Embrace

The Human Condition

Hi from everyone in the Embrace family. We're all pretty busy these days with ministry and family pursuits but the Lord is giving us sustaining strength! From where we stand, the picture looks pretty much the same at your house.

Embrace is very excited about this upcoming weekend. We are participating in our third Hearts and Harmony concert with Phil Cross and Poet Voices. The event will be a combined effort by several local churches in the Reform, Alabama area. The special people of Reform have grown to be dear friends of Embrace and have actively supported our ministry for several years now. What a wonderful opportunity to minister the Hope that is Jesus Christ to the community there! We are all looking forward to what the Lord will do through His people.

I have to admit all the activity this spring has me and many of the people who are dearest to me feeling a little overwhelmed. The baseball team, the softball team, the ballet school, vacation Bible school, my children and certainly not least, my husband all want my time, effort and attention. I'm trying hard to be a "Mary" in a "Martha" kind of world (Luke 10:38-42). Honestly, I have been asking the Lord to give me wisdom in this area because I am a natural born "Martha". I like order and feeling well prepared for whatever comes down the pike. Details are my specialty and nothing is too small to fuss over-not good.

Like many of my kind-the "Marthas" of the world-I used to try to rationalize my worry and nit-picking. I would tell the Lord and myself that I just wanted things done right. I wanted to honor Him with my best efforts, but deep inside I knew that I was expending a great deal of time and energy on good things at the high cost of missing the Best Thing.. Like Martha in the Bible, Jesus was in the house but I was missing spending precious time with Him and instead trying to do things for Him.

Just a few weeks ago the Lord brought a poem to my attention that challenged me once again to stay true to the purpose that He ordains in my life and not to be drawn away by worldly concerns that of have no merit. Let me share it with you.

The Human Condition

We are prisoners of time,
Slaves to circumstance,
And beggars for eternity.

We have made small our souls
To match our situations,
That in greed for trash,
We have trampled greatness.

And laughing at their prey,
Time tightens the chains
That bind us,
Circumstance cracks the whip
That marks us;
Only eternity grieves
That we are fools.
--Jan L. King, Sr.

Our prayer must be that our Good Shepherd will give us the wisdom to lie down in those green pastures He takes us to and to drink from the quiet waters He shows us.

"He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust," (Psalm 103:14) Praise His holy name!

Nora Truhett--Embrace
http://www.embraceministry.com