Nothing Too Hard

Flakes spin downward and my eyes fixate on a little bird preening itself on a branch covered in fluffy-white. It's been a month of abundant snow, of reminders that God is always in the business of purifying. It's been a season of cleansing, of pruning away what doesn't belong. It's been a time of letting go - of stepping off the proverbial branch and taking faith-leaps. Of closing chapters in order to make room for new ones to open. 

I've been thinking a lot about change lately. How it's hard and uncomfortable and how it calls into you unknowns you'd sometimes rather not pursue. How it moulds you, shapes you, re-makes you. And how, for all the times we'd rather avoid it, it's the one thing necessary to becoming love. To finding hope. To discovering Grace. 

I've spent a good portion of my recent days mourning the past with gaze simultaneously on the future, trying to somehow reconcile the two realities colliding in view. And one verse has seemed to rise from all the chaos and upheaval, pointing me back to the truth: 

"O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and the earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!" (Jeremiah 32:17)

What if...?

What if I lived my every-day like it wasn't too hard for God? 

What if I faced every challenge in such a way that I could imagine possibilities where there were none, simply because I believed God enough to make a way? 

If nothing is too difficult for Him...

If "impossible" really doesn't exist with Him...

...then why do I live my life so often in the realm of defeat?

Why am I so easily prone to claim loss when, in God's reality, I might actually be winning? Why do I so quickly conclude that circumstances are beyond anyone's ability to overcome - even God's - and often right before He is about to turn the battle in my favor? Is my faith really that weak? 

Like David, I lift my sight to the hills - reminder of where my help comes from. And I remember that the same Creator who made all this made me and holds me and loves me and that there is never an ending without a beginning, never such a thing as an impossibility with the One who works all things for my good. Even the hardships spin into blessing, giving me healing in the breaking. Giving me purpose in the paining. 

With just a simple stroke of His genius-hand, the Maker spoke all this beautiful into existence and breathed into my lungs the air of life. And all this messy thing called life is just a simple canvas on which He paints His story, writes His love, speaks His heart. 

I'm coming to realize that, in my lure to the easy way, I often am content to step off the beaten path and wander in the weeds, tangling myself among things that hold me back, simply because I am afraid of what the straight-path holds. I'm scared of the uncertain. I'm leery of that difficult conversation or that possible rejection or that necessary ending that just may open doors to my freedom. I would rather venture off the proven road than sometimes keep going for fear of what is ahead. I speak bondage into my way when God is always, forever calling me to deeper levels of victory and trust. I am comfortable with the status quo when God, the perfect Imaginer of possibilities, is desiring me to dream big and dare to fail. 

What if I was willing to stop playing it safe? 

What if I could start to become okay with change? To throwing a little man-made caution to the wind and begin opening up my hands and heart to a wild, crazy, incredible life?

What if my past could set me free instead of being that thing that enslaves me and keeps me from the unlimited, abundant life God wants for me? 

What if I reached a point where I no longer heard voices of "no" in my head, telling me it's too hard and it'll never be worth the risk and, instead, heard affirmation as the chorus joined in God's pleasure? 

What if I simply became a person of yes? Someone who was always willing to reach for the possibilities instead of living at the level of the non-dreamers who just want to play it safe? 

If I am a created soul of God, and if He is the ultimate Dreamer... if nothing really is too difficult for Him... shouldn't I be able to give myself permission to live my life as if nothing is too hard? Because really, with God, there isn't any such thing. There's no valley He can't get you through, no mountain He can't help you move, no destiny He can't draw you to. 

Maybe it's time I let my mind think big. Empty it of the lies and negative-talk that has stuck with me for so long, keeping me from stepping into the good things God has prepared. Perhaps this is a turning point, of realizing that life keeps moving and if I don't move with it, I'll get left behind and then there won't be life left to dream. 

They say it's going to start thawing soon... that the sunshine will start warming and the ground melting and signs of winter's end will begin to emerge. But I don't need a weatherman or anyone else to tell me when Spring will arrive. Spring is an attitude of the heart, a choice of the spirit to align with the Spirit and keep stepping into each season and living fully in all the cycles. It's been a long, hard frosty-cold with hearts frozen deep. But snow has cleansed and I'm being cleaned too and it's time to get ready, because He's about to make all things new. And when flower bulbs start to peep up through softening white, I'll think of a fresh start and the God who always makes it possible.