How many of us have spent much of our lives leaning or going out of the way we knew we were meant to go in our lives... to please or “go along with” what others told us we should; or, to be the consolation for others? If we do it for too long, we forget how to stand on our own; or to become all we were perhaps meant to be. All too soon, we realize the things that anchored our souls in our youth have been so uprooted, we risk toppling over if we don’t reconnect with the soul’s anchors to refuel. 

Are you ready to exclaim ”Not Today” by: Hillsong United? 

Is it better to always keep things trimmed nice, tidy, short, and precisely... or is it better, sometimes, to permit a little bit of slacking, loosening or lessening of our need to control the perception of things being so tidy? 

We might find letting a little slack, provides a perfect bit of camouflage for an eyesore or two, while providing the perfect opportunity for other creatures to perhaps find a happy home, nestled in what we initially viewed as “such untidiness, or disarray.” 

Perhaps when we contemplate a song like “Healed,” by Nichole Nordeman... we can remember we have nothing to prove or fix. We have “sinned;” but, Christ died and we are forgiven. It’s time to embrace we are “healed,” whenever we are ready to accept and claim it. And, it is so. 

What can you let go of controlling, so tightly, today, it might help another to breathe a little freer, or into whom can you help breathe “new life?”

While watching the skies, one afternoon, there were a lot of “W '' clouds that whizzed by so quickly, I could barely capture any of them. I pondered the significance, after the third one, as I snapped the fading remnants. 

The song “Give Me Your Eyes,” by Brandon Heath, came onto my headphones, just then. 

Then, it came to me... I felt like those “W’s” were God showing me how The Word, or His Word, gets distorted, misinterpreted, and misconstrued to the point it is used to actually eliminate the Love, Christ was sent here to SHOW us. 

We need to stop allowing humans to butcher or crucify the messages Christ came here to show us, we need to live out, each day. We are to love The Lord, our God... and Love our neighbors, as ourselves. No more, no less. 

How can we lay down our fears, and embrace our neighbors? Through meaningful conversations. It’s how we learn... we are not so different. We all cry clear and salty tears from our joys and our pain, and we all bleed red. That withstanding, the “institution of The Church” has browbeaten us/society to always “mend” a perhaps “broken fence,” (relationships with those who’ve harmed us.) ReCogNize, “the church” has benefitted from that brainwashing narrative by conning people they view as “less than” to donate towards maintaining their idolized buildings, while those who are “affluent” within the church are the ones in “leadership roles,” going on vacations whenever they want. They’ve gone into demanding those they consider “less than” need to donate our time, our talent, and our treasures… rather than knowing or having the understanding in God’s love, charity begins at home, refilling our own well… and neighbors helping neighbors… NOT emptying or depleting our time, talents, and treasures into the hands of those who’ve lost touch with us.

Just because we may come upon relationships exposing our roots or the pain of our past causing us to lose our footing... occasionally or temporarily, it doesn’t mean we cannot flourish and continue to find new ways to thrive. 

Zach Williams sings about the “Chain Breaker” power, we can receive from our pain and any sense of feeling lost... by laying them down in God’s hands and submitting ourselves into the loving arms of Christ. 

Sometimes events happen within or beyond our control... floods, fires, storms, etc. that lead us to feel like limbs are torn from us, whether figuratively or literally, just as they are torn in nature. 

It’s up to us to let it be a catastrophic death; or, be like the tree stub shown here that had a few sprigs that decided they would persevere and not be afraid to stay to rebuild into a greater version... of what once had existed. Sometimes, things are sent our way to “knock us down,” in order to show us we can “not be afraid,” if we trust in our Divine faith... in God, ourselves, and one another. 

Tenth Avenue North sings about it and God beautifully in “I Have This Hope,” where the true measure of faith is knowing... “in the flood or the fire, you are with me and you won’t let go.” 

Peering inwardly, some would choose to focus on the dying or dead portions, perhaps viewing them as ugliness. 

What if, rather than viewing the dead or dying portions surrounding us or more importantly, within us, as ugliness we should try to just eliminate immediately... we realize how permitting them to decay away in their own space and time; but, with helpful, healthful, support along the way... we focus on the beauty in what will BEcome when the environment reaches full transformation? 

Kutless has a beautiful song, “What Faith Can Do,” sharing such a mindset change in seeing what is possible. Things may die or fall away; but, things and people can also rise again, more BEautifully❣️🙏🏼🙏🏼❣️ 

How many of us have looked up at a blue sky and watched clouds cascading amidst one another? Some are larger and more dense, while others... small, unassuming, and airy. 

Have you ever watched as larger clouds plow into, over, and through the smaller ones... after hoping they would not destroy the cute, little, BEautiful ones? Have you ever been disappointed; and wished you or Creator Source had intervened, allowing the “little one” to stay intact... just a little while longer? 

What if WE are the tools Creator sends to protect those people who are the human, “little clouds?” Will we stand up in Faith, Hope, and Love... for, behind, and with them in their hour of weakness... or will we let the stronger, more powerful ones overtake and destroy their essence? 

Perhaps WE are the army Lauren Daigle sings so BEautifully of in her song “Rescue,” that God has sent forth to protect the “little ones.” 

Our vast life experiences can alter the way we see things. This tree for example, if you came under it while on a nature walk, would it give you the impression it wanted to scare you, or hug you... surrounding you with love? 

We can let things “tear us apart,” inside, or we can let them strengthen our resolve to not let them shatter us beyond repair; but, give us the fortitude to stand firmly in our Truth, Faith, and Love... as Martina McBride sings in “Concrete Angel.”