I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Filled Up
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Hi Friends, I love turning a familiar verse over in my hands and seeing the light catch in a new-to-me way. This time it is Genesis 1:14: Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years. Signs. We love signs. The star above the birthplace of Jesus leading kings to His doorstep in worship. The sun standing still in the heavens while Joshua and the people of Israel fight their battle. Miracles that point to the power and omnipotence of God… yes! We love signs in the heavens. God also sets another purpose for the stars, sun, and moon in Genesis 1. They are for seasons. This truth is set within the verse with just as much weight and wonder as the promise of signs in the heavens. Yes, the stars are for signs and seasons. Put each of those words on either side of a scale to measure its wonder, and the balance holds dead even. The rising of the sun this morning. It’s waning before dinner on this January evening. The night sky lit up by a thousand pin-pricks of light originating millions of miles away. We hardly notice because we’re so used to it — it’s our ordinary. We think of our own bodies in this same way. The miraculous healing, the tumor that could no longer be found in surgery: the signs. We couldn’t miss them if we tried. But the rhythms of our bodies we hardly notice. The 1.5 gallons of blood pumped through our veins every minute. The air absent-mindedly pulled into our lungs 20,000 times per day at even measures. We don’t think about it — it’s our ordinary. But the rhythms, the meter, the tempo of our normal existence is such a profound, weighty witness of His glory. It’s okay that we aren’t consciously aware of it all — we couldn’t possibly pause in wonder with every last breath and beat of the heart. And we aren’t meant to. But we are meant to recognize that in all of this ordinary — the rising sun, the stars, the steady beat of our hearts and contraction of our lungs — it is all filled up to the brim with Him. Our regular seasons and rhythms of life are jam packed with wonder and power and glory in equal measure with miracles and signs. This ordinary is wonder-filled. This normal is saturated with God. Lord, thank you that all my life and all this world is filled up with You. – Anna |
Anna Blanc
I am a singer, songwriter, wife, mother, Jesus follower. I send out a 2-minute read every Tuesday about Jesus and life in God.
Hi Friends, It’s been a healing Advent season for me, looking into the birth of Christ with the unique lens of Him lifting off spiritual anxiety. I have loved hearing about some of your stories and the unique ways the Lord is meeting you and bringing you healing as well. This is the last letter in this Advent series, and the message is this: You don’t have to move on from the manger just yet. God lived among us — a newborn baby, a child, a young man simply working with his hands, studying,...
Hi Friends, Merry Christmas! Amidst the cookies and carols and family hang-outs, pause with me as we look into a beautiful part of the Advent story… We left off at the angels appearing to the shepherds. They are given a message: “‘And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger’”. A sign. What is the sign in the swaddling cloths? There are several answers to this that theologians have long pointed to. One stands out to me now. The...
Hi Friends, At this point in our unusual Advent series, it’s clear that God has chosen to do things much differently than we would have. And the announcement of Jesus’ birth is no different. You and I, we probably would have shouted the announcement of His arrival in the palace of the king. All eyes and ears, give attention! Or maybe we would have sent the message to the halls of the temple. Yes, it would be fitting to send word to the priests who spend their days in spiritual service to God....