spirituality

“Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality. ” Emily Dickinson

We live our lives in fragmented pieces and unfinished sentences. We struggle to be what we think we are supposed to be – what we think others expect of us. We listen to the cacophony of voices around us clamoring to be heard and forget to stop and listen for the one, still voice that matters.

Some die too young while they’re right in the middle of the clamor, and they leave other’s to figure out the pieces of their lives. I believe if they could come back they would tell us to forget the pieces, forget the chaos, forget expectations of others. Instead, they would tell us to slow down, let the sentences be finished. Listen to the one who knows us best.

Soul living begins with listening to the still voice in the quiet of our heart. It requires a down slowing and an attitude of waiting, of clinging to the good and settling into peace. Making room for love and living. Realizing that living your faith, making time for others, savoring the everyday is far better than existing to chase a dream that you can’t take with you.

Since the first of the year, it seems that we have had one funeral home visitation upon another. A couple of these were men who died too young. Both my age, one in a car accident and one in his sleep. Both Christian men who loved their families. Seeing them in pictures with their families and hearing others speak about them was a testimony of lives well lived. Lives that made room for love and living.

Death is no respecter of age, and it will come to all. When my time comes, I want those left behind to be able to say that I listened to the Still Voice, that I settled into the Peace that only he can give. I want them to see the finished sentences. I want them to know they were loved by my living.

Living in Grace,

Sadie

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

The joy of Christmas is set against the bitter cold of no room at the inn. It is reflected in the brightness of the star that shone into the starkness of the stable only to become a mere reflection compared to the great love that was lying in the manger.

Joy catches the light of the Savior’s love and penetrates deep into our soul to fill us with unspeakable majesty. We cannot fathom it, but even in our deepest despair it is there as the foundation on which all our hope is built, pointing the way to eternity.

An eternity made possible by the darkest hour in all of history, when the love born in the stable was hung on a cross and joy sliced through the sorrow of our sin and brought freedom to our souls.

Joy and sorrow have always resided on opposite sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. Joy remembered makes sorrow bearable and sorrow reflected in the pool of joy rides on wings of hope and restores our faith.

Even when the world doesn’t see joy, there is comfort in knowing that it is all around us in the presence of the one who came so long ago for the very purpose of bringing us the gift of joy. That is why we can shout from the depths of our souls: “Joy to the World”.