For some reason, I have been stuck lately when it comes to blogging. Partly, it is the beautiful weather and the call of my garden. I have been spending much more time outside lately; either in my garden or at the local “flower store” as my kids call it. I have been itching to fill up the pots on my patio with this year’s selections, but I generally wait until May to subject the tender annuals to the frequently changing weather around here. I am stalking the weather report even more than usual to see if I might risk a couple of petunias or a few impatiens. Everyone at the flower store is loading up their carts with hundreds of dollars worth of lovely flowers, but I am still a bit nervous. So instead, I rearrange my perennials and add a few new selections here and there. I am considering heading out this afternoon to pick up a few more “babies” to add to the picture I am painting in my yard.
I think the other reason that I haven’t been blogging lately is that I have something I want to say about the book I just finished, but I am having trouble consolidating my thoughts into something short enough to keep your interest. Reading this book, Grace Walk, was a powerful experience for me and I am a little obnoxious about the ideas in it right now. I assaulted my small group in bible study on Wednesday to the point that I think they may have been considering trying to locate a muzzle. Suffice it to say, my “enthusiasm” can be a bit overpowering sometimes and I felt kind of silly afterwards. I don’t know what it is about my personality that compels me to want to share everything that God teaches me. I struggle sometimes with determining when to curb my enthusiasm and when to run with it. When is it my human tendency to be mesmerized by the sound of my own voice and when is it God using me to speak a truth that someone else may need to hear as well?
I can’t decide if I want to do one post on my favorite ideas from the book, or a series of posts about it, or just keep it between me and God and let you read the book for yourself if you are curious. The bottom line from the book for me is this: God loves me just exactly the way I am this minute. Through Jesus, He sees me as perfect and blameless and righteous and there is nothing else I need to DO for Him. Just rest in Him. Just love Him passionately. Just abide in Him. Just allow Him to live through me. I am FREE to do nothing or do everything. No obligation, no duty…only the joy of that which flows naturally from an intimate, love relationship with my Heavenly Father. No striving, no struggling, no condemnation and promises to do better, no self-recrimination….only love, only grace. That is freedom…the freedom that makes me want to love Him more and serve Him better…the freedom to get out of His way and let Him transform me into the loving, giving, brave person that I can only be in Him. I surrender and He does the work…”Christ in me, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
