Welcome to Tirzah
There I was, alone once again on a Saturday night. I was twisted up in my comforter as I scrolled aimlessly through my Instagram feed. I scrolled through pictures of places, people, and, yes, couples nuzzling up to one another. But, for once, it wasn’t the couples that pricked the corners of my jealous heart, but the friends.
It is a question we are afraid to ask. It is something we think but do not speak. It is a terrified piece of our souls in the closets of our minds. The Question is the same for everyone, but we all have our own version--our own way of asking. It is born in the chasm that exists between us humans and God.
Many of us have heard about the concept of Sabbath in the Christian faith. This article isn’t about telling you legalistic rules or condemning you for not Sabbathing. I am not here to argue about the validity of Sabbath after the New Testament and Jesus. I am here to encourage you about Sabbath and to point out some reasons why you may need one more than you think.
If you are to believe that you are a child of God - the apple of His eye - then you must believe that of others. This is where it gets a little hard. Remember what it means to be the apple of God’s eye? How He desires to protect you? How He loves, and cherishes you? How He desires to see himself in you?
On a recent, cold Alaska Saturday morning, I forced myself out of the comfort of my warm bed to join a group of young female warriors - women of a military community, mostly spouses of service members. Our facilitator was an art therapist. She gave those who gathered the profound luxury to consider the question "What opens your heart?" by using artwork.
One day, it feels like smooth sailing over calm waters: the waves gentle and quiet, the water so clear you can peer into it for miles. We make our plans and with smooth sailing, we cast away full of hope, faith and peace. But what happens when the storms start rolling in?
When it comes to love, we typically give what we're given. We love with conditions. We love the people who love us, we love the people who are nice to us. We love the people who look and act like us, but what about the ones who aren't so nice to us though? The ones who don't look like us or act like us? What about people that have hurt us? Do we love them?
I started thinking about what my piece of advice will be when it would be my turn to stand in front of my peers as a graduating senior. If I could only give one piece of advice, what would it be? If that one piece of advice was the only legacy I left behind, what would I say?
Daily encouragement on Instagram
