My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. Maya Angelou
Meditation: Thriving and not merely surviving is a powerful mission in life. A beautiful image of thriving is captured in the prophetic image of a tree being planted on the river that flows from the sanctuary. Its fruits are plentiful and steadily replaced, filled with nourishment and healing. What does it take to move from a lifestyle of survival to an experience of thriving? Oftentimes traumatic events and experiences of neglect or scarcity and wounding by other people and by life itself throw us into survival mode. The healing of those traumatic and neglectful experiences takes time. However, God’s goal for us is to be made whole again and to thrive. We can see this embodied in Jesus whose mission was to heal and restore people who were merely surviving before they met him. When we rediscover our passion for life, when we feel compassion for ourselves and for others, when her reclaim our humor and when we feel we have some “extra” to express ourselves with style, then we will know that our trauma is being overcome and our wounding is being healed. We are being made whole again, and we are beginning to thrive, and not just survive.
Prayer: Gracious God, when we settle for mere survival, fill us with yearning for a life where we are planted deeply in Your healing presence. Fill us with Your vision of how an abundant life can look like. You want us to thrive and not merely survive. We wait for Your Spirit to lead us out of the desert and onto green pastures. We wait for Your Spirit of recovery to lead us from a life of struggle to a life of serenity. Help us to make good choices that ground us deeper in You. Amen
And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47:12
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