Casandra Martin

It’s spring time! Flowers are blooming, trees are budding, the sun is shining, and everybody seems to be smiling. Everyday I can walk outside and see something fresh and new. Yards are starting to take shape after a long, cold winter. Lawn mowers are humming, birds are singing, and the bright colors of spring are replacing the blahs of winter.

Spring is a season that celebrates growth. Trees inch upward. Bushes go from bare branches to full bloom in just a few days. The grass turns green and gets taller. Even my kids seem to be bigger. And we rejoice in the growth. After a season of cold, wet, dark days, the warmth of the sun renews us and the new life bursting everywhere we look inspires us.

Growth, however, is not just measured by blossoms, lawn mowers, and rulers. God intends for us to check growth in the mirror. It is important to pause and check how my heart is growing in Him. Do I look more like Jesus today than I did a year ago? How are the fruits of the spirit developing in my life? Can I see evidence of God’s transforming power taking shape in me? Am I more loving, more aware of His presence, more sensitive to His will, and more servant-hearted than ever before?

Growth is a sign of health. In 2 Peter 3:18, Peter tells us to “…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

My Jesus Resolution today is to look in the mirror of God’s heart and check what is growing in my heart. Holding up the standard of Jesus, I want to see if I have grown in Him. Can I see Him more clearly in my words and actions? The good news, whether I have grown a little or a lot, is that today is a new day. The beginning of spring, if you will. A time for fresh starts, new beginnings, and vibrant growth in Him.

I am proud of my kids. They are becoming the neatest people. Each one celebrated an accomplishment this week that was worthy of bringing out the “You’re Special” plate at the dinner table. We cheered, high-fived, marked the reaching of milestones, and talked about the remarkable ways God is working in each of their lives. It has been a neat week.

My pride in my kids overflows when I watch the people they are choosing to become. They have Jesus on their hearts. I hear His voice in their words. I get to see their servant hearts and stand in wonder. But the reason I am proud of my kids is not primarily rooted in what they do. I am proud of them for who they are.

I wrapped my arms around my oldest son today and told him I was proud of him. “Do you know why?” I asked. “Why?” he said. “Because you’re mine,” I told him.

God is proud of you. He loves who you are becoming in Him. Jesus is taking shape in your life. He delights in the way you fold your hands in prayer, open your Bible with a heart ready to meet Him, and keep a lookout for the all the ways He is present in your day. But God’s delight in you is not measured primarily by your performance. He is proud of you because you belong to Him. Relationship is what connects your heart to His. You are His child. And that is enough.

My Jesus Resolution today is to delight in the delight of My Father. He loves me. Not because of what I do, but because I am His. Obedience, surrender, submission, and service are a part of my heart. They teach me about Him. They shape me to be more like Jesus. But doing more, working harder, or digging deeper won’t make Him love me more. God says the same thing to me that I say to my child, “I am proud of you because you are mine.”

Music is amazing. It has the ability to reach deep inside our hearts, leaving its mark in the recesses of our souls. Music is a gift from God. With it, He wants us to soak in the amazing realities of who He is, who He calls us to be, and how He longs to work in our lives. Here is a list of ten songs I will be singing today.

1. Jesus Loves Me – The most profound truths are often found in the simplest melodies

2. God is So Good  –  In a world filled with bad stuff, I need to be reminded that God is SO good

3. I Surrender All – Here is God’s call to my heart. Every day I must decide to surrender it all to Him

4. Tell Me the Story of Jesus – Within the story of Jesus, I find the best of my own story and hope for the pages that will be written today

5. Amazing Grace – I never want to cease being amazed by the grace God pours out on me

6. God Will Make a Way –  This song points me to Jesus when am tempted to fix it myself, solve my own problems, and handle my own struggles

7. Beneath the Cross of Jesus – There is no better place to anchor my heart than beneath the cross of Jesus

8. I Will Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving – I am going to let gratitude and praise direct my movement into His presence today

9. I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart – Can’t sing this song and keep the smile off your face!

10. More Holiness Give Me – Here is the root of The Jesus Resolution and the deepest longing of my heart

My Jesus Resolution today is to sing – in the shower, on the road, in the kitchen, to the dog, with my kids, while going through my day. I am going to let these songs pull my eyes toward Jesus, renew my commitment to being crucified with Christ, share the wonder and joy He plants in my day, and teach my heart to be aware of His presence. Turn off your radio. Set down your iPod. Sing with me.

My daughter celebrated her birthday recently. Never mind how old she is or how old that makes me (mmmm…..). We celebrated – presents, cake, smiles, and our one dollar birthday sign that has become a family tradition. And balloons. One sweet friend brought her a brightly-colored, flies-high, lots-of-streamers balloon. The rest is packed away awaiting the next child who will make me feel older, but the balloon is still floating. The boys run by and knock it down like a punching bag. It just pops back up. Depending on who is walking through the room, it has brought squeals of delight, murmurs of annoyance, “is that still here?” comments, and simple wonder. Simple wonder because I see God in that balloon.

You see, I am like the balloon. Faith is the stuff that makes it float. You can’t see it, but you can’t miss its effects. It lifts the balloon up. It helps it fly above the ordinary. Stuff happens and we get knocked down. Faith helps us back up. For some, seeing faith brings joy and praise. Others see faith and are annoyed or surprised that our faith has stuck around this long. The thing about balloons is that they get noticed. Not everybody likes them, but everybody notices them. Some smile. Some brush them away. Some take a good swing. But balloons draw people’s eyes upward. The saddest balloons are the ones that limp. The faith leaks out of them little by little. Noticing the presence of God helps pump up our faith. It keeps us full and helps us pull toward heaven.

My Jesus Resolution today is to let God’s simple wonders lift my faith. I want to be like that balloon – longing to move upward, straining against the string that binds me to this earth, pulling the eyes of everyone who sees me heavenward. I pray you see a balloon today. Better yet, buy one and give it to someone. Watch their face and follow their eyes. Then remember to let your faith work in the same way.

I am not very patient. Today I was standing in line at the store waiting for customer service. It didn’t take long for me to check the time and start tapping my toe. We tend to view waiting as a waste. We see it as down time that isn’t being used in the most efficient way. Waiting holds little value in our society because it is deemed unproductive. It doesn’t move us forward on the ladder to success, buy us the newest gadget, or contribute to reaching a higher status. In fact, the longer you have to wait in our society, the more of a nobody the world says you really are.

What if I could view my waiting times differently? What if I could see them as God-given moments to touch the circumstance in which I find myself waiting with His power and grace? When I am standing in line, holding on the phone, waiting for my email to download, standing at the bus stop, or waiting for a friend to arrive, I have two choices. My first, and usual, choice is to view those minutes as delays in getting to where I want to go and what I hope to accomplish. Seeing them this way makes me impatient and irritable. The world needs to run on my schedule. It moves me to the center, allowing me to demand that everything run at my pace.

The second option is to fill those waiting moments with God. I could spend my time in line at the store praying for the people in the line with me, the clerk who is working hard to help us, and the blessings of being able to buy what I need. Waiting time could be watching time – watching for God to move, searching for His fingerprints, or soaking in the beauty He plants all around us. At the bus stop, I can pray for my children. In the parking lot, I can ask God to be in the middle of the conversation I will have with my friend. Waiting times can be times of blessing rather than a burden or a bother, if we infuse them with Him.

My Jesus Resolution today is to wait with joy. I will see every line I wait in today as a place to meet God. I will ask the Lord how I can be a blessing to those waiting with me. I resolve to wait with expectation, anticipating that God will cause those minutes to overflow with His presence. I am going to use these waiting minutes to make my heart tender to the truth that God continually waits for me.

He took the stage with a flourish. It was my son’s first time to be in character. He tried out for a one act play at school and was blessed to become a part of the cast. They memorized lines, practiced their parts, and rehearsed the play for weeks. Costumes were prepared, stage directions were given, and even make-up was applied to make the character come to life.

He did great. The play was a success, delighting an audience of parents and friends assembled to cheer them on in the school auditorium.

At the end of the play festival, my son received some direction and advice from a seasoned professional. It was neat to hear the gentlemen point out the things my son had done well and outline small steps he could take to improve his performance. The piece of advice that drew my attention was simple – commit to the character. When on stage, completely become the character. Talk like him, react like him, move like him. Don’t do anything outside of the character that you want to become.

Interesting advice. His words hold encouragement beyond teaching a student how to act in a play. Shakespeare is the one who said that “all the world’s a stage.” We live our lives before an audience. Each person we meet watches us to see if we are living in character – if we are committed to living out the character of Jesus.

Of course, we don’t put on a costume and pretend to be Jesus. Rather, we long to actually experience a transformation that changes our character to look like His. We want to show the world a reflection of Christ. We long to imitate the way He moves, talks, acts, and relates to others. In order to do that, we have to commit to living out His character in each moment of our lives.

My Jesus Resolution today is to commit my heart to being His, reflecting Christ in all I do and say. I want others to see a clear picture of Jesus in me. All the world is a stage. My neighbors, family, and friends are watching, looking for Him in my actions and words. Today, I am going to commit to His character, trusting that when I hide myself in Him, He will be in the spotlight.

Always and never are big words. We temper the promises we make to others, knowing that always and never are out of our reach. They are, however, not too big for our God. He makes us some very big promises, extending His faithfulness into always and never. Here are ten promises God has made to you. Hold on tight. He will always keep His word and will never let you go.

     1. I will always love you.

     2. I will never leave you or give up on you.

     3. I will always work in your life to help you look more like Jesus.

     4. I will always provide a way back into My arms.

     5. I will always give you what is absolutely best for you.

     6. I will never lie to you.

     7. I will always want you to be Mine.

     8. I will always pour out grace sufficient to meet every need.

     9. I will always do more for you than you can ask or imagine.

   10. I will never break My promises to you.

My Jesus Resolution today is to dive deeply into the promises God has made me. They aren’t empty words. Every promise is filled with power and provides hope for my journey. God’s promises point to God’s heart. Each one helps me remember just how much He longs to fill me full of Himself. Today, I am going to believe Him and rejoice in the way His promises make a difference in how I walk, talk, think, and interact with the world.

I love Psalm 118:24. The psalmist writes, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

This is the day – Today is the day to keep your eyes open and your heart attentive. So often our focus is on the future or the past. Live fully in this moment. Let today’s beauty wash over you. Enjoy the simple gifts strewn along your path. Count every single blessing. Don’t let the unique blessings of today get lost in the quest to get to tomorrow.

The Lord has made – Today has God’s fingerprints all over it. He has filled each moment with Himself. He crafted today so that you could be with Him. There is nothing that is going to happen today that God has not seen or for which He has not prepared.

Let us rejoice – Make a commitment today to be filled with joy. Joy is a decision, not an afterthought. It is the deliberate determination to live fully within the presence of God. Choose joy today – no matter how much traffic there is, no matter how many mountains of laundry you have to climb, no matter how long your to-do lists gets. God is present, and it just doesn’t get better than that.

And be glad in it – We can walk differently through our day because we walk with God. God doesn’t promise us that everything in every day will be good. He does promise that every day He is good, and everything He does for us flows out of His love.

My Jesus Resolution today is to let Psalm 118:24 frame my day. Whatever is painted, written, drawn, or splashed on the canvas of my heart will be surrounded and defined by the truth that God is shaping this day just so I can see Him. I am going to look at the colors of this day and notice His glory. I want to examine the texture of my hours and minutes and discover the rhythm of His grace. I am going to be deliberate about tracing the pattern woven into my day, knowing that it is His fingerprints that give each moment depth and purpose. I am going to move through my day with determination, confidence, and joy because God made this day, designing this moment just so I can move closer to His heart.

It was weird. I was walking through my neighborhood this morning and almost stopped in my tracks when I passed it. Chalked in large letters on the sidewalk leading up to the door of a beautiful house were these words – DEATH to all who enter here. What a strange message to put on the pathway up to the front door.

Almost immediately, I thought how different the message on Christ’s door would be. He points us to the cross and gives us life. He stands by the empty tomb and immerses us in hope. Joy springs from His presence. Transformation flows from His blood. LIFE is what is written on the door into God’s house. John 10:7 tells us that Jesus Himself is the Door.

Maybe that is why David says, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” – Psalm 84:10.

My Jesus Resolution today is to be a doorkeeper – someone who welcomes others into the house of God. I want to be someone who makes it easy for those I meet to find the Door that leads to life. I want to be someone who so clearly marks the path into the presence of God that others are able to walk by my house and know it is a place where Jesus lives.