Cypress And Myrtle

Tag: reflection

  • Mama Bear Love

    This Mother’s Day, I ponder about the raw, powerful, fierce protective love that mothers have for their offspring—not just in humans, but in animals as well.

    A mama bear that will fight, even kill, to protect her young. A whale that stayed with her dead calf for months, carrying it through the ocean. A mother spider will sometimes allow herself to be consumed by her young so they can survive their first stage of life.

    It is something so raw, so fierce, so unexplainable. In nature, a mother will do whatever it takes to protect her young—even to the point of sacrificing herself. We call it mother’s instinct.

    And it makes us wonder… where does this kind of love come from?

    Could it be that the Creator has written this instinct into His creation? Something embedded deep within mothers.

    Because if that’s true, then it suggests something even more incredible; that what we see reflected in mothers across nature is a reflection of its Creator.

    So when we see a mother animal refusing to abandon her young, or enduring suffering for their survival, we are not just witnessing instinct. We are catching a glimpse of the Creator because creation bears His signature.

    Which leads to this beautiful implication: the Creator Himself carries that same fierce, protective love, only in its purest and unbroken form.

    But unlike creation, His love is not driven by survival, biology, or necessity. It is intentional. It is governed by holiness, not impulse.

    And yet it is still fierce. Still protective.

    Scripture sharpens the picture. At the Cross, God doesn’t stand at a distance. Instead, He steps in. He takes the cost of redemption upon Himself.

    As Romans 5:8 reminds us:
    “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

    In other words, He is saying, “I die, so that My children don’t have to.”

    As mothers, we recognize this love. The need to protect, to provide, to show up no matter how we feel. To keep going even when we’re beyond exhaustion.

    But, this instinct didn’t originate from us. It was placed in us. Which means we were never meant to be the source of it but the vessel.

    The same God who demonstrated that kind of sacrificial, fierce protective love at the Cross is also the One who sustains this love in us.

    As 2 Corinthians 12:9 says,
    “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”

    So the call is not to give until we’re depleted. It’s to remain connected to the Source of that love.

  • Not Always About Efficiency

    In marketing, our thought process is always geared towards making things better; improving systems, automating what we can, and increasing efficiency. And unknowingly, I have often carried this thinking into ministry.

    Recently, I wanted to start a Bible group study for women. My automatic thinking went straight into efficiency. If I were to teach for an hour, it would be best if it’s a small group of women coming together – best use of time and energy.

    But I felt the Lord telling me to go back to basics: one-on-one Bible study.

    He reminded me that Kingdom value is not always about efficiency.

    If God’s Kingdom is driven by efficiency, the cross would never make sense.

    The cross is, by every human measure, deeply “inefficient.” Thirty years of hidden life for a public ministry of only three. A slow journey toward suffering, betrayal, humiliation, and death. No apparent productivity model that makes sense to human systems thinking.

    But the cross is not inefficient—it is necessary.

    Because redemption is about sacrifice. It is love satisfying justice. It is about God Himself entering human brokenness to heal it from within.

    “Efficient salvation” would have been impossible, because sin is not a systems problem. It is a heart problem. And it requires not a process, but a Person. Not optimization, but incarnation. Not delegation, but self-giving.

    We had our first one-on-one session, and it was nothing short of amazing. Simple. Two women sharing life, reading the Word, and letting the Spirit lead.

    I’m excited to be reminded that the Kingdom is not built on efficiency. It is built on love that is willing to go the long way, the costly way, the cross-shaped way.

  • The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us

    The more I ponder John 1:14, the more I am left in awe. Words begin to fail me at what God has done for humankind.

    The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

    Why would a God who existed before beginning began, who created time and eternity, the cosmos and galaxies, choose to clothe Himself in human flesh and live among us?

    The mystery is almost unbearable in its beauty. The infinite stepping into the finite. The Creator entering creation. Not from a distance, but close enough to be seen, touched, known.

    The word dwelt in the original Greek is σκηνόω (skēnoō). It literally means to pitch a tent, to tabernacle, to take up residence. This is not the language of a passing visit. It is the language of presence.

    He entered our dust and our days, our meals and conversations, our friendships and fatigue.

    A God who makes His home among us, inviting us through Christ into communion with Him.

    This is the greatest event in history. The moment when eternity stepped into time.
    When God did not merely speak to humanity, but came to dwell with us.

    And this is why every human heart should take heed. Every ear should lean in and listen.

    For this is not simply a story of the past, but a declaration of what God has done, for us. A God who draws near. A God who enters our world so we might draw into Him, our source of true life.

    The Word became flesh.
    And nothing has been the same since.

  • What My Yes Year Taught Me

    December 2024, a curiosity began to stir in me. I wondered what a year of yes might look like. A year of saying yes to God, to whatever He placed before me, both within church ministry and beyond its walls.

    So, that was how I stepped into 2025. With curiosity more than certainty. I was eager to see what I would learn about God.

    Needless to say, it became a very full year. A year of showing up. Of diving deeper into community life. Of saying yes when it would have been easier, and more comfortable, to say no.

    Now, as I look back on 2025, here’s what I learned. I’ve learned that every yes led me to people, meeting new people and connecting deeper with others. And each connection, enriched my journey of faith.

    Through these people, I was encouraged. Inspired. Spurred on to go deeper with God and to love His people.

    Was I surprised by what I learned? Yes.
    Should I have been surprised? Not really.

    Here’s why.

    God is interested in people. He has always been interested in people. From the very beginning, Scripture reveals a God who walks with humanity, speaks with them, and dwells among them. “It is not good for man to be alone,” God said (Genesis 2:18), not because Adam lacked productivity, but because he lacked relationship.

    God Himself exists in community. The Trinity – God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, living in perfect communion with one another. Relationship is not something God created for us; it is something that already exists within Him. And He invites us into the community of the Trinity, to partake in the joy and love of His fellowship.

    So, it should not surprise me that a year of saying yes to God would draw me deeper into relationships. That growth would happen not in isolation, but in community.

    From Genesis to the Gospels, Scripture tells the same story: a God who walks with His people, dwells among them, and invites them into life together. A God who calls, gathers, sends and also meets us again through one another.

    Jesus did not minister alone. He called disciples to walk with Him. He ate with people, touched the outcast, met people in homes. And when the early church was formed, “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship” Acts 2:42). Faith, from the beginning, was meant to be lived together.

    Perhaps the greatest lesson of my yes year was this: when we say yes to God, we are often saying yes to people. And as we grow deeper in our relationship with God, we find ourselves loving people more deeply.