Tag: faith and spirituality

Endure!

Ivy is one of my favorite plants for many reasons. However, the trait that I find most appealing is its tendency to endure.

You can pull it up by the roots and think it’s gone. But look around a few months later and there it is once more!

Ivy’s roots dig deep.

Its grasp is tenacious.

We must also dig deep and hold fast to God who sustains us that we may overcome our trials and not be overcome by them.

Many times when we feel like we are barely holding on, we are straining to hold on to everything but God. People and things will always fall short of what we really need, but our God is mighty to save, yet not always in the ways we would hope or think.

And then there are times our disappointment arises not because we aren’t holding fast to God, but rather because we expect deliverance from our trials instead of allowing God to fortify us through them.

Our perceived hardships may in fact, facilitate the blessings we desire.

Our personal fires can mold us into the people God intended all along and even burn out a few faults in the process!

One sign of maturity is when we can weather our droughts and storms with the confidence that God is larger than whatever it is that looms over us. When we place our hope in Him instead of ourselves, it is then that we find peace and are blessed.

 We each have a purpose and a race to run that is ours alone.

Some things you may be hoping for or working toward may seem at a standstill.  Yet, don’t dare give up on your dreams!

 If God has given them to you, He can allow them come true.

If you endure.

My ivy grows slowly, yet it continues to grow…

“Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end [intended by] the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” James 5:11

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares [us], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1 NKJV

Pomp and Circumstance…

Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Isaiah 42:9 NKJV

I celebrated the graduation of my first born from high school a week ago today. It was a great gathering of friends and family in addition to the well wishes of many people who helped us along our journey.

I readily admit I felt a load lift as my son walked across the stage with diploma in hand. I wasn’t expecting it, yet a sudden peace fell over me. For a school year that seemed to rush by so quickly, we had come to a celebratory ending.

Or, had we?

Merriam-Webster defines commencement as “a time when something begins.”

There are monumental moments in our lives when we commemorate certain milestones. Yet, I wonder how often we view them as God views them. What if the old things we yearn for pale in comparison to the new thing God would do if only we would look forward instead of fixating on what was.

 As with my son’s graduation, we are to take what we have learned previously and apply it as we move forward into our next phase of life. However, some of us cling so tightly to what is familiar and comfortable, we limit ourselves by failing to even give something new the chance to bud let alone flourish.

What we perceive to be an ending is often a beginning.

It may be the end of a friendship, relationship or job that initiates a new beginning; God is very aware we will never reach our full potential complacent with what is comfortable. Consequently, our Father may allow us to lose a few things from time to time.

As devastating as it is to lose someone we love, we never know what we are capable of until we are forced to go it on our own. Likewise, many a new career or entrepreneurial endeavor commences with the loss of a job or forced retirement.

I’m in the midst of a few new things myself and honestly, I’m just waiting to see what God does with them and me!

 I may not necessarily like them but I choose to trust Him.

It is never too late to learn something new.

It is never too late to graduate from what was and pursue the passions God planted in you.

The gift of each day holds a promise that is true.

Are you ready to perceive receive the new thing God would do for you?

 I find it fitting that Pomp and Circumstance is also known in the USA as “Land of Hope and Glory.” May we all be hopeful for new beginnings, and may God our Father be glorified in the process.

Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 NKJV