Come

God has a strange way of getting my attention in the most peculiar of ways. Today, it was through my little dog and her beloved tennis ball.

Gabby is our little white and brown ball of fur. One of her favorite things to play with is her green tennis ball, and if you throw it you are guaranteed to be her best friend. We have trained her so that all you have to do is tap the ground in front of you, and she will go frantically searching the house for the ball and place it at your feet.

Earlier today I called our little dog to come sit up in the chair with me. Thinking that I wanted to play fetch, she instantly began searching the house looking for the little green ball. I called her over and over again, trying to get her attention back on me because I didn’t want her to bring it to me, I just wanted her. But her desperate searching had all of her focus, and I doubt she even heard me calling.

That’s when God hit me with one of His infamous “aha!” moments.

How many times do I answer God’s call by scrambling and searching for something good to bring in order for me to simply COME?

First I must find the perfect thing with which to praise Him.

First I must find a good deed

First I must have a happy heart.

I am constantly finding myself looking to lay something at my Savior’s feet in hopes of pleasing Him, when all He asks is that I come. Suddenly I could hear His tender voice reminding me of a beautiful, easily forgotten truth…

Beloved, do not believe the lie that you must find something good to bring in order to come to Me. All I want is you. When I call for you to come, you get so distracted by searching for something to offer. Stop your looking, stop your searching. It brings Me infinite amounts of joy when you simply come.

I am reminded of the two sisters who opened their home for Jesus. Mary, the one sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to her Master, and Martha, the worrier, the preparer, the cook who was so distracted because she thought she had to DO.

”’Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed-or indeed only one.’”  -Luke 10:41-42

Are we more focused on finding that perfect thing before we go to the Lord? Are our thoughts and attention all on the retrieving, the doing, the preparing, when our hope and joy can be in simply sitting and listening at our Father’s feet?

My prayer is that you are able to stop your searching, obey the Saviors call, and come to Him. He is waiting.

xo

Hard Hearts, Soft Clouds

The truth is that on some days, joy hides its face. Some days you honestly don't want to even seek it. You just want to sit on your bed and mope and be grumpy and snap at everyone who walks by. It gives you some strange satisfaction, but then deep down inside you hate it. You hate not having joy and you hate that you don't have the guts to find it. It seems to be too hard to find. A waste of time. 

But I'm starting to realize that joy is hidden in the little things. The things that we so easily skip over and don't even think to look at. 

Today, despite my unnecessary grumpiness, I'm trying to find joy behind these white, puffy clouds. And if this is you too; if you're searching, or tired of searching, or refusing to search, then hear this:
don't give up. Keep looking, Love. 

xo