Poured Over

“What we give away has a way of getting all over us.”

Loren Thornburg

 

Sometimes in trying to pour from glass to glass it doesn’t work very well.  It gets all over me and my glass.  Maybe you have better glass pouring skills than I do, however for me in doing this I often find only half of what I poured got into the other glass and the other half was on me or my glass.  What I find is that it seems this is what happens when we pour our lives out in giving to others...it gets all over us too.  We too are blessed when we give of our lives for others.  Yes, sometimes like the pouring between glass it gets a little messy.  Other times it may seem it has been wasted in falling to the ground.  Yet, always it blesses us too when we pour our lives out on others.  Keep pouring.  Everyone wins!

“If you give, you will receive.  Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over…”

Luke 6:38 NLT

God is the best pourer, giving abundantly to all in need of being filled.  Each time we pour ourselves out we have made room for more of Him to pour back into us.  He fills us to running over.  Here in Luke Jesus is explaining many things to the disciples encouraging them to really listen to these truths He was explaining.  He knew that their tendency was like many of ours.  We look at our little and don’t see how we could give that away, not knowing how we will make it if we give it away.  Yet, Jesus was teaching just the opposite.  When you give it away you will be given to.  It may not happen as we think it would, but it happens. So now we have no reason not to give knowing God is faithful to return to us.  He knows how to pour gifts into our lives and to fill our cups to running over.  Pour your life out knowing God is pouring it right back into you.

Rooted Roots

“It’s what’s below the surface that greatly determines what grows above the surface.”

Loren Thornburg

Being in Colorado where there are months of brown has shown me the importance of roots. Somehow in the midst of many harsh weathered months when the trees have looked dead, life still remained. Now, as green, white and pink begin to bud on those tress that looked so lifeless I can see that life remained beneath the surface. Trees hold life even when they are brown and so can we. Depending on what we are rooted in, we too can hold life in the midst of the storms and winter seasons that blow our way. We can hold life that grows again into something beautiful like colors on a tree. It’s all a matter of where we place our roots and where we are looking for life. If we are looking above the surface to our circumstances it will be hard to grow into more life again. However, if our roots go down deep, founded on truth, which is not dependent on circumstances, we are sure to find life that grows into more life again. Grow your roots deep where the real life lies.

“May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality. May Christ through your faith actually dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.”

Ephesians 3:16-17 Amplified

Paul understood the importance of being rooted in the innermost depths of who we are with the truth of the love of Christ. He spoke here of an experiential knowing. That’s where the life lies. Rooted means to establish or cause something to be thoroughly grounded. We can be firmly established and thoroughly grounded in the real love of Christ in a way that dwells to the inmost part of our beings. That’s how we find Life when our lives don’t give us reason to. Look to Him for Life! Root down deep in His love! Ground yourself in His truth! Allow Him access to dwell in your heart! As Paul prayed these verses let us continue to do so that we would be “rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.”

On a Hunt

“Look for it. It may be hidden. It’s waiting to be found. Go find it and look inside. There are treasures waiting for you.”

Loren Thornburg

It’s been a long time since I was a part of an Easter egg hunt but kids love it. Well, really it’s the combination of the search and what is inside of the eggs. I’m thinking that if the eggs were empty it might lose some of the appeal. However, since there is usually candy inside it’s worth the hunt. It reminds me that I’m in a hunt too. Not for Easter eggs with candy inside but for things in my day that may be hidden unless I am looking for them. Things that when I find them are filled with wonder, joy, and awe. I have to look for it. I have to look for the beauty that surrounds me. I have to look for the blessing disguised as an obstacle. I have to look for an opportunity. I have to look for it otherwise I might miss it and miss what’s inside. It won’t be pastel colored and easily recognizable like the eggs, but they are all around me. Treasures are waiting to be found, opened and enjoyed. When you look, then you will find. Don’t miss it. It might be right in front of you...Look and see what’s inside. It’s worth the hunt!

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.”

Isaiah 55:6 NKJV

The Lord is near and findable. He wants to be found. He loves to be found and He loves to find you. It is not that He is hiding but that He is so in the midst of every part of our lives that we miss Him. We mistake Him for something else, something of coincidence, something normal. So look again. Do you see Him? He is in the beauty of the earth, the events of your day, the little things, the big things, the people, the hugs, the care, the healing. He is revealing Himself to you. Do you see Him? Don’t miss Him. He is near and He invites you to seek and find that the more you seek the more you will find Him. The more you find Him the more you find Life! Life is hidden in Him.

Taste and See

“Trust is going but not knowing, stepping but not seeing, and worth it but not easy.”

Loren Thornburg

There are some things that you just have to experience to understand. It’s like trying a strawberry for the first time. You really can’t explain what it’s like. You have to taste it! I had a similar experience visiting the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. I was told about them but I had to be there and be in them to understand what was being said. Even a picture or video couldn’t have done justice to walking up them and rolling and running down them. It’s one of those things you have to taste and then you will see for yourself to know. Trust is like that too. You just have to step out and do it to experience it. We don’t get to know the full picture of what happens next. We have to go for it and trust what happens next. The longer we wait to step out, the longer we miss out on what it tastes like. You don’t get to know the outcome before you take that step of faith. Only those who step out will know. Sometimes it may not work out as we had hoped, but there will be other times when it’s so good that we wonder why we didn’t step earlier. Don’t miss those good ones...it’s worth the risk.

“Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”

Psalm 34:8 NKJV

I was introduced to a new perspective on the miracle in John 6 of feeding the thousands with limited loaves and fish. The boy, who had the food in this time of limited resources and gave it, he didn’t know what would come of it. It seems easy to give a little if you know it is going to be multiplied, but he didn’t know and usually we don’t either. That’s why it’s called trust. We give our little that we have not knowing what God is going to do with it, not knowing what will happen next. Yet, if that boy had not given his little he may not have seen the miracle of it that day. Oh I believe God could have made it happen another way but that boy got to experience Him in a whole new way and I don’t want to miss that. My trusting may not look like feeding the thousands but I can trust God will use it. Yet, it’s not until I step out into trust and the unknown of the outcome that I can experience His miracles. I don’t get to know the wonder of trusting the Lord from the safety of what is known. I don’t get to know Jesus until I step into Him. I have to taste and see. I have to step out into the scary place of trusting. It’s not easy but it’s worth it. It’s not known but He is good.