Some days are so good.  Hopefully, a lot of days are good! But let’s face it, other days are complicated, confusing, uncomfortable, painful.  Maybe yesterday we made choices that no one understands, that maybe hurt someone, that were…  wrong.  You don’t do that, right?  No, I’m sure you don’t:)  Well, I can tell you, I’ve done them all (and He has seen every one), but I’m learning every day that none of that matters to the One who made us.  Thank God… literally.

            When we screw up, He doesn’t run.

            When we make poor choices, He doesn’t run.

            When we hurt others, He doesn’t run.

            When we don’t love ourselves, He doesn’t run.

I do envision Him shaking his head now and then and I think I’ve heard Him say, “Tracey, what are you doing?” or “What were you thinking?” but even then, He never abandons me.  I believe He waits for us right where we left His side, He watches us running our own agenda, flailing like we’ve been thrown off a cliff, and He just waits… patiently waits. 

There was this woman in the Bible who became ‘cloaked’ in shame.  You might remember her.  She was the very first woman.  Visuals help me and that cloak feels familiar, the one I’ve worn on days I have felt I’ve let him down. It’s heavy and quite frankly sucks the joy out of me.  Those are the days I wish I had a Harry Potter cloak that would make me invisible…  it would feel good some days, right?  To be invisible?

But again, when she was cloaked in shame, He didn’t run.  He didn’t throw up His hands. He may have shaken His head and cried, but He, our father, was her father too.  He sewed together skins with his own hands and He wrapped his cloak around her, a much lighter one, one filled with all His grace and forgiveness. That helps me see Him wrapping my very own cloak around me, one made with His own hands. Wow.

While her cloak was made from skins, I believetoday He makes ours out of that same grace and forgiveness and sews in big ol’ patches of His strength, courage, love, and the gumption to get up another morning.  I want to wake up and reach for it first, that cloak, the one He made for me, not the one I made for myself yesterday.  It’s there, laying at the foot of the bed. I want to feel Him wrap it around my shoulders and hear him say, “Come on, child, we got this today!”  It will feel like our own superhero cape!  We just need  to put it on before we hear that very familiar voice in the morning that says ugg, another day. 

And just for a smile, imagine those ‘sour’ people you see every day, they’re trying to steal your joy,  you hear blah, blah, blah, and then you throw up that cloak, that superhero cape, like Wonder Woman and say, “Not today, nope, not today! God and me, we got this!” 

In my crazy brain, I can imagine my cape or cloak being bright and colorful and maybe even sparkly!  I envision Him making it that way just for me because He knows it would make me happy!  What does yours look like? 

Let’s just remember, every day we run into others wearing their own heavy cloak because they don’t know or forgot He made one for them.  We see it written all over their faces, their shoulders hunched, the heaviness of that cloak suffocating them.  Let’s help them take remove it, wrap them in ours, and remind them of the one He made for them! 

Now go put on that bedazzled cape of yours, the one He made just for you, and wear it with courage, bravery, confidence, forgiveness, grace, and warmth, the warmth that only He can give you.

Love,

Tracey
Just a Crazy Girl