Dance of Joy

The gleaming sunrays

just like silly little elves

scamper in the breeze!

By Martha L Shaw © 2015

HAPPY ALL HALLOW’S EVE!

LETS BE LOVING EVERY DAY!

CELEBRATE

Brighter than the rest!

adornment for a king’s crown?

celebrate His birth!

By Martha L Shaw – © 2016

 

 

 

 

WRITING CHALLENGE DETAILS!

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The Party’s Over

The crumbs are swept away,

Tossed out with

The plastic beads and paper plates

Of a season at its end.

Yet somehow,

Among the ashes, I can see

A spark . . .

The wick of a single candle

Starts to glow!

New Light,

New life is coming!

By Martha L Shaw ©2-9-2016

Waiting for a Blessing That Makes Sense?

I’m thinking about the lame man who hung out by the pool of healing waters for nearly 40 years until Jesus came along.  Did he not want to be well?  I’ve often thought perhaps he enjoyed the pity he must have received.  I don’t think that way anymore.  First of all, after all that time lying around by the pool, likely nobody noticed him there anymore.  That’s not all though.

It seems to me that inching toward the pool, which might well have worked for him, probably didn’t make sense.  We do seem to crave “sensible” things in life and I think we expect blessings to fit that same pattern, so when the Lord sends us his angels and other messengers and when He nudges us, speaks to our hearts and the like, we can perhaps think that what we’re hearing can’t possibly be right.  “It makes no sense.”  Possibly not.  Don’t let that stop you, though.

Much of my life in the last few years hasn’t made any sense and much of it still doesn’t, but at the same time I have to say I feel more blessed than I ever have.  I have come to know that grace is being poured over and through me always – if I quit over thinking and let my heart be broken into bits so that He can fill it and make it His own. 

Most of the things I was initially shocked at but tried anyway turned out to be AMAZING.  Yes, sometimes I wanted a quick fix, an instant miracle, a certain shiny new toy.  If I got a slight and incomplete repair, toy that wasn’t on my list, or an opportunity that seemed REALLY meant for someone else, and if I accepted these gifts anyway, I found He was perfect and through Him I was enabled.  I also learned more about my heart.

You see, He knows my heart better than I do.  Know what else?  He can make it grow, make it change, make me grow and make me change.  You can’t do that.  I can’t do that.  He can.  I’ve been that man by the side of the pool.  Maybe you have too.  When a toy comes your way that’s not on your list . . . when a blessing comes your way that doesn’t make sense . . . try it.  Take it. 

The whole concept of “making sense” is so overrated.  I’m no longer willing to settle for it.  The Lord my God is so much bigger than I ever allowed Him to be.  His blessings are amazing!   They turn up in places and on faces that you may never have thought to look.  Try it!  Say yes!  What have you got to lose?  Not sure about you, but my plan wasn’t really working as well as I’d expected, so I took a chance on Him.  I’m not turning back!