When I pause to remember...

Earlier this week, I was reminded of a funny moment when my kids were still home. I had been looking for the dustpan. It was not in its usual place. I immediately assumed my kids to be the undisciplined dustpan users. I searched their rooms and came up empty. I retraced my steps, looking everywhere...still finding nothing. So, I just used something else in its place and moved on. 

The funny thing was, several days later, I went right back to the first place I was looking, and THERE IT WAS!! I laughed and said out loud, "WHERE WERE YOU LAST TIME? (Yes, I talk to myself and household objects).

In that moment, it hit me... my dustpan is red... for some reason beyond me, I thought it was white, and the red one just didn't register in my mind when I saw it.

 As I finished sweeping, still laughing at myself, something so beautiful came to me:

This has been the stumbling block for the Jewish community...they have been looking for the wrong thing, and completely missing the truth. It is their belief that the Messiah will return in ornate, royal fashion, and that has caused them to struggle to see Jesus, who came as a tender, tiny baby, and on a donkey, but with great joy and purpose!

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For years, almost every Sunday morning, I would write a Sunday morning encouragement on my blog, urging readers to slow down and be present in God's house. I have not been doing that for some time. However, I thought that as my time in school comes to an end (THANK YOU LORD!!), as Paul (my precious husband) and I make a transition, leaving our great Church and going to serve and grow at another wonderful place, and also with my entry into the Substack community...I thought it would be a good time to slow down and try to start that again. I mean...really slow down and write like I used to love doing again.

So, here I am...But you might ask, how does my return to writing, the dustpan, the Jewish community, and Sunday morning all fit together for encouragement?

In the swirl of our world and our search for "normal"...trying to make things make sense according to our expectations, trying to establish who we are in this world, how we might be able to make a difference, or where we even fit in..we often miss the moments to live as Jesus came...tender, tiny, humble, and with great, joyous purpose.

If we pause to remember what we already know — what God has so faithfully shown us through His Son, that HE is who people have been looking for, for generations — we will have Shalom...the complete peace of Jesus Christ.

We will have that peace that is different than just a feeling...it's knowing that all is ALREADY well, and that gives you what you need to go on singing in sweet, tender humility and with great, joyous purpose. 

Put a pause on everything and just GO to God's House in worship today.

Pause in confidence, leaning into the finished work of Jesus Christ!!!