“alright, flowers. here’s your part, and trust me, it is a glorious part. you will adorn the heads of royals. you will grace tables of the mighty. and the weak. you will display my beauty in all places and you will literally stop weary travelers in their tracks. they will stop and they will breathe. they will smile and they will rest. your part in this great story is this – stand there, grow – stand there and display my beauty, my glory. i will show my great care and attention through you.” ~Alison Luna
I started the day by writing this on my Facebook timeline.
Ronne Rock is grabbing the hand of this Monday and saying, “Let’s do this – let’s do some new things and some familiar things and some amazing things together.” Monday’s not even scared. She’s smiling back.
The new week begins a new chapter. I guess all new weeks do, to some extent. But this begins the days of fully embracing this thing I am purposed to do: to let redemption speak in the stories I share. While this blog may likely remain the place to work through my stumbling days of grace or to find refuge in conversation and cupcakes, the stories will find their homes wherever the need takes them. And I’ll find my home wherever the stories are.
Just writing that – “wherever the stories are” – causes my breath to catch a bit. I know they await in Texas. And Guatemala. And Romania, Kenya, and Jamaica. There are stories already being written about rescue and revival, about gathering and pouring, about hope and more hope in the most hopeless of places. The calendar has begun to fill with “posting for…” and “Skype with…” and “traveling to…” while it continues to carefully embrace words like “staff meeting” and “prayer day” and “team lunch.” Commitments and opportunities have met now in a world of flex-time and contracts and family and are learning to dance. I pray I am a graceful partner.
And then, there’s the other story. A story about life as this girl. It’s being written too. Slowly and carefully, it’s being formed. Written word, spoken word, and imagery are shaping it. Again, the dance.
My friend Gary uses the term “exhilarating terror” to describe a yielded life. And as my heart finds its new rhythm, the second word seems to grow in size. And I hear myself saying
“How is this all going to work? How does it all come together? Surely faithfulness and obedience doesn’t look so – unsure of everything and afraid of failing…”
Today, the response came in a field of sunflowers. After a day of new chapter meetings, the endless yellow was a story – for me. Romping shoes replaced heels and piggyback rides to see above the towering stalks left me breathless. Written in each flower were these words:
…walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. ~Matthew 6:29-34
Hey there, new chapter. Hey there story. Let’s dance.
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Faithfulness and obedience can look like a lot of things – including changing jobs or staying put or listening carefully. What does (or should) faithful and obedience look like for you right now?