Life is Beautiful

It's official. I have made the leap to a smartphone.

A couple weeks ago I upgraded my old semi-smartphone (you know, the kind that looks like a dumb phone, but you can check email on it) to a really basic blackberry-looking phone that didn't come with extra data charges. I thought it'd be better to go simple, save some money, and limit the time I spent glued to my cellular device. Within the first few days, however, of using that basic phone, I had problems with it insisting on randomly restarting itself and displaying the wrong time. Not O.K. After enduring the stress of returning that phone, I gave in and bought a smartphone: the HTC Rhyme. It actually works AND it's purple! It does a bunch of other stuff too, but that's all I care about at this point.

I've been challenged this week to do a self-check and re-evaluate what I consider to be important. When technology spirals to the center of our lives, it becomes difficult for us to see beyond the screen in front of us. Materialism is highly addictive; with just one taste, we're hooked. We start thinking that a good life means having the coolest gadgets, the biggest house, and the prettiest profile picture. When we idealize life like that, we cheat ourselves in one of two ways: either through self-pity, resulting from an insatiable desire for more of the things we can't have, or through self-indulgence, resulting from too much of the things that we think we need.

Either way, we miss out on this.

52 Week Project 2012 ~ Week 28

A holy life is a beautiful life. "Worship the Lord with the beauty of holy lives" (Psalm 96:9). Worshipping the Lord and bringing glory to his name should be our goal as long as we have breath. That's our purpose; the essence of life. If we deny that, we deny God the praise he deserves and we deny ourselves the experience of a truly beautiful life.

Jesus came so that we might have life to the full. Not full of stuff, but full of Him. For only in Christ will we ever be complete. Jesus spoke to his disciples these words which hold true for us today: 

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing...You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last" (John 15:5, 16).

May we live abiding in Christ this week and worship God with the beauty of holy lives. 

A 2-for-1 Deal

Over the past two to three weeks, we've had the pleasure of watching a robin's nest out by our pool. I first noticed it when four bright blue eggs lay nestled in its twigs and branches. Then one of the eggs hatched, and before we knew it, four baby robins emerged into our crazy world.

52 Week Project 2012 ~ Week 26

This photo is from two weekends ago, and it officially marks week 26, the half-way point of my 52 Week Project. It's amazing how helpless these baby birds are; without feathers or even eyesight in their first few days of life, these birds rely completely upon their parents for food, shelter, and protection. We sat and watched--and took lots of pictures, of course--of how these four babies waited with their mouths wide open for mama bird to arrive with their meal.

But if we sat too close to the nest, the mama bird would keep her distance. She'd perch herself on a fence post with her watchful eye, waiting for us to move out of her way. We also noticed that if the music was too loud, the mama bird wouldn't come near the nest either to feed her babies.

After turning down the music and quietly making our way into the pool, the mama bird finally flew over to the nest, and the babies received the nourishment that their tummies needed. This image has stuck in my head ever since.  


Lately, I've struggled with anxiety, just worrying about all the details of life that seem so overwhelming and out of control. God has reminded me through this scene with the baby birds of his good care and faithfulness toward me. He makes sure that those babies birds are taken care of, and he most certainly provides for all my needs as well. We can turn to God's Word and find assurance that God cares for us. Matthew 6:25-27 reads:


Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

So often I lose sight of how much God cares for me. I forget that I am his treasured possession, his beloved, his child. When pain and confusion rush over me like a flood, I forget that my God is the same God that parted the Red sea and stopped the flow of the Jordan river so that his people could safely cross. And then He surprises me by meeting me exactly where I am in my time of need. When I turn down from the loud worries of life, quiet my heart, and just lay still, awaiting an encounter with God, that's when He comes swooping in to nourish my hungry soul. Nothing can stop him from coming near as long as I'm not standing in his way. But even then, he always knows where to find me and how to provide exactly what I need.


This second picture shows about a weeks worth of growth in two of the baby birds that were in our nest. The other two had already went on their way by that point. Somewhere in the falling process, they learn how to fly. Though they might be scared mid-fall, their parents know that all shall be well. 

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." ~ Matthew 10:29-31

52 Week Project 2012 ~ Week 27

I've entitled this post "A 2-for-1 Deal" because I'm using it to share two weeks worth of pictures. With all the worrying that I've done lately, my desire to write has gone by the wayside which has caused me to fall behind a bit with posting for my project. I'm officially more than half-way finished though! So from here on out, I'm really going to try to stay on schedule. But I've committed to not worrying about it either! :P