I googled “Gold” and skimmed what looks to be a short but informative article from a seemingly reputable site.

Turns out gold is shiny, a beautiful color (the symbol for gold, Au, is from the Latin for “glowing dawn”), incredibly malleable, conducts heat and electricity, resists corrosion and oxidation, is scarce and difficult to extract from the earth.

It’s amazing stuff alright.

How is it that God says we’re worth more?

Well…people are beautiful colors. We’re malleable and resistant. We do corrode and oxidize, but it takes a lot to get there. We do conduct heat and electricity. On the other hand we are not shiny and not at all scarce. Are we difficult to extract from earth? I’m not sure I want to know about that one.

Gold is more desirable and valuable than the vast majority of things on earth. It has been wealth itself for millenia.

But each person, every single one of the billions and billions of human beings that have existed, is worth exponentially more than that. God should know. He made us both.

We are wealth to God. WE ARE HIS WEALTH. We always have been and we always will be.

Unlike gold, we can choose to believe in our worth, in our value, in our desirability—or not.

Like gold, it’s not our opinion that matters. What we believe about ourselves doesn’t change the fact of who we are. The Creator decides what is of value, and of how much.

Jesus didn’t die to purchase all the gold in the world. He died to purchase you, and me.

Decades ago my father-in-law bought Mary Gregory’s farm. Part of the agreement was that though he owned the entire property, she could live in the house for as long as she wanted.

“Mary,” he asked her one day, “don’t you get lonely out here all by yourself?”

“Why, no,” the elderly widow smiled. “Me and the Lord just have a good time every day.”

I love the mental picture that conjures: Sweet Mary reading or quilting while Jesus--white robe with royal purple sash, sandals on His feet--sits in the chair next to her, the two of them gabbing away.

That picture for me is about as far away from typical kingly behavior as you can get.

But, of course, we’re not talking about a typical king.

Don’t we love when The Queen of England visits a hospital, or plants flowers, or throws out the first pitch at a baseball game? It’s the novelty of it (not to mention the entourage) that captures our attention. How much more, then, to think the King of Kings would throw His sash over His shoulder and pick up a quilting needle to finish a square?  

Jesus is not overseeing from a high and lofty seat in space. He’s at every big event and every laundry day. He is at the tee-ball game and the hospital room, when we curl our toes and roll our eyes. He is inside us and beside us, all at once.

What king could do that? 

What king would want to?

I'll tell you. It's The King sitting in the chair in a long-ago farmhouse in Southern Illinois.

Jesus is on His way from Galilee to Jerusalem for the final time. He knows that once He enters the city He will never leave again. He will die in a matter of days. He tells His Twelve, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him, they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” (Luke 18:31-33)

He knows EXACTLY what is coming.

Outside of Jericho He encounters a blind man. He has 29 miles to go.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight.”  (Luke 18:41-42)

In Jerusalem a few days later, when He is at his very weakest, in more pain than we can possibly imagine, He makes arrangements for His mother’s care and chats with a fellow crucifixee.

Wait, what? Really? REALLY?

Who could conceivably have presence of heart and mind to take chunks out of the few precious hours He has left and break stride, change focus, and heal someone? And provide for another? And forgive a third?

What can we expect from this Jesus? We can expect Him to make time for US.

Let’s make time for Him, to ponder in our hearts all He in His Love has done for us. This song is a good place to start.  

It's time for all things GREEN again! (Some of you may still be in too much in shock from witnessing your latest snow to protest this). But this IS the week when we gear up for new life. Undeniable death which leads to undeniable resurrection. In honor of such a week, I present to you "Do-Over Season", originally posted on Tuesday, May 7, 2013:

Two Springs ago, we had just moved to Texas and I had just begun to work full time after many months of being at home with both of my precious boys. In an effort to spend more intentional time with my sons when I was home, we started a garden. It was going to be beautiful. Seriously. We planted from seed so, you know, we were cool for doing it from scratch. Noah went nuts when the first shoots appeared. We had green beans, squash, corn, and sunflowers, not to mention a selection of colorful flowers for our little patio. It was going to be just beautiful.

It was going to be beautiful, that is, except for the drought.

Yes, my dears, the drought. You know, the one that fried Texas to a crispy brown and dried up lakes, killed trees, and brought summer temps up to 112 degrees? That drought destroyed our garden. Our veggies died of thirst. Our patio flowers looked like we baked them in an oven (which we essentially did considering the location of the patio next to a brick home). Garden dead. Quality kiddo time ruined. I was not lovin’ Texas two Springs ago. Not. At. All.

But that was two Springs ago. And I honestly can’t remember what we did last Spring other than the fact that we ignored the garden. Perhaps I was still bitter.

But this spring, THIS spring, we planted roses, and lavender, and shasta daisies, and gerbera daisies, and delphiniums, and lilies. And we dug, and weeded, and mulched. We reclaimed the land. It is beautiful, just beautiful! The time with my sons has been so rewarding, both for them and for me. The boys have their own gloves, shovels, rake and hoe and now actually ask every weekend, “Mama, can we go plant something?” I love it. (And Texas is growing on me.)

What a difference a season (or two) can make, right? If we could only have the faith and patience to wait for the drought to end, what beauty awaits us when the next Spring comes! The land can recover and bring forth life.

And so can you.

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;” (Is 1:18) White is clean, pure.

Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken. (Ez 22:28)  Whitewash. Uncool.  

As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. (Dan 7:9) God the Father. White is holy, pure. Cool.

There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. (Matt 17:2) Jesus the Son. Holy and pure. Cool.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” (Matt 23:27) Whitewash again. Uncool, again.

[Mary Magdalene] saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. (John 20:12)  Heavenly beings, Angels, in white. Cool.

Someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. (Rev 11:13,14) Jesus in heaven has white hair like the Father. Super cool.

Twenty-four elders…dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. (Rev 4:4) “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev 7:14) Human beings in white, holy and pure also. Humbling. Very cool.

Whitewashed, white from the outside, masks sin, temporarily. Un. Cool.

White from the inside, a pure heart saved by Grace, is the ultimate Cool.

SPRING IS HERE! WHOO-HOO! COLORS! SMELLS! WARMTH! NEWNESS! LIFE!

Excuse me. That little outburst was brought to you by a rough and looong winter. And now, on to why we came here.

One of my favorite things about spring is the colors. Bright yellows and greens, pastels, softness and boldness and LIFE. This month we Daily Fast Fuel gals will focus on The Colors of Spring, and this week we focus on White.

White in the Bible symbolizes purity and holiness. Do we observe Lent, a time of self-preparation leading up to Easter? How do we pursue, and need to pursue, holiness and purity in our lives?

I’m excited to read what the Lord puts on the gals’ hearts to write this week, almost as much as I’m excited about SPRING ITSELF! WHOO-HOO!