Today, a beautiful giftbag was placed in my hand from a friend who lives around the corner, in the name of a not-as-far-away-as-she-used-to-be friend,you :) May I tell you how happy it made me? It is so sweet and perfect Kate, I just love it!
Oh Kate, I've been so quick to be discouraged lately. Have to spend most of my days on the couch, and dishes pile-ing up a mile high all week!. Soon it won't be a secret what is going on inside our home(inside of me!), and there will be more people to remind me how worth-it the pain is, horray!
But this week, guess what, God has really been pouring His kindness on me! Remembered this preciously helpful makes-sense-to-my-brain-and-my-heart reading, from Morning & Evening,
"Even the trees...must drink of the rain of heaven and suck from the hidden treasure of the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only live because day by day they are full of sap fresh drawn from the earth. Neither can man’s life be sustained without renewal from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste of the body by the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by feeding upon the Book of God,...
How depressed are our graces when means are neglected! What poor starvelings some saints are who live without the diligent use of the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live without God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God had begotten it, it would wait upon Him as the flowers wait upon the dew. "
-Charles Spurgeon
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Do you know that feeling Kate?, that poor starveling, sighing and wondering pitifully why life is so hard and why it seems no one could ever understand! I forget the truth so quickly. I forget that I'm His child and I need Him and I can run to Him and He'll be happy to meet me. And I forget that my life just "cannot be sustained" "without constant renewal" from my Father in Heaven!
He is so kind. He doesn't leave us to ourselves, or allow us to enjoy life that way whenever we try. He has, again, helped me come to the realization that it will always be this way- that daily life just freaks me out when I have not opened up His Holy Word-that tells me who I am,and tells me what's good about life here on earth- and helps me :see: good, and want good, and hope for the day when I'll see His face.
So this week, laying on the couch like a slug, I realized that reading my Bible is something I can do as I lay down. And what a good habit to get into as life goes on. No matter how things look and feel, His Word is living. And active. Our roots can drink from the treasure of the hidden soil. He speaks hope there into all the little details of life. He helps us want to be there, to love it there, and to see all the blessings (and wait for them.)
Big blessings, like joy in His word. Little blessings on the couch, like re-teaching myself to read music, and re-learning how to crochet on youtube :)
Let's help eachother wait on Him like flowers who wait on the dew. And to not live in the dream-world of believing life can have joy and bear fruit apart from Him.
have you heard this song yet?
