Little blessings

 

Evelyn was taking the last load of laundry out of the washer when she started to complain.

Another basket.

Another load.

Another day of doing the same things she'd done yesterday.

She carried the basket outside and began pinning the clothes to the line.

Across the field, the bell at the little church began to ring.

Noon already?!

Evelyn looked down at the clothes still waiting in the basket and sighed. Half the day was gone, and there was still so much left to do.

Just then, her little girl came running barefoot through the yard.

“Momma! Come see what I found!”

Evelyn looked at the clothes still waiting to be hung.

“Give me just a...”

She stopped herself.

The laundry could wait.

Evelyn dropped the clothespins back into the basket and followed her daughter.

It was nothing more than a tiny bird's nest tucked inside the old lilac bush.

But her daughter's excitement made Evelyn smile.

She looked back toward the house.

Laundry on the line.

Dirty dishes waiting in the sink.

Little bare feet running through her yard.

Suddenly, the ordinary didn't feel so ordinary.

These weren't burdens filling her days.

They were blessings filling her life.

“O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

— Psalm 107:1 (KJV)

Dolly Parton

 

As I continue reflecting on the life of Dolly Parton, there is something else about her that I have always admired: Dolly lived life on her own terms.

She figured out who she was, developed her own style, and then had the courage to be that woman—fully, boldly and unapologetically.

The hair.

The heels.

The rhinestones.

The glamour.

The sparkle.

She loved it, and she owned it.

And what I love most is that underneath all that sparkle was a woman who was incredibly gifted, intelligent, creative, strategic and business savvy. She built a career that lasted for decades, wrote songs that became part of the fabric of our lives, built businesses, gave generously and remained unmistakably Dolly.

There is something in that for every woman.

You do not have to dim yourself to make other people comfortable.

You do not have to dress like everyone else, sound like everyone else, build like everyone else, dream like everyone else—or become somebody else's definition of the woman you should be.

There comes a point in a woman's life when she must become comfortable enough in her own skin to say:

This is me.

Dolly understood something I wish more women understood: you can be feminine and formidable. You can love beauty and still be brilliant. You can sparkle and still have substance.

One does not cancel out the other.

And perhaps that is one of the reasons she connected with so many people. Beneath all the glamour, she never seemed ashamed of where she came from, and she never needed to become somebody else in order to succeed.

She made being Dolly enough.

As someone whose life and work are devoted to helping women discover who they are, find their voice, embrace their purpose and live fully, I find that part of her legacy especially beautiful.

So, ladies, perhaps there is one more lesson we can take from Dolly:

- Find your sparkle.

- Own your style.

- Use your gifts.

- Build what is in your heart.

- Give generously.

- And never spend your life apologizing for being the woman God created you to be.

There will never be another Dolly Parton.

And maybe that is the point.

There should never be another you either. ✨❤️

The fire will not consume you

 

The Fire Will Not Consume You ~

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew something about the fire.

God didn't keep them from going into the furnace, but He was right there with them in it. The fire that should have consumed them couldn't even leave the smell of smoke upon them.

Sometimes we wonder why God allows us to walk through the fire at all. Why not put it out? Why not keep us from ever having to step into it?

Because sometimes God does His greatest work in the very place we would have chosen to avoid.

If you are in the fire today, God knows you are there. He knows how hot it is. He knows how long you have been standing in it.

But that fire does not have permission to consume you.

God can use it to mold you.

He can use it to make you.

He can use it to shape you.

He can even use it to prepare you for something you cannot see yet.

What feels like a place of destruction may actually be a place of preparation.

So don't mistake the fire for God abandoning you.

He may not always keep you from the fire, but He will be with you in the midst of it.

“Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt...”

— Daniel 3:25 KJV

Answered prayers

 

Mrs. Nell had been watching the sky all morning.

Her garden hadn't seenered a good rain in weeks, and the beans were beginning to wilt beneath the August sun.

She carried one last bucket of water down the rows.

She looked toward the little church on the hill. The sky beyond it was just as blue as the last time she looked.

“Lord, we sure could use some rain.”

That was all she said.

Before she reached the porch, a cool wind moved across the yard.

Then came one drop.

Then another.

Within minutes, rain was dancing across the garden.

Mrs. Nell stood beneath the porch roof and watched it soak into the thirsty ground.

The church bell rang in the distance.

She smiled.

Her prayer hadn't been long.

It hadn't been fancy.

But it had reached heaven.

Sometimes faith is simply asking and trusting God with the answer.

“The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.”

— Psalm 145:18 (KJV)

Dropping things

 

Wallace had just stepped off the porch of the old country store when he heard the screen door slam behind him.

“Sir!”

He turned around.

An elderly man stood on the porch holding Wallace's wallet.

“You dropped this inside.”

Wallace walked back toward him and gratefully accepted the wallet.

“I didn't even know it was gone.”

The old man smiled.

“That's usually how losing something happens.”

Wallace thanked him and started toward home.

A little farther down the road, he cut through the churchyard.

Those words were still on his mind.

How many things had slipped away without him noticing?

His patience.

His gratitude.

Time in prayer.

Wallace stopped beneath the old oak and looked toward the little church.

A man had noticed what Wallace had dropped.

Now Wallace was thinking about the things in his life worth going back for.

“Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”

— Haggai 1:5 (KJV)

God's love for me

 

Lord, You love me more than I'll ever understand, with a depth I can't measure, a width I can't span, a height I can't reach, a love beyond my comprehension.

My mind tries to grasp Your love, to fit it into categories I know, but it keeps exceeding what I can hold, surpassing what I thought love could be.

Teach me to stop trying to fully understand Your love and start simply receiving it, to accept that mystery doesn't diminish reality, that incomprehensible love is still completely real.

You love me more than I love myself, more than anyone else could love me, more than I can conceive, and that's both overwhelming and exactly what I need.

Help me rest in love I can't fully grasp, to find security in affection that exceeds my understanding, to be held by love too big to measure.

Remind me that if I could fully understand Your love it would mean Your love was limited to my understanding, that the vastness I can't comprehend proves how infinite it is.

Give me peace in the mystery, wonder at love this big, gratitude for being loved in ways I'll spend eternity discovering and never fully exhaust.

Let me rest today knowing God loves me more than I'll ever understand, and that incomprehensible love is holding me, choosing me, delighting in me right now.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Psalm 23:2-3