Ride Close

“Stay close and ride far.”

Loren Thornburg

I never got into road biking, however there is a concept in road bicycle races that I could get into...peloton.  Peloton is the main group of riders in a road bicycle race.  A peloton is the pack  of riders that save energy by riding close together, similar to birds flying in formation.  The reduction in the air resistance from riding together can be as much as %40.  We don’t have to ride in a bicycle race to know the truth of this concept.  Life should be journeyed the same way, with others riding with us to reduce the resistance we face.  It can be tempting to want to go alone so we have freedom to do what we want, when we want to and also so we don’t have to risk getting hurt.  The problem is we weren’t made to go alone.  So what seems the path of least resistance in going alone is actually the way of greatest resistance.   Life brings lots of resistance.  So don’t go it alone.  Stay close  so you can ride far through the resistance.  

“By yourself you're unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn't easily snapped.”

Ecclesiastes 4:12 MSG

Life can bring us the worst with times when we feel ready to snap, but there is strength and protection that comes in community.  God designed us to live life together like the peloton of riders.  Otherwise, we find what the author of Ecclesiastes finds: Life is meaningless.  The fame, fortune, success, and all that we think will provide the meaning we search for will fall short if found alone.  It is when we go with others by our side that we find the meaning we are searching for and the strength to endure.  Stay close to God and those He has put around you. Don't resist it.  It's part of His love for you, it's part of His protection of you, it's part of your design.  

Make Yourself at Home

“Settle into the truth;  

Get comfortable with hope;

Receive the invitation to dream;  

Make yourself at home in love.”

Loren Thornburg

Make yourself at home is a saying we use to welcome guests into our home, inviting them to get comfortable and help themselves as they would in their own home.  Home implies a sense of being comfortable, settled and safe.  We all need places where we can make ourselves at home and we need people with whom we can make ourselves at home.  It is a space where we are free to be who we are without fear of judgment or need of approval.  In this place we can make ourselves at home within ourselves as well as in our surroundings.  You are free to be you and make yourself at home.

“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.”

John 15:9-10 Message

You are invited to make yourself at home in the love of the Father.  That’s what abiding looks like.  It’s remaining, settling into, getting comfortable and feeling safe.  Jesus invites us into this love with the Father.  It is closely tied to keeping His commands and following what God says, for that is how God’s love protects us.  They are not commands to be domineering or threats to lose His love, but they are the spaces where God knows He can best keep you.  In the places He can keep you are the places where you can experience more of Him.  Then in that relationship of seeing Him and knowing Him we find all we ever wanted and all we didn’t know that we wanted.  He’s calling you to settle into His truth, to get comfortable with His hope, to receive His invitation to dream and to make yourself at home in His love.  You’re being called so now come and make yourself at home in Him.  

Home Keys

“From here we start; To here we return; 

From here it all makes sense.

Don’t miss out or stay gone too long;  

Come back, come home, come find it.”

Loren Thornburg 

In computer typing they teach you to start your fingers on what they call the home keys.  This home row is the most important to the typist.  I rediscovered just how important this is when trying to type not realizing I was off of this row.  When my fingers don’t start on the home keys and return to those keys nothing makes sense.  Our lives work the same way.  The home row may not be as clear or easy to find as “A-S-D-F--J-K-L-;” but it is just as important.  Home refers to the point at which something is directed, the center or the heart of something.  On a keyboard it is the place our fingers start so that everything else makes sense.  In our lives home is the same: The place from which everything makes sense.  It’s our faith, our beliefs and our trust from which everything else flows.  Start there or nothing will make sense.  

“But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval.  Then all these things will be provided for you.”

Matthew 6:33 God’s Word Translation

First means before anything else.  This is where our concern for what God is doing and what He thinks needs to start so that everything else in life makes sense.  For even when things seem unknown and confusing it still makes sense because He is good, He is sovereign, and He is present.  When He is not our “home row” our lives can start to fall apart.  I have seen this first hand in my life.  When He is not the One I ask first, the One I follow solely, and the One in which my life begins and ends things seem to get off track.  I begin to do what I want, when I want, how I want and I miss the bigger picture of what God is doing.  Besides the ways this can take me down the path to destruction I am missing out.  I am missing out on who He is and what He is doing.  I am missing out on hearing from Him and seeing Him work miracles.  I miss out when I miss having Him first.  I can’t afford to have Him anything less than first. 

Re-collect

“Scattered throughout the year there are memories to be remembered.  Gather them together and celebrate.”

Loren Thornburg

It’s a new year and a new time and yet sometimes not much feels new except the year I sign on the date of my checks.  So much looks the same if I don’t take time to remember.  It’s time to look back and recollect on last year so we can celebrate the highlights.  The triumphs often get lost in the trials.  They have been scattered throughout the year and it’s time to re-collect and gather them again.  They need to be recovered in our memory so they won’t be lost and forgotten.  Think back through your year and gather all your memorable moments together.  There is much to celebrate!  Share them with others, write them down, or just take them all in, but whatever you do...don’t forget to remember to celebrate.  

“...and earnestly remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your god brought you out from there with a mighty hand and outstretched arm…”

Deuteronomy 5:15 Amplified

This re-collecting is something we see God calling us to.  He knows that we are prone to forget.  He also knows that in forgetting we lose sight of who He is and what He is doing.  This call to remember in Deuteronomy is in the midst of many other ways God was calling the Israelites to live.  He knows that remembering what God has done is a huge part of being able to do that.  I love in the amplified version here how it emphasizes this call with ‘earnestly remember.’  Earnest requires an intention and importance.  Remembering does not come naturally, at least remembering what God has done.  It’s often easy to remember the ways we’ve fallen short and the ways we have felt let down.  Yet, it requires an intentionality to go back and collect all the ways that God has spoken, proven faithful, and worked in ways to save us.  So as you look back don’t miss all the ways that God has been at work.  You’ll want to put those in a safe place so you can recall them again and again as you encounter the ups and downs of this upcoming year.  It’s time to remember all that God has done so we don’t forget our God who is faithful to keep doing and working on our behalf.  

Here is some re-collecting from 2012…

“Dream anew, hope afresh, believe what’s true…it’s time.”

“It’s okay to be fabulous and flawed.” Dove Wrapper

“Don’t miss out on life trying to figure it out.”

“You have to release in order to receive.”

“Don’t miss what is complaining about what isn’t.”

“Sometimes things of value are hidden looking like waste.”

“TRUTH stands the test of time.  It’s always TRUE.”

“When all around is swirling and shaking you don’t have to swirl and shake with it.”

“I live this life but it isn’t mine.  I walk this journey but it’s not my own.”

“It’s not a roar, it’s not a scream, it’s a whisper calling you forth, reminding you to steady.” 

“It’s in the looking that we see; it’s in the seeing that we find; and it’s in the finding that we are changed.”

“Don’t miss new appointments looking at disappointments.”

“Each moment writes a story. Each day directs the plot. Our lives are interwoven by purpose and design.”

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

“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.”

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

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

“It takes courage to wait.”

“You are not bound by your abilities, but rather by your ability to be willing to go beyond them.”

“Our lives function best when they are aligned in the way they were created to function.”

“Our strength to stand comes by those who stand with us.”

“We can’t go it alone.  We can’t do it ourselves.  We need help from others to bridge the gaps.”

“You are not forgotten, you have not gone unseen;

You’re noticed, you’re valued, you’re priceless...You are SEEN.”

“Don’t forget that in the difficulty of today there is an after.”

“When nothing makes sense, 

When all hope seems dim, 

Still truth reigns, 

still love WINS.” 

“Hope is often hiding beyond the disappointment."

“You have been given much that is good.  Guard it well.”

“Sometimes pain escorts us to places we would never have gone on our own.”

“Your community is big when the space between you and others is small.”

“Silence is the hard to reach place that takes us to places hard to reach without it.”

“Let the light shine in on all the places of your heart; even the dark, heard to reach ones.”

“When you find forgiveness you find freedom.”

“Sometimes we need to start moving in order to be moved to keep moving.”

“When you start seeing the gift you stop seeing the handicap.”

“It’s the days that feel insignificant that are significant after all.”

“It’s in the light we can see.  It’s in the light we find life.  It’s in the light there is joy. Find the light.  It makes all the difference.”

“Let nothing stand between you and unshakable.”

“Be present where you are with a present awareness that there is more life to come.”

“Our lives grow that which has been planted.”

“If you can’t find it on the inside you won’t find it on the outside.”

“Take a break from the action; press pause on the music; take a moment to rest.”

“People need to hear; people need to know; people need to believe...enter in and speak their language.”

“Make room for Love.  Make space for Hope.  Make time for Truth.  Let the things that matter most have room in your life.”

“It’s hard to know what the next moment will bring, so enjoy what you have while you can.”