For the Heart

This week I had planned on joining in a new project with blogger Holly Gerth called “Coffee for the Heart”.  It meant writing words of encouragement to post on my blog, or Facebook, or some other place where readers would be uplifted by my words.  I was so excited.  I wanted to do it.  I was ready to start.  Then every word I wrote sounded trite, clichéd.  And so I broke a promise to myself by hitting delete instead of publish.

“The more I think about the human suffering in our world and my desire to offer a healing response, the more I realize how crucial it is to not allow myself to become paralyzed by feelings of impotence and guilt.”

Henry Nouwen, borrowed from A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman

As this New Year started, what I wanted the people I care about to know is that they matter. If you are alive, you have PURPOSE.  You have something to offer God.  You have something to offer others.  In the midst of the trials, the suffering, the challenges, you are still valuable.  YOU STILL MATTER.  Emily Freeman writes in her book, A Million Little Ways, “Don’t believe for a minute that a person who bears the image of God has nothing to offer.”  When you begin to think you can’t take one more thing, consider what you can give instead.  Smile.  Say a prayer. See the sunlight.  Give Thanks.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Ephesians 2:10

My heart is broken by some of the suffering I see in my own family, never mind the world beyond.  It is easy to grow weary, to get paralyzed and find a spot at the end of the couch.  The quote from Henry Nouwen continues:

“More important than ever is to be very faithful to my vocation to do well at the few things I am called to do and hold onto the joy and peace they bring me.  I must resist the temptation to let the forces of darkness pull me into despair and make me one of their many victims.”

Beloved ones, resist the forces of darkness that threaten you, that tempt you into believing you have nothing.  Because you have something.  You have God. And He’s not done with you yet.