Life in the -ing

The changing of seasons always spurs me on to processing life. It causes me to slow. While taking a walk the other day I noticed all the vibrant colors. (Seriously so beautiful, I love how Christ draws us to Himself through the beauty of His creation.) One of the trees I noticed had some leaves that had turned to a shocking yellow. Looking a bit more though I noticed that some of it's leaves were still green. Just as the tree hadn't fully changed, I was reminded that He is always working, always changing us.

Perhaps it's because I am a planner and list maker, but I tend to want to live in the finish of something. To have something completed gives me a sense of accomplishment. Looking at the tree though, I was reminded that I need to live in the -ing. God is inviting me to live in the moment because He is in every moment.

He invites us each to a place of growing, pruning, delighting, working, resting and worshiping. I don't have to wait until a specified time, because I have the now.

At work we have been talking about being in and with Christ. It begs me to ask myself, "Am I being in and with Christ?" Are my roots grounded deep in Him? In His truth? Because if I'm not grounded in Him I have no chance of growing.

This journey is full of beauty. It's full of living, creating and adventuring. Yes, there are the times of hurting and wondering, and Christ will meet us there too. No matter what season Christ has me in, whether it is one of waiting or moving forward, it's for a reason and He is good.

I'm finding joy and beauty in the -ing of life. I'm finding that His processing, creating and refining are good. And I hope that if I ever get to the point where I think I have "mastered" or "completed" something, I pray that I will remember that I am the created. Always a work in progress. Living in the midst of God's hand at work is good, so good.

So here's to finding a full life in the -ing.

to Journeying.

What an exciting journey it has been lately.  I never expected that I would be "here."  It is good though, so good.  Nearly 5 months ago I began working at Youth Unlimited.  Our focus and drive is to create faith-forming experiences for youth.  It's been such a blessing to be a part of what He is doing in youth.  It's good and I feel like I can see kingdom coming to earth.


And in just a couple of weeks I will head to Uganda and Kenya for a time.  I will be journeying with Stacy (who I toured with) and we will be going to see our kids from the Choir.  It has been about a year and a half since I have seen them.  While I'm trying to prepare myself for taller/older kids, I'm just not quite sure how to do that.  I picture them as the day we parted ways.  And I've seen pictures since, but that doesn't fill the in-between time of relationship.  


I'm envisioning our reunion.  To be welcomed into a country so far, so foreign to me, yet greeted by family.  It's surreal.  


I'm preparing to go.  Preparing not just my suitcases and gifts for the kids, but my heart.  I'm ready to pour out and love on these 23 beautiful children who so deeply impacted my life.  My biggest hope is that going and being there with them, they would know that I am there for them.  That I journeyed halfway across the world because I just wanted to spend time with them.


I'm reading the book "Love Does" by Bob Goff and this part fit my heart so well.  "I think a father's job, when it's done best, is to get down on both knees, lean over his children's lives, and whisper, 'Where do you want to go?' Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It's not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He's made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, 


"Let's go do that together."