The Gypsy Mama is hosting Five Minute Friday.
Here are the rules:
Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
Today’s topic is The Hard Love.
GO.
I am sitting in a dark hotel room and only this screen shines bright. In the dark my three children are sleeping.
I think about when it is dark and I don't shine, even when I fail, Jesus still shines. He shines despite me. This Lenten season is almost gone, and has not happened the way I planned with time, activities, and intentions of allowing Jesus to shine. I feel like I have failed. Yet he still shines.
He chooses to love me in all of my darkness. That is The Hard Love.
In my orthodox Jewish neighborhood the ladies walk in hats and overcoats. The men wear their hats as they walk to the temple. They wear their outward display of reverence for God and they celebrate Passover. They stop, they chat, they share their faith with me uninhibited. They talk of their prayers and their customs, and lifestyles in every conversation, Passover season or not. I nod, I listen, and ask questions. They share even more.
Why is it, then, so hard for me to share? I don't mean just with my neighbors. I mean, why do I over think talking about the best friend I have?
I don't reciprocate equally His love for me and He still chooses The Hard Love. To love me, to go to the cross for me.
Interrupted.
The toddler cries in the dark hotel room. "Mommy?!?" I go to him in the dark of the hotel room, and I lift him into my arms. This post ends differently now.
The Hard Love finds me. He lifts me in the dark even when I can't see.
Stop.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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I always love reading your Five Minute Fridays.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I love this: "even when I fail, Jesus still shines."
And this: "He chooses to love me in all of my darkness. That is The Hard Love."
I totally get that over-thinking stuff. And, we can never reciprocate equally. It's all so gracious.
Thank you for your words and your heart!
I am so grateful for your beautiful vulnerability. I know this frustration, and how the light of His truth redeems it all. Your words carry His light. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOoooh.... God is working the same message in me today.
ReplyDelete*hugs*
You are a beautiful writer, momma, sister, daughter, friend....
Such a rich five minutes ... So many layers, full-bodied and pregnant with meaning, truth, honesty. Thank God for this hard love he so graciously extends when we ourselves can do little more than rest in it.
ReplyDeleteLove this...sometimes sharing God's love is just reaching out to someone who is the dark and letting them know they aren't alone.
ReplyDeleteLove this! It's so beautiful, honest, and real. Our attempts at the Hard Love so often feel halfway there, but how good to know he still shines. (love that shining in the darkness imagery too!)
ReplyDelete"Interupted...This post ends differently now."
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. Read it three times like eating chocolate after a bit of respite from it. First bite fast! Second slower! Third savor!
Delicious.