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Meet Me in the Middle

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Before and After

In the Middle, He is Preparing a Place

April 5, 2017

He is preparing a place

I met my very dear friend, Linda, at a prayer meeting at our new church. I went because the Lord prompted me to go. Linda went because prayer makes her heart sing. We met for coffee afterward and found that we were both military spouses, writers, and students of God’s Word. I’m utterly thankful that all along the Lord was preparing us for this lovely friendship. Today, I hope you enjoy her as much as I do!

Preparing a Place…

It has been a loonng time, of living in the middle, especially if you consider the changes begun twenty-five years ago.

I don’t have photos of the concrete garage, the dark-paneled walls in the den, or the 25-year-old gold shag carpet. Thank goodness! That part of the remodel took place ages ago; I can barely remember it. However, I do have this “before” photo taken about thirteen months ago when we began demolition for our current basement-makeover. And now, I have an “after” photo.

I love beauty. When we began, I had a vision of what the area could be. I imagined light airy spaces, a well-lit bedroom, and a kitchen in the space occupied by a wet bar. During this renovation, we’ve hauled truckloads of junk away to the thrift store and to the dump. It has been a long, very messy thirteen months.

The space we’ve built downstairs, however, is not for us. It’s an apartment, a place for someone else to live.

In John 14, we learn that Christ has gone to prepare a place for us, and that He will call us to Himself. These words were spoken on the way to the cross. They were essential, meant to encourage and give hope while the disciples lived in the messy middle—between regeneration and glorification, during that season when Jesus was no longer a tangible presence. It was, and is, a challenging abode of suffering and sanctification while we wait.

I wonder how often those early, persecuted Christians said to themselves as they desperately clung to the promise, “I have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. He’s building a place for US – for ME, and it’s worth the wait.”

Although God is building a home in heaven, He also has a building project in and among His people on the earth, in us individually and corporately.

During our renovation, some of the work was backbreaking—like sledge hammering concrete and digging the trench for the plumbing, or hanging heavy bead board on the ceiling. Other parts have been tedious, like sinking nails and puttying nail holes, or ornamental—picking paint and fixtures or creatively designing an eating area.

And so it is with us. Some of the work God does in us is deep and dirty. At other times, He’s helping us to toss trash, to rip down wrong beliefs, and to choose between good and best. Occasionally, He applies putty to the empty holes in our lives and sands to make things smooth. At other times God is making us beautiful—simply for the joy of it.

Our God is preparing a house for us, but as the Church, He’s also building a dwelling place for Himself. We’re living stones, built on the foundation of the Chief Corner Stone, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Peter 2). He’s a builder in heaven and on earth.

Sometimes it feels like the process will take forever, both waiting for heaven and waiting for change here, in me. But when I look back, I can barely remember some of things I struggled with years ago. Change has already taken place.

God has a vision of what we will be one day: we will look like Jesus. In the meantime, I try to keep an image of a perfect Christ in my heart and mind, believing like 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, that we are being transformed into that image. “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” That’s the work that’s taking place here.

Slow work. But the “after” picture? Oh, YES!

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is…everyone who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

In the meantime, we wait, between the before and the after, secure in His promise, yet filled with our longing.

Linda Barrett is Honey to her husband, Mama to three grown children, and Momanim to an energetic, blue-eyed dog named Barnabas. She grew up in Alabama, graduated with a degree in English, married, then for twenty years zigzagged across the country, finally settling in Birmingham twenty-two years ago.

Although converted when young, performance-based Christianity drove Linda to despair. Then she awakened to God’s glory and unconditional love. Now you can often find her weeping in delight over God and his overwhelming grace to her and others. She shares God’s revealed grace and wonders through writing, teaching, mentoring, and other arts.

She loves well-crafted stories, meaningful conversations, camping with her husband, laughter with friends and family, and worship and prayer with like-minded people.

Linda has published several articles and co-authored a unique new-moms study called: Engaging Motherhood: Heart Preparation for a Holy Calling.

She blogs at: invitationtowonder.wordpress.com.

Filed Under: Lenten Before & Afters Tagged With: Before and After, building, firm foundation, renew, renovation, restore

During Lent: We Celebrate the Waiting

March 1, 2017

waiting daffodil

THE WAITING

–The Before–
The now and the not yet,
The in between.
WAIT.
The what is and what is to come.
The HOPE.
WAIT.
For a “winter dead,”
ITS GREAT THAW.
The cold barren ground
WAITS.
UNTO SOMETHING other,
UNTO ITS UNDOING.
WAIT.
An AFTER:
A yielding of hard earth to tender stem
Unto a “Greenest Gown.”
Hope upon dead earth
Coming up green,
Out of what was,
To what is and is to come.
The unfolding of trumpets
To herald the SON.
HE IS COMING!
All the earth will bow
And the great winter will be dead.

The pictures and the poem above are by my new friend Sissy, an artist with a passion for God and His Word. Her poem was inspired by A.A. Milne’s Daffodowndilly.

On Ash Wednesday, the earth has been waiting for Spring. This time of year, we see the daffodil, echoing Christ’s power over sin and death, pushing aside suffocating dirt, bringing life and beauty, ushering in a new season. Jesus raised Himself from the grave, up from the depths of earth. This miraculous show of power and authority foreshadows His Second Coming, when He will return to raise us up from this place of sin and death, forever. There will be a new heaven and a new earth.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Waiting, in the Middle

Lent is definitely all about life in the middle; it’s a time of looking back, remembering. Lent is also a time of looking forward, to the triumph of Christ.

As we exist in the waiting — in the middle — we hope. And our hope is not in vain, knowing that Jesus has gone before us, has made the way clear for us, is making a place for us, and will return to bring us to our new home in heaven. When we are united with God there, we will be made perfect — that is, we will be complete in every way.

Where we are going there will be no more sorrow or tears, no more pain or death. This is gospel—good news. So, here in the muck and mire, we wait with hope, because we know the ending. We know that Jesus makes life out of death.

Sissy Boone is a daddy’s girl, but not a girly girl. She’s more comfortable with paint on her hands than fingernail polish. She breathes God’s Word in deeply and always wants more. She’s fiercely passionate about her kids—ages 17, 19, and 20. Sissy loves: all things horses, boots, and barns. Football, beer, and coffee. Trees, fire, and rain. She says, “I’d rather be lost in the woods than laying on the beach. I’d rather have a steak than a salad, a great book over a movie, and the messy creative process of art over the finished piece.” Sissy is a maker who works in acrylic paint and watercolor, inspired by nature and the deep things of God. In Birmingham, you can find her art at The Neighborhood Brew and she often paints live at Christ Church UMC. Sissy is currently building a website to better share her art with you.

Filed Under: Lenten Before & Afters Tagged With: Before and After, Hope, Lent

Welcome to Ash Wednesday, 2016

February 9, 2016

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

Clean Room Pinterest

FOR INSTAGRAM

Clean room Instagram

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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.

Filed Under: Lenten Curation 2016 Tagged With: Ash Wednesday, Before & After, Before and After, Curate, Curate Lent, Gospel, Lent

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Hi, I'm Britta! I love a good "Before & After." But trying to skip the middle to get to a happy ending leaves me feeling impatient and discouraged. Let's learn to find hope in the messy middle places of life by remembering God promises to complete the work He has begun in us. Let's curate hope, together! Learn more...

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