To end the week, I want to offer you an extended weekend blessing, one I shared at our Hope*ologie Live event last weekend. I wrote it over time, pieces of it come from years ago, other pieces I wrote specifically to remind us of hope in the areas where we are perhaps most often discouraged – home, family, and soul.
In the regular rhythms of home and play, of work and washing, of listening and slow conversation, may we see God even though we can’t see God.
May our home be a place of quirky delight and may we open our eyes to the gift of living inside her because of all the ways we’ve made her our own. And if our home doesn’t yet reflect our own personality, may we have the courage and moxie to make it so.
May we be people who hang pictures, paint walls, light candles, build forts with blankets, and try new things.
May we save our apologies for when we do things that hurt people and stop giving them out over messy living rooms and outdated drapes.
Toward our families, may we be full of hope – able to move beyond our fear and insecurities into the lives of others, willing to release the right to control the outcomes.
May we be open to finding a gift in an unwelcome situation, hearing wisdom from an unlikely person, and receiving grace in an unexpected place.
May Christ be my security when I care too much about the small things and my salvation when I care too little about the big ones.
May my heart be soft enough to know the difference.
Of all the things we give to others, may we never forget to give them hope.
In my soul, may I not be surprised at my own contradictions, how I long to be alone, yet crave community; wish for attention and also anonymity; want my independence but secretly wish for someone to take care of me.
May I stop trying to smooth out my inconsistencies by the strength of my own will, but may I bring them all like a child into the changeless and unmoving presence of Christ.
May we not despise the small space we take up on earth because it is this very small place where Christ delights to make his home.
May we not be surprised when we discover the fixed point from which he longs to move into the world is not from some nebulous place out there, rather it is from an intimate place within us.
May fear, discouragement, doubt, comparison, envy, and failure not have the final say in our homes, our families, or our souls.
Instead, may we live into our truest calling as people who give and receive grace, forgiveness, and love. May we turn toward hope on purpose and begin again today. And then, again tomorrow.
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom.15:13).
Recent Comments