my words

Hope is my very favorite word.  We can all do without many things, but none of us can do without hope.  When you have hope, you have confidence, anxious expectation, optimism, courage, faith.  You believe in something good, something more holy, something only God can do.  Hope is so beautifully sustaining, so motivating, so encouraging, so necessary.

Creativity is a gift.  It makes something so seemingly ordinary turn into something we can’t take our eyes off of.  It sees yellow and blue stripes where there once was a white wall.  It brings energy where there once was apathy.  Creativity fixes things, it brings joy, it offers a new chance at something we thought was done.

Composure is a blessing.  We want someone steady when we are scared.  We want to believe we can hold it together through hard seasons.  We want our faith to carry us through anything our doubt may throw at us.  Composure is assurance when all we want to do is unravel.  Composure is admirable, even enviable in those who carry themselves with it. 

Inspiration is life-giving.  It is a reminder that tomorrow holds all the potential we thought was lost today.  It makes us better.  When we cannot find one more thing within us to give away, a little inspiration fills the emptiness.  It renews and restores.  It happens in a vintage coffee shop, with a blanket and fascinating book, in a conversation, anywhere.  We can give it and receive it.  Inspiration makes change possible.   

Humility is the loftiest thing we could hope to attain.  It is gentle and quiet, it seeks others before itself, it remembers who He is when all we want to think about is who we are.  It serves without expectation and follows in the steps of the only perfect Man who ever lived.  It requires nothing but offers everything.  It is the most beautiful thing in the world. 

Love is the answer.  It is patient and kind.  It does not get jealous of others or act pretentious and entitled.  It does not remember what happened before, and it always keeps an eternal perspective.  It finds room for grace.  And more grace.  Love has lost interest in comparison and moves intimately close in compassion.  And it really is all we need. 

I will fall often.  I will see myself before I see you.  At times I will forget that God is really, really good.  And I will need forgiveness, from you, from myself, and from my Savior.  But when it is all said and done, I want to be known for those words.  Not my house or my clothes or my job or the size of my jeans.  But in the way I actually lived out my love for Jesus.  Those are my words.  What are yours?