Adopt the moments

Mr. House Wren lands on my dinner bell every morning singing wildly for the love of his life to come forward.  He’s desperate to find love in these days of world unrest, certain his song is just what’s needed each sunrise.  ​

My boys run barefoot through the garden checking on all that’s sprouting, keeping me company while I weed and tend the rows of seedlings.  One boy is already starting to resemble my grandfather with his square shoulders and belted jeans.  Shirtless no doubt every chance he gets.  He asks me to lay on the hammock with him most sunny mornings.  He likes to talk, though his name means the listener, for now I’ll listen.  ​

I’ve been given these moments, these days, like buckets filled with opportunities to spend each drop wisely, lovingly, joyfully.  Even when everything on the news and in the air is unknown, even when the days prove themselves to be evil as Jesus said they would be, the moments are still there to make something of, to build something from. ​

The sun still shines through the leaves on the trees while under I sway listening to the boy who still needs his mama’s arm around those square shoulders.  Mr. House Wren still sings his heart out blissfully unaware of the heartache facing people every morning.  The garden is still bursting with life with no desire for a pause in growth.  

​The moments are happening all around us and we are called to build the Lord’s house while they pass.  Laboring in love for our neighbors, our households and for our own hurting hearts. 

I dug these first pictures of Cassidy and Andy out of my closet this week.  The same night we had our adoption consultant come to inspect our home to plumb the line between the legal end of fatherhood and the past 12 years of being her daddy.  A lot of prayer surrounded this girl from the start and God’s hand upon her life is impossible not to notice. 

Moments.  Chances we have all been given to sing songs that inspire love, touch shoulders to bring peace and be the game changer in someone else’s life.  Moments that will pass us by if we leave our bucket tipped and spilling out unattended.  

Attend to the moments you’ve been given more than you attend to your news feed.  The increase of wickedness will cause a beating heart to grow cold, Jesus warns us (Matthew 24:10-14).  Our eyes were not meant to see such continuous evils; our hearts are at stake, we must reclaim this ground and fill it with the Word of God more than any other substance.  Scripture should always surpass screen time.  It is the salve to a bleeding heart and the first step in loving a hurting people.  Filling up on the richness of God strengthens the heart to act in love in every situation.  

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  Psalm 119:105

"The Word of God I think of as a straight edge, which shows up our own crookedness.  We can't really tell how crooked our thinking is until we line it up with the straight edge of Scripture." - Elisabeth Elliot