It's the wild ones that ring in the most wonder sometimes.
Down here - the flowers grow in pinks and purples and yellows and blues and reds - along the highways, beside the biways, next to intersections, between sidewalk plates of concrete.
And they grow all wild and free! Seeds that just happened to land and take root.....they spring up in all their glory - all while no human really planned or planted them.
Even the weeds sprout vibrant colors here!
Upon request..... my Dad traipsed through high grass to pick a sweet bunch of gloriously purple native flowers for me yesterday. They are sitting on the counter, next to the stove, in a Henn glass now....making the whole kitchen smile.
Before they were plucked from the ground, however - they stood just above the grass top in a field....holding firm in a sturdy southern breeze. Their deep hue and oddity - all situated roadside in dry Texas brush - naturally caught my eye. A splash of lovely in a straggly field!
And so we took a pause from our walk and meandered over to take note of the beauty.
Because really.... we should stop and stoop a little more often, don't you think?
And really we should let loose and live free a little more often, too.
Because we Christ-followers - we must be careful to not become too careful. We must be watchful. And tender. And sensitive.....to protect ourselves from becoming so stanch...so routine...so stuck in the tradition or habit or rule - that we don't respond to or welcome the Holy Spirit wafting in.
Our plans, our agendas, our schedules, our maps and charts and carefully planned out chapters - should allow for some wiggle room.
Why?
Because when we leave wide open spaces available to the Lord - when we admit that perhaps He has an alternate plan, when we see that He is still speaking and longing to move amongst His people, when we realize that indeed....He is still in the business of doing the unexpected - when we bow low and lift our lives up......He shows up!
For far too long I have allowed the known and comfortable to trump the new and different.
I think there is a turning of a page going on here.
A flipping of a leaf.
(Do read this.....for some well-written, wisdom-filled evidence of the shift.)
It seems as if the tide is changing and the winds of the Spirit are begging to envelope us.
But....
It's up to us.
We decide.
Oh, God help Your sons and daughters! Help us to not put a ceiling on when and who and where you want to touch. Help us to untie our tightly wound knots. Help us to allow Your Spirit to let loose in the ways You see fit. Lest we thwart You!
I just feel it. There's a movement. There's this peculiar reawakening to the power and might and work of the third person in the trinity. It's as if He is groaning and ready... pounding on the door to let Him in...to our churches, our homes, our very hearts!
It's time!
Like the wild and beautiful flowers that pop up around these parts..... where no hand planted them.....where no master landscaping plan panned out - but simply where the winds carried seed that took root......
Let us be biblically wild! Let us welcome His goodness anywhere, anyhow, with any whom!
Yes, come Holy Spirit, do come!
