Project 52: Morning

Quick Note: Project 52 is a one year photography challenge. I love photography, adventures, and challenges, so naturally, I fell in love with this idea! As I looked over the list of topics for the year, I felt inspired to write a bit as well on each of the topics. It's been awhile since I've put much on paper, but I assure you my desire to write authentically and live boldly for Christ are just as much a part of me as always. Week two's topic: Morning

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His mercies never
fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness". Lam. 3:22-23

I love lazy clouds lingering at the tops of bare trees and sunbeams fighting to display their radiance in the dim morning light. I love the reassurance of life as I feel my lungs fill with cool, sharp air and my skin prickle with goose bumps while exhaling prayers of thanksgiving for yet another day, which on their own, resemble hazy rain clouds drifting heavenward in the early winter mornings.  I love clear, dark mornings when stars still dot the sky, reminding me my God is so much bigger than I, so much more in control that I, so much more powerful and all-knowing than I. It’s exciting to embark on day where promises will be fulfilled, hopes will be dreamed, and new mercies will be gifted.

I’ve always associated mornings with mercy. I’m pretty sure it’s because when I was a wee girl growing up in a small Baptist church, we sung a hymn inspired by Lamentations 3:22-23, which speaks about God’s mercies being new every morning. We sung this hymn so often, seemingly every. single. Sunday, that I can still hear the slow, and I do mean s-l-o-w, organ’s vibrato in the back of my mind to this day. It wasn’t a song I particularly liked (can you tell?), however, the words acted as a key ingredient in the foundation on which I’ve built my now 43 years upon. I am not a glass-half-full kind of girl by chance. I am a glass-half-full kind of girl because mercy was planted and nurtured throughout my entire life.

Mercy is often misunderstood. When it isn’t overlooked, it’s taken for granted or confused with something it is not. And what I mean by that is that we often believe we deserve more or better or something other than what we have received. And although that maybe true, when we look for what we DON’T have, we miss what we DO have. And that’s exactly my point. Remember the story of the Israelites and how even though the Lord daily provided manna (bread) for them, they still cried out for meat? Remember how God eventually gave into their pleas and in the end they realized that they really had no desire for it after all? (Exodus 15-16) I think we’re a little like that too. We want all that Christ offers in addition to the perks of the world. Thinking about this, I wonder just how much we miss of God’s glory when we are searching for something we have assigned more significance to?

Robert Gelinas points out in his book, “The Mercy Prayer”, that mercy is “compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, steadfast love, unfailing love, goodness, generous love, and loving kindness”. You may read that list and quickly make the connection that those are attributes of Christ; and you would be correct! Mercy is at the core of Who Christ is! (Psalm 103). I feel it important to note here that mercy is for everyone; the loveable and unlovable alike. We are all sinners and fall ridiculously short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23); and if we consider that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), we know we have been gifted an abundance of mercy when we receive His gracious, sacrificial gift of salvation. Mercy assumes we’re going to sin and He loves us anyway; He supplies our needs anyway. Mercy doesn’t alleviate our pain or suffering, but does act like an ointment to our wounds. It’s not based on anything we do or don’t do. On that note, I think it’s equally important to understand that God doesn’t dole out mercy with reluctance, or weighing the pros and cons of doing so, or even anticipating some form of repayment (not that we could!). He has no ulterior motive. He simply loves to love and He does that by gifting us His mercy each and every day, starting first thing in the morning. Micah 7:18 tells us that “God delights to show mercy”. Delights! Can you picture His face? Do you get a sense of His heart?

Perhaps the best definition I’ve heard is “Mercy is God’s grace in action”.

Going back to the story of the Israelites for a minute, it’s important to remember that God didn’t just place His provisions in their laps. They actually had to go out and gather the manna. When they saw the abundance of manna, they were so excited; so excited that they gathered far more than they needed in hopes to save some for the next day. Do you remember what happened? It rotted. God provides what we need for this day and only for this day. I love how Beth Moore, in her Bible Study: A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place” points out that “our ratio of mercy matches our present need. When the time arises and the need escalates, so does the grace required for us to make it. God is always sufficient in perfect proportion to our need”.  We always have what we need. Nothing more, nothing less for today. We cannot store up or use up God’s mercies. It’s impossible. And every day, we will learn to rely on Him to meet our needs.

This morning I thank the Lord for another day, another opportunity to see Him and to reflect His love to the world. I challenge you to do the same. I am pretty sure that if we can practice having a thankful heart for what we already have, we will be transformed from the inside out. This happens when we trade our agenda for His; when we trade our shame, regrets, fears, etc. for His mercy. What a way to begin each morning!

Bragging Rights

Seemingly out of the blue, the story of the Israelites came to mind this week.  Remember, they were the Lord’s beloveds, His children, and though they had been in captivity for a great number of years, the Lord never turned His back on them, He remained with them as they endured trial after trial. He walked beside them even when they turned their back on Him, ultimately rescuing them by parting the Red Sea long enough for them to pass before enclosing it upon their enemies. Without a doubt, the Israelites were grateful. In their humble gratitude, they built a monument of great significance that would remind them of the work, the promise the Lord had fulfilled in their lives.

I imagine this monument was in the middle of town and would be passed regularly by the town’s people.  When their children would ask about the monument, their parents would stop, scoop their wee ones onto their laps and with tears in their eyes, begin to share in detail their testimony—the mighty work the Lord had done in their lives. The children’s eyes would widen and their mouths would drop with each turn of events--- enthralled by the story.  The children would beg to hear it each and every time they passed the monument. Can’t you hear it? “Momma, Momma, tell us about the time when…” The story never got old. Instead, it introduced them to their Heavenly father on a personal level and gave them a deep hunger to know Him personally. As they grew and had children of their own, they too, would share their story.

Testimony: the evidence we experience of Christ working in our lives as He works to reveal His glory as He tenderly transforms us into the likeness of His Son.  Our testimony does not begin and end with our story of discovering who God is and inviting Him to be the Lord of our lives (salvation), as often believed. Rather, our testimony, likened to transformation, is on-going, continuously being added to, never complete until we enter Heaven’s gates where we’ll find ourselves embraced, (engulfed, I like to imagine!) in the tender folds of our father’s wings.

Perhaps one of the best examples of transformation is that of a caterpillar to a butterfly.  Francis Chan, author of The Forgotten God, poses the question: “Ever wonder what goes through the caterpillar’s mind when it wakes up from its long nap to discover it can fly?” Seriously, how amazing is that? The caterpillar does not even resemble who it once was. He is a new creation.

We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Think about that for a moment. We are in the midst of being transformed. Our minds have been renewed. The old has gone away and the new has come (2Cor. 5:17). I’ll admit that I take this for granted time and time again, that I forget that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead and parted the Red Sea dwells within me. I often brush past the countless times He has refined me—where He has allowed me to glimpse His glory. Perhaps, we all get distracted, lose our focus, get whisked away by the seemingly urgent or beautiful, sparkly things in this world, buying into outside experiences to furnish a personal sense of meaning. We forget that we are not what we do.  I have a feeling even if we were to build a monument like the Israelites did, even that would lose its splendor and eventually we would not even see it. 

So the question then, is how do we live intentionally for God, keeping Him in the forefront of every thought, every word we speak, and everything we do? We surrender daily to Him, submit to His leading daily, live like we have been transformed from a measly caterpillar to a new creation-- brilliant in color, pattern,  and can fly! As I reread these words, they sound so simple, they sound predicable even. We have heard them before, perhaps countless times, and yet we disregard such simplicity because we know it is anything but simple. It requires work on our part. It requires us to make a conscious choice daily, sometimes hourly, to live intentionally and fully surrendered to Christ. We are a generation of wanting our cake and eating it too… at no cost to us. We want intimacy with Christ and….

In writing these words, I am brought to tears and my heart is grieved that I take the work of the Lord (my testimony) for grated as times, brushing past who I once was, skimming over the mighty work the Lord has done in my life. I can fly for crying out loud. I can soar with eagles because my hope is in the Lord and it is Him who strengthens me (Is. 40:31).

Beloved, ponder these facts for a moment: we have been redeemed. We have been bought for a price that cost Jesus everything. We have been forgiven. We were created not because God needs us, but because He wants us. His thoughts are about us constantly and He desires to fill us with Himself. We are loved, treasured really.  Overwhelmed by His grace for us? Me too. And then when I reflect on the countless ways He has revealed Himself to me (revel in the specifics), transforming me more and more into the image of His Son, I am left speechless, my heart begins to beat wildly, and I am left in a place of utter worship. I cannot help but to fall to my knees in humble gratitude before the throne of my God.

Having an appropriate view of God dictates how we choose to respond to His magnitude and the work He has done in our lives. Honestly, when we live intentionally for Him, we cannot help but to boast of the work the Lord is doing in and around our lives. The choice is ours to make. Today, I will choose to live in a place of gratitude and relish in the work the Lord has and is doing in my life.  And Lord knows, I have incredible bragging rights because in my weakness, His power has been made perfect (2 Cor. 12:9). What about you?


“Gratitude awakens the soul to the sweetness of being tethered to God” (Margaret Ashmore).