Nesting

Today I bought this tray for a steal at Pottery Barn. Oh, online shopping! I have big plans for this tray... I can picture it on my TV console, holding candles and old antique books... or out on my porch with a bundle of gorgeous wildflowers laying inside of it... or using it to bring a dish to pass at a potluck... really the opportunities are endless!

Can you tell that I am excited to "nest"? I love decorating and turning my home into an inviting, cozy space. This is a desire that I have not been able to fill these past two years because I live in a dorm that feels very temporary. Please, don't get me wrong, I have been so to blessed to have my own room and to live with the fabulous roommates that I mentioned yesterday! However my heart longs for a place to call my own. It is my desire to nest.

This leads me to the things that God has been teaching me about nesting. I am always amazed at how God can take my hopes, dreams and desires and turn them into something that teaches me about his glory and goodness. I have felt like my themes for this school year have been nest and remain.

"Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. " - John 15:4

This verse has been on my heart all school year, and one night I decided to look up the word remain. What I found was very interesting:

remain [verb]-

(1) to stay or wait;

(2) to continue in the same state;

(3) to be left after removal, loss;

(4) when all else fades, or in the face of loss or devastation, the Lord still remains (ok, I added that one);

synonyms:

abide

cling

pause

NEST

rest

dwell

make camp

There is was, in the middle of the list- nest. It spoke to my heart and brought tears to my eyes. I felt the Lord reaching though the pages of my tattered thesaurus to give me a word that was meant specifically for me- to comfort me and challenge me. The Lord was gently, but sternly saying, "Beloved, nest in me. I am your true home."

For so long I have been desiring and trying to plan a worldly home for myself, when all along God has been trying to show me that IN HIM I AM HOME. I need to nest in him, remain in him- no matter where in the world I find myself. My location or role does not define me because it is just another passing season of dwelling in the presence of the Lord.

Once I began to reflect on this, I realized that my whole concept of waiting was also changing. I have no more need to wait on someone or for something because all I have and need is already found in the Lord, in the one with whom I will always remain. I am no longer waiting. Like the Lord told Moses in Exodus 33:14, "My presence will go with you and I will give you rest." God has already given me all that I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), so in him I will remain.

Amen!