Wisdom
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His House
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His House
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Love
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Listen
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Deep Waters
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Wide Open Spaces
Holding on and letting go.
Finding the balance in this crazy life feels harder some days than others.
Maybe it is holding onto a relationship, a job or even a place.
Maybe it is letting go of someone you love.
As parents, our roles morph over time.
In what feels like a nanosecond, we work to protect and care for our children.
Then in the blink of an eye, everything shifts.
We are to send them out into wide open spaces where we can no longer offer protection.
A place where they will spread their wings, make mistakes and grow.
It’s the stuff that country songs are made of.
Seriously.
So as I sat with my long-time friend and our sons last night at the Chicks concert, the words to the song Wide Open Spaces seemed to reflect that moment of holding on and letting go.
*Insert lump in throat here.
Who doesn’t know what I’m talking about
Who’s never left home, who’s never struck out
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone
Many precede and many will follow
A young girl’s dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out West
But what it holds for her, she hasn’t yet guessed
She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the highest stakes.
Sending a child to preschool for the first time with new faces.
Sleepovers and overnight camps.
Moving into their first apartment.
Regardless of how old our children become, we always want to protect them from the hurts and challenges we know they inevitably will encounter.
We want to hold on just a little longer.
Letting go doesn’t mean our children will be alone.
But God.
As His children, our heavenly Father promises to be with us in this world.
Even those wide open spaces.
He brought me out into a wide open place;
He delivered me because He was pleased with me.” Psalm 18:19 NET
Before I would send the boys to school when they were little, I would hug them and ask them, “ do you have enough love for today?”
Even when I could not be with them in the wide open spaces, I wanted them to know my love was with them.
More importantly, I want them to know that their heavenly Father’s love is always with them.
Regardless of how far they go or the mistakes they will make along the way.
The wide open spaces do not feel so overwhelming when I remind myself how wide and deep God’s love is for my children.
And for you and me.
“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:14-19 NLT
Friends, I do not know the wide open spaces that you and your loved ones may face.
It may not be an overnight camp or new apartment.
Maybe it is a rehab or a prison.
Maybe it is not a place at all, but an abusive relationship or an illness.
My prayer is that wherever those places your loved one is, that you rest in knowing that His love is so vast it can find them anywhere.
Even the wide open spaces.
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20 NLT
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Freedom
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Hope
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All in Love
We are all looking for love.
A place where we feel welcomed with open arms.
Somewhere we feel seen.
Known.
Some of us are fortunate to find it with our families.
Others may look to their friends.
But there are those who cross our paths daily who do not feel any of these things.
We may walk right past them without ever noticing.
Maybe we are consumed with what is happening in our own world or too busy to look up from our phones.
Whatever the case may be , we are all called to love.
To stop and care for all who cross our paths.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Mother Teresa:
“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”
No one does this better than my friend, Nikki.
If you ask our tribe, we will all tell you that she has the biggest and most generous heart.
But it is not because of the love she shows to her friends.
It is the love she shows to everyone who walks through the doors of her restaurant on Main Street in the ’Burg.
She notices everyone who walks in the door.
All are welcomed with open arms or greeted with a hug.
Kindness shines through Nikki’s eyes and her smile.
She listens to understand, not respond.
She will tell you about the student she is so proud of who is working so hard or share a kind word with someone who needs a smile.
And while she may be gifted in making the best eggplant parmesan and barbeque chicken pizza, this is not what brings her joy.
It is being that safe place for others to land.
People leave with a full stomach and a full heart.
They leave better than when they walked in the door.
They are seen.
Known.
My friend loves with all her heart, because she knows she is loved.
Her faith tells her she is always welcomed with open arms.
That she is seen.
Known.
Let’s all be a living expression of that love today.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4: 7-21Share this:
