(musings) Symphony.

Christ grabbed His conductor's baton, stepped into the orchestra pit, and taught each of us the fine, delicate notes of His original score. He wasn't concerned with which musicians were professionals and which musicians had never played before. He heard the song in each of us - a song of hope.

When we live in harmony, we are a symphony.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. ~Colossians 3:15-17

(inspired by Romans 15) 

(musings) He whispers

The Lord whispers definition...

Today, He whispers "quiet time is a moment - and a command." 

Shine.

Today, I want to be a star. Today, I want to shine.

God is - with painstaking detail - crafting His story within you. And He is giving you the power to say "yes" to that story - and to Him. Watch Him work. Savor every moment. Let Him shine in you, so you can shine like stars in a world that desperately needs His light.

(inspired by Philippians 2)

God Weaves Beautiful Tapestry.

This is the story of rocks and paint and sugar and smiles. And how God weaves all things together into a tapestry – for His glory, for our joy, for the good of others.

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.  - John Ruskin

Making play places safer. Teaching girls sweet skills. Transforming bedrooms into places to dream. Brightening the “hello.” Celebrating 7 years of love and care for the discarded. Our time at Cerecaif was a true tapestry of joy, hope, and love.

You Bring - Love.

This is the story of a little man and his sweet corazoncito – and the power of returning.

Once upon a time in the year 2008, a love story was born. In the corner of a sun-drenched courtyard at a little nursing home called Cabacitas de Algodon (Little House of CottonTops), a little man had set up his small “studio.” He carefully drew a house, his feeble hands holding well-worn colored pencils. This wasn’t any house, mind you. It was an elevation – the type of sketch used by homebuilders. Meticulous and mindful, he focused on his work, oblivious to the team of North Americans who had walked through the gates with guitars and new shoes. His art was his passion.

And it was someone else’s passion too.

You Bring - Promise.

Today, I wept over French Toast.

Tostadas at Pollo Campero.

To be perfectly honest, my tears had nothing to do with breakfast. But when caught crying at Pollo Campero this morning, the quality of the French Toast seemed as good an excuse as any.

You Bring - Family.

Sometimes, girls just want to be girls. They want to listen to music and dance. They want to giggle about boys. They want to bake cookies, make beautiful things with their hands, braid hair, and talk about what life will look like when they grow up.

Today, in a transition home tucked away on a quiet cobblestone street in Antigua, girls got to be girls.

You Bring - Hope.

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops… at all.  ~Emily Dickinson

In October of 2010, a brave woman named Evita quietly shared her dream. “I want people of God to come and teach my girls. I want the girls to have job skills. I want the girls to know how to make good decisions. I want my little moms to know how to be the best moms.” Today, she admitted she didn’t think anyone would really want to take the time. “When I got the phone call that your team wanted to teach my girls, I knew God heard my prayer. I wanted to scream ‘yes!’ even before I was asked if it would be OK. I had hoped and hoped someone would come, and here you are.”

Theme.

There’s a moment before every journey to care for the discarded where the sweet whisper of the Lord says “here’s your theme.” Last time for me, it was “Little is much.” For Courtney, it was “Jesus first.”

This time, for me, the whisper came in the words of a song:

Whispers.

Tomorrow night, we’ll be there again. Guatemala. Tonight, my heart is filled with a million whispered prayers. I pray for each member of our precious team – Shea, Amy, Kylie, Kelly, Richard, Ashley, Emily, Tricia, Janice, Teresa, and my fellow Wordpainter, Courtney. I pray for our dear Orphan Outreach companion Gloria and the team of translators she has hand-picked. I pray for Josue, our guardian angel bus driver. I pray for the 272 young women awaiting our arrival at Hogar Solidario, the seven girls ready to learn to decorate cakes and bake bread at Evita’s House, and the 49 sweet children at Cerecaif who remind everyone they meet of the awesome redeeming love of a mighty God. I pray for hope to shine brightly. I pray for miracles, great and small. I pray for joy like rain and power like the gravity-defying flowers that spring forth from the cliffs in Xela. And I pray for communion as rich as the time spent holding the hand of an abuelita at Cabacitas de Algodon.

I pray for beauty to be found in the margins, each and every day. Lord, let me not miss a moment.