thrill

"to affect with a sudden wave of keen emotion or excitement, as to produce a tremor or tingling sensation through the body"-Thrill.  As in, "I was thrilled to see my family after our long absence from one another."  Or, "It was a thrilling sight; the sun setting over the mountains, casting beams of rose, orange, and deep purples throughout the sky."  To be thrilled is a feeling of pleasure.  

"You thrill me, LORD, with all you have done for me!"  Psalm 92:4.  I've never thought of God in that way, thrilling me, causing a tingling sensation through my body.  But there is truth, deep truth, because truly all that I am, any good at all, is because of God's mercy.  So often, I am quick to blame God for my troubles, my discomfort, my pain, and my sadness.  When I disengage from God being tied to faults, own them for what they are as a result of my choices, then I arrive at the place were God can thrill me.  

It's always a choice. I choose to be thrilled.

Learning to Live Loved

In Wm. Paul Young's book, The Shack, there is a line that reads, "learn to live loved."  When I read those words, the phrase jumped off the page, climbed into my heart and nestled into a warm spot, melting fear and uncertainty and anxiety away.  What does learning to live loved really mean?

I've turned the phrase over and over again in my mind since that moment, and I've found it to be  challenging and delightful.  If I am loved, and I am convinced that I am, than I have so much more to give, so much more to learn, and so much more to do.  Being loved means loving others, the kind of can't-help-yourself because you are so full of it that it spills over into everything kind of love.  Like when you are eating Thanksgiving dinner and you don't mind tipping over the top with fullness because it tastes so good.  Or like walking through the park of Walt Disney World, truly believing that your heart will burst because your kids are happy and your spouse is happy and you are happy.  Or like watching the stars on a bright night, so full of wonder that you know God is real.  Learning to live loved has the power to change everything.