Gems.

Yesterday was rain, and today is snow.  Living in the midwest is an adventure!  I love it!  Secretly, I have been wishing that it would snow, and as much as I enjoyed the rain last night, I couldn't help but wonder where the snow was.  It was creating suspense, that tricksy snow.  But it has officially come and gone, and we have nothing to say for it, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Today I was able to spend a lot of time reading and writing and visiting with friends, and just catching up on fun stuff.  My mom started decorating the house with Christmas decorations, and everything looks so great.  She only keeps the stuff that has meaning over time, so there are little sock snowmen, a life of Jesus wreath that she made when I was like 13, and things given to us by people that we love & that love us.  We laugh because our Christmas decorations look like they have been fighting in their boxes when they aren't on display.  I gave her this giant bell last year, and I laughed when I saw it again because I have no idea what I was thinking.  My MeeMaw's nativity set is on our piano, and the tree looks wonderful.  Today is the last day of November.  I officially feel like time is flying by.

Time is seriously something I've always been fascinated by...it's something that we need to be cognizant of at all times.  I mean, in one minute, it's December.  Every day is meaningful.  There isn't ever "just another day" or "get me through this Monday" - every day is important and valued and bought with a high price.  My friend said tonight, "You know, within each day we can find rest, almost like a little mini-vacation."  I know that life isn't "normal" for me right now, but she was right.  Even when I head back into full-time work, we can find rest and peace and joy within every day.  The view can always be beautiful; it's how we look at it.  Dancing to "Love Like Woe" with two casts on my legs?  Pearls. 

See dance here: 

Having my mom talk about my poop while we're taping this silly thing?  Hmmm...Amethyst.  Watching a super-cheesy movie with said friend and my sisters?  Sapphires.  Another two months with my family?  Rubies.  Having a warm bed to sleep in tonight?  Diamonds.  Blankets with which to cover up with?   Canary diamonds.

I never would have planned this for my life.  Have I said that before?  I never in a million years would have volunteered myself for two broken facilities on my body, but God has richly blessed me with more than I could have imagined on this journey.  I am not even kidding when I say I would be a thousandaire if I had a dollar for all of the ways that I have seen God work in and around me in the last month.  It has honestly been thousands.  His grace is enough.  I mean, it was a month ago today that I was coming home from the hospital, and here I am now, nearly pain-free, alert, dancing stupidly in my bed, surrounded by amazing people, my family upstairs, and one of my closest friends on my couch, and two months away from the possibility of walking.  Yesterday's intense rain is today's beautiful snow - light, floating, gentle. 

It's more than I could ever have imagined.  Broken legs redeemed as a blessing.  God is good to me.  I don't deserve him.  The verse that comes to mind when I share this is from Ephesians.

The book of Ephesians was written by Paul to the church in Ephesus.  I love this letter.  I love it so so much.  I wish that you and I could sit down right now at this moment and drink white peach tea in over-sized mugs and discuss the book of Ephesians.  It is packed with so many gems, ones that I haven't even found yet which, I think, is why I'm so captivated by the writing.  I first started learning about Ephesians about a decade ago, a couple of years after I had become a Christ-follower.  My pastor, Zack, used verses 20 and 21 below to cast vision into a sea of people called Faith Church, and I remember being deeply impacted by it at such a young age.  My dad obviously was too because he decided he was going to sacrifice his vocation and comfort for a position in ministry, but that's another story.  The verse was like my family's send-off verse, like a strong bell prophesying into the future.  It rang so true.  Here's chapter three, 20 & 21:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"

I feel like this verse is so appropriate for today, one month that I found myself traveling home from an experience that would alter the way I live my life.  Paul is talking to the church of Ephesus about how he doesn't want them to be discouraged by his sufferings.  In jail, he calls himself a "prisoner of Christ."  I love that.  I am a prisoner of Christ, but I'm free.  He speaks to God's grace, and how his mystery is made known in Jesus.  Being part of a body of Christ-followers is where this mystery is supposed to be revealed, with the Holy Spirit leading the way.  Here's the verse in more context:

 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Do you see what I mean about gems?  I pray that you can see them, sparkling and shining into your life.

I could spend half an hour highlighting and explaining why I am so in love with this passage.  I'm not joking when I say I want to sit down with tea and study it with you!  We'd rip this bag wide open, spilling jewels everywhere, right?  I mean, I'm talking manuscripting, baby.  InterVarsity style.

For me it's that I can't wait to kneel before my Father each day because the highest place in the world is at his feet.  I have seen his glorious riches, and they have strengthened me on my life journey.  I have seen his Spirit move, and felt it in my inner being, in deeper places than I was willing to go.  I have seen the change in my life because Christ dwells in it.  I so long to have deep, solid roots that grow into rich soil called love.  I long to be together with God's people.  I will never grasp how wide and long and high and deep Christ's love it, but I will dive into that pool and swim ferociously for the rest of my life.  He deserves at least that.  And I love it that while I'm swimming in that wondrous pool, he's splashing right beside me.

Even more than I can imagine.  He is able to do even more.  To him be glory in the church, and in Christ through all generations, forever and ever and ever and ever!  Amen!