a quick word from the gardener

“It’s not about you, but it’s for you.”

I’ve heard this phrase thrown out about worship, about Christian community, about my time in the Secret Place. So if it’s not about me, the alternative is it’s all about God, right? My knee-jerk cynicism paints Him as a cosmic narcissist. Needy and vainglorious.

But this view of the King of the Universe is corrupted by pagan theology. Zeus and Hera, Baal and Ra.

So I set my cynicism down and consider it. What if this way of life really is for us? What if He is a good, good Father — and there's something greater at work in the worship, the community, the abiding? I think the answer is shalom. Wholeness. Well-being and rest, living the way we were made to. Mind, body, and soul set right.

It’s the difference between swimming upstream and letting the current carry you. Between fighting the way you were made — and finally moving with it.

He doesn’t need our praise or our work.

He knows we were made to give it — and that we come alive when we do.

more on swimming with the current →

notes to explore:

setting my eyes + remembering your life

One note names the principle — our eyes are the windows to the inner life, so we set them on purpose. The other offers a doable practice for living it out: looking back until the looking becomes a way of seeing.

delight: shockingly lovely art

more delights to inspire you →

today’s invitation

Relax into God.

This is faith — to let your body and soul breathe out into His nearness.

Unclench. Let go of who you feel you need to be.

He assures us, “I am who I am.”

May I know grace to embrace
my own finite smallness
in the arms of His infinite greatness.
— Pete Greig, Sabbath Blessing

more on unclenching →

Thank you for going down the path with me today. If this is your first time, I encourage you to check out this note explaining the idea of the digital garden and what's up with the weird title 😄.

Peace to you! ✌️