A letter of love

Beloved,

Long before I laid down earth's foundations, I had you in mind, had settled on you as the focus of My love, to be made whole and holy by My love. (Ephesians 1:4-6). I created you so I could love you. I did not make you a puppet, because I wanted a lover. I knew that for a real romance to occur, I had to give you the freedom to reject Me. And reject Me, you did, chasing other lovers. I stood and watched you commit adulterous affairs with the world, trying to fill the deep chasm in your heart. And each time you came up short. They failed you. As the world continued to take and take and take from you, My overflowing fountain of love continued to lavish love upon you. I gave and gave but you kept on running from Me. Yet, I still wanted you. My pursuit for you was relentless. At the point of your deepest betrayal, when you had run your farthest from Me and gotten so lost in the woods you could never find your way home, I came into the world and died to rescue you. I followed you into your own darkness; there where you thought finally to escape me, and you ran straight into My arms. Your hope is now in My determination to save you, and I will not give in. Loving you is not something I do, it is who I am. And because of who I am, I love you. Period. Why would I love you? Because that’s who I am: I am Love. And that makes you who you are: beloved. My bride, are you making yourself ready for your Groom? Each day I kneel on one knee proposing to you the greatest romance of them all. Will you let Me love you today? Will you stop focusing on cupid, chocolates, flowers, cards, and balloons? Trade it in for a cross, the real symbol of love. Redeem what the world has tainted. Refresh your definition of love. I AM LOVE HIMSELF, all that I am goes back to love. Please do not think I am holding out on you, I am holding onto you. I am jealous FOR you, for YOUR BEST. “But, I NEED love.” Yes, My beautiful one, I know you do, but not the kind that any earthly being can give. You need Me. “What a man desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar” (Proverbs 19:22). Do not hesitate in admitting that you are in desperate need of love; I made you that way. Don’t live in the falsehood and lies that you have found unfailing love in another other source than Me. I have shaped your heart, shaped it to beat with Mine. Confess that you are bankrupt without My love. I am enthralled by your beauty, I desire you, I have already saved the day and I am coming back for you. And as you are awaiting My return, if I will, in MY time, I will surprise you with a prince to take care of you until I come riding on the clouds. But I want you to remember that “no love of the natural heart is safe unless the human heart has been satisfied by God first.” Your love will fail others. Others love will fail you. But when you are both saturated in My love, my love is made complete in you. I will grant this to you for I want you to see, in the flesh, a picture of your relationship with Me, and to enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting union of beauty and perfection and love that I offer you with Myself. Know that I love utterly. I do not have the ability to suddenly decide I do not want you anymore. Nothing you do or don’t do will make Me love you any more or any less. My love is steadfast, never changing. I am inviting you to an adventure, to live from your heart. May this world continue to stir in you the hope of Heaven, our happily ever after. You were made for Love with no intentions of giving up. I won’t relent.

I Remain,

Your Sacred Romance

Morning mercies

As my alarm sounded this morning I quickly found that I was waking up "on the wrong side of the bed," if you will. Shortly thereafter I realized that I had left something I needed for the day in my car- which, of course, was conveniently parked on the third floor of the parking garage. I threw on some clothes and began to make the treacherous trek to my car. The morning air was crisp, my allergies were at an all time high, and my body ached from practice the night before. As I made my way up the stairs ( because it would just be illogical to use the elevator, right) my legs were on fire, my heart was pounding out of my chest, I was ticked off, and my mind was trying to be a million places at one time-leaving my utterly exhausted. In that moment I realized that this was my life. An uphill battle that only gets better if you keep on moving. Each step bringing me closer to the top. As I continued to make my way up the steps I could see a splash of color erupting from the darkness. The sun was awakening  from its slumber bringing with it a beautiful array of colors gently spreading across the horizon. This is what Jesus does to my life. He brings light to the darkness, beauty out of brokenness, and new mercies every morning. He is good. He sees me in my frustration and foolish pride and still calls me Beloved. In that moment I had to just be still. I needed an attitude adjustment. I needed to acknowledge the fact that HE IS GOD and I am not. That His plans are better. THAT JESUS IS BETTER. Guys, wherever you are today and whatever you're going through, we serve a good God. A God who withholds no good thing from His children, Who knows the plans He has for us, and delights in our very being. You are not the struggle that you are going through, and you are not defined by the occasional bad attitude that you fall victim to. Rest in that peace today and choose joy.

Symphony of Your Heart

No matter who you are or what you're doing, you are following something. You may be the greatest leader of a massive cooperation but you are still following something. You are following the inclinations of your heart, the deep seeded passion of your inmost being. Those passions will either be a foundation to build people up around you, or used to tear people down as a foundation to elevate yourself. Consequently, as a leader you are acting out on your passions and when you actively step forward in this world with a vision, you will be affecting others around you. Therefore, leadership is influence.

Where does leadership go askew? How do we learn to give up our selfish passions of self promotion and lead with selfless love? We must go to the Composer of love, the One who created passion, the One who wrote individual symphonies (passions) in each of our hearts. As the song Virtuoso says we were:

“A handful of dust a worthless piece of clay
And You breathed the breath of heaven
Then there was a soul
The heart, the hands, the voice that could sing of Your perfection
Life is a symphony that only You can play
You know I can hear it through the madness everyday”

We were made in His image and only through sitting at His feet will we know how to bear His image in this world. In His presence we learn the deep never ending beauty of His mysterious character and how only He can empower us to have His heart for people. Only He can restore the symphony of our heart that we have tried to play, renewing ourperspective on life through giving us His mind. When the wild beauty of the symphony is unlocked we try to suppress it, sometimes it hurts to let others hear the song of your heart. Yet He is faithful to give us the courage, reminding us that it was never our symphony in the first place . . . we only must faithfully place our hands in His. We walk boldly forward knowing that we've been graced with favor in His sight and watch in wonder as His habits become ours.

We look back through the history of life and see inspiring examples of true leaders who have given their symphonies back to the Composer. We look forward to His kingdom where one day the symphonies of life will come together to praise the Virtuoso Creator with one mighty crescendo.

“A timeless melody of beauty and emotion
Perfect harmony inspiring true devotion
No one else can play its chords so graceful yet so strong
You made the instrument and wrote the song”

2 Corinthians 8:3-5

For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond theirability they were freely willing. Imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.

A picture worth a thousand words - a Creator worth even more.

Deep, stretching textures depicting colors of feverish royalty swirled with misty grays and shy blues. A final touch and silent screaming whisper of our Maker’s delight. A blush as He kisses our foreheads goodnight and brings out the moon to reflect the promise of tomorrow’s Light. An inspiration of the moment, a bit of gold spilled from heaven, a comma before the continuation. All of this wrapped up in one breathtaking picture that tells a story. The story trails off with a wispy signature of crimson followed by an epilogue … He hasn't forgotten – He is coming back riding upon the clouds. The story isn't finished, it has only just begun.