Monday, February 25, 2013

Any Hope at All

Dear God,

If there is any hope at all, let it be found in you. Please don't let my eyes simply see it, but let my heart feel it.

If there is any hope at all, let it be beautiful and passionate as you are beautiful and passionate. Let the light shine so bright that we ache in our repentance.

If there is any hope at all, please use me as strength for the weak and food for the hungry. Please be my strength.

If there is any hope at all, speak that we may hear it, and love so that we may send it. Move so that life is here, and break us until life is found.

If there is any hope at all, may Your voice grow louder and all the others grow softer. May Your words be heard and all others forgotten. May You be the path we follow.

And dear Healer, if there is any hope at all, heal the broken hearts and mend the broken spirits.

And dear Redeemer, if there is any hope at all, save us from our own selves. Save us from our sinful and twisted ways.

And dear Father, who is our hope, let there be peace and comfort found in Your presence, and draw us into You.

And dear God, if there is any hope at all, hear my prayer and move in power. Your love is everlasting. Amen.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Ground


            What if what we are is what we came from? Dirt. Earth. Ground. And perhaps we are naturally only that- filthy, dirty, and trampled on. Yet worse, we are dry dirt in the desert, fruitless and empty. What if we are plain? What if we are lifeless? What then will we do?
            This is me. This is how I am. My flesh is lifeless and deathful. It is full of the unhealthy, crusty and brittle pieces that give it no meaning at all. If anything would grow here, it certainly wouldn’t be called bountiful. The growth would be weeds, which perhaps take more life than they give. The growth would be incessant and wholly undesirable, except by the ground that is so innately desperate to give life to something.
            What if the best we can be is broken? Is that all we can be? I know that if I were a hoping land, I would want more. I would want water and life. I would want the roots of great trees to come out of me. I would want trees that bear much fruit. I would want the flutter of butterflies and the sound of rain drops to encompass the life that flows out of me. I would long for animals to step on me and feel safe and firm. I would want rivers to saturate my soil and hope to burst into growth all around me. I would want love.
            Perhaps this is all possible. Perhaps all we need is a man greater than our earthly fragments to come and nurture us. We need Him to rescue us from our dry and dreary position and bring water. We need Him to bring seeds. We need Him to bring even hope. But more than all these things, we need Him to have a desire for us. Now I’m not talking about a man is after self gain and temporary things. We need a man who will come and stay, and ensure we don’t return to our old fruitless selves. We need a man who would want to make us His.
            But who would want such a thing? Who would put in all of this work? Who would care to rescue us in our worthless state?
            There is but one Man, and He not only came to rescue but came to stay. His name is Jesus. He, in great goodness and kindness, loves us and desires to save us. He desires to heal us and give us all that we should need. The greatest news of all is that this Man hasn’t come just to reap a harvest, but He has come for our benefit, and He has promised that under His hand we will have all that we long for.
            I believe in this Man. I believe that He is faithful and true to all His words. He is worth inviting and loving because He is so inviting and loving. Our brokenness is healed by His blood. Our sins are forgiven by His love. Our uselessness is changed by His power. Our souls are loved by His heart.