The Dare

"When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our toungue with shouts of joy.... Restore our fortunes, O Lord. like streams in the Negeb! Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." Psalm 126

I feel the heat rise in my cheeks, the burning sensation in a failed attempt to hold back tears... the refreshing sting as the floodgates open....a place where fire and water meet drawing beauty from one another...tears of joy....a moment when pain and blessing naturally flow from the same fount....when the self-protecting walls in our heart of stone are destroyed and His Beauty, the purity of His love, emerges from its ashes...the sanctification of loving bodly, moving towards another counting it all as loss to honor our King...

This is the Dare...to love as He loves

the fiery pain of it searing our flesh as the living water flows into our heart....the severing of our thick heart callouses and the forging of iron sharpening iron soul ties...did isaiah not feel the sweet comingling of pain and joy when the seraph touched the live coal to his lips...yes, there is freedom in the relinquishing of our "rights" as we love in the Way, as we love by His power...

This is the Dare...

His Way is the only way to really love...it is our sanctification, our metamorphosis, as we reach Him by reaching out to the so-called "unlovable"...and, isn't it in the reach we often discover that we indeed are the true "unlovable" in desperate need of His Life-giving grace....this reach that uncovers our treasure, richer communion with Him, through the deepening of earthly relationships...

This is the Dare...

I watch as soul-seaching blue-eyes walks towards me, tears brimming, choked words spilling out....his stuffed tiger maimed by the dog...I listen to Bird softly sing comforting Truth to him, "You can still love it, Whitt. It won't look the same or be the same, but you can still love it. Mommy, will sew it back together with blue thread, your favorite color. You will love it even more."

this world is messy, this world chews-up and spits back out over and over again, and in the midst He gives us grace blessings, the privilege to show His Scarlet thread through kindness and humility while watching Him knit souls back together....yes, we can still love for His was the Victory

This is the Dare...

I sit in a room listening to dear friends, these women who wave His love-banner over me, these women who dare....there is grief, there is suffering, there are tears, and amongst it, there is the overwhelming resonance of laughter, the different notes rooted in holy joy all coming together to create the sweet symphony of fellowship all for the Father's glory...the laughter, this is what I remember; all else falls away...this is the redeeming power of the cross...His work...Jesus...

This is the Dare...

Let us dare to live fully in relationship, resisting the numbness. Let us receive our grace blessings through the shower of our tears, accepting the momentary pain for more knowledge and insight in the depth of His love.....the tears washing away the stoney self, leaving a reflective pool for His light to shine forth creating a rainbow of laughter arching over the weight of this world....our Hope in Him

"I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessings." Ezekial 34:26

Praise His Name! Here comes the flood...

Praise Him by loving and count all else as loss...