a trust invitation

Written By Andy Richards

“God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are, and if we faithlessly discard situation after situation, moment after moment, as not being "right", we will simply have no place to receive his kingdom into our lives.” 

DALLAS WILLARD

What’s so good about the news Jesus brings?

It’s an invitation of trust. A trust that goodness is an inheritance waiting for you.

It’s for you, it’s for me. It’s for anyone hungry and open to trusting it’s really their name on that letter!

This love note was written before any of our lives began, at the beginning of time. The fibers of its page are filled with Spirit love. When we were born, love was already scribbled onto the tablet of your heart and mine. Love loves to love you. And get this— love likes you a whole lot, too. Love says you are beloved. This identity was secured before you knew all the things you weren’t.

This love letter was sent on purpose. It blows with you. Love longs to be known; it wishes to be seen. Love’s mission is for you to know its limitless mystery and presence. Love dares you to believe that when you put your thoughts, your ways, your ideas, and dreams before its page, it will gladly exchange them for something better and greater—a true love that will live on and on within you.

And any spot you find yourself in, if you turn to this letter, you’ll find that love is already there, waiting for you, smiling from the heart with helpful hands. You just need to look and say yes.

Love already knows where you’ve been, where you’re going—and any history of yours never makes love flinch. Love invites you to slow down to see where it’s already been present in your life. It wants to reveal to you the invisible heartstrings already tied from the heavens to your heart. 

Not a ransom note

To be clear, love won’t ever demand. This isn’t a ransom note. Love is gentle. It’s kind, courteous, and pleasant. Love is patient enough to wait as long as it takes. And each time you consider its truth, love won’t give up on reminding you what it can do for you and what it longs to do with you. Love is beautifully and thoughtfully relentless, willing to give you as much as you can stand. 

Love asks you to think differently; to consider that your love story could be written in a new, refreshing way. Love wants to breathe peace into each page of your story and offer you an eternal narrative of hope for you to live into each day. Love has on repeat on the jutebox: “I’m already here and available for you.” Love longs to weave its threads into the fabric of your life and being. Love simply and sweetly wants to be the melody humming in the background of your life. It wants to line the walls of your heart and do life together.

So, no one got the wrong address. Your love letter was mailed from the heavens to your heart’s home—to the coordinates where you live, breathe, and inhabit in your very here and now. If you move, hide, or get lost, love knows where to find you. Love longs for you to come home and feel at home, together. 

Jesus is this love that comes to you. He calls this invitation to trust the Kingdom of Heaven. He says you don’t have to wait to live in it. He longs to trust you with it. And if you decide to give it an honest go, he even hands you the keys! Trust is a really sweet relationship he wants to share with you. 

Goodie Bag

Each day, Jesus offers a goodie bag of grace with your name on it. He’ll remind you it costs you nothing. As you begin to live into this grace, you find it’s perfectly portioned for you. Each decision to live within this reality of endless love snowballs into a pattern of trust. You soon find yourself wanting to give back everything you have. All that was very much important in your days becomes sweet losses you're willing to give up, to gain even more of this love. You learn to unclench your fists, finger by finger, to open your hands up wide and simply receive it.

And boy, is this goodie bag loaded! It has everything you need for your day. You get to reach deep into it for the goodness of grace you need in any kind of moment. You can even dump out its contents (like any child would!), and just revel in all the goodness in this little bag. Each treat, a delicately and intentionally wrapped reminder of the sweet love that’s just for you.

This goodie bag is full of the kinda food they don’t serve anywhere else. It’s like no other. It settles all of your soul’s cravings. Slowly, but surely, a contentment, peace, and deep satisfaction that passes all human brains will be yours. You begin to live into the reality that you've been looking for this love and waiting for it your entire life. It is your First Love.

When you say yes to this invitation again and again and again, gratitude will begin to well up within your soul for what you’ve been given freely, at absolutely no cost. 

And even when you doubt the "littleness" of your goodie bag portion, you just might end your day chuckling to yourself. You’ll see that, in fact, it was enough. Love is enough. You are okay. You just may be more than okay. Increasingly, you’ll do more than simply survive. You will walk with joy, peace, and freedom that will inspire you to want to do it all over again, tomorrow.

I wonder what grace awaits you today?

With you and for you,

Andy

 
Andy Richards https://imponderabilia.life