lovely lines (week 5)

I don't have a full lovely lines post ready for you. But I did want to share a blog post from Jen Hatmaker (her words are piercing my heart lately).

"None of us are good at everything, but all of us are great at something. No rule requires focus on the parts we get wrong. There is always, always something worthy to honor if we’re brave enough to live like that."

"In our marriage, grace won’t mean what it might in yours. All I know is, rather than a list of techniques to work on (“What I hear you saying is my refusal to put things in our shared iCalendar makes you want to put my paper calendar in the wood chipper…”), all our junk can be soothed if not solved altogether by the simple addition of more grace."

"Sometimes my discontent with the Church I see is so intense, I fight the urge to run away from the whole mechanism and search for something that looks more like a hospital for the sick and a sanctuary for sinners. I think more Jesus is the answer, not more staff, more buildings, more mailers, more landscaping, more fish tanks."

Go read the rest here. You won't be sorry.

lovely lines (week 4)

"Our culture tells us that in order to get higher we need to push others down, but God’s word says the opposite." via The Influence Blog

"I value the practice of celebrating small gifts – but that practice doesn’t look the same from day to day or season to season." via Chatting at the Sky

"God wants someone to appreciate your husband, and to urge him on in faith and in love. And that someone, that He has especially prepared for the task, is you." via To Love, Honor, and Vacuum

"I have perhaps lost my way a bit, as I have been too concerned with patterning my blog design, content, networking, etc. after what the majority of other bloggers are doing. While getting advice from mentors or seasons folks in your area is certainly important, straying from who you are as a person (or in my case, as a blogger) is NOT authentic." via Waiting With Joy

"I realized then something I’ve known about love but hadn’t yet been able to define: True love is often so fierce and so thick that the feelings don’t have space to surface." via Chatting at the Sky

lovely lines (week 3)

"Rather than the words being in me, the words were out there. The inspiration was out in the world, and all I had to do was go digging for it." via Donald Miller

"But we must remember this one unchanging truth: our worth as bloggers is not found in how high our numbers go." via A Royal Daughter

"I’m trying to better allow myself to be real on those days, to shed false guilt. No, not to wallow. Not to pout. But to acknowledge that there is something lacking. This world is imperfect. It is broken and painful and troublesome." via Mercy Ink Blog

"He reminded me that He is still good. He is still loving. And He is still faithful to me." via Scribbles from Emily

"We obsess about making mistakes. We shoot for perfection. But God knows our limitations and He is able and willing to fill in our gaps." via Ordinary Women Live Brave at Mercy Ink Blog

lovely lines (week 2)

"When God gives a dream or a vision or a purpose, He will complete it." via All My Love for All My Days

"Bless the merciful as they carry our own burdens with us, and we cannot know how low they are bowed with the grief of the whole world groaning for justice and peace. Bless the ones who serve without fanfare or book deals or conference attention." via Sarah Bessey

"I think I spend more time worrying about things that never happen than I do realizing things mostly turn out okay." via Storyline Blog by Donald Miller

"We were made to live faith within the Church. It's the only way we'll be strong enough to also live our faith outside the Church." via Heirs with Christ

lovely lines (week 1)

I've been reading a lot. And thinking even more. I'll continue to share my thoughts (because as frustrated as I am I also have more clarity than I have in a long time) but sometimes I just can't say it as well as other people already have. That's where "lovely lines" comes in. 

I'll be sharing my favorite lines here on Sundays. Think of it as a breath of fresh air to start your week. Or something to meditate on and marinate in as you go about your life.