Join us #1 - Sunshine In A Box

My amazing cousin said something very profound to me yesterday.  It's something I have always felt is the absolute truth - but I love how he put it.

"We are all on the blue marble together. With soo much negativity and fear, it is hard to make a difference, but necessary to try... if you are not part of a solution, then you are part of a problem"

This was said one day after our VERY loved, beautiful, and amazing Grandma passed away.  So during a time of life where it's easy to want to fold and say, "It's too hard", the message is to turn our energy into making a difference instead.

Life is full of grief & not just loosing people we love - I KNOW I don't even have to list what grieves people's lives...we ALL have a huge list of our own.  We COULD spend  ALL our hours, days and concentration processing and trudging through our own junk - but that will never end - because junk just somehow just keeps-on-a-comin' but instead:

Turn Grief into Blessing 
(a much better use of our time on this blue marble)

My hubbs & I started a group.  Call it what you will...a church?  A posse? A family? A community?  The goal is to make a small dent on this big blue marble; we're coming together as the body of Christ, making a difference - one beautiful life at a a time.

We all have much on our plates - loooong hours at work, kids to raise, school, families, meals to cook - so when someone says, "Take time to love one another" the question that gets slung back to me is "HOW?!?!"

One. Life. At. A. Time. Just like my laundry pile...it gets whittled down a load at a time; but there's always more to do. So I consciously, never-endingly chip away at it...so we don't stink.
 
Our amazing group/posse/family has done many outstanding things this past month - and this latest project is way too beautiful not to share.

A dear cousin to one of our members is struggling with terminal cancer in her 30s.  Of course the feeling of helplessness is overwhelming to our amazing giving friend.  "What can we do?" she asked me.

SUNSHINE IN A BOX!!!!!!!!!

I had each person from our group bring something YELLOW.  From sunglasses, to nail polish, her daughter made a pennant, juicy fruit gum, socks, a lady made a fleece blanket, even a box of mac & cheese...YOU NAME IT, IT CAME.  We made a card expressing our support & prayers - and to Texas the box went!  So simple, yet filled with such love.  Most of us didn't even know her - but we wanted to be an extension of her cousin's arms. 

We love you, Leslie!!!!!

All packed and ready to go!

This is a time in our world where we need one another more than we realize or want to admit.  I know we were raised to be independent, strong, and goal oriented - but the true gospel is to link arms & love people.  That's what Jesus came to teach.  To be there for each other.

These last few days while processing & grieving the passing of THE most important person in my life (besides hubbs, my girls, and bro) - my Oma - I'm OVERWHELMED by the support of people who have called, brought gifts & food, took me out, texted me, and just generally went out of their way to be my support & community.  It's what has got me through.  The love of people.  Remembering I'm not on this blue marble all alone. My arms were being lifted when I couldn't raise them myself.

So JOIN US!  Put a box of sunshine together for someone who needs a smile.  Remind them they are NOT alone in this world.  This blue marble DOES have loving people on it - let's be the reminder of that...not matter how small the act of love, it's love indeed.  

All we need is love - John Lennon

Which are you?

So the question I continue to ask myself is:

Which one am I??? 

A pond 

or

 springs of living water?  

What IS a spring of living water?  It's when we are brimming, and FLOWING, and spilling everywhere with Jesus. Our water is always refreshing and doesn't stay in one place,

John 7:38 - He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” 

Of course I want to be a spring, but it's SOO easy to get dammed up - build the rock wall bit by bit, and the water slowly grows bacteria.  Of course the enemy of our soul doesn't want us to be flowing springs of living water, so he's sneaky.

We were not created to live for ourselves, as a standing pond.

The first reaction when we realize our water is stagnant & dirty, is to "CLEAN IT UP!"  So we look for ways to fix the problem and make the water healthy.  But the simple solution is BREAK DOWN THE DAM, let the water flow.  Running water doesn't grow algae.

The 3 reasons we become dammed up are:

1. We're BUSY.  We've locked ourselves down to get our schedule accomplished.
2. We're STRESSED.  We shut down and say to ourselves, "I can't deal with any more."
3. We're OFFENDED.  We feel hurt so we build walls up to prevent further destruction.

When I get an amazing revelation of being the living springs of Jesus to either people close to me, people groups, church groups, neighborhoods...you can bet the enemy is going to push one of those buttons on me so my knee-jerked-reaction to is "dam up".

BUT WE NEED TO USE A BIGGER SLEDGE HAMMER TO BREAK THE DAM.

Push through the schedule, feelings, & hurts.

All through scripture, the answer to ALL our life problems is BUILD THE KINGDOM.  Here are just a couple references I have found, but I could list pages, and pages...

- "Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom and His righteousness, and ALLLLLLLL these things will be added to you."  Matthew 6:33
- "...Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."  Philippians 4:9

It is SOO easy to go on with our daily lives and consume ourselves with the troubles that just today brings.  But I know in my knower, and by reading the Word of God, that being purposeful in building the Kingdom of God plays a VITAL ROLE in being an over comer of our troubles.  When we are about HIS business, HE will be about ours.  So we need to be much more purposeful in being kingdom minded, using Jesus as our example, and flowing to the world around us with the Love of Christ.

Let's practice waking up, and saying, "Jesus, what can I do to work with YOU today to seek first & build the Kingdom?"

Why do we often wait for a tragedy to happen before reaching out to people we love?

SOOOOO...for the next few weeks, my girls and I are doing some servant projects. 

This week, we're going to PEEP IN on our neighbors.  

Since we just moved into our neighborhood, we're bringing these over to a bunch of our neighbors:  

Peep cakes & Neighbor Fridge Magnets!

 

 I hope you will do some with us.  Let's incorporate being the hands and feet of Jesus into our regular lives.

 If you want more information about our Neighbor magnets, you can read about them HERE.