Tag: individuality

The Cast Call (#jammed daily devo, day 357)

December #jammed: Grace, gifted.

Day 357: Callbacks.

“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 

The story of Christ’s birth tells of ordinary people who loved God, and ended up together DECJAM23on what would be the night that changed the face of the earth forever. Humanity …we long for benchmarks, standards, and qualifications. If we were in charge, the people that were picked to be Jesus’ earthly parents would not have been Mary and Joseph. They were ordinary. And Jesus would not have been born in a manger. That’s too simple …and not sanitary.

Humanity would have had Jesus born unto royalty and into a castle …not in a stable under the stars.

Tryouts. Auditions. We’re constantly having to live up to each others’ standards.

Jesus wasn’t worried about any of them. His appearance was common. His birth was common. His parents were common. Yet, the angels still lit the sky on the night He was born.

Someone once told me that no one else can tell my story. Human life is like that. It’s so intricate and unique, one to the next, that no one story is ever duplicated fully. If that’s not a miracle in and of itself …

We like to compare, thinking it will give us a certain amount of stability to know where we stand. But God knows us all. Loves us all. Jesus knew us all before we were born. Perhaps the greatest thing we can learn from Jesus’ arrival on earth is that greatness isn’t packaged the way we think it has to be. That a humble and quiet life is heard at the same volume as the loud and flashy ones.

click to tweet graph, dec jammed

Father, Praise You for Christ’s humble birth, and thank You for loving every person the same on this earth. Forgive us for seeking favoritism and elevation among others, and bless our hearts to receive and give Your authentic love. In Jesus ‘ Name, Amen.

Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace! 

#greatgrace17

Happy Lane-Walking,

Megs

Get the #jammed Daily Devo sent straight to your inbox each morning, by subscribing to Sunny&80. 

 

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Meg

The Wiggle Butt (#jammed daily devo, day 88)

March #jammed: Grace Revealed.

Day 88: Individuality abides by the plan.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.” John 1:4post-image-88

Theres no doubt we’re all unique, but my youngest daughter’s uniqueness wears on it’s own unique one of my nerves. I know how smart she is. Her daddy knows how smart she is. Her Father knows how smart she is …but we will be the only ones privy to it unless she can begin to contain her wiggly butt to her chair at school.

“I know it’s boring to sit there all day, Lo,” I comforted her one night at bedtime, “but …what do you want to be when you grow up?”

“A mommy doctor,” she replied automatically.

“OK,” I said, “that’s a lot of school …but it only lasts for a little while, and then you’ll be able to do what you love for the rest of your life.”

Eyes glazed over …petting her unicorn.

She and her sister couldn’t be more opposite if they tried, which means every parenting hack that worked for the first one fails miserably  on the second. We wiped the slate clean long ago to respect our little Lo’s individuality, and it released the pressure of comparison to our oldest.

“We are closest to and most like Jesus when we are fully being who he created us to be.” Holley Gerth, You’re Already Amazing

Lo has a compassionate heart, fiery spirit, tenacity, generosity, lack of respect for rules and hatred of anything competitive. Not only do all of our traits roll down genetically, but we are all created in the image of our Father. Every time I learn more about how my child was created, I see a little more evidence of Him. That was the plan all along. We are different by the billions but all trace back to Him.

jammed-tweet-blueFather, You are beyond amazing to create us with such intricate detail, and allow us to see fragments of you in each set of eyes we experience. Praise You, for You alone are the Most High God. You alone, are powerful enough and compassionate enough to bless us in ways we uncover each day. Like a momma gets to know her babe more and more everyday, may we all see each other like that when we meet someone new. As a chance to see a piece of You like we’ve never seen before. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace! 

#greatgrace17

Happy Meeting,

Megs

Get the #jammed Daily Devo sent straight to your inbox each morning, by subscribing to Sunny&80. 

Meg2 Comments

The 100 Unicorn Hairs (#jammed daily devo, day 62)

March #jammed: Grace Revealed.

Day 62: Comparison isn’t graceful.

““What have I accomplished compared to you?”Judges 8:2a post-image-62

The 100th day of school has become quite the celebration over the last decade. As a child of the 90’s, or a Catholic School Kid, I missed out on that celebration. One of the two. My six-year-old looked through Pinterest for ideas, and wanted to do them all. So, we closed it and started to brainstorm.

“How about 100 lollipops in a flower pot?” She said excitedly.

“No, we just saw that on Pinterest …think of something you want to do,” I told her.

“OK …how about 100 candies that make a rainbow!” She was even more excited.

“But we saw that one, too…think of something you didn’t see already.” I coached.

“Hmmmmm….” spent the steam from her ears….

“I GOT IT!!!!”

And that day, the 100-corn was born. She had 100 sparkles on her horn, and 100 rainbow hairs on her head. I was so glad I had left Pinterest behind in exchange for my own little idea factory and her over worked imagination. I love to watch my girls imagine an impossible idea, and then put it together piece by piece. The 100-corn will join the ranks of the turkey disguised as Harry Potter.

Here is the second half of today’s verse from Judges, which talks about comparison:

“Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer?” Judges 8:2b

gleaning- Picking up grain or fruit left by the harvesters. (Dictionary of Bible Themes)

First born sons held a lot of weight and privilege in ancient kingdoms. Abiezer was the grandson of Joseph’s oldest son, Mannessah. Ephraim was the youngest son of Joseph, yet when adopted by Jacob shown favor over his eldest brother. Break in tradition like this is a mark of point made by God. Individuality is important to God.

“What you have is less important than what you do with what you have.” Andy Stanley, The Comparison Trap

When encouraging our children, let’s take stock to remember what God deems valuable. He has created them so uniquely individual, that if we’re not careful to avoid comparing them to the world that surrounds, they will struggle to learn who they actually are.

jammed-tweet-blueFather, Praise You for our uniqueness! Thank You, that You do not measure our value based on world measuring systems. Forgive us, for we do! Bless us to be compassionate and accepting of others, and encouraging lights to our children. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace! 

#greatgrace17

Happy 100-corns,

Megs

Get the #jammed Daily Devo sent straight to your inbox each morning, by subscribing to Sunny&80. 

Meg4 Comments

The Different Snowflake (#jammed daily devo day 16)

January #jammed : Grace in Life’s Face

Day 16: Honoring Individuality.

“Because of the extraordinary grace of God at work in you, they will pray for you and long for you.” 2 Corinthians 9:14

God’s extraordinary grace attracts light …and life. Today’s verse is about extending jammed-16
kindness to those in need. Perhaps the greatest gift we could ever extend is the evidence of our faith manifested in prayer.

Snowflakes make everything sparkle, especially when the sun comes out. We are very much akin to snowflakes. Though it seems impossible that each and every human being is different, we are.

God’s Word is very clear about taking care of the poor and parentless, but we must not forget to pray about what to give, who to help, and when to do so. The way we’re meant to sparkle is unlocked through a relationship with Him. The “extraordinary grace of God at work” (2Cor4:7) bodes a continuous conversation of prayer.

Have you ever hung out with a crowd that makes you feel like you have to earn your space amongst them? Like, somehow your snowflake landed in on the wrong front lawn …or living room? You didn’t, and we aren’t required to do anything to hang out with God but accept His Son as our Savior. With that, He flings the door open, and we begin to sparkle a little bit brighter each day.

jammed-tweet-blue

Individuality can be a hard thing to find when we seek it amongst each other; but when we look to the one who built in our quirks, we begin to see the value in who we were created to be by serving those placed within our reach.

Father,  Praise You for the fire of grace lit in our hearts. Thank You that we may consult and commiserate with Your compassionate heart through prayer. We confess that we often puzzle over what to do and who we are, instead of looking up to You for peace through Christ Your Son. Bless us to react in prayer and generosity more prevalently. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Prayerfully ask God how He would like You to pay kindness forward today. Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace! 

#greatgrace17

Happy Helping,

Megs

Get the #jammed Daily Devo sent straight to your inbox each morning, by subscribing to Sunny&80. 

Meg

The Cast Call (#jammed daily devo, day 357)

December #jammed: Grace, gifted.

Day 357: Callbacks.

“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 

The story of Christ’s birth tells of ordinary people who loved God, and ended up together DECJAM23on what would be the night that changed the face of the earth forever. Humanity …we long for benchmarks, standards, and qualifications. If we were in charge, the people that were picked to be Jesus’ earthly parents would not have been Mary and Joseph. They were ordinary. And Jesus would not have been born in a manger. That’s too simple …and not sanitary.

Humanity would have had Jesus born unto royalty and into a castle …not in a stable under the stars.

Tryouts. Auditions. We’re constantly having to live up to each others’ standards.

Jesus wasn’t worried about any of them. His appearance was common. His birth was common. His parents were common. Yet, the angels still lit the sky on the night He was born.

Someone once told me that no one else can tell my story. Human life is like that. It’s so intricate and unique, one to the next, that no one story is ever duplicated fully. If that’s not a miracle in and of itself …

We like to compare, thinking it will give us a certain amount of stability to know where we stand. But God knows us all. Loves us all. Jesus knew us all before we were born. Perhaps the greatest thing we can learn from Jesus’ arrival on earth is that greatness isn’t packaged the way we think it has to be. That a humble and quiet life is heard at the same volume as the loud and flashy ones.

click to tweet graph, dec jammed

Father, Praise You for Christ’s humble birth, and thank You for loving every person the same on this earth. Forgive us for seeking favoritism and elevation among others, and bless our hearts to receive and give Your authentic love. In Jesus ‘ Name, Amen.

Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace! 

#greatgrace17

Happy Lane-Walking,

Megs

Get the #jammed Daily Devo sent straight to your inbox each morning, by subscribing to Sunny&80. 

 

Meg
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