A beckoning of growth…

It’s been a late spring, here.

We had a great deal of rain at the front end of the season.

Now, summer’s sultry days are slowly creeping in.

Just last evening, another rain storm.  It has left the morning sky clear and the air heavy.  The garden is flourishing! I can’t remember the last time things looked so green.

We have families of birds in all of the nesting boxes. Sparrows moved into the bluebird house. A successful hatching of wood ducks has already fledged.

And we have a new visitor this year in the little house by the honeysuckle.

A mama wren.

She’s been busily gathering fragrant petals and cottonwood tufts to blanket her nest. A cozy space for the arrival of her offspring. She traverses the woodland floor frequently throughout the day to forage.

Every now and then she stops to sit and sing in the branches of the dogwood.

Her song of joy!

The breeze is cool yet ~ these hours before the sun crests over the hill.  I sit and breathe in the beauty of the day ahead.

My Sweet Louise recently celebrated her fifteenth birthday.

As she is in the process of becoming the young woman that God intends, I contemplate her gifts. Her passions. Wondering what shape her life will take in the years ahead.

In the waiting, I believe that my role as her mom is to lend structure to her growth.

To fortify her roots, when the challenges of identity ring loud in her head.

Who am I?

Where do I come from?

Where am I going?

So often I hear terms like “self-discovery”,  “self-actualization”, “self-determination” when societal literature lends insight to the adolescent phase.

A time marked with flags of identification.

Contours of control.

…

School is out for the summer and it affords a mind some space for wandering.

For imagination and discovery.

In conversation beneath the shade of a towering, hundred-year-old sycamore in our side yard I rhetorically ask my Sweet Louise,

“Maybe the best way to find yourself is to find who you are in Christ?”

As this generation yearns to find themselves, are they seeking what they want the world to see? Or what Christ sees in them?

I pray that Emma will keep her eyes on Jesus rather than her destination.

When the terrain of her journey becomes less than hospitable, I want to always be there to help bring her back to her center.

Her Savior.

Reminding her of her relationship with Christ.

Peers may admonish her for her faith. And this world will certainly do its best to sway her into believing that her value lies only in her appearance. But Jesus sees beyond this physical existence.

Rather, He sees into her soul.

A radiant purpose He has held for her since before she was born.

Ephesisans 2:10

You are God’s masterpiece.

In her searching, I find myself looking at my own story.

Considering where I am on my journey as He cultivates my own seeds of faith.

Those same questions resonate with me. Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?

Although certainly in a different season, I linger a while to appreciate the grandeur of His plan. The way that my days have unfolded.

How do I come alongside her and encourage her if I don’t recognize His great presence in my own life? I need to share with her the glory that He has poured out over my time here.

Oh, what stories He has afforded me to tell!

Adventures in absolution.

Timeless tales of trust.

A fairy-tale of mercy.

Once upon a time…

There was a frightened princess held captive by the dragon of fear. For decades she cowered from his fiery breath. Terrified and alone, she built a fortress around herself to barricade her from harm. Protecting her place. Harnessing her heart.

But little did the princess know, that she was also blocking out the Light. And with it ~ the joys of life.  

Then, one day her hero came to save her. 

He showed her that in faith there is no fear. And that He had great plans for her! He took her hand and showed her life outside the walls of her perceived protections. A beautiful, wondrous, and full existence in His company.

Soon the princess was able to smell the sweet perfume of the roses that grew tall, twisting around the tower. Laughter knocked at her heart once more.  And life was filled with color again, in the Light and love of her hero.

And in time the princess found joy in trusting Him. No longer did she fear the dragon. For the dragon could never take hold of her again, as long as she sought the heart of her hero.

Her Jesus.

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Such a story may sound trite or simple.

But it took years of anguish and heartache to pen the pages of this fairy-tale. Decades of deep sorrow were endured in order to solidify the plot. And layers of lessons were learned, gradually translated into the writing of this happy ending.

I don’t know what Emma’s story will hold.  She has had her own fair share of struggles in her mere fifteen years. I watch as God calls her to His purpose. Redeeming the wrongs that have befallen her. Molding a tender heart to bend to His calling.

…

More recently I find myself being called to the quiet spaces of His presence.

To a softer, deepening of our relationship.

A walk in the woods the other day was a poignant lesson in humility.

Light filtered through green boughs, casting shadows on the forest floor.  Its warmth, gently caressing the most delicate of wildflower blossoms. Translucent petals aglow in early morning.

Fragrant and sweet.

Birdsong echoed as I walked the great halls of maple, oak and ash.

Dappled sunlight.

Canopies of grace.

A slight breeze carried with it the smell of earth.

Damp.

Musky.

Alive.

Proverbs 31:30

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

As I traverse my days, I have come to learn that Jesus is our traveling companion.

A sojourner’s guide and compass for this life. 

No matter where our paths may lead us, no matter the pitfalls and snares, He is calling us to walk a little closer. To grow in trust and our likeness in Him.

Our Savior.

Our friend.

To confide our fears. To hear our dreams. To love us right where we are. No matter what chapter we are at in our story.

Our Father God is with us always.  

He is with those who are weary from the travel.

With those who are desperate to be seen in this world, feeling abandoned and invisible.  Those who are aching as they hold the hands of their loved one in hospice. He is there with those who find themselves alone again in their addiction. And embraces those who cry out in the night, praying for relief from their physical or emotional pain.

I’m not sure where you’re at in your story.

But I do know that in Him we can find rest.

We can know peace.

May we always find the beauty on this journey. Though the clarity and understanding for our suffering may be postponed, we can trust Him to make sense of it all.

Nevermore to go it alone.

Knowing that the map He provides will forever lead us to safety.

To our one true destination. 

Our one and only true home.

And like the mama wren, He’s making a perfect and beautiful place for us to welcome us in when we arrive.