To my precious readers… I am linking-up again with The Gypsy Mama, who prompts writers with a word. Today it is EMPTY. Then we have just 5 minutes to let the words flow from our hearts, unedited and unhindered…

She gazes at me with here shining, innocent beautiful brown eyes, while wearing her pink princess pajamas. I see her inquisitive stare, as if she is asking, “What fun are we going to have today?” All I could do is cup my face in my hand and cry. I am faced with a job that I know is much too big for me, and I am carrying the weight of it. How easy I forget to cast my care.

All of these burdens I am carrying, occupying places in my heart and mind that are reserved for Him, reserved for them, reserved for her. My days that blend into each other, like the Play-Doh that never remains one color. I am filled to overflowing with need-to-do’s, while wrestling with want-to-do’s.

I need new mercies, but there is no room to receive them. I have to make room. I give myself permission to let go of the urgent that steals me away from the important. I release guilt for not reaching expectations I have set. This is the kind of day, when facing much more than the seemingly insurmountable piles of dishes and diapers, I have to let go. I have to let go, in order to embrace these mercies that come as joyful gifts of grace.

New mercies. Yes, that is what I need, when what I am facing does not seem light or easy at all. The mercies and grace, they come new every morning, but I can only be filled when I EMPTY. I receive them when I come to His feet, release striving, carry His light burden and easy yoke, and there, emptied in His Presence I find FULLNESS… fullness of JOY and strength for my day.

I find Him, forever faithful, even when I am not.