and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
    sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

How much time do you spend each day looking forward or backward? If you really get down to it the past is just a brain impulse whether it is positive or negative. It is the same if we are thinking about the future. It has not happened yet. What we have is today. What are you doing in this moment? Are you enjoying it? Are you embracing everything that is around you and making the choice to celebrate where you are right now? Who are the people in your world? How are you loving them today?

As Christ followers we are instruments of peace, light, love and joy. We have a choice daily to shine Jesus in the community or barrow from the future or the past. To find joy each day is to have gratitude and to live vigorously with intention. That is really living!

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet,
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. 1 John 5:4

¹⁴ David danced before Yahweh with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod. 2 Samuel 6:14

David worshipped God from his gut at the very essence of his soul. His worship was organic, and joyful. He was not afraid to be himself in front of his creator or his peers. What he saw in the mirror in his private life was the same as who he was in his public life. No wonder God loved him so much and we are inspired by him!

When we get past the walls of formality at our core we are all just people taking a journey with God. To dance is to sweat, to allow the emotions of the heart to drip out in our expressions. It is to celebrate being alive and all that flows from that. God loves our dance. He loves us at our best and at our worst.

God sees us with his eyes wide open and still invites us to the party in Christ.

Let them praise his name in the dance!
    Let them sing praises to him with tambourine and harp! Psalm 149:3

but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. 1 Corinthians 1:27

…..They said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? Luke 24:5

¹⁹ Behold, I will do a new thing.
It springs out now.
Don’t you know it?
I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert

⁴² Again, a second time he went away and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup can’t pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.” Matthew 26:42

⁵³ Or do you think that I couldn’t ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?” Matthew 26: 53-54

We live in a world full of color, light, and shapes. There is sound that stimulates, smells that delight, and flavors that tempt our taste buds. We also have the waves of people that surround us with intentions, stories, interests, struggles, and wins. We have responsibilities, time lines, engagements, challenges and goals. We have home projects, activities planned and family and friends. The question though arises in the deep abyss of our souls: “Is that it?” It is an inward nagging that will never stop. It shows its ugly head as boredom, distraction, or discontentment but always brings us into unresolved longing.

Then there is Jesus! He tells us to walk with him, to be still, refreshed, renewed and to experience his peace. He turns the material world upside down, making it like dust in the wind and challenges our every step to have meaning. He transforms every area of our personal life and calls us to a simpler way. He is healing, organic, natural and pulsating with the very essence of life. He gives purpose and rest for our souls. He gives joy. He is the source to all that is good. He gives us love unending and salvation! His majestic artistry explodes in the canvas of our lives.

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. John 14:6