• Home
  • My Story
  • Bookish
  • Christian Teaching
  • Thoughts
  • Food For Thought
  • Kim Chronicles
Lilies from Heaven

What is love?

7/29/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
This little person is easy to love most of the time.  I am not as in love with him when he bites.  And he bites a few too many times for my liking.  Despite repeated attempts at punishment to get him to stop, he bites as a means of communication.  He bites when he is hungry, thirsty, or tired.  Love bites.  

I am not thinking about love when he bites.  I am thinking about how to get him to stop that.  

But love does this amazing thing.  Love bears all things.  It's stego in the Greek, a thatch roof.

Love is a roof.  What does a roof do?  It absorbs storms when the weather takes a turn for the worst.

Love bears all things - like a roof bears wind and rain.  Love willingly carries one another's burdens. 

How does a mother continue to do that in the rainstorms of missed homework, a full time job, a husband, learning struggles, bedtime angst, childhood fears.

They just need me to love them.  

Christ's love carries the burdens that sets us all free.

Love bends and unfolds itself around others like a roof.  This is love.

And often, when I have thought about how much God loves us, those moments of bearing one another are not even painful. They are beautifully weightless. 

It's not always a bite


0 Comments

Which 'C' do you want?

7/23/2012

0 Comments

 
I have been thinking about sin these days.  Sin makes me angry.  

I am angry at those around me who think they are above everyone else.  That is the sin of pride.

I am angry at sin that physically harms children.  It makes me want to run back to Canada.  (I think this is a safe place but maybe it's not.)

I am angry at sin that smothers children.  

I am angry at selfishness that steals human dignity and apathy that infects the heart of the comfortable.

I am angry at myself.

I am angry at how much I want 'c'omfortable way more than I want 'C'hrist.

I am settling for the small 'c' when the big 'C' is the one that will really bring me joy.  

I sponsor children through Compassion International and through the Nazarene Church.  Why is it so hard to really see the poor?  I want to be the big 'C' for them.  

I get covered in comfort.  I get way too comfortable.  

I need to put on some new clothes.  I need to stop wearing my well worn coats, pants, and shirts.  I need to put on I think of Job saying "justice was my robe and turban" (Job 29:14).  

In the family of Christ, we wear justice for the poor.  In the body of Christ, our lives should be clothed in caring like are bodies are covered in clothing.

I need to change my clothes.  I need to do whatever it takes to get my heart to stay with the poor.  

I need to change my clothes.
0 Comments

Hopes and Dreams

7/22/2012

0 Comments

 
I had big dreams as a child and as a teenager.  It was a rather long list of things that I wanted to do.  Be a teacher, a wife, a mother, a journalist, a writer, a missionary, a photographer, an artist, and, of course, a cook.  (I still love messing around in the kitchen).

Most people have big dreams, big hopes for the future. The question is do our dreams match up with God's dreams?  I would like to suggest that we cannot dream big enough and match what God has intended for our lives.

Many people have the dream of climbing higher in society, having more.  God's dreams are about giving more.  What we might gain will not make as happy as what we could give away.

Many people have dreams to become somebody.  To become a someone.  God dreams are about being bread for anyone in need because they love Him. 

Many people have dreams about climbing out of their current lives, getting out of or away from their burdens.  God's dreams are about carrying a cross and sharing those burdens.  

It's funny.  My dreams have been stepping stones to what God intended for me.  I am all of those people listed above.  I am a teacher, a wife, a mother, a journalist/writer, a missionary, a photographer, an artist, and a cook.  All of these done under the leading of the Holy Spirit have led to make connections with others, with God, and have, ultimately, healed me in  different ways.  

My dreams were too small.  I was too small without Him.  I was without hope.  With Him, I can enter fullness of joy.


0 Comments

Compassion

7/17/2012

0 Comments

 
Have you ever thought about what it means to be "moved with compassion"?  That phrase is thrown around a lot lately.  Is it extreme kindness, a desire to love, or a hope for a better life for someone?

It is used in the Bible.  It is only spoken of in Scripture in regards to Christ and our Father.  It's "splangchnisomai" in the Greek.  It's what we would call guts.  

Think about this for a moment.  When Christ was moved with compassion it was like he got kicked in the gut.

How did Christ feel? Did he feel pain in the deepest part of Him, a pain that caused him to bend?

As Christians, we feel compassion as Christ did, struck in the stomach, kicked in the gut, pain in the deepest place.  This pain causes us to reach down, reach out to others, becoming cruciformed, shaped into the cross of Christ.  

Compassion isn't a vague sense - it's a feeling so strong that is causes you to bend; it shapes your body, your life, into a response.  You give, you learn, you change, you are conformed more to Him.

God is with us as we give.  The God of Compassion is the God who is with us, the Word made flesh that dwelt among us and continues to dwell in us.  

In Latin, compassion is 'pati' and 'cum'.  It means 'to suffer with'.  Compassion chooses to suffer with the sick, to be kicked in the gut, to weep with those suffering, to pray with those powerless, to cry with those cast out.  Compassion is the condition of being fully human and fully Christ-like and being fully with.

In Hebrew, compassion is similar to the Greek.  It's 'rachamim' - meaning bowels, a tender love, and that 'rachamim' derives from the word 'rechem'
which means womb.

Christ followers are always safe in God's womb.  We move within the womb of God.

Our God is both Father, mother and His body is our brother and sister stirred in the deepest places, suffering with others.  The Compassion of Christ shakes the earth to respond, to labor and deliver with Him a new Kingdom. 

We are to bring into the world the endless, streaming amazon of God's tender compassions, His mercies, His inexhaustible, Christ-made grace.

---be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

Luke 6:36
0 Comments

God-Bumps

7/10/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Isn't this a cute picture?  A rare moment of cooperation between a 3 and 4 year old.  Definitely a wonderful surprise for my mommy-friend Colleen and myself, the mothers of these two adorable tots.

Aren't surprises great when they happen?  I love it when a cool breeze comes in right at the moment when the heat is so bad I feel like I am going to die!  It gives me goose-bumps.

Does God ever give you goose-bumps?  Are you ever surprised or overwhelmed by His gifts that your skin comes alive?  An earthquake of the soul, an extreme awareness of His gifts.  Those are God-bumps.  

Sometimes I get God-bumps from a worship song, sometimes from a sermon, but often from my children.  This weekend I witnessed an amazing act of cooperation between my two oldest sons that made my skin come alive with joy, God, and mommy-happiness.  

Aidan, as usual, was sitting at the table.  He had his regular 3 spoonfuls of his supper before the complaining had begun.  "I am full."  "Mom, my tummy hurts!" "I'm not hungry anymore."  

Dad and I have been fighting this battle for a while so we were hardly paying attention.  And then the miracle happened.  Justin, my eldest, sat down beside and proceeded to feed Aidan his supper spoon by spoon until the bowl was empty.  No one had prompted him.  

I had been praying for my boys to be more caring and compassionate towards each other and others for a few days.  I was thrilled to see some immediate fruit from those prayers.  A God-bump!

This one was written down that night in my journal.  There were other God-bumps that day, but that is the one I remember most clearly.  Amazing!

Do you write down your God-bumps? Write down those things that show you Him.  Write down those things that make your skin come alive.

When the eyes of the soul looking out met the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this earth. 
A.W. Tozer


The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.
Emily Dickenson
0 Comments

    Author

    Storyteller, 
    Glory Seeker,
    Grace Dweller,
    ​English Teacher.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abundance
    Acceptance
    Adoration
    Advent
    Aging Gracefully
    Alabaster Flask
    A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    Angel
    Art
    Artists
    Ash Wednesday
    Attention
    Autumn
    Awe
    Bearing Burdens
    Beauty
    Bells
    Birthday
    Blessing
    Blessings
    Bonhoeffer
    Boredom
    Bread
    Broken Bread
    Brokenness
    Care
    Celebration
    Centeredness
    Christ
    Christian Discipleship
    Christian Perfection
    Christmas
    Christmas Star
    Christmas Story
    Cleaning
    Color
    Communion
    Community
    Cookies
    Courage
    CoVid 19
    Creation
    Creativity
    Cross
    Crucifixion
    Cup
    Dead Poets Society
    Dr. Seuss
    Early Church
    Easter
    Easter Tree
    Enjoying Grace
    Evangelism
    Failure
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Fall
    Family
    Fast
    Fasting
    Fear Of The Lord
    Feast
    Feet
    Forgiveness
    Fragrance
    Freedom
    Frustration
    Fugitives
    Fullness
    Fun
    Future Tense Time
    Gardening
    Generosity
    Gifts
    Giving
    Giving Love
    Glorious Ruins
    Glorious Ruins
    God's Creativity
    God's Glasses
    God's Goodness
    God's Grace
    God’s Heart
    God's Love
    Goodness
    Good Vs. Evil
    Grace
    Gratitude
    Guidance
    Happiness
    Healing
    Hearts
    Heaven
    High School English
    Holiness
    Holy Spirit
    Hope
    Hospitality
    Humor
    Ice Cream
    Imagination
    Inspiration
    Interruption
    Jesse Tree
    Jesus As Healer
    Jesus Christ
    Jesus Heals 10 Lepers
    Jesus Way
    Joy
    Kindness
    Lamb
    Laughter
    Lent
    Life
    Light
    Listening
    Living Well
    Loneliness
    Lord's Supper
    Love
    Loving Limits
    Making Changes
    Mary
    Maturity In Faith
    Meditation
    Mending Broken Hearts
    Mitzi Kaufman
    Mornings
    Music
    New Year
    October
    Opportunity
    Outlaws
    Past Tense Time
    Patience
    Peace
    Perfection
    Perspective
    Planning
    Playfulness
    Prayer
    Presence
    Present Tense Time
    Pruning
    Rachel Held Evans
    Raspberries
    Reading
    Reality
    Redemption
    Reflection
    Relationship
    Relative Perfection
    Repentance
    Resolutions
    Response
    Resurrection
    Rhythm
    Ringing
    Room
    Sacrifice
    Safety
    Salvation
    Samaritan
    Seasons
    Self Control
    Service
    Serving
    Shalom
    Sharing
    Sheep
    Shepherds
    Shrove Tuesday
    Silence
    Slow
    Slowness
    Smell
    Snow
    Star
    Steadfast Love
    Stillness
    Story
    Stress Reduction
    Thankfulness
    The Enemy
    The Full Measure
    Theology
    Time
    To Kill A Mocking Bird
    Trees
    Trials
    Tribulations
    Upside Down Kingdom
    Waiting
    Wholeness
    Wholeness In Christ
    Wine
    Wisdom
    Wit
    Wonder
    Works Of The Heart
    Worship
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly