Growth

You know, God, I have so much. That seems to have turned into a block of sorts. How can I imagine more? How can I “wish” or reach for more? I know the kinds of miraculous provision You supply. What gives me the right to put myself standing in that line again?

 

Because as you grow, you require “more” in order for that growth to continue. Children cannot wear last year’s shoes. A high-schooler cannot use his third grade bat and glove. Trikes give way to training wheels and then bicycles—and eventually to cars. It’s not selfish; it’s the natural order.

But, Lord, isn’t there a point where growth stops? Where you start diminishing, sliding backwards?

 Not diminishing as much as shedding—ready to transform. You are not yet in that place—in fact, you are nowhere near that place, in your own life’s journey. So let’s engage in some “wishful thinking.” Go ahead. What would you be? What would you do? What would you have? Just play a little. Please. I can’t reveal, if you “can’t imagine.”

Connection

Lord, what would You say? Come to the silence, quiet my chatter, that is what these morning pages are supposed to help me do. Inner knowing to me means hearing from You. It means receiving when I don’t know.

You don’t follow Me by rote—You follow Me instead by “wrote”—by My word made real to you, spoken to you. I have never spoken fear to you. So don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid of displeasing Me. You want, you seek, to make something tangible, something to help communicate and reinforce My presence with you, and with others with you, to help spark their faith in My goodness and My power to heal and restore—and My willingness to do so. The ingredients you are choosing connect you to the idea (and ideal) of connectedness to all living beings, and to living in peace.

You are making a new oil—an Oil of Peace. Your life of connection is peace, is a life of peace. Love is the bond of peace for you—and for Me. Under your Tree of Life are all the four-footeds, and the wingeds rest in that Tree’s branches, all at Peace. Eve’s Eden indeed.

Good Gifts

Lord, we’ve talked, and I’ve read and journaled and thought so much about creativity and gifts over the past fifteen years—actually, more like the past thirty years! Yet I see so many people, from strangers I meet to those closest to me, who remain unfulfilled in what they do.

“Earnestly desire the greater gifts” really means, seek and find your best gifts for your best life. It means, don’t settle. It means, don’t be satisfied with mediocre, with “just okay.” It means, swing for the fences.

Imagine a kid on Christmas morning, or a birthday, with a pile of gifts. He opens just one and says, ok, that’s enough. I guess I can learn to be satisfied with just this. Imagine he opened a set of ski poles—and never opened his skis! Or imagine she opened a package containing doll outfits, and never opened the box with the doll! You have to open and explore all your gifts for each individual gift to make sense. And yes, it takes time and effort—but your life, every life, is so worth it.

If you are looking around at anyone else’s life and thinking, I wish I had that, it is a sure sign you have not opened all your gifts. For My Heart, My Will, is that everyone live a life of fulfillment, contributing to the goodness and joy in the world.

Do you celebrate just one birthday? Or do you celebrate each milestone?

Can you believe opening and learning to use your gifts can be an ongoing, lifetime adventure? That as long as you are alive, I have more to give you? And that My gifts are wonderful, and perfect for you?

Can you believe?