Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door.

Matthew 24:32-33, MSG

My black t-shirt hangs on me soaked, looks as if I’ve jumped into the pool fully clothed. Stray bits of dirt, pruned leaves, and pine needles stick to it like a message tacked to cork board.

I shake a pile of needles over blankets of shed, decaying leaves and think about how the path between here and the Kingdom is messy and costly and hard.

Drops of sweat hang from my son’s forehead, eyebrows furrow when he asks, “Can I stop pulling weeds now, its so hot.”

“You just have to push through,” I tell him, “I’m hot too.”

Sometimes avoiding the uncomfortable, means missing the kingdom coming in its fullness.

God’s rule and reign are always preceded by an upheaval. Before beauty, ugliness. Before peace, war. Before order, chaos. When God’s kingdom breaks in, whether in the heavens or in the nations or in one person’s life, it arrives by way of disruption. ~Mark Buchanan, Spiritual Seasons

Is God disrupting your life; making things feel messy, complicated, hard, and uncomfortable?

Maybe instead of asking to go back inside where the seats are cozy and the air feels cool, we can ask for strength to endure the heat. Because redemption is right around the bend on the road called perserverance, and we don’t want to miss it. (Luke 21:28)

Wherever you weekend wanderings take you, may you find strength for the journey friends.