Good morning…

The joy and pain of being a writer is an incessant obsession with choosing the perfect word. It is hard for my mind to rest when my soul continues to wonder, “What changes might make my final tweet truer, better, more impactful?” So it did not surprise me that after yesterday’s post, I spent some time pondering, “God, what final edits would you make?”

The word that came to my heart was “lush.” Lush is a fun, fruitful word. Lush means rich and rampant, profuse and prolific, abundant and joyfully jungly. The fruit of the Holy Spirit growing in us is not only lasting (an organic, everlasting creation of God) it is also luxuriantly lush.

In my final tweet, how do I lose a bit of punctuation to make room for the word lush? God worked with me on this edit for quite a long time, and together we decided, if crafted today, here would be my final message to the world.

God made us unique, loves us just as we are.
Jesus died for each sin, frees leads heals whole.
Spirit grows in us lush lasting fruit for all.
Walk & talk with God now & forever.

And then before you know it,
and without you having anything to do with it,
Wasted Lebanon will be transformed into lush gardens,
and Mount Carmel reforested.
At that time the deaf will hear
word-for-word what’s been written.
After a lifetime in the dark,
the blind will see.
The castoffs of society will be laughing and dancing in God,
the down-and-outs shouting praise to The Holy of Israel.
For there’ll be no more gangs on the street.
Cynical scoffers will be an extinct species.
Those who never missed a chance to hurt or demean
will never be heard of again:
Gone the people who corrupted the courts,
gone the people who cheated the poor,
gone the people who victimized the innocent (Isaiah 29:17-21, MSG).

Conceived from our uniqueness and God’s unconditional love, Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice and the Spirit of the living God, our lives will grow lush, lasting fruit for all. As we walk and talk with God daily, without us having anything to do with it, the deaf will hear, the blind will see, and those who feel castoff will laugh and dance with God.

…Sue…