Monday, May 23, 2011

Shake {it} out...

My spirit is churned like butter by a teary eyed phone call from college, "I'm coming home this week end...is it OK with you and dad...? I just need to be around people who love me."






I begin to set the table with his word and fill all of the chairs with people who


{love}


and I bake bread,


once again.





As we all gather around this wounded child...


...so the healing of a hurting spirit begins.



Heavy Cream, a pinch of salt two marbles inside a small canning jar and a friend, who is more of a sister then a friend, begin to shake it out.

How is it that our lives can become so heavy so quickly? In the blink of an eye everything changes.

Life as we knew it yesterday is so different today and will not be the same tomorrow.

{Yet}

We are the salt of the earth and sometimes it takes a few hard items to hit the same thing over and over again

{And then}

Before you and I know it...we have some amazing butter to spread over our bread...right out of the oven.

Key ingredient:

Keep {shaking} it out



We all talk.

We all laugh.

We all share a hug.

We all listen.

We all share sweet fellowship.

Fellowship brings forth forgiveness, grace and a renewed strength to head back into the storm of life

{once again}


We smile at the beauty of the power of fellowship and a simple meal around a simple table.

A simple act of shaking it all out..

{Together}



The cream takes on the flavor of what ever we add to it, this time, salt.




We enjoy every tasty bite of food and hold on to every morsel, every word of encouragement.






There is even silence, for a moment or two.





As we come to His living well, we take our cups, we reach down as far as we possibly can into that living water, we take as much as our cups will allow us to hold and then we drink.




And we eat some more.




Later on that very same evening I head into the kitchen and begin to pour the left over heavy cream into a bowl, only this time, with some sugar and vanilla.

By the end of the meal we are ready for a new flavor

{and so}

we enjoy.


I don't believe for a moment that we were put here to go through these storms alone.

Our ingredients of fellowship along with His holy and healing word served on a platter with love that He first shared with us is not only healing but binding and certainly has mysterious ways of mending us all back together from the inside out.

There maybe a scar but as we reach out to Jesus it is then that he reaches back to us and as He holds out his hands with those scars of nails that were pierced right through them we are reminded that He really does understand deep hurt, deep betrayal and deep pain.

{He forgave}


May all of our homes be a safe harbor to come home to and may our tables be full of His words of wisdom and may we all find our comfort in Him.


{Together}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ~ Romans 15:4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I
Continue
to
{enjoy}
these moments
and in everything
I
continue
giving Thanks
to the Father.




4 comments:

Mindy said...

Your blog made me wish I had been invited to dinner. :) Inviting table setting, delicious food and warm, caring hearts gathered around the table. You certainly know the essence of hospitality, even to your own family. Blessings to you as you continue to gather people around the table to minister with your service, your healing words and your prayers.

Charity said...

Beautiful daughter, beautiful momma, beautiful post.

Cha Cha

Christine said...

Always room for more at the table =O)
Thanks, it has been a long week yet in the end we were rewarded by His grace, and His love... once again. I continue to shake my head in awe at this wonderful God of ours.

Lynette Jacobs said...

Your post touched me deeply. A home must always be a safe harbor. I so wish that you lived next door...I have a feeling I would be over very often.