The Easy Goodbyes

Goodbye wallpaper.

 

 

Hello paint.   Valspar Frappe. 

When Your Heart has Handles

Handles are great on handbags.  Handles are great on pots.  Handles are great on doors.  But handles were not meant for hearts.

When your heart has handles it is easily grabbed and moved from where it belongs.  A heart with handles has believed the lie that contentment is just around the corner and that if I only had x,y and z I would be happier than I am now.

Jeremiah 17:9 makes a culturally incinerating statement that: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.  Who can understand it?"

When I hear statements like, "You just need to follow your heart,"  I see a heart growing another handle to be dragged hither and thither in an empty chase for satisfaction.  Our hearts were made to be grabbed by just one person.  His name is Jesus.  When he clasps our hearts close to his bosom, we find significance and worth.  He grips us like none other.  He holds on while we try to uncurl his fingers due to shame, guilt and rebellion.  He holds on while the world tries to tack on counterfeit handles to pull us from His all-consuming love.

May the Understander of our Heart sever all false handles in our lives and when we see the broken leather straps may we remember he was lashed for our iniquities and the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.  As his hands opened on the cross to receive the nails, Jesus did something remarkable, he let go of his own heart.  There were no handles on his heart.  He released it willingly and his heart was torn in two from top to bottom like the veil in the temple.  Jesus was sent to bind up the broken-hearted and in the midst he broke his own.  Take hold of that and your heart will rest where it belongs. 

Photogenic Cats Don't Need Photoediting



But sometimes it just makes them look cooler

When Theology Stares You In the Face

Alex's photo

 

A four foot thistle in our yard has thorns to scare the courage out of a cactus.  How like God to give the flower with the most menacing thorns the sweetest of smells and unparalleled beauty.  I am humbled that the thistle stands there in the field proudly testifying to the character of its Creator.  Haven't I learned that Jesus colors in magenta that which he wants us to notice?

 

Yet here my eyes flutter to the dull green thorns and there they are pierced to the core with unbelief.  Are life's difficulties really becoming something glorious in His hands?    Ultimately, do I believe God is good when life isn't?  The thistle is remarkable in it lives perfect theology.  It know that as surely as its thorns unfurl under the sun, there will be a soft luxurious flower to follow.  May the eyes of my heart be captured on the finished work of Jesus, the magenta in the thorns

 

The Jemilys

How Observant Are You?

 

What is hidden in this picture?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you see it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What about now?

 

Surrounded by my Treasures

As Ben was at work, I propped the camera on a table and ran into the frame.  My self-timer photo cut three of our heads off, but somehow it is still cute.  Teddy's expression is precious.

 

Again I got limited results with my self-timer, but here we have heads. 

 

 

Rabbit Child

As Teddy is so fond of saying, "I fast like rabbit."  Thursday's sighting seemed fit for my rabbit child.

 

 

 The beveled glass door made you think that there were 3 rabbits

 

but really it was just one

A Trip to Remember

Alex and Fritz had the privilege of exploring Washington, D.C., with their Nana and Great Aunt

last week. 

 

These photos are courtesy of Alex's new camera. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to everyone involved in making the trip so special!

Project Runway Move Over

Alex captured the beauty of God's fashion empire on his trip to D.C.

 

If you haven't seen what these beauties are wearing you haven't seen the best reality show yet.  Jesus is constantly constructing flawless garments without use of another person's patterns.  He is a matchless original.   

 

 

 

The silhouettes of his creations are spectacular.

 

The colors are vibrant and varied.

 

As sin entered creation, God allowed the most magnificent garments to age to remind us of our own frailty. 

Though we are afraid of texture, Jesus isn't.  He is fashion forward.  Always thinking ahead on what is best for us.

When you are dressed in prickles, know he himself was pierced with deep thorns. 

He was robed in purple as a king by those who sought to mock him.

Though legitimately king, Jesus chose the life of a tailor.  He willing sewed garments for our sake while his side was pricked and his blood colored the fabric of the flowers.

 

Are you dressed in His finery or your own?

 

Are you clothed in His lasting royalty?

 

May your heart burst forth in blossom because Jesus still dresses all who wish to trade in their rags. 

 

 

 

"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."  Matthew 6:28,29