AS THE RAIN PASSES BY

A HAIKU ON FORGIVENESS

The clouds break apart

dampened grass between my toes

Ah, new beginnings

By Martha L Shaw – © 2015

FROM BROKENNESS COMES BEAUTY

BE BORN ANEW!

Jesus sat around the campfire with thieves, murderers, and other down trodden, smelly “low life” folks. He loved them and their lives changed. He set the example we are to follow. As we celebrate His birth, let us be born anew as well! – Martha L Shaw

 

 

I SAID YES

 

You were always there for me

Loving,

Guiding,

Protecting me

And yet,

I took you for granted

Until one day.

I looked deep into your eyes

And you looked to my heart

And I gave it to you.

Then,

I was reborn!

By Martha L Shaw ©11-24-2015

 

Who is your Jesus???  The question was  posed in a novel I am reading and combined with my devotional today and the Lord’s call to my heart, I must consider . . . seems to me Rick Luoni​ asked that once in a sermon in urging us to invite Christ into our lives and if you  know Fr Rick, he’s impossible to ignore on loving Jesus! 

 

The Word tells us “My light shines through you” and that is perhaps the greatest miracle of all!  I know I am weak  and broken yet  Jesus’ Word is Truth and regardless of my mess, Jesus shines through me through NO effort of my own but to say “yes” and give Him my heart.  I urge you to  invite Him in!

 

 

 

Seven Word Sunday

The Seven Word Sunday challenge is Caddo’s delightful idea.  To view her wonderful blog and learn more about it and about Caddo, simply click on the image.  Snag a copy of the image and play along.

Today, the last Sunday before the Christian season of Advent” is officially “Christ the King” Sunday and next Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, brings us not only the lighting of the first Advent candle, but also the beginning of an entirely new Christian Year.  In honor of Him and of this time in our lives, I present you with the following:

Christ

The

King

Reborn

In

Me 

Again!

A Saturday Quote of the Day – Rebirth

I love the following quote by Thoreau, one of my favorite writers.  This quote reminds me of hope and of the powerful grace and love of Christ who told us we must be born again . . . childlike to enter the Kingdom.  This is at once both a complex and yet also simple concept.  Sometimes I think all complex concepts are actually quite simple but for our unwillingness to receive the message they contain.

Read Thoreau’s words and recall the feeling you experience when you look into the eyes of a new babe.  Does your world not begin anew?  Are you not reborn?

Every child begins the world again. – Henry David Thoreau –

Rebirth

The puddles are still near

though the flood waters have receded.

Yet, I am blissfully unaware.

The splendor of your love

so shines in my heart

and lifts my soul

that I am blinded to all else.

I see only blue skies

lit with sun so radiant

that like the birds of the air,

I soar to new heights,

all the while singing your praise.

The storm has passed

and the memory of it has gone;

leaving, in its wake

a new day,

a new life,

a new spirit within me.

I am rested.

I am reborn.

I am free.

By Martha L Shaw – Copyright Sept 1, 2012

Jesus Doesn’t Rub Us the Wrong Way!

“If you are irritated by every rub,

how will your mirror be polished?”
― Rumi

 

 

So, don’t you just love change? 

Who wants to live in predictable comfort

and without potentially unexpected speed bumps in their routine existence? 

Or maybe . . .

 Are  things in your life good enough? 

Why grow? 

 

So, let me tell you about growing up in my family.  Mom could have been an architect if there’d been money and maybe if girls did such things then.  Dad could have been a master builder, and actually was a master at building and fixing everything from a broken baby doll to a broken house, he just didn’t have a fancy piece of parchment to hang up to prove this.  He was a country boy and country boys learned and fixed what needed fixing often, in dad’s day and where he lived, this was with only an elementary school education. 

 

So, as our family grew, it was not unusual to have walls knocked down and rooms made larger.  Spaces needed  to grow more efficient.  Things needed to be repurposed.  You get the idea.  Oh, boy washing dishes as a kid was something I hated especially when a remodel in the kitchen meant dragging the dirty dishes to the bathtub.  Change.  Yuck. 

 

Funny thing though.  After the old  crud was knocked down and the dust and splintered new wood was made smooth from the process of change . . . things were sooooo AND I DO MEAN SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better.  Our tiny house needed to be bigger and our worn out things needed to be broken down to be ultimately fixed and made new.

 

My life resembles that.  I’m in a patch of the Lord knocking down old barriers and walls.  It’s been a while and He’s been finding a lot that needed fixing, improving, fertilizing, growing up, feeding, polishing . . . but along the way His light and love have been so present and you know what?  The painful process has resulted in so many blessings and so much grace. 

 

He’s not finished with me yet, but I’m pretty excited to be the mirror that reflects His love to those who may not have grown up knowing Him.  I was pretty surprised by the process of enabling me and I continue to be rubbed and sanded as my rough edges are many, but all through the process, He’s with me.  In between “fixing” we rest and I get to sit at His feet and listen to what He shares with me.  Just as I used to sit at my Daddy’s feet and hear his stories and feel his love . . .

 

Shine on!