Autumn is a season that invites us to let go. As the leaves let go, they enter a season of rest to find a restoring.
Autumn is season of letting go to find something more (or greater). For if we keep hanging on to what we think we need or want, we can't receive something else.
You're in a group of people and it feels unsafe for some reason. Different opinions. Different beliefs.
It's dark outside and it feels scary.
Stories from days past that leave their mark in our limbic brain. Stories that are stored there and resurrected in a moment.
We have these moments, occasions, happenings that unsettle our hearts.
Those trigger moments that leave us reeling, staggering at times under the weight of their intensity.
I have plenty of these moments and I venture to say you have them too. And I wonder what you do when these moments strike and pierce the very depths of your heart?
For me... well, let's just say the short version, my responses are varied.
Sometimes I remember who I am in Jesus and rise above, but far too often they keep me in their grip.
I would love to sit with you, holding a cup of tea, and dialogue; giving voice to what is happening or has happened, so we can hear the one Voice that matters most.
Because we can rise. We can heal. Memories can be rescripted, rewrote by the Master.
I love to flower garden. Or I should say I love the planting and the reaping, the work in between I could do without. 😉
The wandering in among flower blossoms, walking the trails through wooded land and seeing the filtered light through leaves on extended branches, brings a calm as I inhale the scent of the air around me. I sense a calming as I breathe deep. A settling among the turmoil that sometimes disrupts my soul. A reorienting of the teetering balance of my heart.
There is something that happens in the world of plants, trees, and flowers.
Exchange.
There is a physical exchange between us and plants.
We breathe out carbon dioxide, they breathe out oxygen.
We inhale the oxygen they give, they inhale the carbon dioxide we give.
We release to absorb. We let go to receive.
Exchange happens in the garden. In a world of
creation, in the very air we breathe. Exchange happens in connection.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
We were not created to be an island. Nothing is solely dependant in and of itself.
The stone thrown in the water causes ripples that go on. All of nature is part of a cycle. What we do leaves a mark somewhere.
And so my mind comes round to my anchor, Jesus.
Jesus wants to be our Exchange. He actually invites us to that many times.
Come to Me and I will give you rest.
He says, Cast all your cares on Me and I will care for you.
He gives us peace as we fix our gaze on Him, right in the middle of our storm.
As we repent, He gives us salvation for our failures.
His Truth, His Greater Truth, His promises are what He offers and invites us to believe instead of what we believe to be true and even what may be true.
His promises are unending and new every morning for us to inhale.
Exchange our worries for His care.
Exchange our failures for His grace.
Exchange our weakness for His strength.
Exchange our striving for His rest.
Exchange our painful stories for His rewriting of the script.
The list goes on.
I don't know what hurts and aches are deep within your soul. But I do know the One who does.
So, I pause and invite you to shift your gaze to Him and do an exchange with Him.
Let go, for what He wants to give you.
It is His Voice we want to hear.
His Voice that invites us to exchange.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
Go wander with Him who cares most for your heart and soul. Allow His presence to invade and saturate , filling you with His very breath. His breath of Life and promises of His peace, joy, and love. His promise of Himself.
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