Independence Day

Happy July 4th! This is the first year I have ever had two sets of fireworks. One last night and another tonight. I’ll take em!

Today has been relaxing (one of the perks of working for a bank is that you get holidays like this off. I can’t complain). So I went on a nice long hike up in Boulder and exhausted myself… yes, I know I’m weird like that. I have always held that to physically exhaust yourself is the easiest way to put away your “flesh” and find your heart more open to God. And so the writing begins. This is short, but I didn’t really feel like copying over my entire journal entry :-).

As I hiked up the mountain, looked over the entire valley, and then walked back down through a field full of wildflowers, I was reminded of Jesus words of how we are cared for even more than the lillies of the field. I wondered how many people hike up there and instead of just think “wow what a great view” – their minds go to the verses in Psalms and other scriptures that speak of how the whole earth is the Lord’s. That the rocks will cry out if we don’t.

Do any really listen?

Jesus used so many analogies of life around his world to show people what the kingdom was like.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear”

Let him hear what?

That there IS deeper. There IS more.

And you know what else occurred to me today? There is so much of Jesus life we don’t know about. Not just his childhood and 20’s but much of his 3 years. We hear the stories that prove he is God-in-flesh. We hear the stories of his triumph over sickness and death, of how he loved and raised up people others ignored, and challenged the idea of religion and faith and what God really cares about over and over again.

But so much we don’t know. What did he do when he and his disciples just sat around the fire? Did they tell stories? Did they laugh at the things their kids did, the things they did in their own childhood? He lived everyday life just like we do, and it was the moments that grace broke through, that the kingdom life sparked that were written down.

I am surrounded by people just like the rest of you – some who love Jesus with their lives, and some who are not yet awakened to the life He offers, the forgiveness and mercy we need. Some of my favorite moments are when I can speak of that truth, of the ways I sin and miss the mark oh so much – and am reminded over and over of mercy.

Today, as we celebrate our Independence as a nation, I am reminded that yes it means we are free to think and believe what we want, But I am also reminded that I am dependent on this story of faith, the story of the cross that I cannot let go of, this truth, this reality that most may not care about – but one that reminds me I can never achieve the perfection I crave, the rightness in life I long for. Yet its been gained, the beauty is in the everyday moments where this perfection, this beauty and mercy breaks through.

So enjoy the time with friends and family. Realize the richness it holds, and keep your eyes open for moments that grace breaks through.