Psalm 51:1

“Have mercy on me O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.” Psalm 51:1 (NIV)

I always get nervous filling out forms with pens. What if I mess up? What if I put my middle name where my last name is supposed to go? What if my answer is wrong? I mess up a lot and a pen seems so permanent, so final and scratching out an answer just makes everything look messy.

I used to get really paranoid about the whole thing and then I got my first job at an office and discovered white out. I love the stuff! If you mess up you just blot a little dab over your screw up and wait for a few minutes for it to dry and BLAMO you have a clean slate and can redo it correctly!

In life we can easily believe that are actions are written with a ballpoint pen. They seem permanent, irreversible and when we try to just scratch them out they just make a mess of our lives. But God in his compassion gave us the greatest tube of white out ever in Jesus Christ. His blood blots out those mistakes. And when we mess up, he pours that holy stain remover over our screw up and by the time we are finished praying BLAMO we have a clean slate and the chance to redo it correctly!

It is quite amazing, that He is merciful enough and compassionate enough and in love with us enough to provide a way to blot out the muckity muck messes we make with this flesh of ours. It is a comfort to me that the only thing permanent when it comes to God is His grace, His love, His mercy, and His compassion and there is no sin, no shame, no transgression that is too stubborn a stain for Christ’s blood to blot out!

That is your promise for today!

Phillippians 1:9

“ And this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” Phillippians 1:9 (NIV)

Photograph courtesy of: Mateusz Stachowski

I hate static, now with satellite radio and Ipods and MP3 players we don’t really have to deal with radios, and antennae’s and static as much anymore. But back in the day I remember it wasn’t a push of the button, there was a knob and you would turn until you finally landed on a station. You would have to be gentle with the knob twisting, a little too far right and you would be back to static, but not twisting far enough would cause you to hear just a smidgen of the song infused with a layer of buzzing and wheezing. There was an art to “tuning in”, but with practice you became better and better and getting a crystal clear station.

I think of that when I read this passage because discerning is sometimes a lot like tuning in with those dials. It takes practice to not go too far to one side, or the other and when it isn’t quite there we can sometimes be in the ballpark but what is best and pure can still be layered with a bit of buzzing and wheezing.

God has given us a really wonderful powerful antenna. Love makes it possible to tune into His frequency, to lessen the static that makes His will and way fuzzy and indiscernible. And the more we love the more we begin to clearly receive His knowledge that leads us and guides us into what is safe and pure and best for our lives.

He is constantly speaking to us, He is always tuned into us and He has given us the gift of love to be the antennae we need to tune into Him, and when we do that, what we hear is a beautiful song that leads us along the path He has marked for us. So stretch out that antennae, reach it heavenward, radiate love and tap into His Spirit. That Spirit will lead you to a knowledge that will never lead you astray.

That is your promise for today!

John 5:33

"But my purpose is not to get your vote, and not to appeal to human testimony. I’m speaking to you this way so that you will be saved.”

John 5:33 (MSG)

When my son was really little I had to give him cough medicine one night for a sore throat. He hated the stuff, and after he choked it down and made a scowl he said to me one of the most profound statements I had ever heard. “You know mom God is a lot like cough medicine. Sometimes what He says is hard to swallow but when you do it always makes you better”

Out of the mouths of babes! And you know what? It is so true! God’s word does not always slide down easily and sometimes it’s bitter enough to leave a scowl on our face. But to me it is a beautiful thing that He is more concerned with our safety than our comfort. That He is willing to not say the popular easy thing, but instead hold us to that place that causes us to rise up and stretch toward Him instead of meagerly drifting among mortals.

He has saved you, He has instilled greatness in you. His way is not always easy, rarely popular, but always safe, and always life giving!

That is your promise for today!

Psalm 139:1-4

“ O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my laying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD." Psalm 139: 1-4

I shared a room with my sisters growing up… there were four of us in one tight little space. And we would stay up for hours giggling and drawing circles on each others backs way past our bedtimes. We learned to keep it quiet… but my dad, he had an ear for us girls. He could tell when we were up, and when we were going to sleep. And every now and again we would hear the scrape of his chair sliding across the kitchen linoleum and the sound of his boots heading toward our room and we knew he heard us and was heading our way to scold us. We couldn’t keep much hidden from him. He had a knack for knowing what his girls were up to. His senses were attuned to us and there was not much we could do that got past him… he knew when we were lying, he knew when we were up to no good, and he knew how we would react to something before we even knew ourselves. It was very frustrating as a child but also comforting… it was because of that eye of his that second sense with all us girls that I felt so safe in his home. I knew that even if he wasn’t around he was attuned to me and looking out for me and I guess that made me a little more gutsy as a kid.

And as good as my father was…. It astounds me to realize that God is even better. He is our creator… the one that put us all together and so He knows all our secrets. The good the bad and the ugly. He doesn’t just hear what our words say but He listens to what our hearts cry out, He knows when we sit and when we rise and as big as this universe is He is attuned to us each individually. Did you know He sees you? He hears you? And more importantly He knows you inside and out and He loves you….. all of you and I hope that knowing that brings you comfort today. He has His eye on you and He is madly in love with all that He sees! Feel that today… walk in it… and be a little gutsy because there’s nothing about you that is hidden… and look what He has done to care for every part of you!

That is your promise for today!

Psalm 130:3

“If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped.“

Psalm 130:3 (MSG)

I’m a teeth clencher… I can’t help it…. It has become such a habit to me that it is second nature when I am concentrating or reading. I don’t think about it… don’t make a decision to do it…it just happens. This habit of mine is incredibly hard for me to break. I try but rarely succeed because my body cannot resist the urge to clench in certain situations. That is kind of how habits roll… no effort is required to carry them out but an enormous effort is expended to try to stop them because it seems stopping is going against the very grain of who we are.

Habits become some organic act that is part of our being. God works on such a Divine playing field that His habits are blessings. And when one of His children mess up guess what….His automatic response is to just forgive… it’s a habit to Him! There is no decision, no thought, no debate, no internal muscle that He needs to stretch to work it out… it just flows and occurs as a natural extension of Him. Isn’t that amazing? So today if there’s some little thing in the center of your soul you have been afraid to talk to Him about…some little nagging confession you haven’t made go ahead and just lay it out there… give it to Him…He is a habitual forgiver…He just can’t resist the urge! Because He is madly in love with you and eager to forgive!

That is your promise for today!

Matthew 5:14-17

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

Matthew 5:14-17 (NLT)

Photograph courtesy of: Simone Baranski

We’ve heard this one a million times haven’t we? But maybe that is because we need to hear it a million times! It is a beautiful thought to picture this world like a large dark forest… a place that you can easily get lost in, surrounded by predators with trails that lead you in every direction with no rhyme or reason. And as you picture that dark forest imagine a swarm of lightning bugs glowing … lighting the way, illuminating paths, exposing those hunters lurking behind bushes and tree stumps.

What an honor and a privilege it is that He would love us so much that He allows us to light up this dark and dreary world. And the more we glow… the more He shows and the world becomes a brighter place because of it! You are a light… and I hope you remember how very important that light is to this world…and you remember today that His love is that inner glow that powers that lamp and it will never run out!

That is your promise today!

1 Peter 3:4

“Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as "my dear husband." You'll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.”
1 Peter 3:4 (MSG)

Photograph courtesy of : Sylwester Kepa

You need only to look at a tree to realize that God loves all different shapes and sizes… some are tall and lean…others short and squatty… some have prickly leaves…others have leaves that change colors in season. And I guess sometimes I need to look at trees to remember that the world sets specific expectations for beauty in my form, and shape, and color, and peculiarities but to God those things have no real bearing on what He finds beautiful. Deep in our core He placed a storehouse of beauty and with every kind word, every moment of grace and gratitude that is when that beauty is revealed… like a cherry blossom on a limb in the spring.

We are buds of beauty but that beauty does not bloom until we let what’s inside out… in how we speak, and how we act and react with our fellow man. In those moments as we cultivate grace that inner beauty shines through and the world sees that you are a stunning magnificent creature. You are! Did you know that? You are beautiful…it’s in there and the world is better when you let it out …so graciously bloom…because it’s time for that bud of yours to burst!

That is your promise for today!