Lenten Curation 2016 Archives - Page 2 of 2

All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of your children (Isaiah 54:13, ESV).

My husband was deployed when my youngest was born. Then, during the next year, we had so many difficulties: we were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, he deployed again, I sold our house, and I moved to a strange city, alone, with the kids. When he returned from overseas, the adjustment was hard. Since then we’ve endured chronic illnesses, separation from family, marriage troubles and more…and I’ve been grieved that, for so long, we’ve been stretched so thin.

It has grieved me that we haven’t always shown our children
a clear picture of their Heavenly Father.

Parents are supposed to demonstrate the Father’s character, in part so their children will know what He is like. We tried. We gave them God’s Word and told them about the sacrifice of Jesus and the love of God. But, as for showing them God’s Word by living a life of sacrifice and love, we have fallen short. Here’s what I wish we could imitate better:

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.

Psalm 103:8, 11, 13-14, NLT

I know about sowing and reaping. We should reap a harvest that matches what we have sown. We want to sow seeds of love, but too often, we have planted selfishness, fear, unforgiveness, unkindness. Yet, our children are pretty happy, mostly polite, genuinely kind, very forgiving, and they really love the Lord. Huh? I am so thankful for God’s grace—that we don’t always get what we deserve. Thank you Lord, for instructing their hearts, where we have failed.

When I think of all the years and all the difficulties between these two pictures, I am astonished. This is truly the work of the Holy Spirit. Because of the work of Jesus, our Great High Priest, this is true:

I will put my laws in their minds,
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
nor will they need to teach their relatives,
saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
will know me already.
And I will forgive their wickedness,
and I will never again remember their sins.

(Hebrews 8:10-12, NLT).

It is good to remember that “successful parenting” is done best by Our Heavenly Father. Isn’t is wonderful that Jesus bridges our shortcomings and meets us in the middle?

Ash Wednesday Marks a Beginning

There’s so much I want to say about #MeetMeintheMiddleProj and Ash Wednesday and Lent. Sometimes, when there’s too much to say, there’s no way to say it. You have to SEE it instead. But in pictures, we’re limited too. A photograph captures a single moment in time.

Life is a journey, not a postcard.

But something amazing occurs as we look at pictures—our imagination is ignited. Sometimes we remember being there when an event happened. Sometimes we see the story that’s behind the image. With a Before & After collage, we can mark change that has occurred between the pictures. It’s as if we can imagine what happened in the middle.

Stuff happens in the middle. Still, we want to plow through the middle and get to the end. We crave resolution and peace. We want closure. We want the happy ending. But living and growing happen in the process, not in the ending. In fact, every ending is just a new beginning and more change is always bound to come.

For many of us, time spent in middle places can grieve us. Our comfort must be that God is right there with us, in the middle. He rolls up His sleeves. He’s always at work. He’s not distracted. He doesn’t nap, or take a vacation, or call in sick. He is steady.

It’s easy to miss seeing God at work. When we struggle, we often feel lost, forgotten, and overlooked. We might wonder, Where He is in all this mess? He’s there, at work in the middle:

Between Christmas and the Cross, Jesus worked miracles, and signs, and wonders. He worked to fulfill God’s promises. He worked in the hearts of His followers.
Between the Cross and the Resurrection of Easter, Jesus worked powerfully to defeat Sin and Death. His work broke the Curse. He raised Himself from the dead. His work continues in us.
Between your wounds and your new life, Jesus is the healer. Between newborn babies and young adults leaving the nest, Jesus works in their hearts through you, and in spite of you. Between your sin and your reconciliation, Jesus purifies your heart.

Jesus rocks the middle, y’all. So, why shouldn’t we? We were created to be like Him. We have the same Father. We’re being nurtured and pruned by the Holy Spirit to be more and more like Him everyday.

We need to start recognizing and celebrating what happens in the middle. We need to see how the work that we do in the middle, imitates Him. To model ourselves after God is to glorify Him.

Before & After – Making Peace

The Before & After collages below (for Pinterest and Instagram) come from my dear friend, Cati. They remind me that Jesus came to make peace. As we put our homes in order, we participate in making peace from disorder. We sort, discard and prioritize. We clean and wash, renewing and refreshing bed linens, dishes, clothes and floors. In the same way, over time, Jesus rearranges our priorities, discards wrong thinking and behaviors. He makes us clean. Jesus is faithful to bring order where there was chaos.

If you get discouraged when you see a mess, remember that bringing order and peace honors the Lord. Just as you can do this in a bedroom, so you can do this in a relationship or within your own heart, by imitating Jesus.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Matthew 5:9, ESV

FOR PINTEREST

FOR INSTAGRAM

Meet Me in the Middle Project is a creative way to share the truth of the gospel (during Lent) on blogs, Pinterest, and Instagram, through Before&After collages. Post a collage, tell the story, explain how it demonstrates the gospel. Simple!

If you have a blog, you can grab our button in the sidebar and join right in! Otherwise, Please use #MeetMeintheMiddleProj on social media.

Taught by God

Welcome to Ash Wednesday, 2016

Ash Wednesday Marks a Beginning

Before & After – Making Peace