My breath is quietly taken away.
By the stream, water and light shimmer: I click the shutter, capturing this image. The lilies cup and display the light, radiating against the sharp, jagged edges of wire: what they lean upon is of no concern to them. Hope rests in unexpected places.
In seasons where ‘perfect circumstances’ aren’t possible (through seasons of loss and grief, sleepless nights with little ones, relational struggles or financial roadblocks), hope rests in unexpected places.
Find creativity in…
1. Beautiful places
Hope is found in unexpected places filled with love. In slow moments of daily life, we find light shimmering against the wall in our home, dancing shadows. The sound of the stream pours against rocks and slips across earth, creating small symphonies. Against our backs, slow to savour the moment, we can feel the press of heat, and breathe deeply enough to let the feeling transpire to every limb in our bodies.
2. Daily Persistence (even on days you don’t ‘feel’ like it)
For the past 3-6 months, I’ve felt ‘stuck’ because life circumstances have made it difficult to find time to create and blog. Today, God pressed the word Hope on my heart. I need to have hope in Him and ultimately trust that I must persist with what God has told me to do (write!). Even though the work I am doing and writing I pour my heart into may not make sense now, one day it will. And in the process, glimmers of light arise – lilies make their way into our days, even against the tangled wires.
Today I encourage you to just create! Glimmers of hope arise in difficult seasons if we take action and begin to create and listen to God.
Push aside your worries and just create.
3. Friendship
On Instagram and across social media platforms, deep friendships are incredibly undervalued. If you have a following of thousands on social media, you are praised and seen as successful. If you have one or two really close friendships, you aren’t ‘praised’ for it (you’re most likely perceived as living a simple and ordinary life).
According to the CDC, ‘Loneliness costs the US economy an estimated $406 billion a year, in addition to the estimated $6.7 billion a year in Medicare costs for socially isolated older adults’. Social isolation increases your risk of dementia by 50%, heart disease by 29% and stroke by 32%.
How should we respond to statistics like these? I believe praying and seeking for godly friendships is pivotal. If we desire to be surrounded by friends who encourage, love and are vulnerable, we must do the same for those around us! Hope will fill our hearts as we are devoted to friends, loving one another deeply. Romans 12:10 – ‘Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves’.
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