I think there is a child in Brooklyn that is waiting to teach me how to blow bubbles and to make it art and to point others to Jesus through art, bubbles and a giant yellow school bus. Did I mention that I do not like big yellow school buses. Kinda like I do not like green eggs and ham. Not at all. Not any way. Not here or there or anywhere. But the Great Art Bus Adventure goes on. I know a tree grows in Brooklyn but so does a boy who blows bubbles reallly really well and needs Jesus. wishing grace…..wynnegraceappears for Brooklyn and soon in Brooklyn from Brooklyn.
Category: Christian Love
Picking and Choosing Good Fruit
But the fuit of the spirit is love, joy, forebearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Galatians 5:22
Dear Mother of Mine,
thank you. for loving.
for raising, for sacrificing, for taking a fork in the road, teaching three and more, exhausting yourself for others, showing us such good things, pointing us to Him, loving our Father for decades, teaching us the beautiful, loving our children, and the more of the story which is told and untold of love in family, behind the walls, inside the home.
thank you.
we bless you and honor you.
we love you.
I love you.
Happy Mother’s Day from deep down places in my heart to yours.
I am blessed because of you.
wishing Grace…….
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Seeing More Clearly Through A Lense of Grace and Mercy
Blinded by the light. Its difficult to see. Feeling unsafe behind the wheel. Hoping to be home and safe soon. I am vulnerable and I am challenged. The eye doctor dilates my eyes and every ray of sun causes a wince, bringing hand to eye for cover and protection. I am not seeing well. I am not seeing clearly. I want to go home. I know this is temporary. I am certain my vision will improve. I’ve been told it will take two hours. But in this time I am reminded of what it feels like to see unclearly, to see the world in a blur, missing detail. Things are askew. Things are murky, cloudy and off a beat a bit. There are so many times when I do not see the what’s right there. Someone has unspoken pain and I do not see the what’s behind the surface. Someone is struggling with a life circumstance and I do not see clearly the effect it has on words and actions. There is a hidden fact or emotion which I do not see, cannot see, or even will not see. Things are hidden away. Buried down deep. Out of sight. Out of plain view. Things that require sweet Mercy and Grace to see with tenderness and understanding. Like my dilated eyes preventing clarity, the blur of the eyes of the heart can slant and cripple,distort the ability to see with Kingdom Eyes. 
“You can’t go on ‘seeing through’ things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see”. — C.S. Lewis, “The Abolition of Man”. But when I put on the lense of Grace and my heart looks out through a lense of Mercy, I begin to see with understanding and love. The facts or circumstances causing the blurry are less important. The pieces of the puzzle missing matter less now. My eyes are more aligned with the heart of God. Mercifully I see. The blur of pain causing a skewed understanding fades when I look in love. His love. Handicapped on my own. Unable to see clearly without Him. Needing the corrective lense on life of the spirit of God, needing a shift in my fleshy perspective, needing a glimpse of His people through the eyes of Jesus.
“The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.” — Brennan Manning.
I want to see clearly, lovingly, tenderly, mercifully. And I want to see past and through the circumstances- both my own and those of others. I want to see the hard to see places and yet see nothing, embracing and loving the hard and the unlovable. Loving in an all out way where all becomes invisible in love but that which matters. They are my family, my friends, my neighbors. I want to love Gracefully and Mercifully in the blur of life, the blur of pain, the blur of hurt, and the blur of circumstances.
Eyes of Mercy and Eyes of Grace shift perspective, shift view, and opinion and judgement. A lense of Grace and a lense of Love allow compassion and tenderness to focus the eyes of the heart lovingly, kindly, and oh so sweetly to see Beauty each and every time. To see the shadow of the Cross and the bright clear love reigning down from Heaven.
My vision is still off. I feel the sting of the blurr of my vision being manipulated by the doctor. And I know how fragile the eyes are, especially the eyes of my heart. I know how quickly I am prone to look out not in love, but in judgement, in criticism, in hyper-sensitivity and without empathy.
So I lean hard on Him as a blind woman leans on a cane. Crippled am I, handicapped am I without any strength on my own. With the vision of a sinner, blind to others, stumbling into others, running hard into pain and causing it myself, I need the Shephard’s staff.
Mercifully He offers. Mercifully He leads.
Amazing Grace. A view of life like no other, through the lense of Grace.
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Two Bloggers, Two Salads, and A Two Hour Lunch (This is Grace)
This is Grace.
I know a woman who walks out grace, with grace. Shelly Miller of Redemption’s Beauty a beautiful blog which I follow.
And you will read more of her beautiful story there.
But this is a story of her grace shown toward me, a new blogger.
We sit in a booth and we swirl words around. And thoughts go off into places of shared passion. Sentences spiral around salad about being women and mothers and bloggers.
She laughs a contagious laugh. It springs up from way down and lands in the between us. Warm covering the time like down comforter, snugging in for a two hour stay. She and her story delight. How she came to write in a most unexpected way. Her story of hearing story because she invites story to come out and play and feel free She invites and the sharing begins.
Her eyes twinkle with joy as we sip from our straws like girls at the pharmacy counter after school all cherry coke and faux leather swirly seat. And I soak in the wonder that is her life’s story of teaching herself about life. Of digging deep into a thing and come up with the knowing.
We laugh about carving out time and finding balance in our lives. And she answers some questions and leads me to places she knows I want to go, with words about words.
She is a picture for this blogger/woman/mother/wife of beautiful redemption and of taking a daily step, in brave faith. With faith so bold and strong. Of perservering much and living abundantly. I can tell you many of Shelly’s beautiful stories of redemption. They are beautiful but they are hers. And she tells them with a striking loveliness and tenderness each time she writes.
We lose track of time a bit and startle when we see the hour. The time that was spent. Grace is like this. It invests in others. It grants patience and gives out. It explains simple things to beginners who stumble on their way. It answers promptly and plainly and calmly. It doesn’t judge the knowledge gaps or hold on greedy to self. It shares what it knows and embraces a fresh start, a new beginning. This is Redemption’s Beauty.
Grace takes us to a moment that is simple and sweet and covered in community.
Givers give selflessly and abundantly.
Givers of time, of grace, of encouragement.
They place self on the shelf extending a hand out and down and to those who need a word. Or two.
And you know we discussed grammar and typo’s and sentence structure and books. Oh yes, the book “The Element of Style” was in the mix. As was “Writing Down The Bones.”
But this two hour lunch was a thank you with a giving woman who has much to give.
And she has much to say about redemption.
Because I sat with Grace and looked Grace in her glistening green eyes, I know even more about redemption today.
And blessed am I to share with you a story of embracing, encouraging and extending the gifts we have and the gifts we’ve been given.
And to pass on the encouragement to you to use your gifts to bless others in family, in friendship and in community.
Thank you Shelly for sharing yours and blessing others.
elizabeth w. marshall 