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8.06.2013

expecting, looking, and longing.


"And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!"
-- Isaiah 30.18, Amplified Bible

i love that the amplified version translates "waits" as "expecting, looking, and longing." waiting can have such a negative connotation. when i read that he's waiting to be gracious to me, it's as if he's tapping his toe, annoyed at my continual failures, just impatiently holding out his grace until i get my life together. but expecting, looking, and longing? that paints an entirely different picture -- one of inexplicable mercy and loving-kindness -- a picture much more in line with the character of God we know to be true from scripture.

i do that way too often. i create a picture of God in my head that just isn't true. i imagine God reacting to things as i would -- impatient, inconsistent, annoyed, indifferent. well no wonder i don't want to spend time with that god. no wonder i have a hard time trusting that god. i think this is why A.W. Tozer wrote, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

so, what if i truly believed -- not just in my head, but deep down in the core of who i am -- that the God i worship is expecting, looking, and longing to be gracious to me, to have mercy on me, to show me loving-kindness?

i think only when i understand that will i be able to spend my life expecting, looking, and longing for Him. because why wouldn't you long for that God? why wouldn't you look to a God who Himself -- His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, His matchless, unbroken companionship -- is better than anything this world has to offer?

i want to live like that. i want to believe it in the depths of my soul and let it transform my life.

these are my thoughts this morning. i have no doubt i'll forget these things by tomorrow morning -- or even this afternoon -- and have to remind myself all over again. thankful for grace.

"My only wish and desire, the one thing I humbly crave to have is the grace to love God, to love Him alone. Beyond that I ask for nothing more." -- St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

8.05.2013

adoption in scripture.

one of my responsibilities at work is to manage the blog for buckner's be a family website. i recently wrapped up a series on that blog entitled, "adoption in scripture," where i walked through various places in scripture where we see adoption themes and stories. i really enjoyed writing it. i don't miss late nights in the library, but i do sometimes miss researching and writing for seminary classes. i loved being a student (nerd alert). it was fun to use those skills to write about something i care so deeply about -- and to do it for my job! what a gift!


so, if you're interested, i'd love to share the "adoption in scripture" posts with you. i hope you enjoy them and are encouraged by them. i also hope you appreciate how many capital letters i used.

part I: before creation
part II: abraham
part III: moses
part IV: esther
part V: jesus
part VI: paul's letters

8.02.2013

thankful thursday (on friday): texas tour & people i love.

i know i'm a day late, but i had to write this thankful thursday post. i've been especially thankful this week for time with people i love.

1. hefners.
last week, i got a call from my bff: "hey, are y'all busy on thursday?" when your friend who lives 11 hours away asks this question, your hopes skyrocket. "please tell me you're coming, please tell me you're coming!" sure enough, she and her little family were passing through norman hoping to see us. we dropped everything, cleaned up the apt, and were thrilled to host them for less than 24 hours. it was such a quick trip, but i'm thankful for any time i can get with the hefners -- especially little john john!


2. both families.
on friday, we drove down to duncanville to surprise my father-in-law for his birthday. this is a man who is never surprised and is always in control of the plan. not this time! we completely surprised him. there may have even been tears, but if you ask him, he'll probably just say his eyes were sweating. his birthday dinner of choice was a low country boil... YUM! and, of course, we also enjoyed time with our little sitting-up-and-crawling nephew. what a cutie! we were both so thankful for time with the brister/hardy clan -- it had definitely been too long!



then, on saturday, my brother flew into dfw from a summer overseas in "the sandbox." my family took over the international arrival area and eagerly awaited his entrance through those big double doors. i know he loves his time over there, but selfishly, i'm thankful he's back in the same country as me. whit was pretty excited to see "uncle dew," too.



3. foster families.
one of the services buckner offers our foster/adoptive families is an annual retreat at camp buckner. it was nice to spend a few days in the beautiful texas hill country (a nice respite from the flat land i call home!), and fun to be back in camp world -- blob, sunburn, eating contests, pie throws, and all. more importantly, i was super thankful to spend time around these families. i completely fell in love with the kids, a couple in particular, and loved getting to see what i spend all my time working for -- children placed in loving families! such an incredible sight!


4. grandmothers.
i got to see both of my grandmothers in the same 24 hours! what a treat! after the foster family retreat, i made a quick trip down to san antonio to see gigi, then "on my way home" to norman, i made a detour off of i-35 to see grandmother in longview. i'm realizing more and more what gifts they are, and i was so thankful for time (though brief!) with each of them. also, my grandmother is moving and having to get rid of some things, so i gladly picked up this 1970s (i think?) shot of my dad. too good!


5. the husband.
when i FINALLY made it back to norman, the husband and i celebrated with a night out to our favorite fancy restaurant (thanks, groupon!). it's good to feel missed and even better to be with the one you've been missing. five days is just too long, y'all. (we're such wimps.) thankful for a special night with him.


bonus: less hot weather!
i'm including one more this week, because i checked my timehop app this morning and saw this. last year on this day i tweeted this picture:


what?! how did we live like that?! i'm thankful that for whatever reason, this summer has been mild -- still hot (highs in the upper 90s this week), but much better than 115. hello, perspective. get outside, people! enjoy it!

what (or who!) have you been thankful for this week?