I do believe I drive my son crazy.

“Tell me about your day” is the question he gets as soon as I see him, every single afternoon. And when I get a one word answer-usually ‘fine’..I press on.. “tell me about your class and that class, tell me what you had for lunch”,  tell me..tell me..tell me…  Being that my son is now a sophomore, I thought it might end. Yesterday was his first day of school, and still, the first thing out of my mouth was “tell me about your day”.

Communication opens doors, opens our minds and opens our hearts to see things differently than we might see them in the confines of our own world. Communication also sets the pace of many relationships we carry on through time.  The more communication we have, the stronger the relationship will be.  Intimate details of our lives are shared, the ups and downs, disappointments, joys….yes, communication is key.

Our God tells us lovingly to come to him, Matthew 11:28..”all who are weary and I will give you rest…” He knows our intimate details long before we say anything, yet, He wants us to tell him about our day, our lives, our struggles and our aspirations! He wants us to ‘tell’ him everything.

Again, I say, the more communication we have, the stronger the relationship!  How are you communicating with your God today?

Fill me Father..

With your wisdom, the knowledge that is pure love, coming straight from you.

Fill me with your vision for my life, one step at a time, so that I don’t forge further than your Will desires.

Fill me..  fill me with grace and mercy, so that I might bestow on others what you so lovingly bestow on me daily.

Yes Lord, Fill me.. with patience, though we’re told not to ask, and understanding, though so much will be beyond my comprehension.

Fill my words with meaning, useful to all I encounter through my walk; for if I am simply spitting tired and empty words, I am useless in your Kingdom.

Fill my life with your people. Fill me with desire for You and passion for our adventure together.  The adventure that will lead me home.

We can’t fill something up until the pouring begins. Remind me to be open, to be ready and to be willing for You to pour into me, not occasionally, but every second of my day. When I forget that we are constantly connected by the act of pouring and filling, lovingly remind me Lord…  I’ll never be full.

Fill me Father..

I had been in a dark place for awhile. Our lives had been turned upside down. A job transfer, finding our teenage daughter did more than dance on prom night-( hello baby nine months later!), to saying good bye to  my dream home, just to name a few of the battles raging in 2010. I was at a loss-loss of energy, loss of understanding, loss of so many things.

Then, in rings 2011. We were blessed with our first grandchild. Truly a wonderful time, and my heart was captured by his net of sweet everything forever. And one day everything changed.

My keys go missing, a mysterious note appears, and the unthinkable- a home invasion, an attack, the ultimate betrayal in your own home. Fear set in, anger took hold and pain took over.

I spent days in solitude. I would send my son off to school on the bus, and crawl right back into bed, sleeping away the day. Waking up half an hour before he arrived back home, got dressed, put on a little make-up and pretended my days were the same normal I’d always done.

I’m not sure how long I played my fantasy game called, “I’m just fine”.  I’m not sure when I began to notice day and night again. One day, I fell to my knees, I couldn’t stop the tears. I hadn’t talked to God up to this point, I had nothing to say. But this day, as I sobbed alone, I mustered the strength and dug deep to come up with three words, “I still believe”..then days after, five words, “I still believe in You.”  It would be months before I would say anything more. Months before I could release the disappointment I felt, the sting of pain, and the anger.

Everything comes to an end. We live a life knowing that. Pregnancy ends, life begins. Infancy ends, toddler time begins. School ends, work begins. Pain ends, healing begins.

Without Jesus, I had nowhere to go, nothing to believe in and no point to begin. I had to begin my new normal. I had to begin to feel all over again, begin to smile, begin to eat…begin.

Every situation we are brought to, we have the option of standing with our Savior as he brings us through. As long as we have breath, we must carry on. As long as we are breathing, we will be beginning-..something.  

It is a treasure, a jewel like nothing else, to know that you are forever in the arms of Jesus, for every beginning.

As a wife and mother, I get into my cleaning moods- every piece of furniture scrubbed and polished, every tile cleaned then “finished”. It’s the final touch- shine, glisten, shimmer, sparkle, gleam, and luster. We use a whole lot of elbow grease to get it all shining bright!

Our lives should be the same work of art on a daily basis! The word shine is a verb- to reflect light, to give forth light, to appear bright with clearness.  We are meant to shine! We are called to reflect the light of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to a world desperately lost in the darkness.

Wherever we go throughout our busy and hectic day, start with applying the Word to your life, placing it tenderly in your heart and displaying it for all to see. How many cleaning products do we own? My mother often has more cleaning products than groceries! We stock up- and every single one of them leaves a final beauty to whatever you apply it to. The same should be true of God’s Word.

 Apply God’s Holy Word to your heart and mind; let yourself be covered by His glorious finish- reflecting His light and love to others!  Sparkle with clarity in knowing Him intimately. Our studying the Word is like using the right cleaning product for a certain job. It fills us with knowledge for the individual life situations that arise. God knew we would need Him, as the battles of living never cease.

Your Finish is significant. Your relationship with God must grow, will be ever changing as we mature in Christ, and is a never ending enrollment of education. We all have our dull moments. Finish Polish is used regularly to bring back that sparkle!  It’s meant to make you beautiful.

You will be a living, gleaming, light projecting beacon of hope! People should look at us and say WOW! Not for any other reason than the love they see, our magnificent Finish!