What does abundant life actually look like? I’ve been pondering this a lot and I think there’s things God wants to teach and reveal here.
I think a picture of abundant life might look like this…
…a new mom, head bent low to the ground, arms lifted high in praise, tired and weary…but praising the Father who renews the strength of the weary and guides us into a spacious place because he delights in us...
…a young couple renewing their wedding vows, ten years in, they’ve weathered some storms, but they have not lost heart. Love has become so much more than they thought it was on their wedding day…
…a young woman, sitting in the hospital for her 6th chemo treatment, hard pressed on every side, but not crushed…hoping in her loving Father and on what is unseen, despite her present circumstances…
…they play for hours in the back yard, those brown haired brothers, running through the sprinkler, laughing, playing, fighting, saying sorry, eating popsicles & watermelon slices…
…it’s her 16th birthday. Friends gather to sing and eat cake and jump in the pool, making s’mores around the campfire and laughing and talking about dreams and plans for the summer, a long, slow, lingering night enjoyed amongst friends under the stars...
Do you see? Abundant life can look a million different ways.
I think that in order to understand Life Abundant, we can’t miss the first part of that phrase…life. It’s not just about the fact that he gave us abundance, but that he gives us life. And life is filled with happiness and joy at times…and at other times, it’s excruciatingly heavy and unbearable.
Life is both beautiful and messy. Watermelon, sprinklers, campfires, friendship, marriage, children, laughter…sickness, tiredness, tears, weariness, loss, broken relationships, heartache….
Life abundant is always available to us. No matter what season we are in, what age we are, whether we are single or married, healthy or ill, children or adults, with children or childless, lots of friends or only a few…
The difference between someone who is experiencing life abundant and someone who isn’t? How do they embrace their one beautiful and messy life? Abundance comes when we have open hands, palms faced heavenward, receiving whatever He gives. Because you know what?
He is good.
He loves us endlessly and fiercely.
And He really is all we need.
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