Recklessness of Joy

In church Sunday our pastor mentioned what he called "the recklessness of joy," which struck a note with me.

 This is Kaitlyn and Carson. They are fantastic. Reckless, but fantastic. Kaitlyn is nearly strangling her baby brother...and I'm allowing it for a perfect photo opp. Good babysitting, eh? Anyways, these smiley kids are engaging in reckless joy, I think. Carson is trying to wiggle free and Kait is squeezing him tighter and tighter so he won't slip out. It's funny, but the second Carson finally breaks free or Kait gives up, Carson is on the floor...which is a far drop from a couch when you're 18 months old. But the risk was worth the joy they each experienced.

Okay, so there's not much risk involved in this one, but he's cute..and so very joyful =]

Kaitlyn thought it would be fun to climb the shelves at daycare. Until she fell off and broke her arm.. 

Reckless joy at its prime.

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his JOY went and sold all he had and bought that field." Matthew 13:44

Yep, I'd say that's pretty reckless. We are CALLED to be reckless for God's kingdom, reckless with our God-given joy. Isn't that cool?

At a moments notice we are supposed to willingly and joyfully ABANDON EVERYTHING for the kingdom of heaven. AMEN.

Amazing GRACE

Last night I was planning a lesson for my youth group at church. I stumbled across the idea of grace and ran with it. While trying to figure out what exactly to tell these kids (6th through 12th grade), I was thinking to myself "self, what's so amazing about grace?" Really though. It doesn't sound that special.

HOLY COW. What a joke. 

I get so desensitized to the fact that I am showered in grace by a good, precious, and loving Father that I don't always remember that grace is THE COOLEST THING EVER. Jesus loves us the way God intended us to be. Not for how we turned out: sinful and flawed. He sees through the filth and crust of degeneration...He sees the divine original within us - the rawness that God created us as.

When we embrace this grace, we are changed! God can change ANYONE... as Trip Lee would say, He can CINDERELLA you! When we are changed, we are given new eyes with which to see the world. Instead of offering a judgmental eye to those in sin, what if we saw a REAL person who our Father loves. Instead of identifying others with their sin, what if we saw the sin as something ALIEN, something that doesn't belong to them?

Jesus was able to love because He loved right through that nasty layer of mud. No matter how thick. Can't we do that too?

Luckily for us, God dispenses gifts, not wages. But what does that mean, really? It means that there is nothing we can do to make God love us MORE - no amount of spiritual workout or repenting, no amount of knowledge gained, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes and righteous living. This also means there is nothing we can do to make God love us LESS - no amount of lies or racism or pride or adultery or lust or even murder. Grace is darn near the coolest thing ever.

Hope you enjoyed my VERY FIRST BLOG!! That's right...I'm a blogging virgin! Well..not anymore I guess =]

Over and out.