Risk

Risk. 

Lean in.
Let whatever needs to be, be.
Let the rivers rage and the waters fall.
Press on, do not delay.

Hearts grow weary each day, yet the beloved are waiting.

The beloved who do not yet know their names or places.
The beloved who are simply waiting to know life, to know love, to know the fresh rains upon the earth.
Step forwards, step forwards in faith.
Heart beating strong in the unknown.
Insecurities and doubts rising.
It is here in the unknown you know you are about to open the skies to the place of the sacred.

For within our greatest surrender, we discover God's greatest mystery.

And hidden in the mystery of God is abundance of wonder.

But first, risk the unknown.
Risk the unknown response to help a stranger in need.
Risk the unknown response of asking forgiveness from a friend.
Risk the unknown response of letting yourself and your gifts be seen in this world.
Risk the unknown response of advocating hope in your home.
Risk the unknown response in offering vulnerability over sustainability.
Risk the unknown response of love without judgement.
Risk the unknown response to give voice to the voiceless.
Risk the unknown to value every human life.

Risk the unknown response.

The risk feels like the end.
It feels like the wall that cannot be surpassed,
The impossible step ahead.
Yet, if we simply move one foot in front of the other,
Simply keep pressing ahead,
Minds trusting, not rusting,
Hearts ablaze, not crazed,
Hands open, not suffocated.
Then we will turn back and realize the risk we have taken each day.
The risk that just may lead to life altering reward.

Lean in.
Let whatever needs to be, be.
Let the rivers rage and the waters fall.
Press on, do not delay.

Hearts grow weary each day, yet the beloved are waiting.

A Peaceful Lament

Peaceful Lament. 

Life is like the ocean.
Days where the sun beams steady upon us,
Reflections gazing far and wide of the majesty surrounding us.
The waters are refreshing, soothing to our weary souls.

But as tides turn and storms brew,
Sometimes as in a swift turn of the night.
The waters can overcome us.
Waves coming in quicker than we are able to take on.
Drowning begins.

With the surprise of the waves,
Hitting us time and time again where we least expect them to rise.
Before we are able to catch our breath another wave hits.
Bodies bruised, beaten, lungs shattered, breath suffocated.
We lose a bit of who we are.
The lament settles deep into our bones,
Agony cries out.
Questions arise within the darkness of the soul.

The identity we once knew, being reconstructed, tested, pursued.
The strength we thought we once had, washed away within the consistent rising of the tides.

For when the waves are tossing, true north tends to get lost within the waves.

But, true victory rises in allowing the waves to take you where they may,
To let go of the fight for control and let the current thrust you into the mystery of the journey.
To let the tears flow, the anger work through.

To release fear like fireflies, the release allowing the illumination into rest.

For we can trust that the creator of the very waves themselves has not forgotten us yet.

And as we let go, we learn to let peace in.
Within the darkness, peace settles.
Vastness comes in like a rushing wave. yet peace reminds us of a Creator who created the very waves that threaten our drowning heart.
We need only to lay down the fight, to let the emotions come, to get to the deepest spaces of lament.
The raw honesty in our bones allows us to look up and see the stars shining in the darkness.

It is the deepest spaces of lament that bring us into the fullness of hope.

For when God is all we have, we discover He is all we have ever truly wanted.
We discover there is no storm where His supernatural peace cannot reside.
The waves cannot rise so high that He cannot calm them.
The storms cannot rage beyond His capacity to sustain them.
The expanse of the suffering cannot surpass His level of faithfulness.
For Jesus will walk through the storm to bring the peace.

He will mark the very waves we thought would drown us as remembrance stone to sustain us.

To be the strength in us when we thought there was only weakness left.
To bring joy when only doubt and despair encircled our mind.
To be the way when we thought there was no way.


For as we turn our eyes beyond the waves,
We experience peace like the night sky touching corn fields,
Pink dust sprinkling the earth settling into the depths of blue,
washing us back to the waves.

And this time, we let out our sails and ride the waves.
The lament is still here, still heavy worn with sorrow and grief.
But as the surrender coexists within the storm,

As sails are raised,
We learn a peaceful lament.

Breaking Through

BREAKING THROUGH

Here I stand before fogged glass.
Reflections unknown, muddied, confused.
The lies of insignificance circle,
They are easy to fall into.
Easy to believe the thoughts of my jealous mind when clear sight has been precluded.
Its feels almost natural to be here again before my own fogged glass.
Darkness knows me well.
Significance, purpose, radiance, those are hard to choose,
Hard to believe over my life.
It takes effort,
It takes work to push through the confusion and fog that come so naturally,
It takes work to let the light in.

Darkness is easy to hold,
For no one sees me in the shadows.

Standing before fogged glass, the room is dark, loneliness high, spirits low.

But I choose the fight today, I choose to press in.
I punch through the glass,
Illusions falling to the ground,
Loneliness and doubt shattering below.
The punching takes risk, it takes pain to be sure.
For work is to be had here, I do not deny it.
It is painful to choose to stand up to the insignificance story in our mind.
Hands bloodied, bruised and broken,

Risk, pain and hurt chosen,
For the sake of healing, light and joy.

As the glass before me shatters, it creates space for light to flood in.
There is a beauty in the breaking.
My confession of the lies spill over,
The truth sets me free.

Hands open now, reaching towards the light,
Blood dripping down.
Pieces of glass dripping off the knuckles,
The bloodiest space of all.
For aren't our bones the deepest spaces we hold the lies?
They invade and dry us up,
Widdle us away until we ache deep into the core of each and every movement.

From here I break wide open and let the wounds come,
The space provides room for the healing.
Bones come alive,
Set free from bondage,
Broken open to be healed in love.

Slowly, I begin to pick up the broken pieces,
Now colored with my very juices pouring out.
Pick them up,
Create a mosaic,
Colored with suffering for the sake of compassion.

I can see clearly now.
The light rests upon me.
The mosaic forming with more depth of color, space, and size,
I hold it to the light.
The light bouncing, dancing through the broken pieces.

Majestic divinity occurs here.
Art created.
This story becoming masterpiece.
A healing piece of restoration for this world.

The broken pieces, broken reflections, fogged and muddied,
Now have become radiant, full of beauty.
For everything is being made beautiful again.

Today I chose risk,
Today I chose breakthrough,
Today the shattering became the beginning to the beauty.

Tomorrow might I choose life,
Life to the fullest,
Life in the honest.
A life not afraid of the breaking.

Here I stand now,
My reflection known.
I see the rainbow colors of light bouncing on me.
The light I never knew that was there.
That has been here all along.

I only needed the courage to risk the breakthrough
to become who I have always been.

Pain for clarity,
Wreckage for purpose,
Open hands to cup the light,
Hold it close and pour it over my life once again.
The breakthrough.