I just made THESE brownies for the umpteenth time in the span of 2 weeks.  This time there are a dozen brownie jars baking away for Sol’s brownie ice cream sundae request for his little sleepover tomorrow night.  There may only be a grand total of 6 wonderfully wild boys…including Solomon and Hudson…coming to party hard, but obviously the rest of the Kelley clan needed a brownie via a jar with ice cream and all the toppings as well.

I feel like I always have a mind full of thoughts and a heart full of feelings.  I also feel like I have a hard time hashing out the majority of all of them.  So I come here…and just type.  It’s what I do.  I’ve got heavy eyes from far too little sleep this week and a mind which won’t turn off.  This day has been so wonderfully good for our hearts.  We’re brimming with hope around here.  We woke up not knowing how this day would go…what outcomes it held…what conclusions would be made…what plans would be set in place…and all I knew to do was to ask God to be Himself.

This week I read They Had Everything in Common in Acts 4 and it made me weep.  The ugly kind of weep.  By the way…Acts is killing it.

Acts 4:32-37 “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.  And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.  Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”

That’s it.  We’re all in this together and we need each other.  When we think we’re so different from one another, we actually have everything in common.  That’s what God does.  That’s what Jesus did.  He levels all these imaginary playing fields we put in place.  He erases all the margins.  He makes us all the same…a bunch of sinners who all need Him.  No one is better or worse than the other.  We all need and long for the same things.  We all need Jesus.  We all want to be loved and cared for and cherished.  We all want our story to matter.  We all want to know we still have worth no matter what we’ve done.  My junk is just like your junk.  Your sins are like my sins.  We are all in this together.  Everyday He is singing this loud and clear into our hearts.  We are surrounded by the most amazing people…all who were created in His image just like you and me.  Everyday is another opportunity to show how we’re really all the same.  How we actually have everything in common.  And to love…big and fierce and wild and compassionately.

Yes, we’re all just brimming with hope around here because that’s what He does.  He puts us side-by-side.  Shows us we’re all the same.  And then fills us up with love and hope.