Access.

Things are finally getting settled [still haven't unloaded all of our stuff yet, but I think it's helping me restrain myself from putting up Christmas decorations so I'm ok with that]! Matthew had a personal retreat this weekend to a monastery in Virginia that's being turned into a Prayer House, so Shiloh and I had our first girl's weekend alone. And we made it. :] Actually, we more than just made it; it was awesome! She slept ten hours straight at night and took a three hour nap in the morning, and we went with my friend Haley to a toy store here in town and played there, and then scored some free stuff out of some yard sale leftovers. AND we saw a rainbow. Pretty sweet.

So here's where I am this morning:

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

[Ephesians 3:8-12]

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

[Hebrews 10:19-22]


Shiloh started me on this because she's really into keys lately. She LOVES finding the right key and us holding her up to the door, the mailbox, whatever and letting her put in the key to open it.So this morning she was walking around with a key putting it in all the keyholes [all our doors have skeleton key keyholes because they're old] and I got hit with the word "access". She wants access to everything Matthew and I have, and to us. And it goes both ways, because I want all of her as well. The idea of shutting a door between the two of us when one of us wants to get to the other is a painful image for me!


And it's the same with God as our Father.

There was a door between us, and we're the ones who closed it. Everything started with open access between us and God, and then we slammed the door in His face. Every day we get up and make decisions to shut that door between us. And then we have the audacity to say things like "God is distant" or "I can't feel God and it's His fault" and on and on. But the truth is, we shut the door and God put a plan in motion to swing it wide open. He was a parent separated from His children, and that is an anguishing place to be. And us? We are too comfortable in this world to realize most of the time that we are nothing more than children separated from our Father. That's scary when you're a kid! And it should be even more so in a spiritual sense.

We have bad things enter our life, and instead of letting God through the door that He gave everything to open, we throw a tantrum and blame it on Him and shut the door. And yet through Jesus, we have the ability [and the right!?!] to open the door and get close to Him again. We have access to the God of the universe any time we want because He's adopted us as His children and has handed us the keys. Isn't that insane? What's probably more insane is how nonchalant we are about it. I'm guilty of that, most definitely. I can hang out with, talk to, hear from, receive from, give to, and directly connect with God anytime, and I pass up opportunities all the time because something else is more pressing. I always forget to have some time with God during Shiloh's naps, because I start cleaning or crafting or blogging or looking up coupons, etc and by the time I realize I'm not spending that time with God, she's awake. But what good does a clean house or saving money on groceries do for her if I'm not where I need to be with Jesus or being an example for her of how to pursue and love God?

Don't waste this gift.When I hand Shiloh a key, she is focused on one thing: getting access to whatever I've just given her. She's so much smarter than me. :]

And she so darn cute. Here's another picture just for cuteness.

I'd encourage you to look into this stuff yourself...there's a lot I could say that I'm not because I don't want to post a novel.