Shine

When I see the darkness in me,
Brighter the light you shine.
When I search for darkness in you,
Dimmer the light that’s mine.

Uninformed / Uniformed

The other day a writer I enjoy named Bob Lefsetz said, “Most of what people say is uninformed crap.” He was referring to the fact that this world now offers unlimited media access to nearly everyone and that you no longer have to be an expert to voice an opinion. At first I mistakenly thought Bob said, “Uniformed crap” at which I was pretty thrilled to find someone that felt as adversely as I do about uniformity.

Each day we get closer and closer to becoming a society with only two opinions. We’re taking all of the world’s issues, bundling them up in two packages and forcing folks to choose one. Compassion for those that are different than we are is becoming increasingly rare. And often our opposition is based on distain for a person rather than the issue at hand. Unfortunately the church is leading the way on this. Becoming an enemy is as easy as asking a question or exploring a different approach. Does this reflect God’s heart towards us as individuals? Does this communicate to the world that we love them despite our differences? Does The Lord want us thinking, acting or being just like everyone else that carries a particular label? The only way to know for sure is to ask Him. It’s essential that we know Him personally and individually, that we allow Him to help our opinions form from hearts like His, not because that’s what everyone else says.

Alas, Mr. Lefsetz didn’t say uniformed, he said uninformed but the more you think about it they’re not that dissimilar.

Your Eyes

Lord help me see the people around me and the situations I find myself in today, with Your eyes. Give me Your heart, Your compassion and Your wisdom so I might love like You do. Please give me Your perspective on what’s happening and help me grasp the briefness of our time here in light of eternity. I love You.

Hope

Lord lead the way for us this week. Help us put the difficulty and failures of last week behind us and take a firm grasp of the promise ahead. Don’t let us miss an opportunity to be You to everyone You place in our path. Give us an extra dose of wisdom and compassion that we would represent You well and the ability to refute the evidence we’re all bombarded with that we are unloved.

One of the least of these

Scripture tells us that when we show compassion to those around us that are in need or are hurting it’s as if we cared for Jesus Himself. Today will be filled with opportunities for us to love the Lord through the kindness we pour out on others. Let’s be generous, empathetic and patient. Nothing speaks louder than when people see us put aside our needs, wants and agendas to focus on theirs.

Difficult

We all have people in our lives that are difficult to love, maybe even hard to like, they zig when we zag and we can’t seem to ever be on the same page. The reasons are varied but if you dig deep enough you’ll usually find insecurity at the root and it’s typical to find incompatible insecurity on both sides of the rub. These relationships can be the ones that miracles are found in. As we get closer to God, become more like Him, our compassion for those that are different or difficult increases. We get better at seeing the wonderful things about people; we recognize the weaknesses in others as being not different than our own and our hearts change. I’ve seen these types of relationships become some of the richest.

I’m so angry with you

This is never God’s heart towards you. No matter what you have done He wants nothing more than to meet you with compassion, mercy and love. He knows that if you will allow Him He can take whatever you are in the middle of and turn it into something wonderful. Don’t isolate yourself out of guilt or shame, it is not for you to decide what your punishment should be and separation from the Lord is certainly not the answer. Run to Him, He has just what you need.

…New Every Morning

With God there can be freshness to each moment. He makes all things new doesn’t mean one and done, it means even the things already changed are in the process of transformation. Understanding this allows us to avoid the ruts in life, gives us more compassion for the world and provides an appreciation for what is going on whether seen or unseen. Our frustrations can diminish and we get to come along folks and change together.

Weakness

God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we humbly give our weakness to Him it transforms us into people with compassion for others. When we are aware of our shortcomings it frees us to see beyond the faults of those around us. It’s common for us to try to hide our weakness by amplifying the flaws of others, which only closes us off from God and the people He wants us to love. But people not afraid to share their weaknesses are a demonstration of His power.

The Appropriate Gift

God, whatever you have in store for me, will you please equip me with all that I need? Help me to keep from hoarding what you’ve so freely given and to share it generously. Where compassion is needed, fill me. Where wisdom is needed, send some my way. If encouragement needs to be passed along, please give me the words. Just enough for today.