Break

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. Prov 15:4

Broken home. The "happy holidays" were just a veneer, desperately covering up cracking ice. So good at playing pretend, putting up a front. So tired of seemingly having everything put together. Why do some people think that "saving face" is necessary in front of brothers and sisters? Hospitality should be a joy, not a burden, not pressure. So much frustration and anger and bitterness and self-centeredness and self-protection, like a vortex inextricably sucking people in.

God, we really need you to break through the spirit of evil and distrust that has fallen on and to help us all the way Paul prayed for his dearly beloved church in Ephesus: that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Teach us to hold the things of this world lightly, and to look toward the things yet unseen...