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As your feet are worn & bloodied, remember the wear is daring. The stunning rips and tears are from movement of starting and continuing. The story of grand and grotesque. Simple and supple. The wear is your victory; the wear built your strength. The wear is where you live knowing you're not standing still, but moving and that, is beauty-filled.

Sparkles and Diamonds and Caves, Oh My!

When I was a little girl, I used to collect rocks ( unique rocks, of course). I remember being a kid scouting out for those white rocks that had a little sparkle to them, knowing that they could potentially be a precious gem. Sparkle equaled value in my book. If there was a diamond hidden in one of those rocks, I wasn't going to pass it up. I would sit outside digging and filtering through the rocks to find the most unique, potential gems for hours eventually collecting quite a pile of diamond hopefuls. My mom would find my collection on the counter and make me put them all back outside. I would tell her, " Mom, these could be diamonds. Look!" and proceeded to show her the little sparkle shining through. Of course I lost the battle and outside the went. I always kept an eye out though, just in case I'd spot the "real deal." (Who knew a 9 year old had a trained eye for diamonds?)

This morning my mom told me to mine the diamonds and gems in this season. She continued to say, "Even when you feel like your in a cave, dig for the gems." I used to be so adamant about finding those darn diamonds as a child, time passed me by, and it didn't matter what others thought. My dear friend Adam once told me, "Anyone can find the dirt, but finding gold is rare - I want to find the gold." It's the valued things, which are so often hidden in the dark places that we must find.

David practically lived in caves, when really He should have been living in a palace. Easy conclusion: caves = process. When you know you are meant to live like royalty, yet your living in a cave, feels quite unpleasant. Plus, the process seems like an eternity.

Is the CD skipping? Or is that the sound of my life just not moving forward? Though its not true, reality seems to trick us to believe such things! The questions we ask are less about time, but more about God's character. Have you forgotten? Are you going to pull through? Are we out of reach because we keep messing up? Do you even care about this, or understand? He is the epitome of love, grace, mercy, patience, kindness...shall I go on? He says, He knows everything "inside and out." I thought those rocks had the potential to be diamonds inside. Reality is, He knows the potential diamonds we have inside. (Ps 139 - He saw our unformed body and knit us together.) More than that, He is in the process. Just read this...

Isaiah 40:27-31
Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying,"God has lost track of me. He doesn't care what happens to me"?Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out.He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts.For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall.But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles,They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind.

So finding the diamonds, or in other words, the value in the cave/process...makes it worth it. This blog may be helping me find my diamonds or at least sparkle. I have a lot to be grateful for, including my gem of a mother. In closing, I think God wants us/me to dig and He wants us to have fun, joy and delight in His surprises. It's good, but more HE is GOOD!