Do you know that place where stress, fear, and anxiety overwhelm your ability to process? That place where you are no longer able to stay present in the moment? Where your dreams just don't hold the hope you once found there, and the moment you are in threatens to define all the rest? I would imagine most of us have found ourselves there in moments or even seasons of our lives. Our craving for connected relationship, and for purpose are so intricately woven into our very core, that to lose them is to find our very foundation shaken. I heard musician and author Andrew Peterson say in a recent interview with Charles Smith, "If the baseline conversation in our home is about A. our belovedness, and B. about the fact that no matter what your gifting is there is a welcome seat at the table of God's kingdom for you, then your kids are just going to kind of flourish. I just think that is the soil that the plants grow best in....that down to the deepest level of who they are is a delight to God, so that what they have to give is good and beautiful ...then it allows them to grow into who they are going to grow into."
How my soul is drawn to such an offering even in my adulthood. The deepest part of me still longs to be seen as beloved and to be valued in what I have to offer. Isn't that the heart of purpose, that what God has placed in me is good to bring value to the world and glory to His name. This is the heart of what I long to offer to my children. They are so very loved and what they have to offer is good and beautiful. And from that place they can dream.
Even during the Covid lockdown I have seen a need for spaces that feel safe and inviting. We have used bed canopies and meditation pillows in our home to create quiet spots to refocus and destress. I continue to be gently reminded of the need to see the interruption in life as opportunities to hear God's direction. And from a peaceful place of belovedness, we find the space to be our very best, to dream of what we have to offer, and to hope that in connectedness and purpose we find value and life.
As we delight in being in the woods this week, I see before me how the Minis thrive in this beautiful expression of the heart of our God, in the open space to slow down and be present. And I am reminded in my own heart how fear and anxiety clamor so loudly with their threats of woe, when laid before me is the reminder that God is so much bigger. My belovedness and value in Him is never shaken. And because of that my hope is secure.
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