Grace

Grace.

Unmerited.

Favor.

Unmerited favor.

Thank You, Jesus.

Singularity

I have said on previous Valentine's Days that I could write a book about being single. That becomes more and more true with every passing year, but this is a blog, not a publishing house, so I will give just a few thoughts on my singularity as Valentine's Day approaches.

I guard my heart. I am limitting my chocolate consummation right now, and the best way to do that is to simply not buy chocolate when I'm at the grocery store. Then, when I am home, the temptation is easier avoided. In the same way, I don't watch chick-flicks and I don't read romance novels because those things stir my desire for romance and love, and even sex.

I guard his heart. Modesty. That one word is probably all I need to say. Modesty honors beauty. And I don't flirt. Playing games is not what I'm after. I'd rather a guy notice me for me than because I flipped my hair and teased him.

Am I called to be single? Today I am. Since today, I am single. I choose to see my singularity as a blessing.

Set Free

Jesus enters the temple area. Church. There are doves in cages being sold as sacrifices. People are switching out money for customers, and those customers are hustling about. Busy. Loud. Chaos. Jesus drives out the cashiers and customers. I picture Him screaming over the commotion, toppling tables, dumping over cages, grabbing dove cages out of customers' hands, and throwing them to the ground.

Maybe the temple quieted, or maybe Jesus yelled over the noise as people hurried to the exit. Either way, Jesus taught them, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers.' " (The story in the Bible is found in Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, and Luke 19:45-46.)

Two things stood out to me as I read this through recently. The doves. And Jesus.

The doves were headed to death as a sacrifice. They were caged. Trapped. Like me. Headed to death without Jesus' intervention to pay the consequence and penalty of my sin. Like me, snared in bondage to sin.

As Jesus threw the cages to the ground and dumped over the tables, maybe the cages broke open, releasing the doves. Freedom instead of bondage. Mercy instead of sacrifice. Life instead of death. Jesus' death was the sacrifice so the doves could be set free. Freedom for the captives; release from darkness for the prisoners.

I've been set free, but sometimes clutter fills up my table. I wonder if I need to topple the coffee table in my own living room like Jesus did in the temple.
Recently, I've overturned a few things in my life. Facebook is one of them. It robbed me of time with Jesus, and it turned my focus on myself. Chocolate is another. I love chocolate a whole lot, and it had an unhealthy hold in my life so I now limit how often I can enjoy it. Make-up. I learned a lot about beauty over the summer at camp, where I put sunlotion on my face everyday instead of mascara and blush. Now that I'm working at the salon again, make-up is a part of my dresscode, but I let it get bigger than my dresscode and I began to wear it all the time again, forgetting what true beauty is in the process. For now, I am only wearing make-up to work. Busyness. My life is a little on the crazy side, and I carved out my Tuesday to have sabbath rest.

Turn over the coffee table. Clean it off. Be set free.