Connecting

Would love for you to follow my blog and join with me in faith for the Appalachian Mountians. God is doing some amazing things in these mountains and the words we release collectively are shifting the atmosphere. I invite you to follow, comment, and even message me with your questions and ideas. If you have a blog, I'd love to know about it too. Even through our blogs, we are collectively being built together to become a dwelling place for Him. (Ephesians 2:21.22)

In the Depths of the Bloom

Wayne gave me a single pink rose. The smell is almost ethereal. Today, as I buried my face in the full bloom of its beauty, I noticed how, though it is fully bloomed, it still has a small bud inside that is tightly wrapped. There are many more petals to unravel and bring beauty and fragrance. This made me think of how it is in our lives. Sometimes we come to a place where we think we surely have fully bloomed, the fragrance is good and we’ve become “mature.” If we will bow our faces deep and “take it all in” – even naively, as though we have never smelled a rose before, I think we will find that there is still a tightly wrapped place inside us… and inside life – a place of more beauty and depth – a place of fresh revelation, just waiting to unravel its petals.

In our region – the Appalachian Mountains – the churches in our area – well, actually, almost the whole religious structure here, has an atmosphere of complacency and apathy. The churches here are set in our ways – we have pressed the petals of ten year-old-roses between the pages of our bibles and our minds. We have built memoirs and monuments to the old experiences. We have settled. We have lost the passion of our first love. Well of course, aren’t we mature now? Have we arrived? Have we fully bloomed? Is this all there is? I hope not.

There is a remnant of people in these mountains who are pressing their faces into the rose. They are seeking the fresh fragrance of the knowledge of Christ – the renewal of love for Him and Him alone. It is as if they have never known Him before, never smelled His fragrance. There is a tightly wrapped bud of revelation and goodness that is getting ready to bloom and though the outer petals may become spent and drop away, the fresh new fragrance of knowing Him is going to overtake the atmosphere.