Happy New Year, dear friends! I wonder what lies ahead in 2016…
Without a doubt, if the past is any indication, we’ll look back this time next year and stand amazed at how the year played out. Today, even with all of the puzzle pieces spread out in front of us, we can be sure there are “unseens” that will join the picture. There’s more influencing our lives than meets the eye…
Recently while cleaning house, I spotted something on the floor. When I bent down to pick it up, I realized something was stuck under the baseboard. Something I’d never seen before.
In case you’re a new reader here (welcome! and I hope you’ll stop by often), I should tell you that Renaissance Man and I purchased an uninhabitable old house and brought it back to life. We’ve called it “home” for almost a decade. I’ve documented our renovation story, but suffice it to say, in the room where I was cleaning, we started with this…
… and ended with this.
We’ve had our hands on virtually every inch of our house—and I’ve cleaned it many times!—and so you can imagine my amazement when something new appeared. Something that was hidden… for how long?
Who was the woman who wore this in her hair? Was it Mrs. Witt, the first owner of our old house? Or perhaps Mrs. Turner or her daughter—the second family to live here. Perhaps it was lost by one of the many guests who have graced these walls with their presence over the past century. Oh, how often I think: If only these walls could talk…
With our desire to downsize—and our old house on the market—I was excited and grateful that the old gal decided to share one more secret with us before we part ways. One more? Oh, yes… I shared her sterling secret HERE.
To read the story of the skeleton key, click the picture… then scroll down to the bottom of the post.
All of my thinking about things hidden reminded me that so much of what I think I see—or know—is often just an illusion. Yes, there’s more influencing our lives than meets the eye…
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! (1 Corinthians 13:12 MSG)
Very often I pray for clarity. Sometimes I get it; other times it comes only in retrospect. Some things remain “clear as mud”… and God’s ways confuse me.
But one thing I know : God sees the things I can’t.
He sees “the big picture”. Some day I’ll see it, too, but until then, I will pray for clarity. I will ask God to reveal His ways to me. I will believe (without seeing) that He wants what’s best for me—and for you. He wants our attention, our questions, our heartache. He wants our trust, our obedience, and our worship.
He wants each of us to grow into the person He created us to be!
We’ve each received the gift of another new year—another clean slate. What will we do with it? What choices will we make?
Is there someone with whom you need to reconcile?
A secret you need to stop hiding?
A new path you need to take?
Dig deep. Find the courage. It’s 2016—a new day!
I’m praying for you—and myself—as this year begins. I want to be a kinder, gentler, more Christlike version of Me a year from now.
How about you? What part of “the real you” needs to be revealed?
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