Friday Night
Dinner at Luna’s
My Mother
Mother & Daughter – June 16, 1986
I love you Mother for your quiet grace,
For that dear smile upon your kindly face,
For marks of toil upon each loving hand,
That worked for me ere I could understand;
For all time’s touches on your hair and brow,
For never were you quite so dear as now;
…
-Clara Simpson, “My Mother”
For that dear smile upon your kindly face,
For marks of toil upon each loving hand,
That worked for me ere I could understand;
For all time’s touches on your hair and brow,
For never were you quite so dear as now;
…
-Clara Simpson, “My Mother”
Sisters
Longing
“Let not our longing slay our appetite for living.”
-Jim Elliot
love them like Jesus
. … . You’re holding their hand, you’re straining for words
You’re trying to make sense of it all
They’re desperate for hope, darkness clouding their view
They’re looking to you
Just love them like Jesus, carry them to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don’t need the answers to all of life’s questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus
Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands
The Rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands
He cares for them just as He cares for you
So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus
You don’t need the answers to all of life’s questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus
Love them like Jesus
– casting crowns, “love them like Jesus”
. … .
What do you do when someone comes to you with a burden too big for you to deal with?
Love them the way Jesus would, the way Jesus does.
How do you try to comfort someone who is hurting with a pain that crushes?
Love them the way Jesus would, the way Jesus does.
I do not have all the answers to your questions. My shoulder cannot hold all of your tears. I am not strong enough to carry your burden.
With God’s help, I can love you. Love you like Jesus would, like Jesus does.
post script: The best part of “loving like Jesus”, is that you can share in the joy of the ones you are loving.
The Source of Love
P4140023ismall, originally uploaded by Lizi Beth.
“The springs of love are in God, not in us.”
– oswald chambers, my utmost, april 30
– oswald chambers, my utmost, april 30
A Wedding
Today was a big day.
A wonderful day, full of joy, and yet bittersweet.
Eric married my neighbor Deann.
Her mom, Eric’s parents, two other very dedicated and loving relatives and I, decorated the hall and yard this morning. We arrived at 7 am, and were finished by 10:30 (no, we weren’t experienced, just frantic).
Gayle (the bride’s mom) was a little stressed, but enjoying every minute. Gayle loves stress, thrives on it. Deann, on the other hand, does not! But it was okay. She made it until 5:30, when her dad walked his daughter down the aisle and gave her away.
The afternoon was hot, but it made the bride and groom even more radiant. The officiating minister challenged Eric and Deann to put Christ at the center of their marriage. He challenged them to love sacrificially, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her. They promised to be true to each other until death. God, grant that this may be so! May God bless them with a knowledge of His love, His love for them and for each other.
“A man should leave his father and mother, and be forever united to his wife. The two shall become one – no longer two, but one! And no man may divorce what God has joined together.”
– Matthew 19:5-6 (Living Translation)
a red, red rose
amazing love
All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know
…
You’re my sacrifice
Of greatest price
And still more awesome than I know
You’re the coming King
You are everything
And still more awesome than I know
More than all I want
More than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know
More than all I can say
You are more than enough for me
– Chris Tomlin, “Enough”
Love that overwhelms, and makes me to stand in awe.
Love that I have dreamed of, and yet surpasses my dreams.
Love that is more.
More than enough.
I will never learn the depths of His love for me; every now and then I may see a glimpse of the vast wonder of it, but I will never be able to fully grasp its totality.
His love is always more.
It will always be more than I can fathom.
I can rest in the security of Him.
Readiness: becoming one with our Lord
“God called unto him … And he said, ‘Here am I.'”
– Exodus 3:4
Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest little thing or the great big thing, it makes no difference. … whatever God’s program may be we are there, ready. When any duty presents itself we hear God’s voice as Our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with all the alertness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us as His Father did with Him. He can put us where He likes, in pleasant duties or in mean duties, because the union is that of the Father and Himself. “That they may be one, even as We are one.” …
The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the ready soul, it is ablaze with the presence of God.
– Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, April 18