Covered

Can you hear the beat of distant drums?

Do they resound inside the reserves of your heart

Rhythm unto rhythm, calling you apart?

The sound is faint to those of the Earth

But within Heaven’s gates it erupts like new birth

You can hear if you’re still

If you quiet your mind

Inside Heaven’s reach your heart is not blind

Can you see a distant light like a star in the night?

Does it speak to your life and call you to rise

Light unto eyes, identifying your drive?

Become who you are

Stare the lie in its face

Remove all your shame and disgrace

By one simple embrace

You are covered by blood and stand under grace

See and Speak

I want to see people the way they were originally intended to be, because that is the essence of who they are. I want to stop looking through judgmental or circumstantial eyes and see the beauty of a person. Not because of what they've done that's so great or of merit, but because the One who created me also created them, and they are no less and neither am I.
Maybe the phrase "to see through God's eyes" is overused, but even so, this is my prayer. I want to see people with spiritual eyes, and then go beyond that seeing and actually speak, actually release the words of encouragement to call their true identity out of them. This is how identities open up and blossom, just like a flower. I know, because I am a testament. So many people have spoken things into me and called things out, and so much of the time I didn't fully believe it. But I am believing more and more.
I just want to be faithful to encourage people. I think we all need to have this in mind. Everyone you encounter needs encouragement. Everyone. Let's stop seeing the outward, whether that's appearance, actions, or
words, but ask God for his eyes so we can see the truth in a person.
And don't forget to call it out.
Encouragement is powerful.

Stars

Last night I stepped outside and my eyes caught sight of the stars. It struck me then how long it had been since I looked at them, and I realized how desperately I need a bigger perspective in my life. I love looking at the stars, because they along with the expanse of the night sky remind me first of all how big God is and second of all that there is so much more to this life than I see most of the time. I say we need to indulge in the "bigness" of life, not in a sense of getting overwhelmed, but in knowing that God takes care of all of it, including our small and large struggles.
I've recognized how small my view of life is lately. Whether I'm viewing the world through my little computer screen or through the eyes of my current circumstances, I fail to look beyond the box. I forget how big and glorious and beautiful my God and Savior is, and how big and glorious and beautiful my own life can and is meant to be as a result. I forget how to be loved; hence, I foret how to love. I so often see life in a cave, when there is a whole universe out there declaring the glory of the One I claim to love the most.
God created beauty and put us in the midst of it, but sadly somehow we've managed to hide ourselves from it. I know this is not what our hearts long for. We long to be swept up into beauty and adventure, to be loved and to live for something bigger.
I say let's step into the fullness of life.
Let's see the stars and let them remind us how insignificant and powerless our daily enemies of doubt, worry, weariness, and dullness are. Let us see the majesty of our God and be caught up in His embrace and His story.