You Make Me Brave



You Make Me Brave

 "You did it! I am very proud of you," I praised my piano student.

"I didn't be able to play 'London Bridge' ever before in my whole life and now I can do it," six year old Alex told me. "It wasn't even hard because you sat right here beside me the whole entire minutes!"

Alex beamed with pride, then added, "You're a really good music teacher."

"How do you know?" I asked him, always eager for six year old insight.

"Because you teached me how to do something I thought I couldn't do. Sometimes I just need someone beside me to make me be brave. Now I'm brave AND I can play 'London Bridge'. I bet not even Harry Potter can do that. But I can. You just sitted beside me and that's all. I did the whole rest of it by myself."

Who walks alongside you and makes you brave?

Who looks a little wobbly and nervous in your life? Go ahead! Walk alongside them and make them brave.

Fountain of Youth

"Moisturizer keeps skin from feeling like a desert ready to bloom cacti. I get that. But sorting through potions to erase wrinkles is beyond me," I confessed.

The lady next to me smiled, tossing jars and bottles into her Walmart cart. "Being beautiful is expensive. It takes a lot of time, doesn't it?"

"I'm not sure how this all works. Do I need to make a schedule of when to use each product?"

She laughed. "And in the end, we have to get older and die anyway, don't we?"

She accepted my offer to buy her a cup of coffee and after the usual small talk about our lives, I shared with her that I'm not that crazy about wrinkles; but the truth is, I enjoy the growth of character, the understanding, the strength and wisdom that come with age. Regardless of the reality of problems, I love living life.

Youth is elusive so why try to hold on to it? Splashing today in an eternal wellspring of life that overflows with joy and every good thing? Schedule me in for THAT beauty treatment.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

The One and Only

He is Jesus
The One and Only,
Trancendent over all else.
To know Him is to love Him.
To love Him is to long for Him.
To long for Him is to finally
Reach soul hands into the
One true thing we need
Never get enough of


Jesus.
Take all you want.
Take all you need.
Till soul is fed
And spirit is freed.
Till dust is dust
And Face you see

Jesus Christ,
He's all you need.

~Beth Moore

People to People

How do you share the love of Jesus with a lonely man?

How do you tell a hungry man about the Bread of Life?

How do you tell a thirsty man about the Living Water of the Lord?

How do you tell him of His Word?

How do you tell a dying man about eternal life?
How do you tell an orphan child about the Father's love?
How do you tell a man who's poor about the wondrous riches of the Lord?
How do you tell Him of His Word?

How do you tell a loveless world that God himself is love?
How do you help a man who's down to lift his eyes above?
How do you tell a bleeding man about the healing power of the Lord?
How do you tell him of His Word?

People who love go to people alone without Jesus.
People who see go to those who are blind without Jesus.

~William J. Reynolds

Emily's Answer

"What do you wish you had known when you were my age that you didn't know?" Emily asked me. "Tell us something that you wish you had figured out so that we don't have to learn the hard way. I don't want life to be hard."

Emily discovered happiness at a young age because she has grown up with a lovely childhood alongside a picturesque country setting. She enjoys a healthy, loving family and an encouraging circle of Christian friends. It would be easy to misjudge Emily as shallow with her cheerleader blond good looks and bubbly personality. But life simply has not yet tossed Emily many hardships.

As I looked into Emily's eager blue eyes, so young and bright, I considered my answer. "Life is going to be hard, my darling," I began. "Life isn't long, but it is hard. There's no escape from that truth. Sometimes life gets so filled with burdens that you can scarcely breathe. You're not even sure you can take another step. You're not even sure it's worth the effort."

I smiled at her and continued, "Know that a well lived life is always worth the effort. When you want to give up, dream bigger. Fight harder. Dig deeper. Imagine the goal that you might pursue if you didn't have to wait until you're "good at it" to begin. Enjoy the pursuit, the being alive.

Hard knocks aren't going to come because you are weak or not good enough or sinful or lack faith. Hard knocks are going to come because that's the price of being alive. It's the price for being in the battlefield of life and not on the sidelines. Start where you are and move to where you want to be."

Emily took a big breath and slowly let it out as she soaked up my words. "And you figured that out because of the hard times, right? You know stuff because life is hard. So it's not really such a scary bad thing that sometimes life is hard, is it?"

Through It All

"I sure hope today is better than yesterday," shared my friend, Pam. "I'm so tired of climbing this mountain and getting almost to the top, then falling right back down. A friend said to get right back up and start over again. That's what I try to do, but sometimes it's very hard. Sometimes it's easier said than done."

"This crazy shower was supposed to be repaired two weeks ago. It's turning into an exhausting project," said my friend, Lynn. "But having nearly died this past summer, it really doesn't seem like such a big deal to me."

"I woke up this morning ready to have the best future ever!" confided Lindsey. "I have some exciting thoughts we should chat about because you know things."

Emotions. Some days we jump up ready to tackle the world. Some days we are overwhelmed before we even get out of bed. I don't know about you, but I'm never sure until my eyes open each day what emotion will greet me.

When I get up early, filled with energy, bubbling over with zest for my life, I have discovered that nobody understands but Jesus, Wellspring of Life, my fascinating Joyride. When pat answers sound empty and platitudes annoy, I have discovered that nobody understands my disappointments like Jesus, Man of Sorrows, so acquainted with grief.

When I am wandering lost in the foothills and the mountain is too steep to climb, His arms carry me. When I am soaring on wings like eagles enjoying life and my blessings, He is the wind that carries me. Life is hard, but it's also good. It is worth everything to share it with the God who sees me.