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!

Psalm 138:8

“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.”

- Psalm 138:8

Photograph courtesy of: Mateusz Stachowski

I am a perpetual procrastinator and I have notebooks filled with half finished projects. We humans tend to get big ideas with little muscle to follow through…because life and it’s distractions side track us onto the next task… or the next day…or the next emergency. We abandon lots just out of priority…or necessity. So it is a relief to me to know God does not operate on that human level. He does not have notebooks filled with half finished plans for our lives, no Divine appointments left unmet because something else came along. He fulfills what He sets out to do and for you and I He has set out to do pretty amazing things.

We are works in His hands constantly and no distraction, or delay, or emergency ever takes us from that position in His palm. Works in progress that is what we are and He is faithful to completion…There is no abandoning in the heavenly realms and though I cannot get me to that finish line….He can… and He will… and He does… every moment of every day… even right now… this very second… He is propelling us forward in His purpose. Because you are the apple of His eye!

That is your promise for today!

2 Corinthians 3:17

“For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 (NLT)

One of the reasons I hate flying so much would be because of those darn seats… and worse yet that seatbelt. I feel like a 20lb sausage squashed into a 5 lb sack! I know the seatbelt makes good logical sense…but I keep my eye focused during take off on that little strip of lights above my seat and wait expectantly for the little “ding” that lets me know it is okay to take off that restraint and wander the cabin freely. And when I do finally unbuckle relief floods my soul and extremeties.

You know that relief is a lot like what I felt when I came to Christ and realized that I am not chained to my past or sin. His spirit sets me free every day and at every point in my life, low or high, it is an untouchable freedom I feel and that freedom gives me courage to walk forward boldly with a spring in my step and a little giggle under my belt. Have you heard that “ding”? Did you know you are safe to take off that seatbelt and wander the cabin freely? Stand up, stretch your spiritual legs, exercise those muscles and leave that tight confined space of captivity.. because God loves you and is with you… and wherever He is …there is freedom!

That is your promise for today!

Isaiah 57:15

Matthew 6:6