Cultivating Kinship
Summer Sunday afternoons are my favorite. I take a four hour nap. Wake up only because they are hungry. I go outside and sit in the sun. Maybe pull a few weeds if I feel like it. Reflect on my day.
Thee Farmer moved the swing set to the side of the house by my office window. I hear little girl giggles and see the dogs waiting at the bottom of the slide so they can catch her again.
My office is actually a sitting room. All for meeeeeee. Two huge windows - one facing east, the other facing south. So much sun. Beautiful trees that beg me to climb up in the shelter of their branches. I have a loveseat. A rocking chair. A desk that is actually an antique farm table. I am surrounded by my favorite books. A Christmas cactus that has been in my family for over 50 years. Pens waiting to write smoothly over paper, spilling out the words of my heart. And pictures of Grace and Gratitude. You know the old man and woman that are praying? My mama found them for me. I want to grow old and be Grace.
A friend of mine gave the sermon at church today. He's a farmer, too. His wife, a friend who shares my maiden name, and a passion for life and who offers me love and understanding unconditionally. He talked about seeds. That planting is up to us. We scatter seeds around us. The routines our family follows. How we live our lives for all to see. Seeds that are going to help us grow. And some seeds, we keep casting them out and they don't seem to take root. We see nothing above ground. Begging The Father to do something, anything, to show us that those seeds are gonna grow. We have a sign hanging in the entry way that reminds us: "Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow." 1 Corinthians 3:7. Some versions say that it is God who "gives the increase."
We are instruments, used by God, for Him to be glorified. When we start loving on those that hate us. We grow. When we take the hand of a stranger and say, "It's gonna be all right." We are planting seeds of hope. Plant seeds and open doors of opportunity. He is the Vine and we are the branches.
Kinship is relationship. Building on similar nature and character. Soul sisters. "Bosom friends" as Anne of Avonlea declared. From the Greek gignesthai - to be born. We have to plant seeds and cultivate relationships. Invest time. Reach out. Just be.
I write this to encourage you. Whatever it is that you are waiting for. Wait expectantly for The Lord to do great things.
"God is within her. She will not fall. God will help her at the break of day." Psalm 46:5
~for you, Dee. Look up. Look up and see that He is good.
Thee Farmer moved the swing set to the side of the house by my office window. I hear little girl giggles and see the dogs waiting at the bottom of the slide so they can catch her again.
My office is actually a sitting room. All for meeeeeee. Two huge windows - one facing east, the other facing south. So much sun. Beautiful trees that beg me to climb up in the shelter of their branches. I have a loveseat. A rocking chair. A desk that is actually an antique farm table. I am surrounded by my favorite books. A Christmas cactus that has been in my family for over 50 years. Pens waiting to write smoothly over paper, spilling out the words of my heart. And pictures of Grace and Gratitude. You know the old man and woman that are praying? My mama found them for me. I want to grow old and be Grace.
A friend of mine gave the sermon at church today. He's a farmer, too. His wife, a friend who shares my maiden name, and a passion for life and who offers me love and understanding unconditionally. He talked about seeds. That planting is up to us. We scatter seeds around us. The routines our family follows. How we live our lives for all to see. Seeds that are going to help us grow. And some seeds, we keep casting them out and they don't seem to take root. We see nothing above ground. Begging The Father to do something, anything, to show us that those seeds are gonna grow. We have a sign hanging in the entry way that reminds us: "Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow." 1 Corinthians 3:7. Some versions say that it is God who "gives the increase."
We are instruments, used by God, for Him to be glorified. When we start loving on those that hate us. We grow. When we take the hand of a stranger and say, "It's gonna be all right." We are planting seeds of hope. Plant seeds and open doors of opportunity. He is the Vine and we are the branches.
Kinship is relationship. Building on similar nature and character. Soul sisters. "Bosom friends" as Anne of Avonlea declared. From the Greek gignesthai - to be born. We have to plant seeds and cultivate relationships. Invest time. Reach out. Just be.
I write this to encourage you. Whatever it is that you are waiting for. Wait expectantly for The Lord to do great things.
"God is within her. She will not fall. God will help her at the break of day." Psalm 46:5
~for you, Dee. Look up. Look up and see that He is good.
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