their slavery
    and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
    just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
⁵ The boots of the warrior
    and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
    They will be fuel for the fire.

⁶ For a child is born to us,
    a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
    And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor,^[d] Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ His government and its peace
    will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
    for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen!

Light & Xmas & Advent

Because of our God’s deep compassion, the dawn from heaven will break upon us, to give light to those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide us on the path of peace.” (Luke 1:78, 79 CEB)

That’s my Jesus. He is light and peace and so much more. Ive loved the Christmas season since I was little thanks to parents who taught me about what it was really about without being Religous.

I’ll never forget the day that I realized that Santa’s letter was written in my Dad’s distinctive handwriting, but the magic didn’t end there because I was raised in a home where giving generously was a core value.

And as I’ve gotten older each year I delight more in the giving. Although I do love a thoughtful gift!

But each year that I’ve grown in relationship and with depth & intimacy with Him, and as I encounter His love more deeply, I really hunger around this time of year to fully know Christ. I long to search Him out. So this year, I’m celebrating an extended advent. Where each night I don’t want to go to bed until Im sure that day that I know Him more. It’s an advent that starts before advent and hopefully will never end.

And that’s what brought me to this verse tonight. He’s my light and my peace. The dawn from heaven that has broken upon me.

I also learned tonight that Xmas is not irreverent or the worlds attempt to cross the Christ out of Christmas, but X is the first letter of Christ in the Greek alphabet. It’s just a little abbreviation, and I’m pretty sure Jesus wouldnt be opposed to a little nickname now and then.

Linguistics aside, I pray that this would be a season where the dawn breaks upon you & you fully know His peace.

.every.morning.

I woke up this morning with unshakeable confidence. I believe
In the promises that God has spoken over my life.

There are times when it could be easy for me or others to doubt or question what God has said He is going to do in my life.

But I believe Him. I believe his promises. Even on a bad day when I am living in the tension of not yet or yet to come I know in my spirit that His word does not change.

Something really cool happened the other day. Someone said something to me like “this hasn’t happened in your life yet because of this…” And God in his radical goodness erased it from my memory. Not the fact that someone said something to me that was the opposite of the truth He’s spoken over me, but the actual untruth. To this moment i can remember a person saying something but have no idea what they said. It’s because He loves me and wants Me to have tunnel vision of His promises. It’s His beautiful mercy and His amazing covering.

I’m learning so much about His mercy in the way that He loves me so well. I can’t but help to think of this passage:

The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him. (Lamentations 3:22-25 NASB)

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I love this quote by Mark Chirona that I heard at a conference earlier this year. I found it a few days ago, and it’s had me pondering again what it means to be a leader, and what it means to be someone who is creative, and how those two things combine be so powerful. I’ve been pondering lately how to be the most effective Lora I can be. I want to be a blessing to the world, and part of that is continuing to walk into my dreams and let my creativity invade every area of my life. Being yourself is a beautiful thing. We all should do it more often.

.mermaid.summers.

{A little exercise I wrote in college…}

I am in my backyard in the middle of the summer.  I have just eaten a lunch of the cherry tomatoes that we have an abundance of in our backyard vegetable garden.  I am swimming in the cool blue waters of our above the ground pool that saves me and my brother from the ninety degree heat and the sixty percent humidity.  As I swim around in circles with limited room, I begin to get bored, as one does when they swim around in circles repetitively.

 I am wearing my neon-yellow swimsuit with the beautiful silver polka-dots, and it is perfect for my new occupation.  I am now not just a little girl swimming in a pool, but an experienced dolphin trainer.  As I leap around the pool in the backyard, I give my orders and signals to the trainees of my imagination.  But this does not leave me busy for long. 

Instantly I transform into a mermaid.  I take my pony-tail out of my hair and let it float freely behind me as I see how long I can stay under water.  Mermaids can stay under for as long as they want, so when I come to the surface, it is only because I want to see what is going on, and not because I need a breath of air.  With my legs together in the shape of a tail, I swim freely in my under water kingdom.

It is here in the summer’s of my youth that I can be exactly who I want to be.  My imagination has become my ability to dream and change and develop my identity.  It is where I have learned to write my future and my history.

.honor.

I’ve been reading a delightfully charming book calledI Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reaganwritten by Nancy Reagan the past few days.  It is a memoir of their life and relationship together, and it’s a simple, yet charming, REAL (take that Twilight!)  old fashioned love story.  I highly recommend it. 

Today I was reading a part where Reagan starts to move into his political career, and this particular situation and his response to what happened made me think about honor.  Nancy was telling stories of some tough encounters with  young people and students he began to face as he moved into the political realm, and tells this one:

“Another time, a student accused him of being out of touch.  ‘You grew up in a different world,’ the student said.  ‘Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, nuclear energy, computers…’

‘You’re right,’ Ronnie answered. ‘It’s true that we didn’t have those things when we were young.  We invented them.’”

How often in our lives do we respond out of passion and naivety to those that have gone before us.  We may not agree with everything that they say and do, but we cannot deny that most of the time we are able to do the things that we do because we are riding on the wave that the generation before us has created.  In our desire to do something valuable we sometimes we forget this.  In our desire to start our own wave, we forget that they were the ones who told us that a swell was coming, and that they were the ones who originally taught us how to ride a wave.

I believe that we honor those who have gone before us, that we will be able to build on what they have taught us.  That we will be able to take the simple lesson of riding a wave, and come up with new and creative wave riding techniques.  That because of the waves they have chosen to ride both good and bad, we will be able to better distinguish what waves we choose to ride, and what waves will most be a benefit to the world around us.

May we respond in wisdom and honor to those that have ridden before us.

sweetness.

(photo cred.)

.remember.

This is one of my favorite places to walk with God the past five years.  It’s almost like He expects it when I make my way there.  He begins to speak to me on the way over, and sometimes He is just there.  Sometimes He just wants to hang out and not say anything, and I am okay with that.

I walked here a few nights ago, and the whole time I was there He just reminded me who I was. He reminded me that walking with Him is pretty much the best thing ever. Sometimes it takes a familiar place to be reminded of everything God has done.  We have history here, and I needed to be reminded of it.  It doesn’t stop me from creating history with God wherever I go, but sometimes places are monuments and reminders of what God has done, and what He longs to continue to do in us and through us, and I always want to celebrate that and thank Him for what He has done.

The redemptive thing about feeling pain is that you know in the end it means that you are very much alive, and if you seek God in the process of it, it’s highly likely that your capacity to love will grow.

.an honest letter/prayer/conversation.

Dear God,

I don’t really understand this season.  I mean, it’s probably one of the most confusing I’ve ever had.  Not bad.  Just confusing.  I’m starting to realize that I probably won’t understand it…& that’s okay.

Because the truth is that You are good.  No matter what.  And Your mercies are new every morning.  So the fact that I get fresh mercy every morning means that understanding isn’t as necessary as i thought. Every day is a new day.

I think that in not necessarily understanding the season I’m in you’re drawing me back into simplicity.  Seek You.  Love You.  Draw near to You.  Experience Your love. Love the one in front of me.  Such a simple, yet deep process.  One that I am still learning about every day. 

Routine can become religion, but sometimes it just helps bring one back to the simplicity of love.

Love,
Lo