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Hi Friends, One morning last week, I woke unusually early. It was still dark outside. I laced up my running shoes and stepped out the door to walk the block. Our neighborhood is one big rectangle, with a steep hill on one side. It takes effort to climb, but at the top you’re rewarded with a wide-open view of the horizon. That morning, I caught the sunrise one lap at a time. Each time I crested the hill, the sky had shifted. Orange, pink, purple, and blue stretched out in new patterns with every loop. It was breathtaking—like watching a miracle unfold. And when the miracle was at its fullest — when the sun finally broke free and lit up the sky? I stopped at the mailbox and grabbed the mail. If that’s not a picture of the Christian life, I don’t know what is. There’s so much about God that fills us with awe. The beauty of His nature. His miracle work of changing us to be like Christ. And we do stand in awe. Sometimes we stop everything as we catch a glimpse and take it in. But we don’t spend our lives at the top of the hill. The light of Christ fills our eyes, and we set about the ordinary, beautiful business of being human. Running errands. Driving kids to practice. Pulling leftovers from the freezer. Checking on a sick friend. Picking up flowers to drop at their doorstep. The miracle work of God fills our lives, and we hum about in our backyard gardens. It’s not irreverence. Quite the opposite: it’s a kind of celebration. Evidence that His goodness is not fleeting, not unusual or atypical. We take the light He sheds abroad in our hearts, and we live by it. Really live by it. In all our ordinary moments. What a gift. — Anna |
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, What defines a life well lived? When you’re young, it’s easy to imagine your life stretching out in front of you like a line on graph paper. It ascends predictably, ending in the upper right hand corner. Success! But life is unpredictable. In some moments, it is chaos. I’ve been reading through the life of Moses in scripture these days. There is no sky-rocketing line of success on the graph of his life. In fact, the highs of miraculous wonders and lows of sin and failure spike and...
Hi Friends, When we were on our “church tour” about a year and a half ago, something stood out to us. With all the different expressions and traditions that have been handed down through different Christian denominations, there are a few practices they hold in common. One of those practices is communion. In some churches you kneel. In others you’re handed the bread. In some places you pass bits of crackers down the aisle. Some churches do it weekly, others less often, but I have yet to see a...
Hi Friends, We don’t often like to be “all in” for something. In fact, we are often cautioned against it. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Hedge your bets. Have a plan B. Except, when it comes to life in God, the only way forward is to give… everything. There’s no pseudo-form of Christianity where we write in our clauses and exemptions. No partial committing. No standing at the shore and dipping in our toes. It’s a head-first dive into the ocean of God. An all-in taking up of our cross....