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Emily, in the play _Our Town_, muses at one point, “Does anyone ever realize life while they live it….every, every minute?” The answer, of course, is no.  We go through life like we’ve got all the time in the world. But yesterday, I was reminded once again, that life is brief, that tomorrow is not promised, that we have to make this moment count because this moment is the only one we have.

But the number of our days is not a secret to our Creator. He knows the scope and shape of our lives before we take our first breath. And honoring Him with our lives is not about metaphorically bubble-wrapping ourselves to keep us from harm. It is about living with intentionality. It is about understanding that the time we spend today is time we can never get back, so we must spend it wisely.

Lord, Thank You for this day and for the reminder that life is brief and precious. Help me to be very intentional with my time, talent, and treasure. Help me to seek to glorify You and comfort Your people always. Help me to recognize the blessings all around me, to love boldly, faithfully, with no regrets. Draw me closer. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

I am commanded to love God and love others. But sometimes loving others is easier said than done. Sometimes people are prickly and insensitive. Sometimes they are incredibly difficult to love, to be kind to, because their behavior is so unacceptable. Lord, I truly believe that I will never look into the eyes of someone You don’t love. You love all of us fiercely, even those who don’t know You, who don’t love You, whose hearts are far from You. Help me to love them, too, as You love them, even when they are prickly and selfish and mean.

Lord, I want desperately to draw near to You. I know that You love me unconditionally, and that You lavish me with undeserved grace and mercy. Help me to draw nearer to You. Strip me of the double mindedness that makes me think it’s fitting for You to cover me with Your grace but that I’m within my rights to withhold that grace from someone whom I deem less-than or unworthy.

Lord, Thank You for this day and for Your boundless love and undeserved grace. You know my heart, Lord. You know my struggle. Give me the strength and grace to love like You do, help me to love others completely and in spite of my own shortcomings and theirs. Draw us closer to You. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

I try to be incredibly transparent in these reflections. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the topics God lays on my heart are issues I need to deal with in my own life. And after a week of poor sleep, sinus drainage, sinus headache, sinus grumpiness, He is very clearly this morning telling me to check my attitude. It’s not good, positive, and uplifting. It’s not Christlike. Jesus, help me.

I know why and how this attitude came to the fore. I don’t feel well. I’m grumpy. I’m human. I’m sure there are those who would tell me not to be so hard on myself. But it’s not me I’m worried about. It’s those I love. I’ve been pretty terse with them. Impatient. Instead of being loving and positive, I’ve been pointing out their faults and shortcomings. It’s not how I want to live, not how I want to love. And the truth is, there’s way more good in my life and in the people I love than bad. Jesus, help me speak words of life and love.

Lord, Thank You for this day and for the way You always shine Your truth on issues in my life that need adjusting. Thank You for the call this morning to check my attitude. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). Help me to be kind, loving, and encouraging to all those I encounter today, especially my family, whom I love so dearly. Draw us closer to You. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

Proverbs 31:25 always makes me think of my dear friend Millie. When she was in the midst of a fierce battle with breast cancer, I painted a version of the verse to give her strength and comfort. Millie is one of many people dear to me, some of whom have lost hard fought battles with cancer, who have passed on.

For me, saying goodbye to those I love, those who have gone on before me, is not easy. Many years ago I stumbled upon a poem entitled “Gone from My Sight” by Henry Van Dyke, which helped me to better wrap my head around death and Romans 14:8. When loved ones die, they don’t just vanish into the great beyond. They change planes, from an earthly one to a heavenly one. Just as there are those here who grieve their going, there are those there happy to see them again, whom they are happy to see.

Lord, Thank You for this day and for a view of death that brings comfort. Thank You for the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and who still surround us. Thank You for the assurance that whether we are on earth or in heaven, we are Yours and You are ours. Always. Draw us closer, regardless of our circumstances. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

I have a bad habit of reading my school emails and then marking them as unread to respond to later. Last night I decided to go back through them to see if there were items that could be deleted. I found I had over 18,000 emails, over 11,000 marked as unread. Gracious.

As I started scanning through, deciding what could be pitched, I realized that many of the student and parent emails from years ago dealt with similar issues as my current students and parents incur. Instead of making me feel hopeless, it actually gave me some much needed perspective about the stage of life I am able to help my students navigate. It can be a tough time. I was thankful to have two amazing teachers counsel me through it. Hopefully, my positive steadfastness helps my students along their paths as well.

Lord, Thank You for this day and the reminder that high school can be a turbulent time. Thank You for the teachers who helped me navigate the pitfalls when I lived through it. Help my presence, my positivity, to be a help to my students as they navigate this path. Draw us closer to You. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

I find myself rather weary this morning. It’s just been a long week, I haven’t slept well, I’m dealing with sinus drainage, and I’m just tired. And whiny, as you can tell. It is one of those mornings where my prayer is, “Lord, I’m worn out, and I don’t know where You want me to go with today’s reflection. Show me. Lead me. Guide me.”

And He brought me here, to the book of Matthew, to Jesus’s feet  (my sweet Savior), not to crumple in a heap and sleep, which I readily admit sounds incredibly appealing, but to learn from the Master, to remember the source of my strength and renewal.

Lord, Thank You for this day and for the reminder that when I find myself exhausted, bone weary, it is because I have been operating in my own power. Thank You for the reminder that in order to be strengthened in You, I must recognize my desperate need for Your strength, Your help, Your mercy. Help me to take Your yoke upon me, to learn from You, to find rest for my weary soul. Draw me closer. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

I am often encouraged that God uses ordinary, fallible people to carry out His will. Folks in the Bible often react as I might in the same situations—Really, LORD, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but this is beyond my ability, so I’ll pass.

On the front end, it makes perfect sense—God is calling me to do something difficult or outside my comfort zone or outside my area of expertise. Surely He’s just made a simple mistake. He’s got the wrong person. I’ll just let Him know. On the back end, when I do that, I’m telling God, the Creator of the universe, that He made a mistake. The ridiculousness of it is striking.

Lord, Thank You for this day and this reminder that You have equipped me for your purpose, and that if I allow You, You can use me to spread Your light and Your love. Thank You for Your patience when I try to tell You Your business. Give me strength to step out in faith when You call me beyond my comfort zone. Help me to remember that I never go alone. Draw me closer. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

I remember holding my boys when they were babies. I would stare in wonder for hours at their sweet little faces, their tiny fingers and toes. Every coo and sigh brought unimaginable joy to my heart.

Today’s verses bring to mind those images of God. I don’t imagine a direct parallel. I don’t think God has an incredibly comfy, rather worn recliner, nor that He loves a hot cup of coffee perfectly seasoned with the right ratio of flavored creamer (two requisites as I was cuddling my babies), but I think He felt the absolute joy of parenthood as He formed our bodies and watched us grow. He is not a distant God. He knows us intimately.

Lord, Thank You for this day and for the reminder that You have known us since before we came into being. Help us remember that You know every hair on our heads, every sorrow we will ever face, every day we will have on this earth. Help us to seek Your will and Your guidance as the loving Father You are. Draw us closer. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

I really thought today’s reflection was supposed to be about not judging others, but God very clearly laid a message of His unconditional love on my heart, and when you think about it, the opposite of judgment is love. I can either judge you for the ways in which you fall short of my mark, the ways in which your actions do not fit my norms and standards, or I can treat you with “unconditional positive regard” by respecting the One who created you and who loves you without reservation.

Don’t think unconditional love is easy. It’s not. It involves a very intentional laying aside if my own preconceived notions, of this idea that I am somehow qualified to judge the actions of others, even though I have not been in their shoes. It involves reminding myself that others are more than the time I have spent with them, that their worth is more than my snap judgement. It is staying mindful of the fact that Christ covers my sins and shortcomings daily with His overwhelming grace, that I mess up a thousand times and He wipes my slate clean by loving me anyway and giving me another chance to get it right.

Lord, Thank You for this day and for this reminder to love one another unconditionally and fiercely as You love us. Help us to put aside our judgments and criticisms, no matter how well meaning, and to hold each other in Your “unconditional positive regard.” Help us to uplift and encourage each other and point each other to You. Draw us closer. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

Death stinks. It is so hard to say goodbye to those we love and care about, and having to say goodbye feels horribly unfair. We are faithful people. We pray diligently for healing. Why doesn’t healing come in the way WE want it? Why do we have to say goodbye? When my precious Savior put Psalm 119:169 in front of me this morning, I knew He felt my pain and grief. I thought perhaps He’d answer this oft asked question, but in His infinite love and mercy, He gave me comfort in His perfect way.

I pray over my children daily that they will understand how much their father and I love them and that they will know that God’s love for them is even greater than we are capable of comprehending. This morning I am reminded of His unfathomable love for all His children. Those who have gone before me? He loves them more than I ever could. He was with them when they took their last breath here. He was with them when they opened their eyes in a world where pain, sorrow, and sickness no longer exist. He is with us as we grieve. He loves us too much to ever leave us to struggle alone.

Lord, Thank You for this day and for Your fierce love of Your children. Thank You for never leaving us nor forsaking us and for Your patience and understanding through our grief. Thank You for Your comfort and for the reminder that You are with us always and that You are our very great reward. Hold us tightly, LORD, as we stumble through this life. Help us to comfort and encourage each other and to shine Your light. Amen.

Have a blessed day.