Influence

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It has been a long while since I have posted anything here. I have been busy completing three years toward my B.A. in English and my senior year is underway. My current class (Creative Writing) has finally given me the space to take off the tight harness of academic writing rules, and it feels SO GOOD!! After reading my first assignment, Mom and Daddy gave it their thumbs up and suggested I make it a blog post, so here it is. It is my story and their story. It's a little longer than my usual posts, but as with everything I have ever posted here, I pray it encourages you to run "up the sunbeam to the sun" (C. S. Lewis). "Follow my example,  as I follow the example of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV I sat above them on the stairs. Looking down through the window-like openings in the partition between the living room and the stairway, I listened to the basketball players, football players, baseball players, wrestlers, track athletes, both the lettermen

Frame Within the Frame

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-- From within dark and damp decay inside a hollow tree trunk, an unexpected light caught my attention. Changing my angle for a closer look, I discovered a favorite thing--a frame within the frame. The leafy light that filtered into the rotting tree was all the brighter for the surrounding dark inside. It glowed warm and soft despite the chill of the day and the winter white light of the hazy sun.
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:5 TNIV
Today, I had to change my angle of observation to look for the frame within the frame of my life. When I looked for it, there it was--light shining in the darkness. While I felt somewhat surrounded by evidence of decay and diminishing joy, God gave me opportunities to speak His encouragement to people who needed His touch. In shining His light into dark moments of a very mundane day, His bright, warm glow sparkled back all over me!
"The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out." John 1:5, The Message
I pray for you that His Life-Light would blaze from your heart as a frame within the frame and that the darkness would never be able to put it out!
How do you let your light shine?

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