We are walking and talking on a sunny trail, wrestling out loud with our first-world problems.  First-world problems are those that arise in places like Austin, where there is plenty of food in the pantry, clear water flows freely from the shower, and there are three first-class hospitals within ten miles.

Our problems seem petty in comparison to the despair in much of the world, but they are our problems all the same.  A heart that is dead, or numb, or cold is a problem of the deepest kind, rich or poor.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

Where is your joy, friend?  I see your body is beautiful and well cared for, but what is the condition of your heart?  It it turned in on itself, or is it flowing out and warming others?  Is it dead from the effort of trying to be perfect in everything?

Did you know that God has given each of us at least one thing to bring joy to ourselves and to others?

Some of us may have received more than one gift, but none of us has nothing.  God has given each of us a certain something of Himself to administer His beauty and grace in the world.

Not only that, He has planted this gift in your heart so that you might encourage your people, in your exact place, and for this very time.

He has planted something in your heart that He intends to bear good fruit.

I love that God operates this way.  He gives us a little something to tend that will bring joy to both giver and receiver.   He plants something in each of us that will eventually bear good fruit that tastes sweet and nourishes others.

Why?

Because we have been made in His image!  Not only that, but we are being re-made each day to be more like Him!  God has put His own living Breath in us to help restore broken things, and to make new beauty abound!  I can’t even write those words without exclamation points everywhere!

Oh friends, our world desperately needs to see and know God for who He really is.  They need to taste and see that the LORD is really, really Good.

How will they know?

What’s in your heart to do?  What’s in your heart to tell?  What brings you joy?

Did you know that whatever God has put in your heart to do is for the benefit of others?  You shine when you display your gift from God.  Never will you see such a beautiful sight as a woman in her element (using her talent from God) to love others well.

Our joy and our talents are not all about us.  They are an exclamation point in the epic story of God’s Talent!

So, what might be your thing from God?

What has he put in your heart to do?

What brings you joy when you do it for others?

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in all its various forms.  If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength that God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To HIM be the power and the glory for ever and ever.  (1 Peter 4:7-11)

Grace and peace to you and yours, this day.

And may your heart be truly fixed where true joy is found…

Kim