seed

Seeds

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction” (Cynthia Occelli).

“Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal” (John 12:24-25).

“If my life is broken when given to Jesus; it is because pieces will feed a multitude, while a loaf will only satisfy only a little lad” (Elisabeth Elliot).

“There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in” (Leonard Cohen).

Only God can take brokenness and make it beautiful.

The old saying goes that broken pieces make the best stained glass windows, and I believe that broken lives are the ones God uses to shine through most brightly.

Will you hide your brokenness in shame or will you let it be your testimony of how God’s strength is perfected in weakness?

 

 

28 Days (Not That I’m Counting or Anything)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

gatsby_quote

What happens in 28 days?

Relax. There will (hopefully) be no outbreak of zombies.

There will however be an outbreak of autumn, my very favorite season.

There will be pumpkin spice everything, bonfires, hayrides, s’mores, flannel, crisp mornings, leaves changing colors, and a million memories that fall always conjures up for me.

There will be no humidity, no excessive sweating, no bugs, and no sunburns.

Fall means Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Advent (which leads into my all-time favorite holiday, Christmas).

Fall reminds me of the words Jesus said, of how unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it will remain only a single seed. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit. Autumn symbolizes the season where so much is happening that you can’t see, but you know that a great harvest is coming.

So many of my favorite movies are set at least partially in the fall. There’s the iconic scene of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan walking through Central Park surrounded by a riot of colors from the leaves changing colors.

Fall seems more quiet than the other seasons, more conducive to reflecting and remembering. Maybe that’s the reason I like it. Or maybe it’s one of the plethora of reasons I like it.

I will have my pumpkin spice latte with my pumpkin spice scone and sit somewhere with a patio where I can people-watch. I will wear every flannel shirt I own at least once. I will give thanks that for every fall and winter and death, there comes a spring and a summer and new life.

I will keep typing until I get in my 300 words for the day because I am a bit OCD like that. Still not there, so still typing. Only eleven more words to go. Now only five more to go.

BOOM. Made it.